add zen cart functionality to an existing site

Hi.....
I have an existing catalog site I built using Rapidweaver. I've installed zen cart 1.3.7 on my server. I bought the book (building an online store the zen way). Now, after skimming the book, and beginning to personalize the administration function, I'm beginning to wonder if I've fundamentally misunderstood what I can do with zen cart.
What I would LIKE to do is to retain my existing site, but on the product detail page, have a 'buy' button that would take the customer to a page with the look and feel of the rest of my site, but with shopping cart functionality provided by zen cart.
It now appears to me, from skimming the zen cart manual, that I can only customize the standard zen cart template to create an entire site that resembles the site I have already built, rather than integrating the cart functionality with my existing site.
Am I hopelessly confused about this?
I'm sure I've seen other sites based on what are definitely Rapidweaver templates, that have the zen cart functionality within the Rapidweaver template.
Thanks for any input.

Zen Cart is NOT designed to be a drop in buy now module and if you didn't buy the e-Start Your Web Store With Zen Cart, you bought the wrong book and it is no wonder you are confused.

Thanks for the helpful feedback, Kim.

Just for curiosity, what characteristics make a site look like it was built with Rapidweaver?

realmacsoftware.com/rapidweaver/

Kim:

Zen Cart is NOT designed to be a drop in buy now module ....

I agree that it wasn't designed to be a 'drop in module' but it would seem you can adn an exiting site ie; my-example.com and install Zen Cart in my-example.com/store
and use it as such.

I have an existing website and am very happy with the way it look so I'm not really looking to learn the place down and rebuild it from scratch but would like to use ZXen cart on my existing site. Just link to the page from may main page (click here to visit our store). Maybe I am misunderstanding the meaning of the term drop in here.

Anyway. I have a simlar issue as I am trying to keep some of the look on the zencart page that I have on the rest of my site. Ive replaced the Logo gif wit the logo from my main page. Which looks ok.. I just need to edit the colors and change the fonts and it shohjudl be pretty well integrated.

But, The rest of my site is in HTML and I have no clue how to edit PHP pages in an easy way. (Or anyway at all to be honest. LOL). Is there a way I can easily edit the Zen Cart Page? For HTML some people use Dreamweaver or a similar open source program so they can edit pages and see the changes before they publish them. Is anything like that available so that small changes can be simply made top the Zencart page?

Any help is appreciated,

Rich

Start with the customizing section of the FAQs - https://www.zen-cart.com/tutorials/index.php

While you can have the html section and the php sections, you risk losing customers if they let their session time out because their shopping cart contents will be lost. Very annoying to go read an article to come back to an empty cart and have to start over again ... if you keep them in Zen Cart with your information and articles then that won't happen :)

Kim:

Start with the customizing section of the FAQs - https://www.zen-cart.com/tutorials/index.php

While you can have the html section and the php sections, you risk losing customers if they let their session time out because their shopping cart contents will be lost. Very annoying to go read an article to come back to an empty cart and have to start over again ... if you keep them in Zen Cart with your information and articles then that won't happen :)

Thanks for the Reply Kim!

I shouldn't have a problem with sessions. My main page is setup for sales and to tell people about my company. If after reading about us an making a decision to make a purchase they just go to the cart and click on an Item to buy.

There will be no links outside the Zencart area back to the site for anything but the main page. So basically once a customer Leaves Zen Cart and returns to the main site (if they choose), Its no big deal if they lose there Zen Cart session. If I ever have to put any documents on the site pertaining to items listed in Zencart then I will definitely keep that documentation in the Zen cart area.

All in all it works perfect and I just have to add my own items to the Zencart area now and customize the look so it doesn't look too much different then my main site template.

Once I get the Zencart area looking the way I want it.. I might consider rebuilding the entire site. But it's a little more comfortable for me taking this one step at a time then thinking that big.

Thanks for you reply,
Rich

A link to your site would let us give you specific suggestions on the best approach to matching the look...

Oops .. here's the Link.

http://www.omegadigitalvoice.com/zencart

I've changed the "Home" Link on Zen cart to point back to my main site. The Zen Cart area will be very simple with a few documents and a selection of a couple different things that can be ordered.

What I would like to do is this:

Place this image on the top of the page: http://www.omegadigitalvoice.com/images/1.jpg

On the lower left corner of the of the Image I want to place the 'Home' and 'Log In' links. The two existing Green bars are not needed and any other green color I would like to change to a color that matches my site.

Oh I would also like to eliminate the category/link list that is between the Green Bars where it's presently says "Sales Message Goes Here" as it's not needed.

