Integrating Zen into my page....

Hey guys. Below is a link to my page as I have currently built it. I've just installed ZC and now I need to attempt to integrate the cart and menu into my cart so that my look is maintained. Can someone please point me in the right direction as I'm basically clueless. Thanks.

Ian

I'm not sure what you're trying to do and you don't have a link to your site in the post.

Zen Cart is not a back end processor. You can most likely reproduce the current look of your site in Zen Cart using the override (templating) system. Zen Cart should basically become your site.

Sorry I forgot the link. Ok, so if that's how it works that's fine but how do I make zencart look like my site?

Ian

http://mowerpartsupply.com/test6.html

No one can answer that question, I'm afraid.

Read through all the FAQ/Tutorial files, install Zencart, and get your hands dirty. If you have specific questions or problems, come back to the forums.

I like the look. You should be able to reproduce a lot of that in Zen Cart. I assume you've installed ZC somewhere so you can play around with it (as opposed to a live site). As stevesh suggests, you'll need to read up about creating your own template and start tinkering with things. Zen Cart is pretty hard to break.

If you want to take a peek at the free templates available to see if there's something you can use as a framework to get yourself started, check out http://(sorry, site offline)/

Before I spend the next two weeks integrating something into this site that I won't be happy with I should ask, exactly how possible is it going to be to incorporate my current site look into ZC? I ask this because I looked at those demos and honestly they look very cookie cutter and unimpressive. If those are considered good looking zen cart pages then I should probably look at other venues. Are you guys familiar with anyone else's site that has the same general layout as mowerpartsupply.com? Thanks for all your help.

Ian

You don't appear to have any product pages yet, so we don't know how you want those to look, but your basic layout will be relatively easy. Take a look at my site (past the home page).

There are some elements you don't have in your single HTML page that will be needed in a dynamic site. In general, Zen Cart can be reconfigured to any look you can imagine. Some changes take more skill than others. Some are just admin settings, like turning off the right sidebar.

r1formetoo:

Before I spend the next two weeks integrating something into this site that I won't be happy with I should ask, exactly how possible is it going to be to incorporate my current site look into ZC? I ask this because I looked at those demos and honestly they look very cookie cutter and unimpressive. If those are considered good looking zen cart pages then I should probably look at other venues. Are you guys familiar with anyone else's site that has the same general layout as mowerpartsupply.com? Thanks for all your help.

Ian
Zencart, like many other open source frameworks, gives you the ability to get the exact look you like. There is no problem with it. Do you have a current template you want to convert to zen, or you want to have a new template designed?

yellow1912:

Zencart, like many other open source frameworks, gives you the ability to get the exact look you like. There is no problem with it. Do you have a current template you want to convert to zen, or you want to have a new template designed?

Well, I don't have a current template. In fact, I don't know how to edit the stock template either. I pulled up index.php in Dreamweaver only to find that nothing displays in the design panel. I'm not opposed to using an existing template that's decent if anyone knows where I might find one. Having a new template designed is also an option but again I have no idea where to go for this.

Ian

I designed this site - which I think could easily be modified with your graphics and such.

Tina

charmedbytina2:

I designed this site - which I think could easily be modified with your graphics and such.

Tina

I agree, the general layout is extremely similar to to what I've done at mowerpartsupply. I've only edited html up to this point so I'm still lost. I've been reading quite a good bit but I'm still flabbergasted as to how I will make zencart look anything like that.

Ian

charmedbytina2:

I designed this site - which I think could easily be modified with your graphics and such.

Tina

Excellent suggestion, Tina. I agree his design could be duplicated using that as a guideline.

Ian, there's a learning curve with Zen Cart (like most other things). It'll seem difficult at first, but you'll get the hang of it.

The best way to edit Zen Cart files is with a good text editor like Notepad++ or Crimson Editor. Both are available as free downloads from the net.

If you don't have one already, get an FTP client like Filezilla (also free).

First, before you do anything, create your CUSTOM template:

https://www.zen-cart.com/tutorials/index.php?article=142

There are three places you need to make changes in order to create a new Zencart 'look'. I usually recommend you learn and apply them in this order:

1. Admin. Lots of switches to turn stuff on and off, including sideboxes and sidebox columns, various product listings, and much more. Well worth spending some time looking through the various pages and trying stuff in a test cart.

2. CSS. There are many id's and classes in includes/templates/YOUR_TEMPLATE/css/stylesheet.css that can be modified to change the look of your store. You can also add id's and classes that aren't included by default, and even create your own. Install and use the Firefox browser and the Web Developer plugin for Firefox to discover where all these are.

3. PHP files, especially the define pages and the template files beginning with tpl. You can add HTML to these files, and move elements within them around to change layouts.

r1formetoo:

I agree, the general layout is extremely similar to to what I've done at mowerpartsupply. I've only edited html up to this point so I'm still lost. I've been reading quite a good bit but I'm still flabbergasted as to how I will make zencart look anything like that.

Ian
If you want to, you can post in the commercial forum to hire someone to do it for you. Sometimes you have to look at the cost and see which one is the best choice, for example:

1. learning to code a zencart template may take several days if not more, lets assume you are really smart and it takes only 20 hours
2. How much does your 1 hour cost? 20usd? Then you may consider spending 200-300usd for someone else to do this for you.

In the end, in business, you have to look at the cost effective of all things. If you go into business thinking that you should and will have to do everything by yourself, then you may find your self out of business soon. Valuable resources should be allocated effectively, which is why we have our current system in which each person master only one or a few things but not all.