Is there a way to change the name, CATEGORIES?

Hey, all, I am new to Zen Cart and just wanted to say I do like it and it seems much easier to use than any CMS's I had tried recently. I know this is much more than a CMS but I was just comparing my struggles with them to the easu of use with this.

Anyway, I was wondering if there is a way to change the name CATEGORIES on he side bar to like...err..well, what I am looking for basically, is very similar to how Newegg.com had theirs...like when you go click a tab at the top, you will then see on the left hand side, for example COMPUTER PARTS....but whay I am getting is a box named CATEGORIES, and THEN Hardware sub categories, then subcaegories of Hardware all under the CATEGORIES box which I want to rename or have automatically switch to whatever category you have clicked on.

Basically, what I am asking, is...can I like bypass the Categories box? Can I made the site work more similar to newweggs site at all?

There are so many options, I just can't seem to see a way to do it or not.

Thanks in advance for any help or advice!

You can use the "developer toolkit" feature in ADMIN>>>TOOLS>>>DEVELOPER TOOLKIT to find words, text strings, phrases and other code elements, that exits in the php pages of the website.

I tend to use the last input field in the developers toolkit screen, and then choose to search in both the catalog and admin sections.

This will return a comprehensive list of results, showing all the files in the website that contain your search phrase.

So if you search for CATEGORIES, it will return a list of files where CATEGORIES appears.

You will need to change ONLY the instances where it is a DEFINE entry. And be careful here... Don't delete the ' marks surrounding the word/phrase.

Also, use a GOOD TEXT EDITOR to make your edits - such as CRIMSON EDITOR. You Must NOT exit files in plain old notepad, nor with website building software.

Ah I see...well, I use EditPad Pro, so i should be fine there.

Thanks for the quick reply...so, hmm...so only DEFINE entries and um.. ALL DEFINE entries you mean? So if I do all define entries I should be fine? LOL!

And you say, use the one on the bottom of the page? Ok hang on...

OMG...2255 matches came up!!!!

That would take forever to sort through! That is the only way to change one word?

I mean...I'd have to like...open all of them up with editpad pro at the same time, and do a super search for the word and be super carefull that it included a DEFINE entry too..I guess this isn't going to be very easy :(

Ok, I have decided LOL, there MUST be a simpler solution than that!

I just don't know what it might be.

There will only be a handful of DEFINES relating to the "categories" text string.

I use CRIMSON EDITOR, and I generally make a COPY of the files I need to edit, via FTP to my hard drive, then do the edit on the COPY, leaving the original file UNTOUCHED.

I edit them ONE BY ONE - if you do a blanket search/replace you will change references to "CATEGORIES" that MUST NOT BE CHANGED! Remember, you just want to change the way the text string (in this case, CATEGORIES) is DEFINED. The word CATEGORIES may appear 20 times in a php file. It's likely that you will only need to change ONE occurance of it in any given file. And that will ALWAYS be in a line that starts with - define ... and will ALWAYS be the text at or near the end, enclosed in single quotes ... 'Categories'. (Do NOT remove the single quotes)

(It may help to do a little reading on basic php...)

In many cases, you will FTP the changed file into a CUSTOM (over-rides) folder, and this is a VERY IMPORTANT consideration.

There are plenty of explanations about the over-ride system on this forum, so please read these and understand what the over-rides system MEANS and what it DOES.

Here's a list of CORE FILES that are likley to be relevant to you. Remember, edit a COPY of these, and send the edited copy to an over-rides directory.

includes/languages/english.php
includes/languages/english/advanced_search.php
includes/languages/english/advanced_search_result.php
includes/languages/english/discount_coupon.php
includes/languages/english/index.php
includes/languages/english/popup_coupon_help.php

So... you will be looking for references like this:-

  define('BOX_HEADING_CATEGORIES', 'Categories');

You change it like this:-

  define('BOX_HEADING_CATEGORIES', 'YOUR TEXT HERE');

schoolboy:

Here's a list of CORE FILES that are likley to be relevant to you. Remember, edit a COPY of these, and send the edited copy to an over-rides directory.

includes/languages/english.php

Thanks a lot, you just made my life a lot easier :) This was the only file I had to edit to change my sidebox text from "Categories" to whatever I wanted!

To get into the deeper question you asked, it is possible to use the categories-tabs in the header in tandem with the categories sidebox, to display top categories in the header and the current set of subcats in the sidebox (and not have the static box title).

First and easiest, to hide the static title you add this to your stylesheet (/includes/templates/your_template/css/stylesheet.css):

#categoriesHeading {display: none;}

Then you need to change the PHP code in /includes/templates/your_template/sideboxes/tpl_categories.php (copy it from /includes/templates/template_default/sideboxes/tpl_categories.php).

There are threads in the forum discussing the process which I don't have on hand at the moment, but search for active subcategories or current subcategories and you may find some. I'll check around and get back.

...On the other hand, nevermind :)
You weren't the one wanting that functionality. If someone who does want it checks in, I'll follow up.