Things every New Zenner needs to know

wow
well I am back at it again. I took a month off..uploading downloading etc. Still trying to get that "SALES MESSAGE GOES HERE" off of that screen.
FTP/SQL etc...tried failed, tried failed..etc etc.
kept getting errors, easier to uninstall 6 times than try to figure out what was going wrong.
GOT THE BOOK
read it, but how come there is only one sentence on changing the SALES MESSAGE GOES HERE, and one sentence on the Header....
not in depth enough for a NEWBEE like me. I need the road map to town not the town itself.
Anyway...still looking for the cheapest way just to have the main words changed or a logo put in their place...also...
am I mistaken, but once I have the page set up to a basic green page with words, adding stuff to the catalog and catalog basic maintenance and basic day to day sales can be managed from the Admin log on...???
I wont have to do any fancy FTP WORK?
believe me, nothing fancy..
just the basic green page thingy
UNLESS there is a program that downloads on top that makes ZEN a drop and click frame site...??!

Ryk:

The book DOES contain a lot of info, but not about applying modifications (in the sense of the add-on modules from the download section). It is primarily about setting up and using the admin for things like zones, taxes, products, categories, attributes etc.

already bought and yes you are correct, the basic functions of changing the main heading was only mentioned in one sentence, and that is my first, main and last problem. I kind of get the idea that the admin screen can handle catalog and basic store maintenance but not the major eye sore theme i.e. get rid of the "SALES MESSAGE GOES HERE" thingy. learning the FTP thing is making my skin crawl. I have already been through uploading and uninstalling 3 or 4 times. I am being hosted by godaddy and it is no them not me thank goodness....

Here - https://www.zen-cart.com/tutorials/index.php?article=127 - strangely enough, with the title of

How do I change the "Sales Message Goes Here" or "Tagline Here" text?

which itself is within the section called

**Template Customization/ Building Overrides

**

thanks...it still all looks greek to me, I know that I cannot access any of that stuff via the control panel, so from there I am lost...but thanks for the info...

Sandhya:

thanks...it still all looks greek to me, I know that I cannot access any of that stuff via the control panel, so from there I am lost...but thanks for the info...

download a copy of the Zen Cart distribution to your PC. Unzip it in to a folder and you then have the ability to edit whatever file(s) you need.

Once you've don the editing you can then upload them to your server.

Sandhya:

wow
well I am back at it again. I took a month off..uploading downloading etc. Still trying to get that "SALES MESSAGE GOES HERE" off of that screen.
FTP/SQL etc...tried failed, tried failed..etc etc.
kept getting errors, easier to uninstall 6 times than try to figure out what was going wrong.

Some of the questions I have both asked and found in the ZenCart Forum dealt with finding where to find the text to replace and how to change the Logo. I found a little program which helps me to find those things. It is called "Wilma" and is an outstanding Indexing program for individual files, folders or hard drives.

You can find Wilma Desktop Indexer at: http://wilma.redtree.com/en/help/index.html.

As for the question of where to find, and change, "Sales message goes here." You can find it at:

/zencart/includes/languages/english/classic/header.php

<?php /** * @package languageDefines * @copyright Copyright 2003-2005 Zen Cart Development Team * @copyright Portions Copyright 2003 osCommerce * @license <http://www.zen-cart.com/license/2_0.txt> GNU Public License V2.0 * @version $Id: header.php 2848 2006-01-14 09:47:08Z wilt $ */ // header text in includes/header.php define('HEADER_TITLE_CREATE_ACCOUNT', 'Create Account'); define('HEADER_TITLE_MY_ACCOUNT', 'My Account'); define('HEADER_TITLE_CART_CONTENTS', 'Shopping Cart'); define('HEADER_TITLE_CHECKOUT', 'Checkout'); define('HEADER_TITLE_TOP', 'Top'); define('HEADER_TITLE_CATALOG', 'Home'); define('HEADER_TITLE_LOGOFF', 'Log Out'); define('HEADER_TITLE_LOGIN', 'Log In'); // added defines for header alt and text define('HEADER_ALT_TEXT', 'Powered by Zen Cart :: The Art of E-Commerce [home link]'); define('HEADER_SALES_TEXT', '<h1>Sales Message Goes Here</h1>'); define('HEADER_LOGO_WIDTH', '200px'); define('HEADER_LOGO_HEIGHT', '70px'); define('HEADER_LOGO_IMAGE', 'logo.gif'); // header Search Button/Box Search Button define('HEADER_SEARCH_BUTTON','Search'); define('HEADER_SEARCH_DEFAULT_TEXT','Enter search keywords here'); ?>

