Looking for a Responsive Template for 1.5.5a

Seems neither the Picaflur Azul nor Tableau templates work in 1.5.5a which is extremely disappointing - finally upgrading from 1.5.1 and no templates work, at least that I can find. Anyone know of any that do 'actually work'?

cheers,
Mike

The responsive_classic that's built into Zen Cart 1.5.5a does work. The picaflor-azul templates currently require some updates (https://www.zen-cart.com/showthread.php?219801-Making-v154-DIY-Picaflor-Azul-templates-work-with-v1-5-5) to work with Zen Cart 1.5.5.

shags38:

Seems neither the Picaflur Azul nor Tableau templates work in 1.5.5a which is extremely disappointing - finally upgrading from 1.5.1 and no templates work, at least that I can find. Anyone know of any that do 'actually work'?

cheers,
Mike

Yes Mike, the Responsive Design Template Package ecosystem continues to be inexplicable to me. 6+ months since Zen Cart v1.5.5 / v1.5.5a released and still no Responsive Design Template Packages are listed as working with v.1.5.5.

So, when I started using v1.5.5a several months ago, I decided to build on the Responsive Classic template included in v1.5.5a instead of what I feared might be, for me, a rabbit-hole of unknown complexity and gothchas. My thinking (rightly or wrongly) was that it was a negative indicator that nobody had updated a Responsive Design Template Package download to work with 1.5.5 and that not doing so might be part of a marketing strategy since folks do have to make a living.

In any case, as lat9 has pointed out the Responsive Classic template does work. Let us know what you decide to do and how it works out. For example, I would love to hear if you are able to get the picaflor-azul Responsive Sheffield Blue to work following the directions here.

Zean:

7...For example, I would love to hear if you are able to get the picaflor-azul Responsive Sheffield Blue to work following the directions here.

I'm using Responsive Sheffield Blue 2.0 with zc 1.5.5a (site link is my sig file). I followed the thread you mention which was tremendous help. In addition I started at post #1 and read through the entire RSB 2.0 forum looking for issues/solutions, skimming quickly over the posts seeking design assistance and focusing on actual template issues. Prior to that I was using Responsive Winchester Black with zc 1.5.4 and then 1.5.5.

I too have wondered why there haven't been 1.5.5a specific templates hitting the plugin page. My own hunch is that the folks who generously do this volunteer work think zc 2.0 is imminent and are waiting on that release.

I would also suggest that Anne and others are being bombarded in the support threads for their existing templates by folks wanting to "tweak" rather than fix a problem. Wish there was some way to separate the two.
If there's a correction needed, the originator should get involved.
If it's just "How do I move this to here or turn off that," it should be somewhere other than a support thread IMHO.
Volunteering involves free time. The more free time, the more you'll probably see some additions.
Meanwhile, check out my sig and Lat9s clone a template mod.

dbltoe:

I would also suggest that Anne and others are being bombarded in the support threads for their existing templates by folks wanting to "tweak" rather than fix a problem. Wish there was some way to separate the two.
If there's a correction needed, the originator should get involved.
If it's just "How do I move this to here or turn off that," it should be somewhere other than a support thread IMHO.
Volunteering involves free time. The more free time, the more you'll probably see some additions.
Meanwhile, check out my sig and Lat9s clone a template mod.

Hi dbltoe,

Unfortunately like many plugins the explanation given of what the plugin actually does for the layman is lacking in Lat9s clone a template mod - can I assume that in a 1.5.5a install by using that mod I can clone all the files needed to make another template not 1.5.5a ready work? e.g. I can use it to make Anne's Sheffield Blue Responsive work in 1.5.5a? If not then what is its actual benefit?

I would also suggest that Anne and others are being bombarded in the support threads for their existing templates by folks wanting to "tweak" rather than fix a problem.
You are right, to a degree - contributors give freely of their resources to offer their expertise and 'products' free to the ZC community, we all know that. However it is superfluous if it is not supported effectively and is left to others in the community to support - yes granted it is part of the 'community' of ZC and a learning tool however that only works if someone with the right amount of knowledge to solve a problem bothers to visit the support forum which is generally not the case unless they have an issue with that plugin/contribution.

