Don't understand how to install new template in 1.3.8a

Okay, I officially know enough to be dangerous. I used the Developers Tool Kit tonight to change "Page 2" to "Scent Descriptions" and no one can stop me now, muhaha!

So I found the FAQ/tutorial on How do I create a new Custom Template? and followed the directions. But (a) when I checked out my store with the new template, my main_page text was all gone, and (b) I didn't know where to start with creating a totally original style. So I went back to Classic Green (and my main_page came back) and started looking through downloads for custom templates others have created.

I downloaded and extracted the Blue Highlights and Mystic River templates, but now I can't figure out what to do, and the "readme" files don't help. Creating the custom template just involved putting files in one subdirectory and uploading that. The downloadable templates seem to include files that go all over the place, and the instructions sound like I'm supposed to just upload it and the files will figure out where they go. The last time I uploaded directories to existing directories, all my files disappeared and my store was nonfunctional for hours. I'm not going to risk that again.

Am I stuck? Or can I upload new template files just into custom subdirectories?

You can view your templates in the Admin -> Tools -> Templates section. Select and preview each one before saving.

mamasylvia:

Okay, I officially know enough to be dangerous. I used the Developers Tool Kit tonight to change "Page 2" to "Scent Descriptions" and no one can stop me now, muhaha!

So I found the FAQ/tutorial on How do I create a new Custom Template? and followed the directions. But (a) when I checked out my store with the new template, my main_page text was all gone, and (b) I didn't know where to start with creating a totally original style. So I went back to Classic Green (and my main_page came back) and started looking through downloads for custom templates others have created.

I downloaded and extracted the Blue Highlights and Mystic River templates, but now I can't figure out what to do, and the "readme" files don't help. Creating the custom template just involved putting files in one subdirectory and uploading that. The downloadable templates seem to include files that go all over the place, and the instructions sound like I'm supposed to just upload it and the files will figure out where they go. The last time I uploaded directories to existing directories, all my files disappeared and my store was nonfunctional for hours. I'm not going to risk that again.

Am I stuck? Or can I upload new template files just into custom subdirectories?

As far as I know the templates in the downloads section contain files necessary for that template and they are already in the correct file structure for Zen Cart. you should just upload the includes folder directly to your server.

After uploading you can activate the template in admin -> tools -> template selection

You can preview the templates here

Admin - Tools - Template Selection Click **Edit **and then the dropdown to see what templates Zencart thinks you have installed.

If you've created directories, etc., and the template isn't in the dropdown, you haven't edited template_info.php for that template.

Once they're all in the dropdown, select one and click Update, then go to Admin - Tools - Layout Boxes Controller and click Reset at the bottom.

(Sorry if you knew all this, but some people miss the last step.)

I must not have been clear about a few items.

I can't view the downloaded templates because they are only on my laptop, not the server. Part of my problem is that I can't figure out how to upload them to the server. In addition, when I try to preview the two custom templates I created myself, I get the message "Forbidden You don't have permission to access /ZenCart/includes/templates/custom/images/ on this server. Additionally, a 404 Not Found error was encountered while trying to use an ErrorDocument to handle the request." I checked premissions and both the directories and the template files are set to 755.

I can't "just upload the includes folder directly to your server." There are includes folders all over the place and I don't know where to upload the downloaded ones. In addition, since uploading a folder to an existing folder of the same name blew up my whole store last week, I'm not doing it again.

There are only two includes folders in your Zen Cart installation, /includes/ and /admin/includes/. You can ignore /admin/includes/ for most any template work.

You should upload the /includes/ folder of the downloaded template to the root of your store. (Don't put it in the store's /includes/ folder, as then you will have /includes/includes/templates/etc.) The template will only have files in its own override folders, so they can't interfere with any existing files.

The only alternative to this is uploading each file individually, and the chance of placing one into the wrong folder is much greater than the chance of misplacing the /includes/ folder.

You can ignore /admin/includes/ for most any template work.

Thanks, that helped me identify where the other folders went. I uploaded the two new templates into a temp folder and then moved them where they were supposed to go.

However, I still got the "forbidden" message when I clicked on "preview template" and when I went to the actual store, both templates looked the same: grey banner across the top, pink and orange bars across the left sidebox, and the "owner's manual" back in the center of the home page -- my main page and Information and More Information customization is all gone. (Those pages really should be somewhere that each template would pick them up and not have to be re-created for each new template.)

