Training

[derrick]

Hi,

I urgently need a training course in Zen Cart Customisation and Administration.

I'm in the process of developing a new site for a friend's company and am using zen cart as the shopping facility since it is Open Source, looks to be well supported by the community, seems to be best of breed and will not become obsolete within the next year or so (unlike their current system).


Unfortunately, I've been struggling with customising Zen Cart to make it fit in with the look and style with the rest of the new site, to the extent where I've now had to purchase the skills of a freelancer that has experience with Zen Cart to do the customisation for me.


However, I'm still hoping that I can learn Zen Cart, so that I can carry out any future work (that will no doubt be required).


One of my main issues, is that there's a huge amount of information available in this forum, the wiki, the book (which I've bought) and various external sites, that it makes it very hard to know where to begin.

I've managed to install and add products, but I would like to get more into the inner workings and really understand how it all fits together and works.

I've carried out numerous searches for Zen Cart training, but keep coming up with dead ends / blanks.


I'd therefore really appreciate it if someone could let me know if there's a suitable training course for Zen Cart (preferably in London, UK), where I could really learn how to customise and maintain it.


Thanks in advance, Derrick

[kobra]

I also have not seen any actual trainning...

While at first it seems overwhelming - it is really not that bad or difficult.

If you know and understand html and css and there are several good sites for reference. and a little bit of how php/mysql is constructed(if you know this or another language this is helpful) that is about all one really needs to style a site and make minor php adjustments.

In depth php is not required unless you intend on writing complicated add ons.

You have good start in finding and using the tutorials, FAQ's and the wiki.

[derrick]

Thanks Kobra,

I'm fine with html and css and am just finishing a course on PHP/MySQL (so just about getting up to speed on those).

Ideally, I'd like a Zen Cart course since it would probably be more structured than a newbie’s haphazard approach and I’d be able to take advantage of the tutor’s knowledge and experience.

In the mean time, I guess I'll have to do it the hard way and wade through the various materials available. My frustration here is that I’ll probably be wasting precious time trying to determine what part to study next.

Anyway, here I go….


Cheers, Derrick

[afo]

Derrick, I'm going to suggest that you set up a Zen Cart to play with and learn on. As Kobra said, it's not that difficult once you get the hang of it. If you set up a test installation (you can even use the demo products which in themselves teach loads of things), you can do what you like without worrying about a live site.

I know this doesn't help with your immediate problem, but in the long run, it'll be the best thing you can do.