How do I get a new template to display correctly?

Hi all,

I'm in the throes of establishing an online store using Zen Cart and am having difficulty simply getting a new template to display correctly. I have set up a new template by making a new folder and copying all the files from the classic template to it and customising the template_info.php file. I can select it OK in the admin section, however when I go to view it on the website the boxes down the left of my main screen don't show. I have also tried using someone else's template and the same issue arises...does anyone have any ideas? It's almost as if it is reading the HTML for the main screen from somewhere else when I change the template in use...

Thanks,

Christian

The boxes are turned off by default in a new template. Go to Admin > Tools > Layout Box controller and either turn on the ones you want, or press the reset button at the bottom to turn most of them on in one go.

Thank you very much...I'm sure I'm going to have many more questions! I've been looking through the support site and various Wiki references etc but am finding this whole experience quite ambiguous...is there any solid manual which has a table of contents and basically how to set up your Zen Cart site from go to whoa?

Christian

Now that I've got my boxes displaying correctly, I notice that their widths are different to what was being displayed under the classic template. Also, the sample text on the main page has changed back to the default. Is there a way to set this up so that it stays the same even if the template is changed?

Thanks again everyone!

Christian

Hi again,

Probably another stupid question I'm sure but I'm trying to customise our page header and am having no luck at all. I can't find where to specify what the background image is or how to tell it if I don't want a background image in my header. Similarly, how do I make it so I have a background image and no logo image and no text?

Thanks again for your help everyone,

Christian

ctc:

is there any solid manual which has a table of contents and basically how to set up your Zen Cart site from go to whoa?Not currently. But there are people working on it.

ctc:

Now that I've got my boxes displaying correctly, I notice that their widths are different to what was being displayed under the classic template. Also, the sample text on the main page has changed back to the default. Is there a way to set this up so that it stays the same even if the template is changed?Can't respond to the differing widths on your sideboxes since it sounds like you are using a template that you have customised yourself, so the discrepancy would depend upon the changes you made.

As a general comment though, the Classic Template is not a good place to start. It was intended to help people upgrading from earier versions of Zen Cart and so is much more complex than it needs to be. You would do better to download one of the templates available from the downloads section. There is even a template in there that looks like classic but takes full advantage of the more modern architecture that Zen Cart now uses.

The sample on the main page has changed because when you switched away from classic you also switched away from its HTML include files (which you can find in the includes/languages/english/html_includes/classic directory. You are now using the ones in the directory above. If you want them to be the same for all templates, make an offsite copy of the files in the html_includes/classic directory. Then copy them to the Hhtml_includes directory and delete them from the classic directory. All templates will then use the same files, but beware that they may get overwritten by future upgrades of Zen Cart - the reason for keeping an off-site copy that can be copied back here if needed.

ctc:

I'm trying to customise our page header and am having no luck at all. I can't find where to specify what the background image is or how to tell it if I don't want a background image in my header. Similarly, how do I make it so I have a background image and no logo image and no text?Your background header image is probably in your stylesheet or one of them in a section entited #headerWrapper. There are multiple ways of preventing the logo from displaying. Easiest is to follow the FAQ entry for replacing it, and replace it with a 1x1 transparent gif.