Is this design possible?

Hi,

Can anyone tell me if this design is possible for Zen Cart? I'm not a designer by any means and am not familiar with Zen at all.

Thanks!
Diane

Hi Diane,

Yes, that looks like it is totally possible. And to go one step further, doesnt look like it will be that difficult.

Looks good :smile:

Yes, it is possible but not so easy. Adjustments would have to made in the Header in main Table code to keep same look.

You can post in the Commercial Section of the Forum for coding help.

Yeah, you can do pretty much what you want with zencart, but to do that requires a decent knowledge of php, html and css.

Your design looks very feasible (might be worth adding a checkout button somewhere, since that is the money button). You definitely don't need someone with zencart experience, but you do need a compentent programmer who is willing to do a bit of wrestling with zencart.

I might be stating the obvious here, but it looks like you have put a lot of effort into designing a very nice site, so if you are going to pay someone to build it check out their portfolio and make sure that their previous work is of a standard that you would be happy with on your own website.

I guess I have to disagree with banswidthjunkie, in that this does not require programming and can be created with mostly default functions and a couple of modules. A programmer not familiar with Zencart will only wrestle with the cart code un-necessairly.
Nice to see a cleanly laid out design

Im thinking of a way to do that footer overlap effect using CSS tho, any CSS expert here can give a suggestion?

Thanks for your input everyone. I'm working with a designer, but we've sort of hit a roadblock with this design, so I wanted to make sure its possible.

What roadblock do you & designer think you have come up against?

An outerWrapper div will have to added around the main wrapper div to hold the grey border/drop shadow. The grey background gradient will have to be applied to the body and attached to the bottom. The quick and dirty on the header would be to strip it down to just the navMain and then place the image and text (Logo) right into the define_main_page. You also could move the code for the logoWrapper/tagline to a different file and call it the normal manner......I would have to dig around to see the place to put it.

Or header wrapper float right & width about 600px

OK, my two cents... Yes, float the header, and...

#headerWrapper {width: 580px; float: right;}

#navColumnOne {float: left; margin-top: 130px;}

#navBreadCrumb {margin-top: 240px;}

#navColumnTwo {display: none;} (actually just turn off in admin)

Apply these to a fresh install and see how you get the basic layout already, just a bit more tweaking and box styling required.

kobra:

I guess I have to disagree with banswidthjunkie, in that this does not require programming and can be created with mostly default functions and a couple of modules. A programmer not familiar with Zencart will only wrestle with the cart code un-necessairly.
Nice to see a cleanly laid out design
You could do it badly without the help of a programmer, or well with one. A decent programmer will make zencart do what you want it to do. A zencart programmer will make you do what zencart wants to do.

Anyway that's just my opinion.

banswidthjunkie:

You could do it badly without the help of a programmer, or well with one. A decent programmer will make zencart do what you want it to do. A zencart programmer will make you do what zencart wants to do.

Anyway that's just my opinion.

99% of the time, recoding something is unnecessary. As Kobra pointed out, there's a lot that can be done with the stylesheet, admin settings and mods.

If you work withing Zen Cart's existing framework, it'll be much easier to upgrade/update later. If you insist on reinventing the wheel, you'll have to reinvent it every time.

afo:

If you insist on reinventing the wheel, you'll have to reinvent it every time.

True, I think as well that an inventor enjoys the process of inventing and to become better at it, would not mind doing it over until it is a subconscious trait. And who knows, maybe after a million billion tries someone will come up with some sort of four-dimensional wheel that can roll both ways or expand and contract and invert or something.

That's very true... especially of programmers... I know because I am one. :laugh:

"A decent programmer will make zencart do what you want it to do. A zencart programmer will make you do what zencart wants to do."

In some cases, this is true. Of course, a decent Zen Cart programmer will make ZC do what you want it to do and be easy to upgrade.

In trhis case, it's a moot point because the design is so easy to achieve with barely any coding at all. (And, it's a beautiful design... best of both worlds!)

rainthebat:

True, I think as well that an inventor enjoys the process of inventing and to become better at it, would not mind doing it over until it is a subconscious trait. And who knows, maybe after a million billion tries someone will come up with some sort of four-dimensional wheel that can roll both ways or expand and contract and invert or something.

After thinking about your comment, I realized you completely missed the point of what I was saying. If you insist on tinkering with the code in ways it wasn't intended to be tinkered with, you will have to repeat that tinkering with every single upgrade/update (which is what I meant by reinventing the wheel) or you'll have to remain frozen in the version you tinkered with, losing out on any enhancements in future versions of Zen.

When you reinvent the wheel, you DON'T invent a new wheel. You simply reinvent the same wheel over and over.

If you insist on tinkering with the code in ways it wasn't intended to be tinkered with, you will have to repeat that tinkering with every single upgrade/update
Major point here is that if you as the store owner are having this done for you at a fee - then anything outside of the structure will require another fee for an upgrade.

An item that a Zenner will attempt to avoid - but if the customer insists....

kobra:

Major point here is that if you as the store owner are having this done for you at a fee - then anything outside of the structure will require another fee for an upgrade.

An item that a Zenner will attempt to avoid - but if the customer insists....

I agree, Kobra.

I've seen Zenners on this forum who insist they absolutely must do something a certain way when it's really just a matter of perception, not an actual requirement. If they'd step back and work within the framework of Zen Cart, they'd have a functioning cart that would be easy to maintain.

If you make changes outside of the structure, you're restricting your options. If the person who did the work for you is suddenly unavailable, your hands are tied until you find someone else who can continue the work (or do the upgrade).

If you can achieve the look you want without bashing around in places you don't belong, you're much better off.