Hope this helps.

If Sandhya is having trouble with the sales message text, I think installing Wilma is going to be waaaaay up the learning curve! :wink:

I'm sure WHAnderson had the best intentions in recommending Wilma but no sense using a Windows Shell program when better ones are available.

Agent Ransack has been in my Web Toolbox for many years and works like a charm. Freely available for the Windows platform and should work on all versions.

Found this digging in the forums, it was new news to me :oops: and thought others might not know either... so I thought I would place it here.

from DrByte:

Further, if you are careful to NEVER click a link to an external site (even via bookmarks or linkbars etc) while logged into your admin, then its existence won't be shared.
Remember, when you click on a link, the info about what site you're going FROM and going TO can be tracked by the servers involved. Thus, if you have your admin open and then open another site from your admin, you have just shared your admin URL with that other site's server, and it will show up in their stats reports.
So, the key is ... don't do that ! Always access your admin from a fresh browser tab/window, and always close it when done.
Then google and others won't be able to index it.

Its security is largely dependent on your safe-computing practices.

http://www.zen-cart.com/forum/showpost.php?p=397677&postcount=7

how do i make add to cart showing on my home page near product ?
(in specials ,new products,featred)

Well, add me to the list of people frustrated by their inability to change the "Sales Message Goes Here" line.

I'm not a COMPLETE dummy (most of the time). But either the instructions are wrong or I can't read.

The tutorial says:

To change the “Sales Message Goes Here” or “Tagline Here” text to say what you want open the includes/languages/english/header.php file in your text editor. Find the following line of code:

define('HEADER_SALES_TEXT', 'Tagline Here');

Replace the tagline text with your own text, making sure that the single quote marks are not left out.

Save the edited file to includes/languages/english/custom/header.php and upload it to your server.

NB: By default the text “Sales Message Goes Here” is located in includes/languages/english/classic/header.php

Okay. So I opened and edited includes/languages/english/header.php using Notepad (everything smarter made my store blow up) and, lo and behold, it has that Tagline Here line. So I carefully replace the text in between the single quotes with Welcome to MamaSylvia's Stuff and save it to includes/languages/english/custom/header.php Then I upload it to https://www.SteigerFamily.com/ZenCart/includes/languages/english/custom/ Then I go to http://www.steigerfamily.com/ZenCart/ and I see "Sales Message Goes Here." Argh

Maybe I was supposed to upload it to the regular includes/languages/english subdirectory. Nope, sales message is still there.

Well, even though the FAQ says to edit includes/languages/english/header.php, it also says the "Sales Message Goes Here" is in includes/languages/english/classic/header.php. Maybe I should edit that one. So I open it and change Sales Message Goes Here to Welcome to MamaSylvia's Stuff, save it back into the includes/languages/english/custom/ directory and upload it to the https://www.SteigerFamily.com/ZenCart/includes/languages/english/custom/ and try reloading my ZenCart home page. Again, I see "Sales Message Goes Here."

Well, maybe I was supposed to upload the header.php from the classic subdirectory into the classic subdirectory on the site. Woops, that was exceptionally bad, now I have a blank page. I quickly upload unchanged the header.php from the classic subdirectory on my computer and reload the main store page again. The Sales Message Goes Here is unchanged but at least I don't have a blank page any more. Putting it in the regular includes/languages/english subdirectory didn't get rid of the sales message either.

