[paula]

Another Newbie. A Designer, alas, not a programmer.

I'm just trying to get oriented. I mistakenly assumed that because I work pretty comfortably in HTML and CSS that I would be able to make sense of things. But apparently I need to know php as well. My bad.

Okay, here's what I'm trying to clarify. I am a web designer, working through another company that has actually installed my client's copy of X-cart Gold on their server. They will ultimately connect it to my client's in-store POS system which will work in sync with the webstore we're building. I built and manage my client's existing static html website, which will now link to an online store.

My current task is to try to get the skin to have some visual relationship to my client's existing website. It appears that my choices are to: 1. purchase a pre-developed skin from X-Cart (but they don't really work visually with my client's design); 2. purchase customization services from either X-Cart or someone else; 3. try to modify the default template myself. I am taking a shot at #3.

I am perfectly satisfied with the layout of the default template, and the fonts, etc. I just want to change the colors. Instead of the pale yellow page background I want it to be white. Instead of the various golds/oranges/rusts, I want to use some pinks, roses and greys. Instead of the dark brownish text, I want to use an eggplant (330033). I don't care what the admin side looks like, I'm concerned with what customers see.

I work with GoLive to build sites and that's the environment I'm used to.

Carpe Diem mentions using an ftp client and text editor - can I use GoLive? How do I do that? Do I get server coordinates and download templates onto my hard drive and work on them in GoLive?

It took me awhile to grasp that since the store will be dynamic, it's not really a matter of working on pages, it's a matter of working on items that will be assembled on pages. I have read the very limited instructions in the manual, and have tried working with the Debugger and in the webmaster mode, and I have read Balinor's guide in this forum. I grasp that there are all of these individual templates, but when I open most of them, they don't appear to have any coding that includes colors. They have the php coding, right? But if I want to change the colors of the elements on the page - the head or foot or the various boxes, where is that coding? If I want the page color to be white (FFFFFF) instead of the pale yellow (FFFFBD3), where do I make that change? The only thing I have done successfully is insert my client's logo, and change the primary text color. Those changes were made in the skin1.css

I thought I could make other changes in there, but although I changed a bunch of colors, they must not have been for what I thought they were because the didn't seem to change what I thought I was changing.

Also, how in the heck will I know that I have changed all the necessary templates?

I appreciate any clarification I can get! Thanks!