Things every New Zenner needs to know

smprowse:

I'm a real new Zenner and I would like to know how to post a new thread.

I do not need to post right now but yesterday I searched and searched for a way to post a new thread. It took me a long time but I finally found a button that took me to a new post box.

Today, I'm looking again but cannot find a way, so having a "Post New" button in the navigation would be great.There is a new thread button. You navigate to the section in which you want your post to appear and a new thread button will appear at both the top and bottom of the page.

Hey, kuroi, Cool and thanks.

I still think it should be included in "Things every New Zenner needs to Know" because I didnt' know that and I'm sure I'm not the only new person who didn't know how to start a new post (or could I be the only one? lol).

Thanks,

Syl

You're not the only one. It took me a while to figure this out when the current version of the forum was launched, and over 1,000 posts later I've still used that button less than 20 times :lamo:

Being an absolutely new Zenner, I wonder if the Tutorials were don and, if so, where are they please? Thanks alot.

Tutorials are being worked on. Until then there is lots of information int eh FAQ, and an increasing amount in the Wiki. There are links to both at the top of the page.

Being a new zenner myself I also suggest reading the Archives, lots of good stuff there, I found a tremendous amount of info there.

http://www.zen-cart.com/forum/archive/index.php/

The fourms are confussing.
Where can I go to find out to correct the place where my cart goes to my webpages?
Can this site be used with FrontPage?
I think this cart is to difficult for me to get connects. I enjoyed setting up products but other than I am just completely lost.
Help in austin.

Sorry, I don't quite get your questions but I can tell you that ANYTHING is better than FrontPage. It inserts code whenever and wherever it feels like.

Having had about fifteen years experience with various computer projects I've long appreciated the need for a good, well-written guide and manual for any new participant and plan. That combined with my software engineering background has always given me a methodical approach to any new project, and looking into the Zen cart is another new exercise for me.

Having read throgh this thread I see there is a need to build up an easy-to-read and effective step-by-step description of the cart, its structure and function, ideally illustrated and easily navigable.

My first thought was that you ought to look at reproducing the old Zen pdf manual, which is a good starter for me even though it is a couple of years old. :book:

Does anyone here know the writer Ken Alger, and is the source file available for up-dating?

Once you have this in place it's just a matter of running a regular update of a source master document, drawing together writing and image captures from other contributors and placing the new pdf printed file for download.

Certainly it's a lot easier to print and read a 100+ page manual than try hunting around scores of linked pages, FAQs, Wiki references, and getting lost in the process.

The other good source I found here seems to be the site being created by JollyJim referred to earlier in this thread by Woody.
zenhelp.helpfiles.co.uk/ :lamo:

Although it seems incomplete is could be the basis of a very friendly and easy-to-use reference manual that many may contribute to in an ongoing project? Again this could use illustrations (the same ones?) as in a printed manual.

If you needed to create both an online and and offline experience then these two suggestions might be the most efficient routes to follow.

:smartass:

How do I change the template. I've tried downloading ones and I can't figure it out. I would rather make my own and I can not figure out how to do that ether. Can someone please help me. And could you please tell me in normal English instead of computer lingo, that just confuses me even more.
Please help me.
Thanks,
tomcoug

You will need access to your FTP Server, a good image editing software (I recommend Adobe PhotoShop 7-8.0) The file that dictates what your pages will look like is called Stylesheet.css & your image folder.

The path (through your FTP Server) is:

Includes/templates/YOUR_TEMPLATE/css/stylesheet.css

Includes/templates/YOUR_TEMPLATE/images

There is allot of good people here willing to help you, I am still learning myself & also use frontpage, though I am still familiarizing myself with the code, it is well worth the time. GOOD LUCK!!

dbltoe:

Sometimes us "professionals" tend to leave the installation and tutorials in the shrink wrap.:D
Had you added the demo items to your installation, you would have had many examples of how to "manage" ZenCart including all you ever wanted to know about EZ-Pages.
Might want to check the links in your sig.

See, that was the funny thing. I never load demo data, because all too many times I've had to spend a day or so tracking down all of it to remove it. I did let it load the demo EZ pages. The first thing I did after installing (and I followed the readme for that) was to look for a manual. Nope, no manual. So, I went looking for an online manual. Nothing.

