Buying a Template

Hello. I have 2 online stores; The first one I customized myself using the basic template. It was very frustrating and my husband says it looks like a MySpace page, so I think I want to purchase a ready made site/template for my other store. Does anyone have any suggestions on where to get (and where to avoid) legitimate templates?

Don't. All commercial templates originate with Template Monster, and they're junk, regardless of how pretty the demo is.

You might provide a link to the site - we may have suggestions.

Also, search the Free Software Add Ons for picaflor for some pretty nice free templates.

There are a LOT of organisations offering commercial templates, and the general rule is... AVOID...

Steer clear of Template Monster, Algozone, and a whole host of re-sellers of these templates. They are heavily customised to FORCE a FIXED LOOK, and they achieve this by modifying code and REMOVING core functions.

In the hands of zc code experts, they can be manipulated, but for novices, they are hugely problematic.

Don't be "tempted" by s e x y graphics on the template-for-sale sites. Graphics are your least concern. It's FUNCTIONALITY that is important.

There are many templates in the FREE ADD-ONS that work brilliantly, and can be re-styled graphically (and through their CSS) quite easily. Those by picaflor-azul and 12leaves are pretty reliable.

What you may care to do is find a template that you like, then post it's name/author/seller site here, and then we can advise you on whether it's worth risking a purchase.

Ahh... Steve beat me to it - but interesting to see we offer pretty much the same advice.

Wow, thanks all! I will definitely look deeper into the add-ons and get back to this post.

You can see the free templates "in action" at http://(sorry, site offline)/.

There is nothing wrong with the Template Monster templates if you are happy with how they look from the start and don't want to modify them.

They are slick and professional looking, which inspires confidence from your customers. You don't get any prizes for making one yourself.

dgent:

There is nothing wrong with the Template Monster templates if you are happy with how they look from the start and don't want to modify them.

They are slick and professional looking, which inspires confidence from your customers. You don't get any prizes for making one yourself.

:oops: would not touch them with leather gloves on!

Just do a search on the forums for Template Monster and you get the drift.

dgent:

There is nothing wrong with the Template Monster templates if you are happy with how they look from the start and don't want to modify them.

They are slick and professional looking, which inspires confidence from your customers. You don't get any prizes for making one yourself.

I suspect that dgent is right about most TM templates, but we've seen many here that didn't work out-of-the-box.

One problem is, if you don't/can't modify the look of your store, your 'professional' site will look exactly like those of the thousands of other stores whose owners paid $160 for that same template. This is especially problematic when you buy a template that supposedly is designed specifically for the type of products you sell.

You may not get any prizes for creating your own template, but you can get a lot of satisfaction and learn a lot about useful stuff like CSS in the process.

Yeah true, but Joe public doesnt scour the net comparing website designs to see if there is an identical one out there, and there are lots of people using the free templates suggested on here, and all looking similar.

Functionality is a must, but the look of your site is very very important. If all your competitors have better looking, better to use websites than you, then its hard to compete.

dgent is demonstrating (like many Zencart novices) a complete lack of the appreciation of maintaining FUNCTIONALITY, over GRAPHIC DESIGN.

It's easy to be seduced by pretty pictures, but like an iceberg, the really important parts of a website are those you don't see.

ALL TM templates can be "mimicked" in a reliably FUNCTIONAL standard template.

What about future upgrades? have you ever had to upgrade a TM-based site? It can be a massive task... And be very costly for the site owner.

We have built going on 50 or 60 sites, where the client has told us to look at a TM template, and which we have manage to copy almost 100%, on a RELIABLE wireframe that maintains core behaviour.

I re-iterate what I said earlier. DO NOT use TM templates. ALL of these templates' designs can be rendered in proper, core, wireframes.

schoolboy:

dgent is demonstrating (like many Zencart novices) a complete lack of the appreciation of maintaining FUNCTIONALITY, over GRAPHIC DESIGN.

It's easy to be seduced by pretty pictures, but like an iceberg, the really important parts of a website are those you don't see.

ALL TM templates can be "mimicked" in a reliably FUNCTIONAL standard template.

What about future upgrades? have you ever had to upgrade a TM-based site? It can be a massive task... And be very costly for the site owner.

We have built going on 50 or 60 sites, where the client has told us to look at a TM template, and which we have manage to copy almost 100%, on a RELIABLE wireframe that maintains core behaviour.

I re-iterate what I said earlier. DO NOT use TM templates. ALL of these templates' designs can be rendered in proper, core, wireframes.

What the hell do any of those points got do with a customer making a purchase on your website??

'Buy the New Ford Whatever, it doesnt look very good, but us mechanics have a really nice workshop to sit in and we can keep it really tidy, so thats a good reason for you to buy from us...'

Er no..:P

Im not disagreeing you can make the site look like a 'Template Monster' template - but its not easy, so most people don't, and hence stuck with bland looking sites that look about 15 years old and wonder why they have no sales.