I don't think they should have looked the same, and certainly the "blue highlights" shouldn't have been pink and orange.

mamasylvia:

However, I still got the "forbidden" message when I clicked on "preview template"

This is most likely caused because the templates do not have screenshots available.

The colors you are describing sound like the /template_default/ stylesheet, which would indicate that not all of the custom template files made it to the right locations.

Have you double-checked that all of the template files are in the right folders? Compare with /template_default/, and with the folder structure in the original unzipped files on your pc.

The individual copies of files for each template enable you to present information differently in each if you choose; you can just copy a custom file as is into another template folder if you want.

If I may step in, treading lightly so as not to offend the previous posters...

The OP has clearly said -- twice -- that uploading files wholesale has damaged her site. Some FTP agents I guess don't do the right thing, so the uploader has to manually place the files where they belong. I do that anyway; I'm literally unaware whether or not my FTP program would do the right thing. And I'm not about to find out the hard way. :unsure:

It sounds like the OP is experimenting on her live site, which is never a good idea. Either keep a second version of the site on your server for experimenting or use a local Apache setup. I recommend the latter. So, mamasylvia, get thee hence to a place where you can download XAMP or MAMP or whatever version you need for your operating system and install it. Then install in it a clean fresh untouched Zen Cart and run it to make sure it works. Then make your mods on this locally running store until you're satisfied. When you are, upload the changed files to your server.

And as for making a new template, why work so hard? Find a template or two that is more or less what you want (I see you've done that) install it and get it running. Then change its files to suit. Much easier than starting from scratch, though perhaps yielding more limited results. Later, when you're a Zen guru, you can create your own template. (Both my sites started from the Sage template, though the author might not recognize them any more.)

HTH

Rob

I agree with everything the Sugar Donut said above, except I would recommend a test directory on the remote server rather than on your local machine.

It's true that some ftp programs can do bad things to large file uploads. Using a known stable utility like Filezilla will pretty well eliminate this possibility.

gjh42 nailed it -- my file uploader, besides destroying everything when I upload a directory and it already contains a directory of that name, apparently has problems with multiple subdirectories. When I checked file-by-file, nearly all the multiple-level directories were present, but there were no files in them. I copied over the files from my computer and both templates now work fine, in fact they are quite gorgeous, particularly the Mystic River template. :clap: And now I know what the default template looks like, in case it happens again. (No comments necessary on my obvious need for a better uploader, I have programmer-husband looking for something suitable for me.)

Rob, I think I agree with you that I need a test site. But it will be on the server rather than my own computer, as stevesh suggested -- I'm almost out of room on my hard disk, besides not having a server program. There is tons of room left on our web host and I have fast Internet access so the little delay in working through the server won't be a problem. I just have to figure out how to set up a test site.

Thanks for all the help!

Sounds like you have it under control then. Good luck with the next stage.

(I have a very large hard drive but not much extra room on the server, hence my preference for a local install.)

Rob

mamasylvia:

(No comments necessary on my obvious need for a better uploader, I have programmer-husband looking for something suitable for me.)

FileZilla is very reliable and its FREE

I checked with Panic.com, the makers of Transmit, my ftp program. They say it will do what people here suggest is normal, merging files properly and all if I select "Merge" when prompted by the program. I've never noticed that because I've never tried to do uploads that way.

I think I'll continue to manually distribute files when I make changes because it helps me be more aware of the file structure of ZC.

That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it.

Rob

it helps me be more aware of the file structure of ZC

I've noticed that too -- fighting to get the templates working has really shown me what goes where.

Now if I could just figure out how to add a screenshot to the templates that don't come with one ...

This thread discusses that - basically it's just a static screenshot that you (or the template designer) provide.

http://www.zen-cart.com/forum/showthread.php?t=91548

Press alt and print screen on your computer keypad, then paste into graphics program

Cool! I couldn't paste it into Photo Editor but Windows Paint took it fine. Thanks! Now I just have to figure out where it goes in the file structure -- I remember seeing some "images" folders, and some of the templates did have previews so I'll just look at where they are stored.

GJH Please stick around. :smile: You make sense to us lost souls.

Keep gnawing on 'em mama. We'll make 'em give up their secrets. :laugh: