Help, Please

[cougar1988]

Okay, I know all the answers to my questions are on here somewhere, but I don't have the sanity to weed them out of the millions of topics that I don't understand to begin with!

I purchased a website using the host SiteGround. I designed my website using the free sitebuilder they provided. (www.loreleinaturals.com) It is not "professional" enough for my tastes, so I used Fantastico (in my cPanel) to install ZenCart to the root directory of my website (whatever that means). The only info I got was how to get into my Admin page.

Now WHAT? I understand how to change things in the admin section. How do I customize the template to fit my website? Change the default ZenCart logo at the top to my logo? Change the words "Sales Message Here"?

I've gone through various stages of frustration trying to figure out this "user friendly" program! It started with a basic brow wrinkle, and slowly progressed to me laying on my bed in the fetal position, sobbing uncontrollably and screaming into the pillow!!!! (not kidding about this!!)

I don't understand how to do or find ANYTHING.

In the "Template Selection" menu, it tells me that the Classic Contemporary Green template is designed to be easily modified using only the style sheet to change colors, fonts, and the store logo. Three images are required; logo.jpg, header_bg.jpg, and tile_back.gif.

WHERE IS THE STYLE SHEET????? Where is the logo.jpg located?

The Zen Cart Tutorial tells me this:

By default Zen Cart uses logo.gif for the name of this image, but you can use you own filename for the logo. Using an image editor, create your new logo and save it to includes/templates/CUSTOM/images/your_image_name.??? and upload it to your server.
After creating your logo you can adjust the height, width and logo name in includes/languages/ENGLISH/header.php idth

How do I do all of this? I need a tutorial to explain what the tutorial is trying to tutor me to do!!! Where is includes/template/CUSTOM/your_name.???

Can someone please, please help me before I become the first 27 year old to die of a stroke trying to understand an "easy, user friendly program"??

[Kim]

... there is a caveat to easy to use and user friendly. You have to understand how to use FTP, CSS, and HTML. If you do not know what those three things are then you need a tutorial on basic web site building before tackling a Zen Cart.

[cougar1988]

The thing is that I do know how to use HTML. I have a tutorial on FTP & CSS. I just need to know how to access the darn files. Where are they located?

[blind1]

You need to understand about the layout of a web site. (folders within folders etc)
Chech out this link:
http://www.cmssupport.utoronto.ca/He..._hierarchy.htm
It may give you a clearer picture.

[blind1]

[FONT=Arial]Attached is a PDF chart I made for myself to visualise the override folder set up.[/FONT]

[kuroi]

The first files to look at are in the folders under your includes/templates/classic directory, though you should make a copy of this and enable that as your default template via Admin > Tools > Template Selection before making changes.

[madmumbler]

There are a lot of good articles in the FAQ section:

https://www.zen-cart.com/tutorials/index.php

By "CUSTOM" it means you create your own template -- substitute your template name for CUSTOM. For example, if your template is called "blue" you create the folder includes/templates/blue/images/

Zen Cart uses a template override system. Everywhere you see a folder called classic in the file structure, you can create a folder called blue (or whatever your template is).

You need to start with the basics of looking at the override system and how it works. I know it might SOUND confusing, but once it clicks, you'll see how easy it is.

The basic green template theme you see on installation is the "classic" template folder system. What isn't overridden in THOSE files is contained in the template_default section.

Do not override or make changes to either the "classic" or "default" files. They'll be overwritten upon upgrade.

HTH,