Hope [multipurpose] Template Support Thread

[milkyway]

Hello everyone, I'm happy to release our new free template for Zencart community.
Back in 2006-2008 if you remember we released some free templates from our website that became so popular, and then we were so busy with work and never released any free templates again since, so here we are again hoping to contribute something

Here is our new template called: Hope - Multipurpose ZenCart Template

See a live demo



Some features of this template:
1. Integrated horizontal dropdown menu with jQuery effect
2. Column grid layout
3. CSS3 hover box shadow on product display
4. Fly-out category menu
5. Can be used for 2 or 3 columns layout
6. Shopping cart total and currency in header
7. Foreign language buttons ready (dutch, spanish, german, french, swedish)

Compatible with Zencart v1.50 and v1.3.9 and v1.3.8 (Should work with v1.3.7 and earlier but we didn't test it yet)

Please post any bugs or questions here.

Download is available here:

http://www.zen-cart.com/downloads.php?do=file&id=1436

[SPH]

Day-um! Yet another great looking free template. There was a time when zencart users had a pretty sparce template selection, but now I think zencart has the best free selection of any open source shopping cart (insofar as I've yet seen.) And IMO yours is in the top echalon of a select pack.

One question: I notice some validation errors, which is about the first thing I check. I can only imagine how hard it is to make a great template, especially if willing to take some risks to enhance it. Are validation errors that critical (I know some must be) for search engines and browsers?

Anyway, great job on a really outstanding-looking template!

(I'll have to get this template and test it on one of my sites soon.)

[SPH]

Just saw your premium templates: very nice and at a very reasonable price.

[picaflor-azul]

One question: I notice some validation errors, which is about the first thing I check. I can only imagine how hard it is to make a great template, especially if willing to take some risks to enhance it. Are validation errors that critical (I know some must be) for search engines and browsers?

Take a look at this article for some quick points on why validation is important:

http://validator.w3.org/docs/why.html

Thanks,

Anne

[SPH]

Take a look at this article for some quick points on why validation is important:

http://validator.w3.org/docs/why.html

Thanks,

Anne

Thanks. Like the article says, big stores might get away with errors, I guess because they don't really rely on google/search engines. But for myself and most of us here using Zencart we need every edge we can get to compete, and a good-looking, fast, professional site without errors is the ideal thing. No point starting off handicapped with errors, unless perhaps the template is especially great looking and one is willing to trade some errors for looks. I know I can't correct much more than the typical "alt" and "ampersand" errors. Digging into the code is too dangerous...although I've done it now and then. I always feel much more comfortable with validation pass, at least knowing that isn't potentially working against me.

I downloaded and briefly tested this template on a secondary dress site. Looked great! Did notice the typical search in header was missing, but I suppose could be added or use sidebox advanced search.

Did notice that template is not as "free" as most, having some restrictions on use.

But a great looking free template. One could feel very comfortable knowing they at least have a professional-looking site. (Reminds me of the Rubik Modern Zen template I'm using on yet another secondary site, they way the Category, Specials, All, New are laid out.)

[milkyway]

SPH, Glad that you like my template, yes validation will be my next step, I will release a clean and validated on next version soon.

Thanks Anne for the validation article, we will take a look at it.

[SPH]

SPH, Glad that you like my template, yes validation will be my next step, I will release a clean and validated on next version soon.

Thanks Anne for the validation article, we will take a look at it.

My pleasure in seeing your work.

Suggestion for next release: maybe put a search box in place of your link in black horizontal nav?

[WWRepair]

First off I have to say, this such a beautiful template! Great job!

Second, I have looked in the forums and have failed in getting this work. I have tried entering code, but I think I must be doing it wrong. What I need is to have a link added the black menu bar (next to "My Account" "Shopping Cart") I need to have a link that says "Services" that takes the customer back to our regular service website at wwrepair.com. The parts store is located at wwrepair.com/parts/They can access the parts store from the parent website, but I can't seem to figure out how to get them back. Thanks in advance. I know this is a simple fix and I am just missing something.

[milkyway]

Thank you for using our template, the color changes you did looks cool.

To add more link in the header bar menu, edit this file: /includes/templates/template333/common/tpl_drop_menu.php

go to around line 117-119 and find these:

<li><a class="noLine" href="<?php echo zen_href_link(FILENAME_SHOPPING_CART, '', 'NONSSL'); ?>"><?php echo HEADER_TITLE_CART_CONTENTS; ?></a></li>
            <?php } ?>

ADD AFTER the line above:

<li><a href="http://wwrepair.com">Services</a></li>

The new line above should be before the tag

</ul>

Thats should do it.

[SPH]

Yes, looks nice.

But you have more validation errors than you should. For example, you should get in the habit of making "&" with the html version "&" as you have alot of these minor errors in your category names. Example: Motor & Pump should be encoded as Motor & Pump