need to make extensive template changes where to begin?
 

My client wants a particular "look" for his store. I will need to do alot of changing of the templates. I'm a newbie to x-cart and smarty templates but an old hand at html, css and programming...

any suggestions of where to begin? I'm a bit overwhelmed.

Also ...if I mess up a template file is there any way to restore just that one template...rather than the whole kit and caboodle?

Thanks!! ...this seems like a very helpful community!
Liz

Re: need to make extensive template changes where to begin?
 

The .tpl are where to start, take a look though skins1/customer/home.tpl and take a note of what files it calls in these control the look of the customer front end.

There's a CSS file in the skins1 directory that controls fonts/colors etc etc.

X-cart has a back up of the original template files, if you mess up a template badly you can log into the admin area click edit templates and find the one you messed up and simply click "Restore"

Best advice is do it bit by bit, don't edit everything at the same time.

Make sure you enclose javascript in {literal} code {/literal} tags or smarty will try to parse bits as it's own code and mess it up.

After you've edited a few files and tested the effects you'll start to get the hang of it.

Smarty has it's own template sub logic built in so it can make decisions on how or what to show in the template, take care that this logic isn't interfered with unless you understand what it does.

Apart from that, make a coffee and have fun ;)

Ofcourse if you end up completely lost and scuppered hire one of the guys off the forum to do it while you go relax on the beach! Some x-cart template skinnings can be a nightmare if you need to completely change the look for a complex layout. If you design around the x-cart look it can save you alot of headaches.

Hi,

Also, if you mess up, you can easily restore the original template by selecting Edit Template from the Admin on the right menu.

ATKOgirl