newbie question here over-ridden / written

Hi,
What does over-ridden mean and over-written mean? I mean what is the difference?
Thanks.

To overwrite a file would be to replace it physically by uploading another one over top of it.

To override would suggest that "instead of loading the usual file, the 'override' for it is loaded from another folder, based on a set of defined patterns".
https://www.zen-cart.com/tutorials/index.php?article=230
https://www.zen-cart.com/tutorials/index.php?article=143
https://www.zen-cart.com/tutorials/index.php?article=36

Hi DrByte,
So if I'm installing a new module for example I'm installing (COWOA) and it tells me that

"Five stock Zen files are over-written for this mod(FOUND IN OVERWRITES-RIDES FOLDER)"

then its already going to screw up my chance of doing easy upgrades in the future? Is it possible that even though the module tells me the above quote about the files being overwritten, that I should just do a override instead?

COWOA is an intrusive mod, from my recollection. It changes a lot of core files in significant ways. Upgrades after that will not be easy. That's the nature of the mod.

Do you know of any other mod that allows customer to checkout without an account? That possibly doesn't touch core files? if not then thats cool, no worries.

Anything that significantly alters the existing checkout flow is going to create challenges for you in the future until such time as the Zen Cart project itself supports those changes. Right now it does not.

The closest one can get to checkout-without-an-account is PayPal Express Checkout -- with that if customers pay via Express Checkout, an account is automatically created for them, so they don't even know it's happening.

If you're concerned that people won't buy because you're telling them to create an account, why don't you tackle it from a psychology perspective instead: don't tell them they're creating an account ... instead, tell them you're collecting the required information needed in order to fulfill their order. If they're concerned about supplying a username and password, tell them that's so they can log in securely to check on the status of their order, and that their password protects their private data from anyone else finding out about their order.

Or not.

Hi DrByte,
Thank you for all your help. I really appreciate it and so does many other new zenners. I just have one more question before I start all over on my zen website. Since the overrides system says to create a custom folder anywhere that a classic folder exists, I'm wondering if the classic folder is also a override folder that has the classic theme. If so, then if I create my custom folder and have to files with the same name one in each folder, how does the system know which one to pick to use to override the core file?
Thanks again.

*two files - sorry for the typo on previous post.

The template override system first looks for the name of your custom template which you've selected in the admin area.

Yes, "classic" is the name of a template, and is itself an example of using overrides.

When Zen Cart is looking for certain files to process, it first looks for them in a folder named the same as your template is named. In the case of the Classic template, it looks in folders named "classic". If it finds the file there, it uses that one. If it doesn't find it there, it goes to template_default instead (in the case of templates ... for languages, it goes to the main language folder above the override folders).

That's basically how it works. The specifics are outlined in the FAQs.