Anne has time to send emails soliciting to help current users of her templates with older versions and templates, (in my case 1.5.1/RAB) to upgrade their sites which she has apparently researched to show that they are not performing well in 'mobile' > Hello ;) - I hope that you are having a great day! I have done a free site evaluation for you. Here is a list of my recommendations to improve the site in terms of SEO, increased sales/conversion rates, and usability. Please contact me to discuss these if you have any questions or need a quote for any/all.

• upgrade to Zen Cart version 1.5.5a

• install a new template package. Google is currently penalizing your site because it is not mobile friendly/responsive. to spend a few minutes perusing the latest posts in their support thread is in my humble opinion an 'obligation' to the community, a responsibility taken onboard when submitting contributions, especially complex ones which have a propensity to a large number of queries.

Wish there was some way to separate the two. a fabulous idea and one that the admin of the forums should take seriously - when submitting a contribution for assessment by the committee the contributor should be asked if they require a 'function' thread and a separate 'tweak' thread, the description of each thread specifically stating the support limitations. Of course the age old question will be asked, 'who will do all this' - a fair question but if asked via a newsletter the response of volunteers may surprise.

I am always slow to upgrade from one version to another as is the case now, from 1.5.1 to 1.5.5a for 6 sites - for 2 reasons I am not a coder so I do the whole site rebuild in a test folder method which is extremely time consuming when you are transferring hundreds of megs per site via ftp at upload rates of 0.03Mbs (yes you read it right - am right at the very end of the line - anyway I digress) .... and secondly, well if it ain't broke don't fix it, site is performing well why go to all that trouble? ... so it is very frustrating when you take the plunge to upgrade and the 'necessary' plugins are not compatible. (necessary = templates and some others).

I have looked at the fix here https://www.zen-cart.com/showthread.php?219801-Making-v154-DIY-Picaflor-Azul-templates-work-with-v1-5-5 however not being a coder I have a bad history of screwing up file merges so tend to look for the 'here it is fixed for you' files like so many others. It begs the question though - if a fix is available why not apply it to the existing template and list it as a compatible version? - is it time? I somehow think not - in the case of Picaflor Azul responsive templates a working version of each is available as Anne is promoting via email.

No doubt aside from Anne there are others reading this that are indignant at my comments and as much as that may be the case it is what it is. Why is Anne and her Picaflur Azul templates copping the brunt of my frustration (and others I believe) - simple (no-one kicks a dead dog) .... because in my opinion she produces the very best free templates available for ZC and the number of downloads of her many versions over the years are testament to my statement - her install instructions have been absolutely excellent and her support in support threads has (previously) been first class - all my sites have always used her templates ... that is why.

So as you can see I am a little less defensive/tolerant of contributors 'time' as an excuse for not regularly checking their support threads and responding to what they can as they can, using a triage process if necessary - (which will no doubt get me blacklisted by some) - at the end of the day we are all in business and hence we all rely on each other, at present I am unable to move my business forward as has been suggested I do.

So out of necessity I will scrub the many hours of work and start again with new test folders and do my upgrade this time to 1.5.4 which will make the puritans shudder however I know it is supported.

I just hope that v2.0 is a long long way down the track - if it is not then please let me know and I will save myself a truckload of work :)

cheers,
Mike

• look next to my name and you see 0 contributions however I have collaborated with a developer on one and try to offer in forums what I can from things I have learned in the forums or via trial and error.

no worries.
Claim is that Anne does the programming and someone else does the "marketing."
The clone mod allows you to set an included template or an installed template by doing all the things you wish to make it "yours". Then, you use the clone mod to create a copy that will survive upgrade.
It is also nice to use during install/upgrade to retain various steps in the process. Just another form of backup that can come in handy if you need to backtrack.

thanks dbltoe - not sure what you meant by this line > Claim is that Anne does the programming and someone else does the "marketing."

cheers,
Mike

I find it very disappointing that templates designed to work with v1.5.4 which apparently require about 6 file modifications/merges are still not modified to be compatible with 1.5.5a