Bluehost is my hosting service and I use their WebDisk program to transfer files, which has worked fine with everything else I've done, including installing ZenCart. The only possible oddity I can identify is that WebDisk says the header.php file is on https://www.SteigerFamily.com:2078/ZenCart/ etc. directory, and I don't have an SSL certificate (and I said "no" to SSL on installation). I've uploaded every combination of edited and unedited pages I can think of. I can NOT see what I'm doing wrong. What would a pro charge to make that one change for me? I've got products up ready to buy, some in different flavors or scents, I've done dummy orders and gotten all the way up to the final click in Paypal, so it looks like everything is functional. But that message is really annoying and unprofessional-looking.

Confirm that when you go to admin > tools > template selection that the template DIRECTORY name is indeed "custom".

Looks to me as if you've got the Classic template selected

Ryk:

Confirm that when you go to admin > tools > template selection that the template DIRECTORY name is indeed "custom".

Looks to me as if you've got the Classic template selected

I just made the custom directory in my template directory. is the only file I need to add to that "template_info.php"? nothing else such as css or images files?

ttb:

I just made the custom directory in my template directory. is the only file I need to add to that "template_info.php"? nothing else such as css or images files?Well, strictly all you need is the template_info.php file. But it won't be much of a template without some custom images and styling, not to mention textual changes from default Zen Cart wording.
:smartalec:

kuroi:

Well, strictly all you need is the template_info.php file. But it won't be much of a template without some custom images and styling, not to mention textual changes from default Zen Cart wording.
:smartalec:

does that mean I need to copy/add the css and images folder into the CUSTOM folder as well? ideally from the classic/templates folder?

ttb:

does that mean I need to copy/add the css and images folder into the CUSTOM folder as well? ideally from the classic/templates folder?You don't need to no. The stylesheet is probably a good idea, and there is a lot of structure embedded in there (but when I'm feeling brave I start with an empty one and build from the ground up), however you would only copy the images if you wanted your template to look like the classic template, otherwise you'd create your own.

Confirm that when you go to admin > tools > template selection that the template DIRECTORY name is indeed "custom".

Yes, it is set to "classic." I tried to edit it to change it to "custom" but there are no options other than "classic."

All I want is the easiest, simplest way to replace the "Sales Message Goes Here" with "Welcome to MamaSylvia's Stuff." I'm not trying to do a lot of fancy layout or page customization. I may later on, but my immediate concern is simply to get the store working. I also need to find that 3-lb tare and change it, which I have had NO success with, sheesh!

Sylvia,

Pointing you to some tutorials on the overrides system, so your changes
won't be lost when you upgrade:

https://www.zen-cart.com/tutorials/index.php?article=142

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

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

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

mamasylvia:

Confirm that when you go to admin > tools > template selection that the template DIRECTORY name is indeed "custom".

Yes, it is set to "classic." I tried to edit it to change it to "custom" but there are no options other than "classic."

All I want is the easiest, simplest way to replace the "Sales Message Goes Here" with "Welcome to MamaSylvia's Stuff." I'm not trying to do a lot of fancy layout or page customization. I may later on, but my immediate concern is simply to get the store working. I also need to find that 3-lb tare and change it, which I have had NO success with, sheesh!

you need to add a new directory to your includes/templates folder. call it "Custom" or whatever name you have chosen. then, go into the new folder you just created, and copy template_info.php from your classic file into your newly created directory. you can then edit the new copied file to change the name of the template to whatever you like.

Upgrade? I haven't even gotten this version figured out!

As for creating new subdirectories and template files: isn't there an easier way to do it? Why won't the program just take editing a single line of the classic file? Why can't I just delete the whole top banner? I realize these options wouldn't work for a serious store designer, and maybe at some future point I'll be interested in making my store prettier. But right now I just want quick-and-dirty-and-WORKING.