X-Cart Templates
 

This has probably been answered before, but I looked and can't find any info and I just have to ask :)

Are there any sites out there that have downloadable (free or for sale) xcart templates? It seems there really should be...

I noticed this myself so I put up my first set just this week with many many more to follow.

http://www.dogbytecomputer.com/Templates

watch out
 

the main reason their are no xcart skins out their is pretty much everyone's cart is very specific for their industry and use and needs to be skinned in such a way that no one else would really want their store to look like someone elses, though we have nabbed many ideas off alot of xcart sites and implemented them into ours which most likely alot of others have or are doing also. If peopel want a generic storefront then the xcart skins may be the way to go but from what i've scene most people start hacking away the basic look almost immediately after install :lol:

I agree. Not many people who are serious about business want their sites to look like others--as was said, it should be industry specific for most things. People want a site that corresponds to their intended audience and an image that will make their customers comfortable shopping at the site. Doing things like that is the reason I can take my wife out to eat once a week :D

The intent behind the templates is to provide an alternative to the stock templates during the time it takes to learn the X-CART system. To get a clean look for your store so you can get up and running with products and learn the ins and outs of X-CART customization in a less stressfull environment.

The act of installing a template, following the detailed instructions, in itself, goes a long way towards teaching a newbie how to edit and customize .tpl files.

I see it as good thing all the way around...

I'm not saying offering templates are a bad idea, and I think there's money in it. It is a wonderful learning tool. I guess it depends on the person, but I think most serious companies don't use templates, although there certainly are some exceptions to that.

I'd be shot (repeatedly at that!) if I ever used a template for a client and they found it. 8O

But at the same time it depends on the level of market you're in, there's alot of people on the forum who just can't afford pro design and are happy to run small low budget shops.

Most established or serious businesses don't blink an eye at a few thousand for setting up a good ecom site. But to some people starting out the $185 for x-cart alone can be alot in itself (remember $185 is very relative to where you live, in romania for example the minimum monthly wage is $60-$100)

Courses for horses as the say :)

I'm looking for a template that would allow me to change the cart from liquid design to about 1/3 of the page, so the cart doesn't take up the whole page..

I'm sure there's an easy way to do it.. I just bought xcart today

yeah just edit the customer/home.tpl, you can place table tags around the main part with a pixel size of what ever width you want.

or edit rectangle_top.tpl to be 66% rather then 100%