Thanks for your help

Put the image file in /includes/templates/your_template/images/, and edit /includes/languages/english/your_template/header.php:

define('HEADER_LOGO_IMAGE', 'logo.gif');

to

define('HEADER_LOGO_IMAGE', '1.jpg');

Alternatively, you can just add the image in your stylesheet as a background:

#headerWrapper {
background: url(../images/1.jpg) no-repeat;
height: 123px; /adjust to fit bg image/
}

without touching any other files. You can change the background-color of other header elements to transparent also, or eliminate their background-images.

In /includes/languages/english/your_template/header.php, change the definition of HEADER_SALES_TEXT and HEADER_LOGO_IMAGE to '' (two single quotes). You will also want to customize some of the other items there.

In /includes/templates/your_template/common/tpl_header.php, move the block of code marked <!--bof navigation display--> to below the branding display block.

Turn off the categories-tabs menu in admin > Configuration > Layout Settings.

Thanks Glen :smile:

I changed:
define('HEADER_LOGO_IMAGE', 'logo.gif'); to
define('HEADER_LOGO_IMAGE', 'logo.gif'); and made the other changes. Wow. It looks a LOT better!

Only problem I'm having is now the Image on the top is acting as a link and I need to move the Home and Log In links to the bottom left of the image as they are set up on the main site.

I think What I will do tomorrow Is Change the header wrapper in stylesheet and eliminate the Logo Image. That should solve the the image acting as a link.

But do you know of a way I can move the Home and Log In links up a little and over o he right?

Thanks for your help.. I really appreciate it!!

Rich

THere are other suggestions in my post that you have not done yet...

Change #logoWrapper to

#logoWrapper{
	display: none;
	}

Separate #navMainWrapper into its own declaration, and change it to

#navMainWrapper {
	margin: 0em;
	background-color: transparent;
	padding: 0.5em 0.2em;
	font-weight: bold;
	color: #ffffff;
	position: relative;
	top: 55px; /*adjust to suit*/
	left: 0px; /*adjust to suit*/
	height: 1%;
	}

You can also turn off the EZ-Pages menu in admin.

If you don't want one or both sidebars, you can turn them off in Configuration > Layout Settings > Column Left/Right Status - Global.

Glenn,

Thank you so much for your help!!!!

I was literally losing my mind trying to figure this out!
Now I can take a break for a couple days.. (I actually lost sleep over this).

Thanks a bunch!

Rich

:clap::clap:

Rich,
I use RapidWeaver, too, and faced many of the same problems you are having in designing my store site. I also think it would be nice to be able to convert the store into a format that could just be dropped in to the RapidWeaver template. One thing I did to solve the problem of jumping back and forth from the main site to the store was to set the store link (on my main site) to open in a separate window. I would certainly prefer the store to open in my RapidWeaver template, but it is a simple alternative that allows the main site to remain open in the background.

Gary

Gary..

Thats something I didn't even think of!

I have my site set up.. and the only time a customer goes to the store area is to make a purchase.. But after the purchase.. they have to link a link to return tro the main site.

The idea of using a java popup to open the store sounds cool!

And then maybe a java "click here" to close this window on certain pages of the store :smile:

The only problem I see with popups are the 'not so advanced pop up blockers that block popups even when the site visitor request the popup. And the 'not so advanced computer users' that don't realize they are blocking a pop up they just requested.

That already worries me as as I have a few "click here for more info" popup windows on my site.

Hmmm.. now that I've mentioned scripts.. It reminds me of Zencart already being overbloated and I have to do some reading up on how to trim some of the fat off of it.

The whole idea of opening up the cart in a window really has me thinking now!

Thanks for the reply Gary.

If anyone else has any ideas on this one please share them!

Thanks a bunch,

Rich_li_ny

There's no reason to use javascript for this. Just add to the link code (<a href=...)

target="_blank"

and the link will open in a new window.

gjh42:

There's no reason to use javascript for this. Just add to the link code (<a href=...)

target="_blank"

and the link will open in a new window.

Glen...

Your right!
What was I thinking????

And as far as script to make a "close this windows" link.. it's a waste of time.. unless of course you wanted the window to open up the size of a baseball card and do strange things to it... hehehe

I already have a href link to the cart and after checkout or logging off, the customer has the option of clicking a Link to return to the main site.

Rich_li_ny

Rich,
Actually, you don't even have to know html to do this. In RapidWeaver, create a new page using Offsite Page. Title your button however your wish to denote that this button takes you to the storefront. From the Edit screen on the new page, go to Page Inspector and click on OPEN IN NEW WINDOW. Now when your store loads, it will simply load in a new window in front of the main site. There's also a button that allows you to set up a redirect message just as a reminder that you are going to a secure page. Now if Zen Cart were just as simple to use as RapidWeaver.

Gary