Things every New Zenner needs to know

[ETL Nathan]

Hello. I am trying to install a new template. The problems I am having is that I don't know where to upload the file so that I can install it. I have put it in my root folder where it told me to, but zen cart will not acknowledge that I have done so. I am most likely putting it in the wrong place. You probably have already guessed that I am a newbe.
Please help me.

Zen Cart 1.3.8a

[rstevenson]

Each template comes with its own instructions, so all you can do is follow them very carefully.

THEN go to admin/Tools/Template Selection, click the Edit button, select your template from the drop-down list and click Update.

THEN go to admin/Tools/Layout Boxes Controller and click Reset down at the bottom.

Rob

[ETL Nathan]

I know but where do I put the unzipped template file? It says to put it in the root folder where Zen cart is installed. I have tried putting it in every folder I could think of that would work, but Zen Cart will not acknowledge that it is anywhere. I have Zen Cart installed here www.mywebsite.com/cart Is this where I need to put this file. I have read the instructions, but it just says to put it root folder or wherever the cart is installed. Thanks for helping me. I greatly appreciate it. I am completely new to this.

[misty]

where do I put the unzipped template file? It says to put it in the root folder where Zen cart is installed.

Templates go into
/includes/templates

[Products of Desire]

hello there Zen Masters...

i am brand new to the world of the Zen Cart and will clear up that i am a hairdresser by trade... not a profi when it comes to css php ftp...

qu.) can some one pm me the links i need for tutorials into the following...
1) sales messge goes here...
2) customizing layout
3) basic how to for a first day on Zen set-up

thanks and look forward to getting to know the Zen Masters as time goes by.

Pos
www.productsofdesire.com
(hairdressing retail products store when it is up and running)

[clydejones]

hello there Zen Masters...

i am brand new to the world of the Zen Cart and will clear up that i am a hairdresser by trade... not a profi when it comes to css php ftp...

qu.) can some one pm me the links i need for tutorials into the following...
1) sales messge goes here...
2) customizing layout
3) basic how to for a first day on Zen set-up

thanks and look forward to getting to know the Zen Masters as time goes by.

Pos
www.productsofdesire.com
(hairdressing retail products store when it is up and running)

click on the tutorials/FAQ link at the top of the page

[maveric]

Sir, you appear to be a veteran zenner.

I have three questions that don't appear to be be covered in the FAQ or forums.

I have operated successfully two zencart sites, one for two years and one for 4 months. The money turnover is great, no problems but I pay heavily for Adwords and Overture.

I need to edit the html section that I see when I click >view>page source in the browser.

Q's

1. Where do I find that html coding mainly the meta names section

2. Neither site has a page ranking at all even though there has been over 600,000 visitors to the sites over a couple of years. Why and how do I change it ( they have been submitted sensibly to all the relevant engines and they get spidered regularly).

3. Seo seems to favout html not php. There are very few php sites in the top general listings, your thoughts?

Thanks in advance

Frustratedly

Maveric

If you want to see the sites:
www.leathermanmultitools.co.uk
www.towelsandbedding.co.uk

[kuroi]

1. Where do I find that html coding mainly the meta names section

You don't. The HTML (or strictly XHTML) that you see when you look view source in your browser is generated by Zen Cart's PHP. I recommend browsing the FAQ entry about controlling meta tags to learn more.

2. Neither site has a page ranking at all even though there has been over 600,000 visitors to the sites over a couple of years. Why and how do I change it ( they have been submitted sensibly to all the relevant engines and they get spidered regularly).

I've seen this happen in the past where people get their robots.txt or meta tags wrong and inadvertantly tell the search engines not to visit, but that's not the case here. As there's no obvious reason why these sites shouldn't have a page ranking (though I can't rule out there being an unobvious one), it's most likely that they're on Google's blocked list. This may well have happened in the past with the reasons now removed, but sites don't automatically get unblocked. Google have a mechanism for applying to be unblocked. I recommend searching the google site for more information.

3. Seo seems to favout html not php. There are very few php sites in the top general listings, your thoughts?

This is simply not true. Search engines love content, lots and lots of high quality content. Those sites that deliver it go top, and nowadays it's simply not feasible to do so with a static (HTML) site, top-ranking sites are therefore usually dynamic and the most commonly used language for developing dynamic sites is PHP. Google have stated publicly that they have no problems crawling dynamic sites, i.e. don't favour static ones. I wonder whether you have been fooled by the increasingly sophisticated URL re-writing programs that can make dynamic URLs look like static ones to make them more readable to visitors.

[maveric]

Sir,

Thank you for your comments.

I will do some more research and come back to you.

As an aside, a colleague who turns £5m plus over the web is unnerving me when he talks about the fact that html straight code gets him into the general listings easily whereas php has caused him nothing but issues and consequently reverted to front page as his modus operandi.

Thanks again.
John

[KerryHillBilly]

I am completely new to this and need someone to direct me to a step by step guide to building your first ZenCart. The claim that ZenCart makes that you hardly need any computing knowledge is completely false.

And before anyone replies "Click on the FAQs at the top of the page" let me make it quite clear I have done so already and haven't a clue what most of it means. FAQs are no use if you don't have some of the basic building blocks understood, and trawling through pages of irrelevant Qs on the off chance of stumbling on one that actually answers your question in a way that you can understand is no way to proceed.

I've downloaded the latest software to my Mac PowerPC (not Intel) and now have a folder full of folders full of other folders including one called zc_install. I figured the best thing was to go to demo/mysql_demo.sql. But when I click on it I get prompted that there is no default application to open it and I have no idea what application would open it.

I can build a site with XHTML and CSS but that's it. I don't understand about scripts, MySql, PHP or any other references to anything outside what I've used in Dreamweaver.

So hopefully some kind person will see that I left college before computer graphics was invented and don't have the basic knowledge that everyone else seems to take for granted. I do however pick things up if people speak to me in my own language. When I do get my head around this I might just set up a site that really does communicate.