Zen Cart Easy Install

[caliente]

People reading this post should be:

1. New to zen cart
2. Do not know how to install zen cart
3. Frustrated because there are no instructions can be found

Before you read on, please note:

People who come to zen cart are here for 1 reason. They want to integrate a shopping cart in their desired website. The reason why they don't make a shopping cart of their own is because they don't know how, so they seek zen cart for a quick and easy set up.

DO NOT BOTHER LOOKING FOR HELP ON ZEN CART FORUM.

Lets just say that you are a newbie, you just downloaded zen cart, and you want to know what to do next. You go to their forums, and go to a title called support, or installation. Then you go to install in mac. Inside you find nothing that can aid you, rather, its just people with comments about problems you don't care about. You just want to install the zen cart and see how it is, but you can't! You get frustrated Don't worry.

You try to register to ask questions in the forum, but guess what, you can't. There are not register link or button anywhere. There is only a log in area but guess what? you haven't registered so logging in is useless. The only way you can find the place to register is going to log in, put in some radom username and password, and eventually a small register link will end up at the bottom somewhere.

ABOUT ME:

I was using oscommerce, and it was confusing because i'm a newbie. So i use zen cart because some site said zencart is simple. So far, i've uploaded zen cart, but don't know what the next step is. I am tired, frustrated, and have spent more than 5 hours trying to figure this out. There are no contact information, I don't want to wait for responses in forums, and I am dissapointed again. Another website with poor navigation and user friendly usability.

Here is my situation:

I use a mac, i have cable internet, i use dreamweaver, and i have a static html site up. I used dreamweaver to upload zencart via ftp. And i can't find any info as to what i'm suppose to do next.

i downloaded xammp. I don't understand php, or databases. I want to follow step by step detailed instructions.

Most of all, i am very confused as to why zen-cart.com doesn't put up a instruction as to what to do. They want people to use their software, but they don't want to go through the steps for newbies. Maybe this site isn't for newbies?

With so many people going to this site, wouldn't one step by step instruction with pictures take away all the frustrations?

Thankyou, I love the idea, but i need help. I've been trying to learn how to build a simple business website that don't need payment, i just want a shopping cart function. Any help at all will be great. Thank You!

[Merlinpa1969]

Hello Calliente,
I apologize for the issues you seem to be having,

Did you look in the DOCS folder that came in the zen cart distro,
There is also a link for frequently asked questions,
there is a link to the wiki,
thre is this link
http://www.zen-cart.com/forum/showth...things+zenners

and there is the instructions on screen when you go to
www.yoursite.com

the installer will popup,

follow the on screen instructions along with the instructions in the docs folder,
combine that with asking a few questions and viola you have a cart,

this isnt OSC, Johnson wont come and get you here for asking a question and the egomaniac isnt here either.

[nicko2]

Try reading the WIKI Docs and FAQs, you do have to do some reading and you can't expect everything to just happen without putting some effort into learing how it all works. What do you expect for Free software!!

http://www.zen-cart.com/wiki/index.php/Main_Page

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

[Bryony]

You know what? We know it's really hard when you're beginning and you don't know where to look for things and nothing works first time. Loads of people on this forum start out not knowing anything.

There's a few things you need to know:

• You can't install an entire shopping cart in a day, get it looking your way and populate it before going to bed.
  
• You can't expect someone to sit over your shoulder while you learn to muddle through (at least not for free )
  
• Get some rest - 5 hours solid staring at a computer screen isn't the best way to learn anything! (I'm English - have a cup of tea)
  
• Post your questions (nicely) then when you come back (well rested) you may find someone has had the time to answer and your problem will be solved.
  
• Expect to be at this for weeks - and go easy on yourself (and us) - you are learning something new and you'll be very proud of it when you've finished!

Good luck.

[Merlinpa1969]

Nicely said, Bryony

[tj1]

If you can read and follow instructions then you can install and use ZenCart. I don't know any PHP and only have very limited basic html knowledge and I have managed to install and somewhat customize a few zencart stores all by myself.

The easiest way to install ZenCart is via an auto-installer such as Fantastico. If your host offers this, then you can literally install and have ZenCart up and running in less than 30 seconds.

At first I also installed OSCommerce before finding ZenCart, but when I tried to understand OSCommerce and thought this is too difficult for me, screw it, I'm looking for something easier to use.

If you can't use an auto-installer, simply download ZenCart, unzip it on your computer and read and follow the instructions in the DOCS folder.

[kuroi]

Whilst fantastico is a quick way of installing, you won't necessaily get the latest version of Zen Cart. Even web hosts offering this service aren't all as good at keeping up as the guy above. So an easy and accurate way of getting a good installation is to go to a Zen Cart certified host who will do the installation for you.

[aeonmedia]

this may be a really_really_basic question.

does zen cart work on osX servers?

it is just as simple as installing on linux?

[DrByte]

this may be a really_really_basic question.

does zen cart work on osX servers?

it is just as simple as installing on linux?

Pretty much, yes.

[christayah]

Originally Posted by caliente
People reading this post should be:

1. New to zen cart
2. Do not know how to install zen cart
3. Frustrated because there are no instructions can be found

is it because he uses a mac?