Things every New Zenner needs to know

DrByte:

It's worth asking them what they did. It might have been done by the hosting control panel or .htaccess file changes.

Those files will be on the server. You'll have to download them with your FTP program. In fact, you should get in the habit of doing that regularly to make backups of your files anyway. (Gotta also make database backups, but that's a separate topic or two)

They did a simple HTML re-direct in the index.html file :oops: which is why I could not find it in the control panel.

You were also correct on the files being on the server only and I think I'm now well on my way to having the cart run nice and neatly under the home directory so it will still show https://www.robertensing.com while the people are checking out my goods. :smile:

My next task is to change either the template or at least the color scheme but I think I can get a CSS editor to help me with that.

Thanks again for all your help.
Robert E

DrByte:

It's worth asking them what they did. It might have been done by the hosting control panel or .htaccess file changes.

Those files will be on the server. You'll have to download them with your FTP program. In fact, you should get in the habit of doing that regularly to make backups of your files anyway. (Gotta also make database backups, but that's a separate topic or two)

Spoke too soon.
Although the site seems to run fine, my first time into the admin would not let me log in.
So I downloaded and ran your Fix Cache Key Utility and it said it made the change but I still can't access the admin.
Any ideas? After a short pause for IE6 to try and find the file, it jumps to https://www.robertensing.com/login.php and gives a 404 error that the file can't be found.
:-(

Robert E

Sermonzone:

PRE-EMPTIVE EDIT:

A lot of documentation has been added to the Knowledgebase:
https://www.zen-cart.com/tutorials/index.php?category=16

Further, you will find great value in the eStart Your Web Store with Zen Cart users manual, which walks you through setting up your Zen Cart site from start to finish, along with many day-to-day tasks.
You can get your copy of the book here: http://www.lulu.com/content/466605

Original discussion:
New Zen Cart users get easily frustrated. They often do not know how to find answers to their

I would love to see that. I have purchased the book and it has a lot missing. For example: I have been searching for days which file has the <TagLine Here> which appears in the header. I have made templatechanges and I understand how to set template canges. This simple little problem has put me dead in the water now for about 4 hours. Just to give you an idea I came accross this post doing a search for the text "TagLine Here".

I will continue to move forward, but I encourage you to write, write, write....

maverick2539:

Sermonzone:

PRE-EMPTIVE EDIT:

A lot of documentation has been added to the Knowledgebase:
https://www.zen-cart.com/tutorials/index.php?category=16

Further, you will find great value in the eStart Your Web Store with Zen Cart users manual, which walks you through setting up your Zen Cart site from start to finish, along with many day-to-day tasks.
You can get your copy of the book here: http://www.lulu.com/content/466605

Original discussion:
New Zen Cart users get easily frustrated. They often do not know how to find answers to their

I would love to see that. I have purchased the book and it has a lot missing. For example: I have been searching for days which file has the <TagLine Here> which appears in the header. I have made templatechanges and I understand how to set template canges. This simple little problem has put me dead in the water now for about 4 hours. Just to give you an idea I came accross this post doing a search for the text "TagLine Here".

I will continue to move forward, but I encourage you to write, write, write....

did you check : How do I change the "Sales Message Goes Here" or "Tagline Here" text? in the tutorials/FAQ section

DrByte:

In fact, you should get in the habit of doing that regularly to make backups of your files anyway. (Gotta also make database backups, but that's a separate topic or two)

I now have a backup of the SQL in CSV format and a ZIPd SQL

Will the autopopulate read the CSV file in the format the phpAdmin exported it?
I have done something during the move and now ALL my data and settings are gone. I think the only thing it remembert was my little slogan at the top of the store page. :censored:

Rob905:

Spoke too soon.
Although the site seems to run fine, my first time into the admin would not let me log in.
So I downloaded and ran your Fix Cache Key Utility and it said it made the change but I still can't access the admin.
Any ideas? After a short pause for IE6 to try and find the file, it jumps to https://www.robertensing.com/login.php and gives a 404 error that the file can't be found.
:-(

Robert E

Sounds like you removed too much when you moved things around.

Did you keep the "admin" part in these?

  define('DIR_WS_ADMIN', '/admin/');
  define('DIR_WS_CATALOG', '/');
  define('DIR_WS_HTTPS_ADMIN', '/admin/');
  define('DIR_WS_HTTPS_CATALOG', '/');

... and ...

  define('DIR_FS_ADMIN', 'blahblahblah/admin/');
  define('DIR_FS_CATALOG', 'blahblahblah/');

You are typing in the wrong url -
or am I messed up?

