An Upscale Boutique Support Thread

Hello !

I had so much fun creating A Pink Boutique that I decided to do another free template.

An Upscale Boutique Zen Cart Template designed for version 1.3.8. by Picaflor Azul Web Design.

Features:
* Fixed width 2 or 3 column display
* Matching button set included
* Matching icons
* Home Page template included formatted with space for an image, navigation buttons, and welcome text.
* Re-formatted Product Info Page
* Tested using Firefox, IE7, IE6.

This template done in neutrals gold an grey with a subtle damask pattern for the header and footer bars. The classic style will look great with all types of products.

See a live demo site here.

Download link coming soon!

An Upscale Boutique is now available in the downloads section:

http://www.zen-cart.com/index.php?main_page=product_contrib_info&cPath=40_53&products_id=1481

Anne –

This is a wonderful new template, and a great starting point for my brand-new site. Thanks so much for sharing this with us.

I have a few beginner questions, but I'm not sure this is the right forum for them. I'll have a go, though:

1. how do I change the title?
2. how do I disable things like the newsletter, reviews, sponsors sections? I seem to remember EZ-pages having something to do with this, but there's nothing in the EZ-pages section for this template (that I can see, anyway).
3. if I want to customize the footer, I know that I put a modified footer.php file into includes/languages/english/an_upscale_boutique. The question is, where do I get the file to put here?

Thanks again...I'm really looking forward to using this template, and to getting seriously started in ZC.

1. If you mean the An Upscale Boutique text in the header, that's the logo image.

2. Sideboxes are controlled in Admin - Tools - Sideboxes Controller

3. Copy the file from includes/languages/english

Hey, Steve -

Thanks for the reply. Some follow-on questions, please:

1. By "title" I meant the HTML title, the text that shows up at the top of the browser.

2. Under Tools, I have a "Layout Boxes Controller"...I assume that's what you meant by "Sideboxes Controller." I don't see how to turn off the Sponsor display from here. Also, how do I control what shows up within a sidebox that I enable? There's a bunch of stuff under Information, for example, that I don't want, even though I do want the Information section itself to display.

3. includes/languages/english doesn't have a footer.php file. When I wrote this question, I forgot that this is area is part of the overall wrapper. The areas I want to modify are identified as siteinfoIP, siteinfoLegal and bannerSix. What's the preferred method for changing these? I'm still trying to learn what kinds of changes are configurations vs. actually modifying code files.

Thanks a lot.

Well, I think I spelled everything right, anyway.

1. https://www.zen-cart.com/tutorials/index.php?article=17

2. Yes, it's Layout Boxes Controller. Some of the box names are a little strange. I think the Sponsors box is banner_box_all.

3. Footer.php is in includes/modules, but you'll change the copyright and legal stuff in includes/templates/template_default/common/tpl_footer.php

You'll save it to your custom template's 'common' folder.

Also:

https://www.zen-cart.com/tutorials/index.php?article=38
https://www.zen-cart.com/tutorials/index.php?article=39

I am so happy that you like the template :smile:

Thank you Steve for replying so quickly!

OK, I guess the right term is "browser bar."

Yesterday, I edited includes/languages/english/UPSCALE/header.php to change the HEADER_ALT_TEXT and HEADER_SALES_TEXT defines.

Now, I'm supposed to change includes/languages/english/meta_tags.php to make these changes. Did I misunderstand something, or is this really necessary to be done twice? (It's not that I'm lazy; I'm hoping the answer will help further my knowledge of the ZC gestalt a bit.)

And, why am I modifying this meta_tags file instead of creating an overriding file in a CUSTOM directory like I did for the header? Is there a rule of thumb for the modify vs. override?

Thanks.

PS: the sponsor box is banner_box, not banner_box_all. I turned them both off.

And, as long as I'm being nosy...I looked at my custom tpl_footer.php file (turns out it existed already). There's a test for a constant called "SHOW_FOOTER_IP" in there. I stumbled upon the Developers Tool Kit (very impressive, BTW) and found that I could modify this constant from it.

So (and I realize I'm becoming tedious with this line of questioning), is this the "preferred" method of changing a constant like this? Or, is it normally done by editing a file? Or by some other admin pull-down I couldn't find?

Thanks again.

