New User Needs Help

[WRUKIM]

Hi there,
i am in the middle of setting up my website and i wanted to know how to change all of the zen boxes and headings and welcome to zen
on my website and i have checked out the answer in the FAQ'S
and it tells me to
If you want to change "Congratulations! You have successfully installed your Zen Cart™; E-Commerce Solution" with your own text open the includes/languages/ENGLISH/index.php file and find the following code:

but where do i find the includes/languages/ENGLISH/index.php
is this in my admin for the website or in the cpanel of my server website
i'm confused on how to start and i don't know where to find the includes files
please help!

[inovermyhead]

Good mornng, WRUKIM ...
I take it that you've followed the installation instructions for Zen Cart and the files are on your server ? Then the /includes and /admin folders are both in your domain's root directory. You might want to take a look at this post http://www.zen-cart.com/forum/showthread.php?t=36567 and read some of the items mentioned, especially about overrides, before you get too deep into modifying your site.

[madmumbler]

These files are on your server (assuming your site is uploaded and working), under wherever the main directory your store is located. For example, if your store is "top level" (when you go to www.mydomain.com your store page shows up) then look for the files in the includes/... directory.

HOWEVER, you should NOT change the default files! They WILL be overwritten at upgrade.

You need to look through the information in the FAQ and tutorials about setting up your own template with the override system, even if it's just a copy of the classic template. Otherwise, you'll be making the same changes at every upgrade.

HTH,

[Kim]

WRUKIM-

You need a good FTP program to transfer files back and forth between your server and your PC. You do not want to use your control panel's file editor to edit PHP files.

[afo]

Everything everyone already said is correct. I'm going to suggest that you download a copy of Zen Cart to your local drive and unzip it. This will give you the folder/file structure you're looking for. You can then create your own custom template locally and FTP it to your website.

To create a very basic custom template (you can build from there), you need:

• includes/languages/YOUR_TEMPLATE/english.php
• includes/languages/english/YOUR_TEMPLATE/index.php
• includes/languages/english/YOUR_TEMPLATE/header.php (to change the logo)
• includes/templates/YOUR_TEMPLATE/template_info.php
• includes/templates/YOUR_TEMPLATE/common/tpl_header.php
• includes/templates/YOUR_TEMPLATE/common/tpl_footer.php
• includes/templates/YOUR_TEMPLATE/images/logo.gif
• includes/templates/YOUR_TEMPLATE/css/stylesheet.css

Anywhere you see a /classic/ folder, you can create a folder for your custom template. You can copy the necessary files from either the /classic/ folder, the /template_default/ folder or the parent folder.

Edit includes/templates/YOUR_TEMPLATE/template_info.php to give your template identifying information so you'll recognize it in the admin under tools->template selection.

Always use a good text editor like Notepad or Crimson Editor (a free download) to edit php files or you'll have problems.

Filezilla is a good free FTP client. Just google them and you'll be able to download it. Same with Crimson Editor.

You can set ZC up to run locally, but that's not really necessary. Just download and unzip it. Things will be clearer then.

[madmumbler]

Another good php editor (free) is called PHP Editor. I've used it for a while now and really like it.

And if you're using Firefox, I strongly suggest getting the Firebug plug-in. It's invaluable for locating CSS and other code.

HTH,