2 Installation questions

[sue826]

I'm a newbie and feel overwhelmed with the installation -
So, bought e-start zen cart and trying to follow the instructions BUT -

as far as configuring apache (I've been successful up to this pint) on local machine the instructions say to edit
xampp-home/apache/conf/httpd.conf file but I only have httpd and httpd.default in that file structure.

I am running VISTA - although I don't think that would affect file names....

AND - my big question - is it necessar to install on local and the server? That isn't really explained clearly (at least for me) - the book just kinda jumps into the local installation although makes it clear it's no very easy to do - Is it absolutely necessary????

[yellow1912]

The point of having a local installation is to let you get used to it first, have the idea how ZC works. Also you don't want to put an incomplete store online.

[Kim]

You can do all of your customization on your live host by using the Down for Maintenance mode and/or an index.html as a gateway page that has a notification you are still under construction. So, yes, you can ignore the instructions for installing and using Xampp.

[sue826]

OK - I was wondering if it was a necessity or not - sounds like a good idea since it seems complicated to set up.....thanks.