Free Template "Future Zen"

sashbox:

Perhaps some of the designers among us here could come up with some clean, generic, yet attractive "template_default"-based template sets so newbies are not overwelmed? :wink2:
So said sashbox on another thread.

Here is such a template. It won't be to everybody's taste and it won't win any design competitions, but that's not the point. This template has been designed to meet three objectives:

1. To show how much can be done with almost no effort by harnessing the power of the template_default and CSS
2. To provide new users with a starting point that is as appealing as the classic template but doesn't have the headaches that are played out over and over again in this forum
3. To be trivial to install
   I refer to this as an ultra light template, because it consists of just 11 files, 8 of which are images. The other two are a stylesheet that does most of the work, the obligatory template_info.php file and the installation instructions. Yes folks, no code was harmed in the making of this template.

Tired of hearing me write (!!) go ahead and download the release package.

Finally, I want to give credit to the Dev Team for their vision in taking Zen Cart down its current path. It took me just two hours to put this template together (and I still consider myself to be barely past the newbie stage) - that it could be done this quickly was due to all the hard work being done by their core code and template_default.

An extra note, just to say that this template is designed for ZC v1.3+ I don't know what the results of trying to apply it to earlier versions might be, but I doubt they would be good.

Thanks for your hard work Kuroi.

However, there seems to be a 404 error with the link you posted.

me too got the same error !!!

There is a link in his signature. :smile:

I had downloaded it.

Got it. Thanks Kuroi.

Will give feedback tomorrow.

Great contribution.. thanks
Tested in both MIE/Firefox..
if category tabs menu, under header logo NOT turned on, 12 pixel high/fullwidth
white box appears.. you might like to check this out

Thanks chaps, for letting me know about the 404 error. embarassing huh! Got eberything ready anbd tested and then decided to add versioning. Anyway, both my signature below and the link at th top of the thread now work.

Retested using both MIE and Firefox.. working fine now.. agree totally that
floating the whole design on a tranqil sea of blue works much better..
well done!!
:thumbsup:

misty:

Great contribution.. thanks
Tested in both MIE/Firefox..
if category tabs menu, under header logo NOT turned on, 12 pixel high/fullwidth
white box appears.. you might like to check this out
Thanks Misty

The white blocks (there were two others that I had already taken care of with negative margins) are I think due to the BR tags used to separate some of the sections. Easy solution, float the whole design on a tranqil sea of blue, which works better with the rounded boxes than the original design (and lets me remove the negative margin hacks). The updated version can be seen in the screenshot (click on it for a larger image)

Attachment #24

The release package can be downloaded from here. Installation is "just overwrite everything".

====== THREADS MERGED =========

This thread to a large extent duplicates one I started under the styelsheet section. My apolgies, I should have put it here from the outset.

This is a small template that won't be to everybody's taste and won't win any design competitions, but that's not the point. The template has been designed to meet three objectives:

1. To show how much can be done with almost no effort, just by harnessing the power of the template_default and CSS
2. To provide new users with a starting point that is as appealing as the classic template but doesn't have the headaches that are played out over and over again in this forum
3. To be trivial to install

This template consists of just 11 files, 8 of which are images. The other three are a stylesheet that does most of the work, the obligatory template_info.php file and the installation instructions. Yes folks, no code was harmed in the making of this template.

This is what it looks like (click on the image to see a larger version)

You can download the release package here.

I want to give credit to the Dev Team for their vision in taking Zen Cart down its current path. It took me just two hours to put this template together (and I still consider myself to be barely past the newbie stage) - that it could be done this quickly was due to all the hard work being done by their core code and template_default.

Finally, just to say that this template is designed for ZC v1.3+ I don't know what the results of trying to apply it to earlier versions might be, but I doubt they would be good (and apologies again for the double post).

I just wanted to say that I just dl'd this and havent installed yet but so far you're install.txt is the funniest and most apropo thing I've ever read:

Sit back with with a beer, a glass of wine, a cup of tea, or, in my case, a Diet Coke and revel in the ease of installation and the new found tranquility of your updated Zen Cart. Alternatively run screaming to the Support Forum to hurl abuse at me for this £(#@)$" piece of %£*" which together we will eventually trace to some failure on your part to follow the above instructions.

I think that last sentence should be appended to every OSS effort to date! :lol:

Fresh, Clean, and totally Zen!!!

Really, Really nice job!! This could/should be a replacement for "Classic" for new Zenners that are not upgrading from an earlier version and want a working model for their shop right off.

The template_default is IMO a great starting place for upgraders in that with all the colors allows one to find the CSS code that controls a particular look. But for a complete beginner it might appear overwhelming and cause much frusrtration.

As you have demonstrated, one can with very few files, create a basic, clean and visually appealing look. This also demonstrates the underlying power of ZenCart in its' new form.

KuDo's to you, and thank you for sharing this.

oh that is very pretty!!

thank you so much!! i was looking for something that was less blocky to jump from.

You rock!

Could you repost this? The link is broken. Thanks!

magicpants:

Could you repost this? The link is broken. Thanks!
The links not broken. My ISP is, or more specifically something used by all their linux servers. Since my ISP is 1&1, I suspect that means a lot of site down at the moment.

I will email you a copy of the template.

kuroi:

I will email you a copy of the template.
OK, turns out the support forum won't let me do that. So here's another attempt. Unlike the original version (with a big screen shot) the current version seems small enough to be posted right here in this thread Attachment #35

very clean... was just wondering tho... is it just me tho on every box bottom left text overlapse with the border??

GazLuvsStace:

very clean... was just wondering tho... is it just me tho on every box bottom left text overlapse with the border??
It's not just you. I was beginning to think nobody would ever notice (or comment). I was aware of this when I posted the template originally, but made a conscious decision to leave it like it is. This isn't intended to be a finished template, but rather a gentle nudge for new Zen Cart users along their own templating path. So I didn't want it to be too perfect.

Hint: add a little padding-bottom to your .sideBoxContent and upload to your server to see how easy it is to maintain designs using CSS.

kuroi:

Hint: add a little padding-bottom to your .sideBoxContent and upload to your server to see how easy it is to maintain designs using CSS.

yep as a newbie like i am thats what i was thinkin... just hadnt got around to doing it... well done again on the template it is what newbies need (rather then classic)

GazLuvsStace:

yep as a newbie like i am thats what i was thinkin... just hadnt got around to doing it... well done again on the template it is what newbies need (rather then classic)

Actually, I very much agree with that, this would be a much more appropriate template to use as the default template for zc 1.3+

Great template, thanks for submitting and great work right there! :thumbsup:

I followed the installation instructions and get the following errors:

Warning: main(includes/languages/english/header.php): failed to open stream: No such file or directory in /home/.domain/ebatte/mydomain.com/shop/includes/languages/english.php on line 616

Warning: main(includes/languages/english/header.php): failed to open stream: No such file or directory in /home/.domain/ebatte/mydomain.com/shop/includes/languages/english.php on line 616

Fatal error: main(): Failed opening required 'includes/languages/english/header.php' (include_path='.:/usr/local/lib/php') in /home/.domain/ebatte/mydomain.com/shop/includes/languages/english.php on line 616

Any suggestions on how to fix this?

Thanks,
Eric