This thread, started by rbarbour whose responsive code is used in Picaflur Azul templates and possibly Numinix as well, was started 6 months ago showing what mods needed to be made to make templates work in 1.5.5 (assume also 1.5.5a) https://www.zen-cart.com/showthread.php?219801-Making-v154-DIY-Picaflor-Azul-templates-work-with-v1-5-5

I am guessing that the time it would take to make these modifications to code to make the template(s) work would be maybe an hour,? a touch more?, a touch less?? and yet it is 6 months down the track and these templates are still not modified - makes you wonder how many ZC users have actually upgraded to 1.5.5 as aside from the inbuilt Classic template it seems there are no others available for this version - the mentioned thread has only 2 posters who are not contributors involved in the development of the mods - which begs the question, are the template providers holding back for v2.0 as has been suggested previously.

Zen Cart promotes regular upgrading of versions primarily to improve the security of our websites and that is great - however where is the collaboration between the Zen Cart programmers and contributors in the release of new versions? - would it not make sense for ZC programmers (admin) to ask contributors of what I will class as critically important contributions (templates, Image Handlers, SiteMap, Alternate URL's etc, the basic add-ons that the majority of users use) to make test and make mods if necessary to their existing plugins based on the new proposed version during the beta phase? In the case of template providers even if only one template was immediately available at time of release of the new ZC version?

If not the actual contributor then someone else in the community with the appropriate skills, encouraging a sense of collaboration within the community?

Just seems so contradictory.

cheers,
Mike

p.s. if anyone has been able to get Sheffield Blue or Winchester to work successfully with 1.5.5a then I would be most appreciative if you could provide the necessary modified files for copy and paste into my sites - either in here or PM

shags38:

I am guessing that the time it would take to make these modifications to code to make the template(s) work would be maybe an hour,? a touch more?, a touch less?? and yet it is 6 months down the track and these templates are still not modified - makes you wonder how many ZC users have actually upgraded to 1.5.5 as aside from the inbuilt Classic template it seems there are no others available for this version - the mentioned thread has only 2 posters who are not contributors involved in the development of the mods - which begs the question, are the template providers holding back for v2.0 as has been suggested previously.

i am not a fan of anne and more specifically her marketing techniques to my clients and others... its been well documented here..

that said, you previously stated you are not a coder, and now you are making assumptions about the amount of time it would take for someone to change their code to work with a new version?

take the time to learn to code; pay someone to do the code modifications for you; anything else.... besides making assumptions about the time it takes to do something that goes through a review process and needs to be tested against various schemes. i just think you will be better served then complaining about the effort that someone is providing for free.

in addition, i think others might disagree with what you call as critically important modules...

good luck!

It shouldn't cost very much at all to hire someone to make those simple fixes. So, just splash out a few bucks and get it working. Then you can submit it to the plugins for everyone else to share. Wins all around for everyone!

carlwhat:

i am not a fan of anne and more specifically her marketing techniques to my clients and others... its been well documented here..

that said, you previously stated you are not a coder, and now you are making assumptions about the amount of time it would take for someone to change their code to work with a new version?

take the time to learn to code; pay someone to do the code modifications for you; anything else.... besides making assumptions about the time it takes to do something that goes through a review process and needs to be tested against various schemes. i just think you will be better served then complaining about the effort that someone is providing for free.

in addition, i think others might disagree with what you call as critically important modules...

good luck!

Thanks for your response Carl - I think my estimates were close, don't you? :) - by not being a coder I meant I cannot create or develop code in respect to making plugins - I have a working knowledge of basic code learned out of necessity when I started with ZC and have done many modifications myself and often case with help from community members, sometimes successfully however sometimes resulting in drastic failures causing more issues than it solved. Why pay someone to do code modifications when I could pay for an eCommerce platform that doesn't require all the continual work that is inherent in ZC and alleviate all this frustration. Answer is that I cannot afford paying for code modifications in ZC let alone such a platform. I have no idea how much revenue other Zenners generate however even across my 6 sites the income is meagre.

