setting up a new website

Hello,

I am setting up a new website. The "entrance" site will have a few simple pages to introduce the company and some products (a little like a simple brochure) with a "STORE" link where I will upload zencart for all the eCommerce features.

Is this feasible within zencart? If not I was thinking to use Worpress for the "entrance" site.

Does anyone have any recommendation?

Thank you.

Zen Cart is suitable, you have the choice of using regular html pages like a brochure then link to your cart, or customize the main landing page in zen and make the transition seamless :)

http://twitchtoo.com/zencart/pos.html - basic html.
links to...
http://twitchtoo.com/TwitchAccount/ - live cart.

Same header ;)

There is no good reason not to use Zen Cart for the whole site, with the homepage and possibly a few define pages modified as desired for a "non-store" look. This simplifies moving around, as the Zen Cart user session never risks being interrupted and lost by a visitor spending time on "content" pages.
The only major exception to this would be where a blog is a critical, central feature of the site and needs to be the main entrance.

So the "entrance" site are just html pages or are these created withing zencart (perhaps ez-pages)?

I'd go with define pages over ez pages.

gjh42:

There is no good reason not to use Zen Cart for the whole site, with the homepage and possibly a few define pages modified as desired for a "non-store" look. This simplifies moving around, as the Zen Cart user session never risks being interrupted and lost by a visitor spending time on "content" pages.
The only major exception to this would be where a blog is a critical, central feature of the site and needs to be the main entrance.

Sorry I did not see your reply. I'd also prefer using only zencart. There will not be any blog feature (I mentioned wordpress as it's easy to setup, though it could have also been just a few html pages). Basically only no eCommerce feature for the first few "entrance" pages ... How could I achieve that?

Several admin settings will get you started: Configuration > Index Listing >
Show New Products on Main Page
Show Featured Products on Main Page
Show Special Products on Main Page
Show Upcoming Products on Main Page
(set all to 0)

Cofiguration > Layout Settings >
Define Breadcrumb Status (set to 2)
Categories - Always Show on Main Page (set to 0)

There are probably some others you will end up using, but these will get you started. If you don't want sideboxes on the homepage, there is a simple tweak you can make in /includes/templates/your_template/common/tpl_main_page.php. Look in the comments at the top of the file for instructions on disabling left and right columns for certain pages ($this_is_home_page is the variable to use for the homepage).

For additional info pages, there are several define pages premade (Page 2, 3 & 4) which you can add content to and rename using instructions from the tutorials. You can create as many new define pages as you want; the About Us mod from Plugins will simplify that task.

Thank you!