How does one edit the html of .tpl's WITHOUT breaking....
 

Yes I know this is surely an incredibly stupid question- sorry in advance. And I have studied this forum and others to get the initial grasp down with Smarty but STILL need assistance.

If the template is so "separate" from the logic and is designed to be safe from being broken by the designer why do I see so much logic-based code throughout the .tpl files that I can obviously break easily and quite unintentionally.

In other words I guess I am a bit of a wimp to go about messing around with the .tpl file!!!! But unfortunately I have a very complicated design that I must get working WITH these puppies and was a little suprised to see just how difficult this is going to be.

Am I overly concerned here?

What first step do you take when editing the design of, for example, the header.tpl?

Thanks so much in advance!!!

First step when making changes? Make a backup.
Second step when making changes? Breathe deeply and go for it. Yes there are lots of smarty tags in there but after a while it really is quite easy. If you have a complex desigh maybe you should get a X-cart designer to implement it for you? It might save a lot of headaches.

Thanks Magnum-

I'm glad you mentioned the backup issue as I assumed this is going to the norm working with .tpl's.

Your advice of working with an Xcart designer is appreciated as well- BUT, do you have one basic tip that you can offer me as to how you start your process before I go this route.

After creating a backup and before I start the design work on a particluar .tpl file should I strip the smarty code out of the .html and then replace it after the page design is complete?

No, I wouldn't strip the Smarty...you need to learn to work with it or else you are going to cause all sorts of problems :) If you like Dreamweaver, I would suggest reading these threads:

http://forum.x-cart.com/viewtopic.php?t=17274

http://forum.x-cart.com/viewtopic.php?t=74

Honestly, once you get comfortable with the {if} statements, you will be fine. There is no substitute for just diving in and learning it :)

Thanks Balinor- I shall get wet then.... 8O