I think you missed the point of my post.

cheers,
Mike

if you haven't already done so read this thread which covers similar comments in respect to the point I was making - it is interesting reading, critical at times however basically upfront open discussion about how ZC could be improved - collaboration between Admin and Contributors is but just one of the main points - https://www.zen-cart.com/showthread.php?218650-Why-I-m-Quitting-Zen-Cart

lankeeyankee:

It shouldn't cost very much at all to hire someone to make those simple fixes. So, just splash out a few bucks and get it working. Then you can submit it to the plugins for everyone else to share. Wins all around for everyone!

Hi Lankee - I guess you missed the point of the post also. The template creator, the creator of the Responsive code and Admin (Dr Byte) have been aware of the need for a fix for over 6 months now - there are no templates available other than the inbuilt Classic that work with a 6 month old version of ZC - can you see a lack of co-ordination/organization, lack of collaboration or even simply a lack of interest for the other side of Zen Cart (the marketing/presentation side, the way a searcher sees a website) and a bit of every man for himself approach creeping in? The result is that people are not upgrading to v1.5.5a regardless of the number of downloads, except maybe for those that can afford to have others develop templates for them - the rest of the typical Zenner community, the small timer like me, are at the behest of what the system as it may be can provide - that is the idea behind oS isn't it?

Anyway, just my opinion.

cheers,
Mike

cheers,
Mike

shags38:

I think you missed the point of my post.

well, mike, actually, i think you missed the point of my post....

if you want to contribute, contribute. if you want to tell everyone how to do things, well, i'm just not sure what to tell you....

i don't know anne, i don't know how many "free" templates she has out there, i have no idea about the ZC review process when it comes to submitting things, or if she just makes them available for downloads, so frankly i would not want to hesitate a guess. i know that when i have contributed to ZC via PRs for the next release, what i thought would be a short simple fix involved a heck of a lot more time that i initially thought. so i am not willing to hesitate a guess if your estimate on upgrading those templates is close.

i'm guessing that it bothers you, and rather than work on a solution to it, you want others to do it for you.

if you think ZC is so difficult to maintain, go try magento. i'm sure shopify would not do everything you want it to do either.

with any amount of experience, i'm sure you could make your 6 sites with their current templates v155a compatible. but what i do know?

with regards to drByte and the rest of the ZC team, i have no idea what their income might be, meager or not. i do know that i see drByte on this forum frequently, attempting to help people with their problems. and i also see him managing the development effort as well as soliciting opinions on future releases.

is the current template packaged with ZC v155a a bit dated? no doubt in my mind.... but i do see work being done on v160 to improve on it; in fact to revamp most of it. so maybe all of these extra templates will be superfluous in future releases...

so please excuse me if i missed the point of your post....

best.

carlwhat:

well, mike, actually, i think you missed the point of my post....

if you want to contribute, contribute. if you want to tell everyone how to do things, well, i'm just not sure what to tell you....

i don't know anne, i don't know how many "free" templates she has out there, i have no idea about the ZC review process when it comes to submitting things, or if she just makes them available for downloads, so frankly i would not want to hesitate a guess. i know that when i have contributed to ZC via PRs for the next release, what i thought would be a short simple fix involved a heck of a lot more time that i initially thought. so i am not willing to hesitate a guess if your estimate on upgrading those templates is close.

i'm guessing that it bothers you, and rather than work on a solution to it, you want others to do it for you.

if you think ZC is so difficult to maintain, go try magento. i'm sure shopify would not do everything you want it to do either.

with any amount of experience, i'm sure you could make your 6 sites with their current templates v155a compatible. but what i do know?

with regards to drByte and the rest of the ZC team, i have no idea what their income might be, meager or not. i do know that i see drByte on this forum frequently, attempting to help people with their problems. and i also see him managing the development effort as well as soliciting opinions on future releases.

is the current template packaged with ZC v155a a bit dated? no doubt in my mind.... but i do see work being done on v160 to improve on it; in fact to revamp most of it. so maybe all of these extra templates will be superfluous in future releases...

so please excuse me if i missed the point of your post....

best.

