Will this method work to customize my site?

Hi,

This is my first venture into e commerce and heard good things about Zen Cart.

I have average to good xhtml/css skills and am able to install wordpress on a local server and customise it.

My question is can I use the same method below I used with my Wordpress installation as Zen Cart?

My method was to first download the WP files folder onto my desktop, then drop the folder into my sites root folder (also on the desktop). I would then customise the Wordpress files, then upload them with ftp to my localhost. Thats about it :smile:

Really my main aim is to integrate the Zen Cart with a html site, in such a way that say there are 5 menu items along the top, 4 are part of the html site, while clicking a 5th takes you to the Zen Cart store (styled as the rest of the site). I have achieved this with a Wordpress blog, but can this also be done with Zen Cart? Being as they are both PHP based and xhtml/css customisable I was hoping it would be.

I have read there could be issues in doing this though with Zen Cart (security reasons maybe?) so please could someone let me know if this could be the case.

Thanks very much for any help.

I'm looking forward to becoming a part of the Zen community! :smile:

It is completely possible to customize the layout of your shop locally in the manner you describe. You'll have to set up something more formal in order to test sending emails, processing credit card, etc.

Re the security issues, if you are not trying to integrate ZC and your HTML pages tightly (ZC content/functions on HTML pages), the main problem you would be likely to have is that the ZC session and any cart contents will be lost after about 20 minutes away from ZC pages.

Once you have gotten the ZC template to match your current pages, there will probably be no hindrance to migrating the content of the rest of the pages into the ZC system.

Thanks very much for your replies.

Just as I type I have linked up ZC to my site with the above method. So it will be no problem to add the html pages into ZC then? I guess this would be the ideal as it would save switching between two sites (I did read there could be security issues doing this anyway late last night).

Cheers

blahblah4949:

Just as I type I have linked up ZC to my site with the above method. So it will be no problem to add the html pages into ZC then?
Correct, just follow the related tutorials and FAQ's for advice.

I guess this would be the ideal as it would save switching between two sites (I did read there could be security issues doing this anyway late last night).
Not to mention technical challenges. For example if a user logs into your ZC site, or vice verse, you have to share login session information, which can be pretty heady stuff.

I hear you Blindside. Don't want to make life more difficult than it has to be!

There is one thing that I'm stuck on before I get stuck into the CSS, and that's the whole setting permissions thing.

I'm on a Mac (latest OS), using Godaddy. I was following a ZC tutorial, but I'm lost as to what file I need to edit to change the CHMOD to 444.

/includes/configure.php
and
/admin/includes/configure.php

are the two that need changing before I can move on right? Except when I look into these files I can't see where the CHMOD figure is at all. I'm guessing I'm looking in the wrong place, so could anyone advise?

Oh and I've checked under File Manager in Godaddy and found where I can set permissions, but again, no place where I can set this CHMOD to 444.

Thanks for any advice once again :smile:

blahblah4949:

Oh and I've checked under File Manager in Godaddy and found where I can set permissions, but again, no place where I can set this CHMOD to 444.

What options do you have there ?

Usually, you can change permissions in your FTP program by right-clicking on the file.

If you're on a Windows server though, the process can be different.

Hi Steve

If I go includes/configure.php for example, I have the option at the top marked 'permissions'. Clicking on this allows me to set Read/Write/Execute (at the mo only read is ticked).

No option to set CHMOD to 444. (or am I getting sidetracked by this - can I just tick a box in permissions and that's it?).

Just to confirm, all I have to do is check that on these two folders:

/includes/configure.php
and
/admin/includes/configure.php

in the File Manager, the permissions are set to: Read Only

And then I'm good?

Thanks..

Is your site on a WINDOWS or LINUX server?

(BTW GoDaddy is about the worst host in the universe for zencart).

It's on LINUX.

Hmm, looks like a hosting switch is on the cards. I remember a few bad words about Godaddy on the Wordpress forums..

Is there a shortlist of the best hosts for ZC here? I'm still finding my way around the forum and not read much about hosting yet.

Cheers

http://www.zen-cart.com/index.php?main_page=infopages&pages_id=10

And while it is normally frowned upon to recommend hosts, (I use a wide variety of hosts - including some on the Certified List), I believe Camelot and Terra Networkto be very good choices. Both are staffed by people who know zencart very well. Support from these hosts is good.

Great, thanks mate.

Going back to the permissions, am I right in thinking I just make sure those two folders are set to Read Only?

Well both configure.php files are Read only now and I have renamed the admin file (making sure to put the configure.php back to Read only). Is that all there is to it?

Thanks

blahblah4949:

Well both configure.php files are Read only now and I have renamed the admin file (making sure to put the configure.php back to Read only). Is that all there is to it?

Thanks

Yes, you are pretty much done as far as the basic setup is concerned. Now the fun of customizing your store begins.