So, once again, if you want to start making sales quickly, you need to look professional.

An opinion is like an #s#ole, everyone has one! :yes:

TM has great looking templates - IF (I SAY IF) you are not familiar with CSS or PHP they are problematic and will cost you upwards of $400 or more to bring back the ZEN CART STOCK FUNCTIONS.

plus most add-ons won't function properly with TM templates either.

This is due to the lack of customer service after sale hence why so many TM CUSTOMERS come to the forums.

Some great template designers were mentioned earlier by stevesh & schoolboy. Those designers also offer FREE TEMPLATES and have GREAT customer service via their websites & are present here on the forums.

rbarbour:

An opinion is like an #s#ole, everyone has one! :yes:

TM has great looking templates - IF (I SAY IF) you are not familiar with CSS or PHP they are problematic and will cost you upwards of $400 or more to bring back the ZEN CART STOCK FUNCTIONS.

plus most add-ons won't function properly with TM templates either.

This is due to the lack of customer service after sale hence why so many TM CUSTOMERS come to the forums.

Some great template designers were mentioned earlier by stevesh & schoolboy. Those designers also offer FREE TEMPLATES and have GREAT customer service via their websites & are present here on the forums.

I had a client a few weeks back come to me saying he needed a site urgently, and had a seen a template monster template he liked and needed a PPC campaign and site set up that day so he could get selling.

Within that first week it had turned over £3000...

Now, I could have said I would make him a site with full 'functionality' that would have looked as nice, may have taken me a week or two.

But that two week delay as you can see would have made him miss out on £6k worth of income.

Now either you're one of two people, one that wants to get things moving and make money quickly, or one that wants to take your time and watch it dribble in.

I don't think the former then is too worried about maybe a $400 bill later on to make some changes, dontcha think..:cool:

Then there is the third person, that can't afford to pay someone to design a decent site, and has no clue about coding. That is what Template Monster templates are for, and I could put money on alot of those people are making more money from their sites that some that learnt to do it themselves but never quite 'hit the mark'..

Let's get this into perspective...

MOST users of zencart are inexperienced novices - that's the beauty of it... people with scant knowledge of software can actually get a functional eCommerce site up and running in a relatively short space of time.

In being novices, they therefore rely on the integrity of the core platform to perform as it is designed to do. They have an inherent and possibly an implied TRUST that the software does what it is supposed to do.

As this software is OpenSource, there are no LAWS that prevent anyone from modifying it in any way they like - including TM - who have their own ways of altering the code structure.

As I said... if you are a skilled coder, and can unpick the way the TM templates are built, then sure... using them is no problem.

But for novices, who have no idea of why an expected function suddenly fails on them, or a setting in the admin panel has no effect in the webshop, these issues can become quite serious... and they then have to hire people to restore functions that they would otherwise have working normally.

FUNCTIONALITY is paramount... (We assign it a value of 90% of a website, with DESIGN being worth only 10%). And we have scores of case studies which prove our point. Some of our most successful clients have ZC sites that are largely based on the "classic" template, where the time put into the cosmetics has amounted to less than an hour's work.

I remain adamant on this (as our considerable experience tells us)... resist the temptation to opt for fancy design at the expense of functionality. The vast majority of web shoppers want an efficient, simple and fast means to make their purchases, and are utterly unconcerned about the "degree of gradient from grey to white" in the site's backgound image...

You're speaking like a webdesigner and not a businessman...Once again, thats nothing to do with the customer using your site.

The look of your site, the way you present your site, the professionalism, the way you advertise etc, all contribute to your conversions, and sales - which is what we are all here for isnt it?

How my back end of my admin is set up doesnt make diddly squat difference to those points above.

dgent:

You're speaking like a webdesigner and not a businessman...

I respectfully disagree... our "business" is extremely successful... as are those of our over 300 customers... MOSTLY because we focus on what matters in eCommerce.

My final comment on this. DO NOT use TM templates. :smile:

schoolboy:

I respectfully disagree... our "business" is extremely successful... as are those of our over 300 customers... MOSTLY because we focus on what matters in eCommerce.

My final comment on this. DO NOT use TM templates. :smile:

Well...Ill tell you who probably has a more successful business that both of us....Template Monster.

...Thousands of people buy those templates all the time, they are a multimillion dollar business....

Kinds of proves my point then, that people ARE influence by form over function.

Go and tell Template Monster they should make blander simpler templates as if it will make them more money and watch them laugh in your face..:P

:smile:

You're speaking like a webdesigner and not a businessman... ...so a "webdesigner" would argue for quick functionality over looks?? umm, whatever :)

I'm quite sure that template buyers are influenced by form over function.

gjh42:

...so a "webdesigner" would argue for quick functionality over looks?? umm, whatever :)

I'm quite sure that template buyers are influenced by form over function.

Indeed.