Carl - I have contributed and continue to contribute to ZenCart - read my first post in this thread - I do not have the skills to write code to develop plugins so yes I rely on others to do that however I do offer input, sometimes critical, to the development of ZC - this plugin Product Sorter was developed by balihr in collaboration with myself, i.e. my concept and Leonards code writing skills in an example of true collaboration. Took me months of posting in different threads to eventually have someone willing to develop my idea into a useful plugin, (and thankfully, have balihr responded affirmatively).

Am I critical of ZC as it presently is ... some aspects yes ... constructively though .... and constructive criticism usually is beneficial to the whole. Good developers love praise but also welcome constructive criticism which drives them to further enhance their contributions.

Anyway I didn't intend to get into a verbal stoush, everyone is entitled to their own opinion - what this search for a resolution to an issue faced by many has done is it has led me to MobiZenCart, a much better/more advanced/more practical/more user friendly alternative to Responsive Templates - unfortunately you will note in the last post on that page that Ultimate_ZC, a fantastic contributor to ZC, has left ZC to persue other interests. I am hoping that someone else, maybe SW_Guy may pick up the ball and run with it - this explanation of the difference between Responsive and Mobile by Ultimate_ZC is great reading and very educational - found in SW_GUY Newsletter linked from support thread, http://us1.campaign-archive1.com/?u=0dcb1c9808&id=3a08aa5785

So I have been educated - if I had stuck my head in the sand I would not have been.

Like I said, I really do hope that someone continues the development of MobiZenCart and that it becomes standard code in a future version of ZC

Thanks for responding to this thread which has served its purpose.

cheers,
Mike

shags38:

I find it very disappointing that templates designed to work with v1.5.4 which apparently require about 6 file modifications/merges are still not modified to be compatible with 1.5.5a

This thread, started by rbarbour whose responsive code is used in Picaflur Azul templates and possibly Numinix as well, was started 6 months ago showing what mods needed to be made to make templates work in 1.5.5 (assume also 1.5.5a) https://www.zen-cart.com/showthread.php?219801-Making-v154-DIY-Picaflor-Azul-templates-work-with-v1-5-5

I am guessing that the time it would take to make these modifications to code to make the template(s) work would be maybe an hour,? a touch more?, a touch less??

The first conversion took me less an hour to do, chicken feed in the scheme of things.

shags38:

...and yet it is 6 months down the track and these templates are still not modified - makes you wonder how many ZC users have actually upgraded to 1.5.5...

Firstly, these templates are being maintained by volunteers - they also need to make a living like all of us and paid work has priority - IMHO

I am looking after more than 35 ZC sites for a Euro company, about 60% of these sites are running 1.5.5a (most of them with Westminster New) and the rest is in the pipeline for upgrades after we consolidate them from other servers. All my own sites are on 1.5.5a....

shags38:

as aside from the inbuilt Classic template it seems there are no others available for this version - the mentioned thread has only 2 posters who are not contributors involved in the development of the mods - which begs the question, are the template providers holding back for v2.0 as has been suggested previously.

Zen Cart promotes regular upgrading of versions primarily to improve the security of our websites and that is great - however where is the collaboration between the Zen Cart programmers and contributors in the release of new versions? - would it not make sense for ZC programmers (admin) to ask contributors of what I will class as critically important contributions (templates, Image Handlers, SiteMap, Alternate URL's etc, the basic add-ons that the majority of users use) to make test and make mods if necessary to their existing plugins based on the new proposed version during the beta phase? In the case of template providers even if only one template was immediately available at time of release of the new ZC version?

If not the actual contributor then someone else in the community with the appropriate skills, encouraging a sense of collaboration within the community?

Just seems so contradictory.

cheers,
Mike

p.s. if anyone has been able to get Sheffield Blue or Winchester to work successfully with 1.5.5a then I would be most appreciative if you could provide the necessary modified files for copy and paste into my sites - either in here or PM

If you spend some time to read through the various threads, you will find that the whole ZC platform has been developed by an army of volunteers since 2003. Most of us are/have been involved in some sort of a contribution/collaboration, be it small or big. And that goes for all ZC forums, this one and in other countries.

Many individually developed plugins are now part of the core code... say no more.

frank18:

The first conversion took me less an hour to do, chicken feed in the scheme of things.

