Questions From My First Zen Cart Site

Hi,

I need to resolve a number of problems before I can complete my first ZenCart based website:

1. I changed the definition of the header sales message HEADER_SALE_TEXT message in header.php and the resulting message is shown on top of the header. But now the message remains the first one no matter what I change the definition to. Is there another file actually holds the message defintion?

2. I changed a few text definitions in index.php and header.php. Now there is a big gap between the header and he top of my code. I know this is caused by the combination of what I changed.
   But is there an easy to get rid of the gap?

3. I planned to use the Information Box to implement seconday functions such as 'Contact Us', 'Terms of Use' etc. and found it will be quite a effort. I'm now thinking writing either a horizontal or vertical menu bar. I can remove the Information Box. But can I implement a vertical menu bar in the left column without any sideboes?

4. I removed the right sideboxes and extended the middle part to
   cover the right sidebox space. Now I want to remove the left sideboxes and extend the left margin of the middle section. Unfortunately I don't remember what I did for the margin extension. Can me tell me?

Warrn

1. • 2. All definitions are located in the /input/languages folder. They shoul dbe changed there. Use the overwrite system to keep the original definitions and alter it only for your template. See the tutorial for further instructions.

2. Yes you can so this without sideboxes. But zencart has this items for you already. So why not use them. The idea of the sideboxes is to provide a space for navigation or information items that are o most pages. Check the admin Tools > Define pages editor. Here you can edit the contact us, shipping info etc page.

3. In the admin configuration, there is a switch to Globally disable the left/right sideboxes. When you have disabled them, the main content should expand to cover the space. If not, you have to change the width settings in your stylesheet.

1,2: A link to see your site might help to diagnose the exact solution for these problems.

3: Are you just looking for a links list? You can use the ez-pages sidebox and create internal links to the pages you want.

4: Admin > Configuration > Layout Settings >
Column Left Status - Global
Column Right Status - Global

I solved 1 and 2. I made the change in english/classic/header.php instead of english/header.php and the the new sale message shows. The big gap problem is caused by the large height defined for the header image.

As to 3 and 4, it's probably just philosophical. Using the Information sidebox requires a lot more than do it myself. I read about how to add a new entry into the Information sidebox and it just seems too many steps to take care of. I could use a menu bar with a few buttons to do thesame job quickly. Also I need to get rid of most entries in the original information sidebox anyway.

You shouldn't be making changes to the files in the classic or template_default folders. You should be copying those files to folders you create and follow the template/override system which will protect your changes.

Using the ez-pages sidebox is as simple as turning it on in Tools > Layout Boxes Controller and creating links to display in the sidebox in Tools > EZ-Pages.