Almost there, getting my design working properly..

[grimdeath]

here is my regular Zen Cart site:
http://www.expresswhitening.net/zencart/

I was to layout my page like this, sans iframe:
http://www.expresswhitening.net/shoppingcart.html

I thought I could just customize my index.php file and put my html/css around the php tags but that does not work, it screws up the look of the Zen Cart section and will not changes to another page:
http://www.expresswhitening.net/zencart/index_test.php

The iframe method looks exactly like I want but it screws with the SSL security plus it makes it a pain in the ######## to create the initial "buy now" button where the item is listed. This is the last big hurdle I have, just a few more tweaks and then the store gets to go live!

Thanks for any help

[grimdeath]

I want to layout my page like this, sans iframe:*

sorry, first post, there isnt an edit button on the original post, odd

[Kim]

Try customizing the tpl_main_page instead of messing with index.php. See this section of the tutorials/FAQ to get started - https://www.zen-cart.com/tutorials/index.php?category=4

[gjh42]

You will want to add your code to /includes/templates/your_template/common/tpl_main_page.php, which builds the overall layout of every page.

You can add divs before, after or around #mainWrapper to hold your other content.

[grimdeath]

great, ill give this a try this evening, I figured it would be better to do something like that I just wasnt sure exactly how to implement it, leaving the wrapper div is what I was missing :)

ill be back if I have any issues but this should do it for me.

[grimdeath]

hmm apon trying this I am met with a page that has adopted my new code but no store content is visible. do I just create the page and anywhere I put a mainWrapper div my store should appear? I tried doing that with the same results, updated look, no store content.

do I actually need to copy in the contents of my index.php inside that div?

it looks like it is working I just do not know how to display section within the page/div

the faq page you linked to does have great guides but nothing that goes into any kind of details for this specific type of request.

[gjh42]

You need to edit tpl_main_page.php leaving most everything inside the mainWrapper div alone, and just adding your new divs. You should not be copying index.php into any other files.

[grimdeath]

hmm that must be it, I figured the file had to be created since I didnt already have one in my template file. Ill copy that out of the template_default and try it.

[grimdeath]

that's working, just one little bug that I had when playing with the index file in the same manner, the navigation bar (home/my account/etc) is VERY tall for some reason...perhaps I have two like named divs by accident:

https://www.expresswhitening.net/zencart/

also, my SSL certificate icon keeps dissapearing when I go to the next page. I will continue playing with this

*edit*
the nav bug seems to only appear in firefox, not IE

[grimdeath]

ok, sorry to repost again, I got it working properly! now I am just working on cleaning up my page.

if it helps anyone else, my solution was to style the mainWrapper and navMain styles in the template stylessheet.css. I set the mainWrapper to have a Y overlow and had to set the navMain to a set height rather then 1%