Firstly, these templates are being maintained by volunteers - they also need to make a living like all of us and paid work has priority - IMHO

My point exactly Frank - less than an hour - so the template developer cannot allocate less than an hour over a 6 month period to upgrade it to work with 1.5.5 - give me a break. Some of these volunteers are making a pretty penny out of ZC - where is their sense of obligation to not leave current users of their templates in the lurch? .... for the sake of an hour ..... and where are the posts with the successfully modified files from other ZC users who have successfully modified the templates? the community is not working as designed and many are happy to criticize anyone who constructively criticizes a "contributor or the contributor community" ... that "other community" that bonds together in defence of the way it is.

If you spend some time to read through the various threads, you will find that the whole ZC platform has been developed by an army of volunteers since 2003. Most of us are/have been involved in some sort of a contribution/collaboration, be it small or big. And that goes for all ZC forums, this one and in other countries.

Many individually developed plugins are now part of the core code... say no more.

Absolutely fully understood, and appreciated Frank, have been here long enough to be aware of that and if you read a previous post I too have contributed - so where does development of ZC come from? .... demand I would think and ideas albeit you don't have to have the ability to develop a plugin to contribute ideas ........ and currently there is a demand for a template other than the inbuilt classic that works with 1.5.5a without modification ..... like all of the templates that have been consistently upgraded for a number of years from 1.3.9h to 1.5.0 to 1.5.1 to 1.5.2 to 1.5.3 to 1.5.4 ........ then hitting a brick wall .... that is what I cannot understand and something no-one seems to care about .... I did notice your posts in Sheffield Blue support thread search for an upgrade to 1.5.5a and you have it working now I understand - where is your contribution to the likes of me and others who require the same but are floundering with code/file merging? I actually posted in that thread asking rbarbour to share his successfully modified files which he PM'd to you but got no response either from him or from you https://www.zen-cart.com/showthread.php?217203-Responsive-Sheffield-Blue-v2-0/page88 .... so it seems the term "community" is subjective dependent on whether you are in the club or not.

I've asked the same thing in this thread, again with no response - care to share Frank?

cheers,
Mike

Responsive Template for 1.5.5a? Maybe!

Picaflor-Azul said on 30 Sep 2016, regarding Winchester Responsive,
"I just submitted an updated template package for compatibility with 1.5.5x. "

However, as of right now (10/5/2016) Winchester Responsive shows Last Updated by picaflor-azul - 3 Apr 2015.
Also strangely as of right now, Winchester Responsive does not even show up in Files in category : Template Packages - Responsive Design
but can be found via Advanced Search on Plugins on Keywords Winchester Responsive.

Zean:

Yes Mike, the Responsive Design Template Package ecosystem continues to be inexplicable to me. 6+ months since Zen Cart v1.5.5 / v1.5.5a released and still no Responsive Design Template Packages are listed as working with v.1.5.5.

So, when I started using v1.5.5a several months ago, I decided to build on the Responsive Classic template included in v1.5.5a instead of what I feared might be, for me, a rabbit-hole of unknown complexity and gothchas. My thinking (rightly or wrongly) was that it was a negative indicator that nobody had updated a Responsive Design Template Package download to work with 1.5.5 and that not doing so might be part of a marketing strategy since folks do have to make a living.

In any case, as lat9 has pointed out the Responsive Classic template does work. Let us know what you decide to do and how it works out. For example, I would love to hear if you are able to get the picaflor-azul Responsive Sheffield Blue to work following the directions here.

Zean:

Responsive Template for 1.5.5a? Maybe!

Picaflor-Azul said on 30 Sep 2016, regarding Winchester Responsive,
"I just submitted an updated template package for compatibility with 1.5.5x. "

However, as of right now (10/5/2016) Winchester Responsive shows Last Updated by picaflor-azul - 3 Apr 2015.
Also strangely as of right now, Winchester Responsive does not even show up in Files in category : Template Packages - Responsive Design
but can be found via Advanced Search on Plugins on Keywords Winchester Responsive.

Zean - thanks for that info - the submitted template has to be approved before it will be listed as a plugin albeit revisions or updates shouldn't take this long I wouldn't think - will try to get an update from Admin.

cheers,
Mike