You used this address:
http://www.robertensing.com/login.php

Try this one:
http://www.robertensing.com/admin/login.php

You forgot to put in admin as part of the URL????

jund

I did the same change and the same problem happened to me - spent couple of hours but still can't fiture out which page the "Sales Message Goes here" points to!!! :blink:

Who had some experience in this? I highly appreciate the turorial however it looks like may be a little outdated considering the fact it was released in 2006 and there mght be changes in the template afterwards. ??!!!??? :wacko:

clydejones:

did you check : How do I change the "Sales Message Goes Here" or "Tagline Here" text? in the tutorials/FAQ section

Sherrylxf:

I did the same change and the same problem happened to meI'm afraid that neither the change you made, nor the problem that you're having are obvious from either your post, or the one from which you were quoting.
Sherrylxf:

spent couple of hours but still can't fiture out which page the "Sales Message Goes here" points to!!!It doesn't point to any page. It's simply a piece of text displayed in every page's header as a sales message.

Sherrylxf:

I highly appreciate the turorial however it looks like may be a little outdated considering the fact it was released in 2006 and there mght be changes in the template afterwards.The tutorial may be almost a year old, but it is still completely accurate for a standard installation of Zen Cart.

Thanks for your msg. I am pretty new to this and might got confused easily. According to the tutorial,

If you want to change "Congratulations! You have successfully installed your Zen Cart™; E-Commerce Solution" with your own text open the includes/languages/ENGLISH/index.php file and find the following code:
// This section deals with the "home" page at the top level with no options/products selected
/Replace this text with the headline you would like for your shop. For example: 'Welcome to My SHOP!'/
define('HEADING_TITLE', 'Congratulations! You have successfully installed your Zen Cart™ E-Commerce Solution.');
} elseif ($category_depth == 'nested') {
// This section deals with displaying a subcategory
/Replace this line with the headline you would like for your shop. For example: 'Welcome to My SHOP!'/
define('HEADING_TITLE', 'Congratulations! You have successfully installed your Zen Cart™ E-Commerce Solution.');

First of all, I was never able to find any code like this in my Index.php file under English folder. Secondly, when I change the destination of my website in my Web Host's set up and pointed that to the English folder, I got a 404 forbidden error. Guess I am confused of how Zen Cart works! - After I set up my destination in web host's Admin, when I load the page, it will automatically load the page named "index.php" in the destination folder correct? How come I couldn't find any code like what is mentioned in the Tutorial??? All I see is a bunch of code tells me the "Overview of flow".

Thanks for anybody's help and response!

kuroi:

I'm afraid that neither the change you made, nor the problem that you're having are obvious from either your post, or the one from which you were quoting.
It doesn't point to any page. It's simply a piece of text displayed in every page's header as a sales message.

The tutorial may be almost a year old, but it is still completely accurate for a standard installation of Zen Cart.

Sherrylxf:

First of all, I was never able to find any code like this in my Index.php file under English folder ... How come I couldn't find any code like what is mentioned in the Tutorial??? All I see is a bunch of code tells me the "Overview of flow".This means that you are looking at the index.php at the top level of your Zen Cart and not the one mentioned in the tutorial which is buried down in the includes/languages/ENGLISH folder.
Sherrylxf:

Secondly, when I change the destination of my website in my Web Host's set up and pointed that to the English folder, I got a 404 forbidden error. Guess I am confused of how Zen Cart works! - After I set up my destination in web host's Admin, when I load the page, it will automatically load the page named "index.php" in the destination folder correct?There is no good reason to point the destination of your site into the English folder. This will certainly cause your site to collapse. It should be pointing to the top level of your Zen Cart.

Thanks so much! I did look at the folder in the buried down folder in includes/languages/ENGLISH Folder. There is one possible reason that I might have overridden that file with a file on my local drive. Is there anyway I can get that file back??

Thank you very much for the help and response!

kuroi:

This means that you are looking at the index.php at the top level of your Zen Cart and not the one mentioned in the tutorial which is buried down in the includes/languages/ENGLISH folder.
There is no good reason to point the destination of your site into the English folder. This will certainly cause your site to collapse. It should be pointing to the top level of your Zen Cart.

Sherrylxf:

I did look at the folder in the buried down folder in includes/languages/ENGLISH Folder. There is one possible reason that I might have overridden that file with a file on my local drive. Is there anyway I can get that file back??Ah yes. I see. Zen Cart has a lot of similarly and, in this case, identically, named files. The folder structure is therefore very important. The best place to go to get a fresh copy of the file would be the release package from which your Zen Cart was originally installed.

If you don't have that, it can be downloaded via the link on this support site's home page. I always keep a copy of the release package handy on my local machine - you never know when you might need to refer to it.
:wink:

Where can I find the link to the support site? Thanks!!

kuroi:

Ah yes. I see. Zen Cart has a lot of similarly and, in this case, identically, named files. The folder structure is therefore very important. The best place to go to get a fresh copy of the file would be the release package from which your Zen Cart was originally installed.

