Help with Purpleshades free custom template

Hi Everyone,

I am new to Zen Cart and am trying to install one of the free templates I got off of the Zen Cart site called Purpleshades. I read the instructions that came with it and followed the suggestions made on the forum but I can't seem to get it to work. It is not showing up in my admin.

I made new directory paths to copy the files to under includes/templates. Is this the correct place for the files to be copied to? I did see that when my ftp client was copying some of the button & css files that it had problems copying some of them. I don't know if this caused any problems.

Any suggestions?

Thanks,
Maria

1. Make sure you follow the instructions to install carefully and put the files in exactly the locations is recommends.

2. if your FTP program had some problems during upload, I would recommend re-uploading it all to make sure you didn't miss any files.

Eric is right. Double check what you've done. You shouldn't have had to create the directories for the template. You should have been able to FTP the folders directly to the correct places. I haven't looked at the Purpleshades download, but in my experience, downloads are structured to make them easier to upload into ZC.

I did see that when my ftp client was copying some of the button & css files that it had problems copying some of them. I don't know if this caused any problems.
If this is the one that several of us rewrote for 1.3.x and tableless then using your FTP client insure that you can see the includes folder on the host (not inside of it just the folder) then on your local after expanding the template navigate to where you can see the includes folder - drag & drop it to the host -

In the admin > template selection > select it and update

In admin > tools > layoutboxes controller > reset the side boxes

In admin > config > layout settings > set the left & right boxes and column widths

All this is in the readme

I went back and deleted all files I uploaded and the directories I added. I then followed your instructions and using my ftp client I dragged the includes file to the host includes file. It still does not show up as a template.

I am not sure if I am copying it to the correct includes file. I have 3 includes files, which one do I copy it to? I have tried copying it to all of them and I still get the same results.

Thanks,
Maria

I am not sure if I am copying it to the correct includes file. I have 3 includes files, which one do I copy it to? I have tried copying it to all of them and I still get the same results.
You do not have to copy it to a folder.....

Navigate your FTP to where you can see the admin, images, pub, includes etc folders.

Drag the local includes for the template to that pane(not to a folder) on the host and they will be copied to the correct places

To check navigate on your host to /includes/templates and you should see a folder named purpleshades with the associated files contained within

Thank you for all your help. I got it working now. I was making the mistake of dragging it to the includes folder.

Thanks again,
Maria

Maria M

I also have used the PurpleShades template amd love it!

Take a look at my website to see some of the FUN mods you can make to this template!

If you get stuck - there is lots of help available (Kobra rocks!)

Enjoy the template!

Tina,
Did you mean to have repeat-x on your logo image? Admittedly, I'm working with higher resolution than most surfers but, it detracts from your site when half the logo shows up again.

Did you mean to have repeat-x on your logo image? Admittedly, I'm working with higher resolution than most surfers but, it detracts from your site when half the logo shows up again.

WHAT???????:eek:

No one has mentioned that to me before! Where/how/why???

Checking!

Thanks!!!:hug:

dbltoe,
I removed the repeat-x and hope that fixed it.
Thanks again for pointing that out to me!

Again, I'm using 1600 x 1200 for screen but I see two charmsbanner.jpg with the first a link and the second not. It looks as if two separate jpgs are being called but I can't seem to find out how or where. Too brain dead at this time of night.
:sleepy:

charmedbytina2,

Check your /includes/languages/english/purpleshades /header.php file for

// added defines for header alt and text
define('HEADER_ALT_TEXT', '[home link]');
define('HEADER_SALES_TEXT', '<h1></h1>');
define('HEADER_LOGO_WIDTH', '1000px');
define('HEADER_LOGO_HEIGHT', '175px');
define('HEADER_LOGO_IMAGE', 'charmsbanner.jpg');

As I think that you are calling this image twice.... once as above and then again in the css here:

#logoWrapper{
    background-image: url(../images/charmsbanner.jpg);
    background-repeat: no repeat;
    background-color: #ffffff;
    height:175px;
}	

And the red text needs to be -(see the missing dash?)

 no-repeat;

But if I am correct and the image is in the first block of code you do not need the background-image or the background-repeat statements at all...just remove them or comment them out and see if you still have the head mast image.

What Kobra said:smile:

Maybe I just need some kopbra venom to keep me awake.

#logoWrapper{
background-image: url(../images/charmsbanner.jpg);
background-repeat: no repeat;
background-color: #ffffff;
height:175px;
}

I've commented out that section (I hope).

Thanks for the help!

Tina,

I'm afraid that all I've done is to get your site messed up in firefox.:cry:

Now when I look at the site, the nav bar shows to the right of the logo. I do notice that your header is setup different from the norm. Normally it would be something like:```html

<div id="headerWrapper"> <div id="navMainWrapper"> <div id="navMain"></div> <div id="navMainSearch"></div> </div> <div id="logoWrapper"> <div id="logo"></div> </div> </div> ```Notice how the headerWrapper encloses the navMainWrapper and logoWrapper while the navMainWrapper encloses the navMain and navMainSearch? You may have the navMainSearch turned off as it does not appear in your site. It is not a requirement.

Also notice that the logoWrapper encloses the logo.

I have removed all the code in between the tags so that you can see the layout without confusion.

In your site, the result looks like:```html

<div id="headerWrapper"> <div id="logoWrapper"> <div id="logo"></div> </div> <div id="navMainWrapper"> <div id="navMain"></div> </div> </div> ```Notice that the logoWrapper and NavMainWrapper are reversed. This causes the logo to go first which is not set to spread out over the whole page. This causes the navMain to "fall in" behind the log if extra space is available.

I don't know if this change is inherent in the purpleshades template or something you or your designer did. If you want the navMain below the logo, I would change the width of the logoWrapper to 100% thus removing any chance of the navMain "falling in" again. You may want to think about a background fill for the logoWrapper as well. That will stop the whitespace there now.

'Tis always a good idea to look at your site in as many browsers AND resolutions as possible. Using firefox as your browser and adding the Web Developer, Firebug, HTML Validator, and Resize addons will greatly enhance your ability to "see" what others may see.

Also, search your css for a line (somewhere around 380) starting with> , #which makes the banner line useless.

You have several instances of background-color: none; in the stylesheet. none is not a valid color. You can use transparent if you wish or delete the line. I prefer to leave lines and just comment them out for later reference. A trick I use to remember commenting in css is to take a look at the numerical key pad. At its top are the / and * keys. at the beginning of a css line, you use (left to right) /* and at the end of the line or area you're commenting out, (right to left) */.

I would also think about turning off the categories tabs at the top. Not only is it redundant but, they dance all over the screen on resize.

I realize I thrown a lot of stuff at you but I felt I owed it to you after not having enough Kobra venom to have my head on straight last night.

john

Where IS that venom?
:D

Tina, when I look at your site (Firefox, widescreen laptop set to 1280x800) the logo is to the left, with the background a different color to the right.

If you want it to blend, you can use your graphics software to find out what the color of the background of your logo is and use that to set your background color to match (if it's a web safe color).

Also, I don't know if this is something you want to play with or not, you might want to think about setting your top nav link bar either to the center, so it lines up with your category tab links, or maybe playing around and putting them all inline.

Very nice site!

HTH,