Injecting zencart into my existing web template

I looked through the FAQ and forums for a couple hours but found nothing similar to this.

I have a regular web template, which I would like to use with my cart. There are 2 columns on the template, which would fit the existing left and centre column well. Can this be done?

It would probably be easier to style those columns in Zencart to look like your existing site.

Can we see a link to your site?

A good analogy is:

It's easier to make a new cigarette lighter for your car, than it is to make a new car for your cigarette lighter!

Construct your site using ZC's templates.

schoolboy:

A good analogy is:

It's easier to make a new cigarette lighter for your car, than it is to make a new car for your cigarette lighter!

Construct your site using ZC's templates.
Point taken, however I disagree with the analogy.
I'd say it's more along the lines of owning a 150hp corvette, and wanting to put the 400hp engine in it's place while keeping the rest of it.

There seems to be tons of functionality to zencart, but I also need it to be SEO friendly. If it can't be done with this cart I'll look around some more.

Who knows, maybe I do have to sacrifice the 'vette body :unsure:

You'd be much better off using schoolboy's suggestion. There are SEO modules in the Free Software Add Ons section.

Point taken, however I disagree with the analogy.
I'd say it's more along the lines of owning a 150hp corvette, and wanting to put the 400hp engine in it's place while keeping the rest of it.
Actually it is taking the COMPLETE chassis of the 400hp model and replacing the "skin" with that from your current model...not just the engine....
So in your analogy - start with a straight axle '60 vette and have a C5-C6 burner....by replacing the body you get the IRS, disc brakes, etc etc.

And this is what we are saying....use Zen Cart as your site and just skin it to look like your current site - once done you do not need the old chassis stuff

BTW this is how Zen Cart is designed and it is not modular where you can just take the pieces you want and apply them outside of its framework

kobra:

Actually it is taking the COMPLETE chassis of the 400hp model and replacing the "skin" with that from your current model...not just the engine....
So in your analogy - start with a straight axle '60 vette and have a C5-C6 burner....by replacing the body you get the IRS, disc brakes, etc etc.

And this is what we are saying....use Zen Cart as your site and just skin it to look like your current site - once done you do not need the old chassis stuff

BTW this is how Zen Cart is designed and it is not modular where you can just take the pieces you want and apply them outside of its framework
Well, I wasn't looking to go that far into detail :laugh:

My two biggest issues with using zenCart as the site are the layout and the SEO aspect. I've done some PHP work but trying to piece together where each aspect of the site comes from has taken up the better part of a day already and I feel no closer to understanding it than when I began. I can't target keywords to a specific page and perform other optimizations if I don't know where to look.

Judging by your posts however, it looks like you understand it a great deal better than I do. Thanks for contributing.

stevesh:

bobthemolder:

I'd rather keep it private:
URL EDITED OUT

Is it really not possible?

What exactly would you be selling through the site?

The products seem to be aimed toward contractors. Is there a lot of retail business for these products?
It is primarily a contractor product, however I have a good feeling about the retail/DIY market.

What would you do for payment and shipping options?
Payment would be any(every)thing that can be used in Canada -- at minimum paypal (which if memory serves allows credit card payments without an account?)
Shipping is typically done from my manufacturer, however I would look into using UPS for distant shipments and shipments to the states.

The problem with connecting Zencart to an existing site is that ZC isn't meant to be a 'back-end' script, and you run into problems with sessions when your customers move back and forth between Zencart and non-Zencart areas of the site.
That's starting to sink in. I wouldn't like there being two looks to the site anyways -- all one way or the other. On the other hand, I could use either my current site or wordpress for informational purposes and the shopping cart for decisional/purchasing, it would just have to be clearly presented as two seperate parts.

Your site could be re-created in Zencart and look pretty much like it does now, but I'll be honest - it would be a lot of work.
Well, the site is primarily defined in CSS, which as I understand it is how zenCart is. I don't mind the work if the finished product is how I want it, I just don't know where to start.

I initially came looking for this because of this competitor: www.accentbuildingproducts.com (anonymized)
I love how their categories are laid out, how the static URL helps with SEO, and how straightforward it is. Does anyone recognize what shopping cart they use?

kobra:

BTW this is how Zen Cart is designed and it is not modular where you can just take the pieces you want and apply them outside of its frameworkDo you know of any modular carts?

I initially came looking for this because of this competitor: https://www.accentbuildingproducts.com (anonymized)
I love how their categories are laid out, how the static URL helps with SEO, and how straightforward it is. Does anyone recognize what shopping cart they use?

My best guest is MiniVend http://www.icdevgroup.com/minivend3/docindex/frtoc.html its a perl based system.

Actually, you can do exactly what you want using the Addon Module called easyEmbed, not yet available for download from the Forum. Here are some threads about it as well.

Just a final note on this: I ended up installing Zen Cart to a subdirectory and have a link pointing to it from my site (but no link backwards), and modded the layout to be similar to my original site. I'm fairly pleased with the way it turned out and the transition isn't very noticeable.

Thanks for all your help guys.

edit: I used the barebones template, and the search feature on this forum to get all the information I needed to mod it.