So, I started searching the forum. Found the wiki. Downloaded a buncha stuff on the override system, knowing I'd need that. Then hunted down the info on the EZ pages. I had found the demo pages, but they really didn't say all that much about the 3 or 4 places you have to turn 'on' to make them show up.

My main concern is that I have to train my customer on this package. He's not a webbie. He's a pool hall owner who thinks Front Page is all that. He will be updating his main page (which is in EZ pages) regularly. This isn't going to be fun, because he'll be very confuzzled by the way Zen is laid out.

OK, my next suggestion (along with many of the others in this thread):

A CSS map. I'd like to know what CSS files, and where in those files the various areas come from.

Right now I'm planning on changing the EZ pages sidebox to display menus similar to the CSS flyout menus I'm using on my product catalog.
The site is here:
http://216.14.216.28/index.php?main_page=index

Not a problem, I'm fairly used to CSS, and Topstyle Pro is a nice little program that makes working with CSS pretty easy, so it shouldn't be that big an issue.

But with the heavy emphasis on CSS, I'm with all the others in that it needs to be given a piece of the 'getting started with Zen' document. It has a lot of power, and if you can find what you need, the rest of it sort of falls into place.

(Thanks for the heads up on the links in my sig, I'd accidently done it like an href, LOL - more sleep, less coding, I guess)

Vicky - running off to finish my design changes....

vicky,

If you use firefox, you can try install web developer plugin. it helps identify CSS class and id easier just by hovering over the section you want to identify...
I found it a must have tool when work with Zen design.

Bruce,

I am a new Zenner and between programmers. I do not know my way around code but use common sense in working around the drop downs and catelgories. Any help you can as far as a a guide would be great.

There are alot of us that are using Zen because their particular hosting company uses it. As you probably know it is often hard to find your human"host" to answer questions and make the small changes needed when growing a business. I find dealing with all of this very overwhelming.

Any help you could bring to the table would be much appreciated.

Thanks,
Steve

Add me to the list of people who could have used a commented css stylesheet. I had gotten my head wrapped around the 1.2.x version, and the 1.3.0 threw me off again.

Just things to say like: this is the background of the navigation bar, etc.

Probably many people like me are new to both zencart and css, so learning both at once is quite a headful of info.

What I would like to see is an index that indicates where to go to look at the code, change or modify each thing that can be changed. For example, what admin tab, code module, etc do I co to to change a certain feature.

I started in the spring and got a test store up on my computer (I use XAMPP which is an apache server, php, mysql, etc to provide a good test environment on a windows machine) and learned from the forum how to build my database with EXCELL. My store worked fairly well but my product supplier came out with a record amount of new products, so I started over in EXCELL. When I got the data ready to load, I came back to the forum and learned about the new version and patches. This time I started over and did it right. I like what i've got and am only a week or two from going live.

buyway:

What I would like to see is an index that indicates where to go to look at the code, change or modify each thing that can be changed. For example, what admin tab, code module, etc do I co to to change a certain feature.

I started in the spring and got a test store up on my computer (I use XAMPP which is an apache server, php, mysql, etc to provide a good test environment on a windows machine) and learned from the forum how to build my database with EXCELL. My store worked fairly well but my product supplier came out with a record amount of new products, so I started over in EXCELL. When I got the data ready to load, I came back to the forum and learned about the new version and patches. This time I started over and did it right. I like what i've got and am only a week or two from going live.

Try here in the Wiki Top 10 Questions asked by new Zen Cart™ Users

and here for an admin glossary

roaryg:

Add me to the list of people who could have used a commented css stylesheet. I had gotten my head wrapped around the 1.2.x version, and the 1.3.0 threw me off again.

Just things to say like: this is the background of the navigation bar, etc.

Probably many people like me are new to both zencart and css, so learning both at once is quite a headful of info.

While I admit that some of the selectors are not reflective of what they are or do, I think that the properties are fairly self-explanatory:

#navMainWrapper { /* this is the selector for the main navigation bar. */
	margin: 0em;
	background-color: #9a9a9a; /* I'd say this fairly self-explanatory */
	font-weight: bold;
	color: #ffffff; */ this refers to the text color */
	height: 1%;
	width: 100%;
	}

A stylesheet guide is being worked on.

Did this project ever get finished or published anywhere?

Sections of the QSM are still being worked on.

Some secitons have been published in the wiki.

Top 10 Questions asked by new Zen Cart™ Users

Useful Tools For Working With Zen Cart™

Creating a New Template for v1.3.0+