can't change includes/languages/english/index.php!

This is nuts. I'm using one of the available custom templates (EzBlue). I wanted to change the "Congratulations, you have successfully installed...", so I followed the directions and changed includes/languages/english/index.php.
The whole index page disappeared. I had made a backup, so I installed that. Page came back. I made a folder named "custom" and put the new index in there - nada. The page didn't change. I put the new index into the "classic" folder. No change. I switched back to the "classic" template - the page is gone.
Deleted the new index from "classic" - page came back, the default Zencart one.
What am I missing here? It seems that it's something to do with the EzBlue not looking for the template. I even created an EzBlue directory in includes/languages/english/, but when I added the changed index.php to it - yup, the page disappeared.
Any help would be greatly appreciated. I'm stumped!

You most likely left out a punctuation mark at the end of the sentence when you changed index.php, such as:

' ) ; }

Compare the backup you made carefully.

Thanks, but nope. I'm not a programmer, but I've screwed up enough CGI and HTML stuff to be aware of that. This is why it's so frustrating - I can't see ANYTHING wrong other than changing the darn phrase.
Thanks for the reply, though!

Get either WinMerge or Bond Compare to help you compare the 2 versions of the file. Problems like you describe are usually caused by missing punctuation (as slomojojo said) or incorrectly edited php files.

I have WinMerge. I checked it, and other than the change of statements, it's exactly the same. There are no punctuation errors. Could it be something about the template?
I did some changes on another site and it all worked like a charm. That one used the default Zencart template. Could it be something about this particular template - or any custom template?

Just out of curiosity, what did you change the message to?

An unescaped special character (apostrophe, quotation mark, etc.) will cause a blank page.

Here's the whole section, with my edits:
// This section deals with the "home" page at the top level with no options/products selected
/Replace this text with the headline you would like for your shop. For example: 'Welcome to My SHOP!'/
define('HEADING_TITLE', 'Thanks for stopping by! We're glad to see you!');
} elseif ($category_depth == 'nested') {
// This section deals with displaying a subcategory
/Replace this line with the headline you would like for your shop. For example: 'Welcome to My SHOP!'/
define('HEADING_TITLE', 'Thanks for stopping by! We're glad to see you!');
}
?>

And here's the original:
// This section deals with the "home" page at the top level with no options/products selected
/Replace this text with the headline you would like for your shop. For example: 'Welcome to My SHOP!'/
define('HEADING_TITLE', 'Congratulations! You have successfully installed your Zen Cart™ E-Commerce Solution.');
} elseif ($category_depth == 'nested') {
// This section deals with displaying a subcategory
/Replace this line with the headline you would like for your shop. For example: 'Welcome to My SHOP!'/
define('HEADING_TITLE', 'Congratulations! You have successfully installed your Zen Cart™ E-Commerce Solution.');
}
?>

We're glad to see you

We're glad to see you

You must ESCAPE the apostrophe... '

AAAAAARRRRRRGGGGGGHHHHHHHH! This is why I'm not a programmer!! That, and my 30 second attention span.

THANK YOU, thank you, thank you! And thanks to everyone who replied, gave me the answer, and I was too dumb to see it.

therealex:

I was too dumb to see it.

No... you are NOT dumb... You didn't know about this at first. Now you do.

We ALL learn the same way.