If you don't have that, it can be downloaded via the link on this support site's home page. I always keep a copy of the release package handy on my local machine - you never know when you might need to refer to it.
:wink:

Sherrylxf:

Where can I find the link to the support site? Thanks!!This is the support site. It's home page is https://www.zen-cart.com

A screenshot of the classic layout with each of the elements labeled with the name and where the code for them is located would be nice.

Ok, I am brand New to this. Not completely unknowable but I would say midrange. I bought the Zen Cart Book. GREAT BOOK!! My problem is this:
Bluehost is my web provider and they installed zen cart for me. Now what??? I have gotten through chapter 13/14 but I cannot find any information on customizing the templates to add my store name etc. I see all the language etc that needs to be modified but cannot find it. I opened up the website via filezilla but I think maybe I am missing some things. Page 272 in the book shows some directories but I think I am missing some. Where can I find instructions on customizing in English like this book?

the book starts with includes/languages or includes/modules or includes/templates but there are no directions where to find these? I was so excited to get started, uploaded all my products etc and now I am stuck.

Where can I get this info please help

KRahall,

Start here: https://www.zen-cart.com/tutorials/index.php?article=36

Here:https://www.zen-cart.com/tutorials/index.php?article=230

And here:https://www.zen-cart.com/tutorials/index.php?article=143

Print out the last one for a chart on where you may put a custom (your_template_name) folder, or download one here:
http://www.zen-cart.com/index.php?main_page=product_contrib_info&cPath=40_47&products_id=298

Download and unzip a copy of Zen Cart to your computer so you can see the files structure. I do hope you are starting out with the newest version, 1.3.8 ?

Krahall- please, don't post the same problem in multiple threads.

Sermonzone:

PRE-EMPTIVE EDIT:

A lot of documentation has been added to the Knowledgebase:
https://www.zen-cart.com/tutorials/index.php?category=16

Further, you will find great value in the eStart Your Web Store with Zen Cart users manual, which walks you through setting up your Zen Cart site from start to finish, along with many day-to-day tasks.
You can get your copy of the book here: http://www.lulu.com/content/466605

Original discussion:
New Zen Cart users get easily frustrated. They often do not know how to find answers to their questions and if they stumble onto the right answer they don't realize it's the right answer. The recent 'reboot' for the forum so closely on the heels of the upgrade to 1.3 seems to have made things worse.

I am considering writing a "Getting Started" style document that focuses on templates, overrides, colors, text, images and the like. Perhaps a reasonable title will be "Top 10 Questions asked by New Zenners" or "10 things every New Zenner should know but doesn't know where to find."

I would like to hear from New Zenners about this project. What did you have the most trouble with? What documents did you feel were lacking? What were the top problems and questions you had? -- Things like that.

Part of the rationale for this project is that as users can perform more tasks without having to post a thread like "I am such a newb and have no idea what I am doing" it will free the Devs for more time in core upgrades. Hopefully, users that are more successful at the beginning will press on and have a viable online business and donate back to Zen Cart.

I will be away from the forum for a few days (niece's wedding) this weekend. Further, I don't plan to reply to every post. This is a place to collect feedback from new users.

If more experienced users post, perhaps you could list the mistakes you most often see.

The final location for the project is uncertain. In many ways, it will be a duplicate of material in the FAQ and Wiki. However, much of that material needs to be updated and New Zenners seem to not read it or not understand it. I will continue to try to coordinate this with the Devs so that it benefits the most in the community.

Please presume a successful install of ZenCart 1.3+. I would like to focus on customizations issues that every new users is likely to experience.

Feel free to PM with info you would rather not be in the forum.
Since you asked! I'd sure encourage someone to write a decent beginners tutorial.

1. One major problem. Just started a store, added a couple categories and a few products. Made sure every product was marked "in stock" and with a positive number of "items on hand". All seems to be in order in the back end. Yet every product displays the red "sold out" icon on the front end. If you could help solve this it would be greatly appreciated.

2. The things just about any new zener will want to do first is change the colors, fonts, sizes, images etc. Even just a simple sheet listing the full path to all the files that need to be changed would be helpful.

Other problems: went thru the menus trying to determine how to control box layout etc. The boxes listed as active on the menus didn't seem to jive with what was actually on the front end.

3. It really surprises me that developers spend enormous amounts of time and effort developing these sophisticated applications, but then can't be bothered to write basic documentation for new zeners for whom this is their first exposure to shopping carts.

4. I'm also surprised that modifying and developing new themes isn't a simple menu function,i.e, click a button and have a page/form come up with all the options to set. I wouldn't think it would be that hard to do. And it would give you a big leg up on the competition. I've looked at several shopping carts and haven't found one (including zen-cart) yet with decent beginner level documentation. Changing the theme in all of them is a real pain, in part because of the poor documentation.

Thanks for asking.