HEADER_ALT_TEXT and HEADER_SALES_TEXT are for the logo alt text and the tagline in the header.
/includes/languages/english/meta_tags.php will have the defines for the address bar text, and you can save it as /includes/languages/english/UPSCALE/meta_tags.php.

Generally, any file that can be overridden with the template system has a /classic/ folder as a neighbor. Create your own template subfolder to sit next to /classic/, and put the edited file in that, one level down from the original file.

Anything that has an admin setting/switch is usually best handled in admin. In some cases, there are admin settings for things that would be more appropriately handled in the stylesheet, but you don't need to worry about those.

There is an admin setting for footer IP, somewhere in Configuration (My Store or Layout Settings).

gjh42:

HEADER_ALT_TEXT and HEADER_SALES_TEXT are for the logo alt text and the tagline in the header.
Got it. Anne, if you're still reading, I think there may be some reformatting necessary here. The tagline wrapper collides with the logo wrapper (at least in my instantiation).

Also: where is the separator for these two fields set? It's currently a comma; I think I'd prefer an emdash.

/includes/languages/english/meta_tags.php will have the defines for the address bar text, and you can save it as /includes/languages/english/UPSCALE/meta_tags.php.
Got it.

Generally, any file that can be overridden with the template system has a /classic/ folder as a neighbor. Create your own template subfolder to sit next to /classic/, and put the edited file in that, one level down from the original file.

OK. This appears to be true for the templates subdirectory, but not the languages subdirectory (as there's a classic subdirectory there, but no UPSCALE subdirectory). Need I concern myself with why this is so?

Anything that has an admin setting/switch is usually best handled in admin. In some cases, there are admin settings for things that would be more appropriately handled in the stylesheet, but you don't need to worry about those.

So, I guess it's a matter of learning what all is controlled by admin settings, isn't it? Perhaps more familiarity with the system will make this clearer.

For example, if I want to modify the legalCopyright area of the footer, since there are no constants driving that, I merely edit the tpl_footer.php file, right?

There is an admin setting for footer IP, somewhere in Configuration (My Store or Layout Settings).

It was in Layout Settings. Thanks.

A template download doesn't have to include all possible override folders, though one for /languages/english/ seems like a good idea.
If there is not yet an override folder where one is possible, just add it.

gjh42:

A template download doesn't have to include all possible override folders, though one for /languages/english/ seems like a good idea.
If there is not yet an override folder where one is possible, just add it.
I would, but...as of now, I have no idea what I'd put in it!

mzimmers:

I would, but...as of now, I have no idea what I'd put in it!

And of course, as soon as I say that...I believe I may have found a use for it.

If I want to override includes/languages/english.php, should I create an includes/languages/CUSTOM folder for it?

Got it. Anne, if you're still reading, I think there may be some reformatting necessary here. The tagline wrapper collides with the logo wrapper (at least in my instantiation).

What do you mean by "collides"? You can move anything around that you like in the css. The free template package has the tagline wrapper positioned so that the tagline text is in the correct place for the size of the logo image. If your logo image is a different size, then you might want to move the tagline. The free template is just a generic guide. You have to customize as your needs arise :smile:

And of course, as soon as I say that...I believe I may have found a use for it.

If I want to override includes/languages/english.php, should I create an includes/languages/CUSTOM folder for it?

Yes, that is correct. I did not include this directory in the free download because I did not make any changes to this file.

picaflor-azul:

What do you mean by "collides"?

It may be that I don't understand how it's supposed to look.

Take a look at my site:

http://www.cinderellaantiques.com/

Notice how the tagline extends into the logowrapper? Similarly (but less obvious) is how the navSupWrapper seems to be covering part of the pattern below it.

In any event, please don't misconstrue my comment...I love the template.

I also noticed that this template isn't passing HTML validation:

HTML validation

Might be worth taking a look at.

Another question (and I was REALLY hoping to figure this one out for myself):

Why is the tagline so far to the right? I can't find any CSS code that's doing it.

Thanks.

http://www.cinderellaantiques.com/

mzimmers:

Another question (and I was REALLY hoping to figure this one out for myself):

Why is the tagline so far to the right? I can't find any CSS code that's doing it.

Thanks.

http://www.cinderellaantiques.com/
Adjust to suit

#taglineWrapper {padding-top: 0px; padding-right:0px;position:relative; top:-20px; left:-150px;}

Download Firefox, Add Web Developers tool kit.. will show all css settings...