zen cart newb web designer needs help!

zen cart newbie here...

i'm a web designer. making a site that requires ecommerce and the client wants zen cart. i like using godaddy for hosting and i saw that zen cart is easy to integrate so i said sure!

i am in the preliminary design stages, about to break the site up into working pages. i have questions that i just cannot find the answers to anywhere...

what file type is best to use?
can i use .asp? do i HAVE to use .php?
somebody help!

adding the code to product pages, setting up shopping cart pages
after i have my lovely blank pages, can i just plop the zen cart code into my content div? i must maintain continuity between all pages of the site. i can't have the product and shopping cart pages display in some different looking template.

the client wants to add products herself
she's not familiar with code or web dev. is this possible?

thank you!!!
i'm sure i'll think of more questions.....

leslie

Sorry you are using GD hosting

what file type is best to use?
can i use .asp? do i HAVE to use .php?
somebody help!
Zen Cart is PHP - So yes you have to use PHP
adding the code to product pages, setting up shopping cart pages
after i have my lovely blank pages, can i just plop the zen cart code into my content div? i must maintain continuity between all pages of the site. i can't have the product and shopping cart pages display in some different looking template.
Zen Cart is designed to be the core web site and not as parts used in any other type of page. One designs/skins Zen Cart to match a design and it becomes the web site
the client wants to add products herself
she's not familiar with code or web dev. is this possible?
For the most part - YES - a little knowledge of html would be helpful as product descriptions can use html for specific styling. There is also a WYSIWYG editor and optional editors that can be setup.

what file type is best to use?
can i use .asp? do i HAVE to use .php?
--> php, no asp. But believe me, as one who codes in both languages, asp and php are not much different.

adding the code to product pages, setting up shopping cart pages
--> ZC is designed to be a full solution, you can have your other site content on ZC as well. Another way is to make the external pages and ZC pages look exactly the same, so the users will not notice any difference.

the client wants to add products herself
--> no coding skill needed.

oops, kobra beat me ^_^

so... the fact that i have created a page design is bad, eh.
@#$%^!

i was under the impression (for some reason) that... oh crap whatever i guess. crap.

ok so... i have my css and stuff all done up in dreamweaver. is it all a lost cause? is it very painful to "skin" zen cart? am i completely screwed?

sorry. just pretty much freaking out here.

i just wish there was better info on this readily available. i am a plain old web designer. i made my layout in fireworks. i get approval. i conver that into html and css with dreamweaver and tadaa, i am done.

it looks like i am going to have to learn a whole new process to use zen cart.

can you point me to some sort of information about creating a custom design? and not just a link to the FAQ like i've seen in some posts around here? heheh i don't have 2 weeks to read posts unfortunately. i just need to know how to use this.

also, she's got her domain name, but it currently URL forwards to a hyenacart shopping page. do i need to have her set up her godaddy hosting before i even attempt messing with this? or can i create files for her to preview on my godaddy site and then move them to her site once we're finished?

terrified i am in for way more than i bargained for,
leslie

here's a link to the design mockup
http://www.gainesvilledesign.com/designpreview/littleluxe/preview/3/default.html

is this even going to be possible to achieve using zen cart?

To become proficient in under 2 weeks and not having an usderstanding of PHP to begin with or Zen Cart is a stretch.

There is not a better design source than the tutorials/FAQ's section of this site.
There is a book but it is not indepth on design.

GD is not the best platform to run a Zen Cart from and you can search this site for them and the posts about the issues.

You can test drive the contributed templates, and see if any would be
adaptable to what you have in mind, here:

http://(sorry, site offline)/

Search the FAQs/Tutorials for articles on how the override system works.
Very important to understand it when getting started with ZC.

ok so... i have my css and stuff all done up in dreamweaver. is it all a lost cause?

--> not really, you will reuse all of that
Think of it like this: ZC still uses html, css and such to create the layout, but since ZC has many dynamic content created on-the-fly, the html is broken down to smaller parts (header, footer, left column, right column, etc....) and then put in different files/places.

You can apply your design to Zen Cart and make it look like just about anything you want. Some layouts will require more skill than others. It's good to think about designs first, and then integrate with the shop function, as you may come up with a more original or better design than if you start with the stock template.

Much styling can be done with CSS, so you will need to be familiar with that.
There are also many switches in admin, and many simple tweaks to PHP files described in the forum for specific situations.

A link to your design, or a screenshot, will let us advise the best way to proceed.

"or can i create files for her to preview on my godaddy site"
You can't make standalone Zen Cart "pages". Each page is put together by dozens of files working together, and you have to have Zen Cart installed on a server (this can be set up on your pc) to get any output.

i keep trying to post the link, but the post is deleted.

Can you just type in the address?

my layout is all css so hopefully we're good there. there's a body background that needs to be there, a div around everything with a non repeating bg at the top (the curly bits) and then the maincontainer div with the header, content, menu, and footer divs...

i'm calming down. ;) just having a frustrating day.
and learning new things like this are always excrutiating for me as i am pretty ADD and just want to know how to do it now without excavating layers and layers of forum posts...

do you have to have a certain # of posts to post links i wonder?

anyhoo, i really appreciate all you guys looking at this with me. it's a bit intimidating.

OK, nothing tricky about this view. Look at the ZC stock template's stylesheet (/includes/templates/classic/css/stylesheet.css). Alternateively, you might be better off starting with the default stylesheet (/includes/templates/template_default/css/stylesheet.css).

You would put the blue patterned bg in the body declaration, the tan header bg in #headerWrapper (set to 100% width), give #mainWrapper a width to accommodate the header, make #contentMainWrapper with white bg color and auto margins so it centers in #mainWrapper.

There will be plenty more details, but that gets the overall layout.

You will do well to get Firefox and its Web Developer extension. The Information > Display Element Information button will show all kinds of useful CSS info for any element you click on, and the Edit CSS button will let you see instantly the effects of CSS changes.

do you have to have a certain # of posts to post links i wonder?
Unfortunately many of us post and can not ourseleves recall where these are.

I know that you have stated you do not want to search and read posts - but this is the forum method

thanks glenn. i appreciate it.

what i was saying is that i do not have 2 weeks to dedicate to picking through forum posts, trying something, having it not work, and then ending up at square one over and over again. that's the experience i have had in the past with stuff like this.

i'm a work at home mom with an 8 month old baby and it's pretty hard to find hours and hours to dig in and bury myself in learning foreign stuff. i was just hoping to get some links or info about how to go about transition a "regular" style web design process into using zen cart.

i'm not a programmer. if i was i wouldn't need zen cart, right? ;)

lesliev2001:

thanks glenn. i appreciate it.

what i was saying is that i do not have 2 weeks to dedicate to picking through forum posts, trying something, having it not work, and then ending up at square one over and over again. that's the experience i have had in the past with stuff like this.

i'm a work at home mom with an 8 month old baby and it's pretty hard to find hours and hours to dig in and bury myself in learning foreign stuff. i was just hoping to get some links or info about how to go about transition a "regular" style web design process into using zen cart.

i'm not a programmer. if i was i wouldn't need zen cart, right? ;)
You are right. A tutorial should be written for that. Maybe we can make it a community project.

I cant let this comment pass tho :P :" i'm not a programmer. if i was i wouldn't need zen cart, right? ;)". If you assume all programmers code everything, you may be a little far away from the truth.

PS: this may help you a bit:
http://www.zen-cart.com/wiki/index.php/Customisation_-_Templates

The Zen Cart program represents several years' worth of programmer-hours, and would be completely unreasonable for one programmer to replicate from scratch.