Pre Download questions

Hi There

I wonder if anyone here can just give me a few details please regarding Zen Cart. I have looked around the forum but I'm a little confused.

I am used to building websites and I am looking for a shopping cart - and Zen cart certainly looks good.

I want to build a store selling a small selection of items but I also want to give a lot of additional information to ensure it looks like a freiedly 'expert' site and more than 'just a shop'.

To get things clear in my head may I ask please:

1. Some shopping carts only allow a few additional pages such as 'about us' and terms & 'conditions' etc. Can I add a lot of 'static' pages - i.e. non product pages where I can give safety information etc and really personalise the site?

2. I notice that some of the current stores using Zen Cart have nice, clean, SEO friendly URL's and some do not - i.e. they have long i.d. strings. Do I need an 'add on' to achieve a 'clean' URL? (I hope that makes sense)?

3. Is it easy to make the website design 'unique'. Are their templates included or is it just a matter of changing the CSS?

4. Can I make the index page look more like a 'static' page without it automatically look like a 'shop'.

Any information on what I am trying to achieve would be very much appreciated.

Thanks very much in advance.

Denise

1. Some shopping carts only allow a few additional pages such as 'about us' and terms & 'conditions' etc. Can I add a lot of 'static' pages - i.e. non product pages where I can give safety information etc and really personalise the site?

You can use built-in EZ Pages to create as many pages for your site as you'd like.

2. I notice that some of the current stores using Zen Cart have nice, clean, SEO friendly URL's and some do not - i.e. they have long i.d. strings. Do I need an 'add on' to achieve a 'clean' URL? (I hope that makes sense)?

You will need to use one of the addons.

3. Is it easy to make the website design 'unique'. Are their templates included or is it just a matter of changing the CSS?

You can do nearly anything with the design, but easy is a relative term, depends on how far from the stock layout you are going to get. There are templates in the Free Add Ons section to give you a place to start.

4. Can I make the index page look more like a 'static' page without it automatically look like a 'shop'.

Yes, most of the information on the front page can be turned off or changed from your admin.

Thanks Kim for your reply. It seems that Zen Cart can do everything I want it to do.