From this to that

[justmake]

Can anyone point me in the right direction to help me get my site from this (my site) to something like this (someone elses site), minus the awesome graphics of course.

I love how everything is square and defined, centered perfectly and customized.

Is it easy to change those things (like the boxes being squared and everything fitting together perfectly) or is it a matter of paying someone to totally change everything?

 

Cheers

 

Luke

[Jack_mcs]

You can do all of that yourself. It just involves a lot of work. The easiest way is to install a template contribution like STS. The better way is to learn to do it yourself. But doing it that way, assuming you are starting from scratch and with little knowledge on how oscommerce is put together, you are probably looking at 2-3 months of works. Using STS, you could probably cut this time down considerably, depending on your skill with html.

 

Jack

[justmake]

Is it safe to install STS on a site that is already running, and will STS be of use to me who has no html knowledge.

If not, (i hope i am alowed to ask this) are there people in this forum that i could pay to do it?

I just really like things looking Professional and i find my site pulls up a bit short.

In your opinion it worth worrying about it, would people be more inclined to buy from a site just coz it looks better.

Just thinking about it though, i would really like it to look more professional.

 

Luke

[Jack_mcs]

Using STS is probably the absolute easiest way there is to change the look of an oscommerce shop. It doesn't really require that much html knowledge but it will require some to get the site to look right. If you can't do it with STS though, it is very unlikely that you can do it by editing the php files as that is far more involved. But a lot of people start out this way and it is easy to learn. It really just comes down to how much time and patience you have.

 

Jack

[kitchenniche]

Using STS is probably the absolute easiest way there is to change the look of an oscommerce shop. It doesn't really require that much html knowledge but it will require some to get the site to look right.  If you can't do it with STS though, it is very unlikely that you can do it by editing the php files as that is far more involved.  But a lot of people start out this way and it is easy to learn.  It really just comes down to how much time and patience you have.

 

Jack

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

HI

 

where can i download this STS?

 

thx

[Jack_mcs]

Click on the contribution link at the top of the page and enter simple template system in the search string.

 

Jack

[Guest]

I woulnd't recommend STS for your site...it'll kill your server.

 

Bobby

[TAPAKAH]

I woulnd't recommend STS for your site...it'll kill your server.

 

Bobby

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

I second that! :D

[Jack_mcs]

Never heard that one before. In what way? I don't use it now but did at one time and never had any problems that I know of.

 

Jack

[kitchenniche]

I woulnd't recommend STS for your site...it'll kill your server.

 

Bobby

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

my server? www.kitchenniche.ca ?

[Guest]

The STS contribution uses pretty inefficient code and queries...specifically this portion located in includes/sts_display_output.php:

/////////////////////////////////////////////
////// Get Categories
/////////////////////////////////////////////
$get_categories_description_query = tep_db_query("SELECT categories_id, categories_name FROM " . TABLE_CATEGORIES_DESCRIPTION);
// Loop through each category (in each language) and create template variables for each name and path
while ($categories_description = tep_db_fetch_array($get_categories_description_query)) {
     $cPath_new = tep_get_path($categories_description['categories_id']);
     $path = substr($cPath_new, 6); // Strip off the "cPath=" from string

     $catname = $categories_description['categories_name'];
     $catname = str_replace(" ", "_", $catname); // Replace Spaces in Category Name with Underscores

     $template["cat_" . $catname] = tep_href_link(FILENAME_DEFAULT, $cPath_new);
     $template["urlcat_" . $catname] = tep_href_link(FILENAME_DEFAULT, $cPath_new);
     $template["cat_" . $path] = tep_href_link(FILENAME_DEFAULT, $cPath_new);
     $template["urlcat_" . $path] = tep_href_link(FILENAME_DEFAULT, $cPath_new);

     // print "<b>template[" . $categories_description['categories_name'] . "]=" . $template[$categories_description['categories_name']] . "<br>template[" . $path . "]=" . $template[$path] . "</b>";
}

So, first the query scans the entire products_description table. Not a few rows or select rows...the ENTIRE TABLE. If there are more than a few categories this will cause a table lock while scanning thereby locking out every customer that may be trying to access the table as well.

 

As if that HUGE, INEFFICIENT query weren't enough it the calls tep_get_path for each cat_id which will then access the products table twice. So, for every category in the database (regardless of whether they are disabled or not) count 3 queries.

 

Now, the effects may not be apparent to someone not versed but the table lock combined with inefficient coding leads to serious performance issues with stores that have more than 1 custom browsing at a time.

 

There are a few other areas beside this one example...

 

So, I re-iterate: for your store that has more than a few categories I would not recommend STS since it will kill your MySQL server.

 

Bobby

[TAPAKAH]

I am the living example.... site produced 5000+ queries to look at the product. Almost got booted from teh server. Install Chemo's contrib. and see if you have this kind of a problem.

[kitchenniche]

The STS contribution uses pretty inefficient code and queries...specifically this portion located in includes/sts_display_output.php:

/////////////////////////////////////////////
////// Get Categories
/////////////////////////////////////////////
$get_categories_description_query = tep_db_query("SELECT categories_id, categories_name FROM " . TABLE_CATEGORIES_DESCRIPTION);
// Loop through each category (in each language) and create template variables for each name and path
while ($categories_description = tep_db_fetch_array($get_categories_description_query)) {
     $cPath_new = tep_get_path($categories_description['categories_id']);
     $path = substr($cPath_new, 6); // Strip off the "cPath=" from string

     $catname = $categories_description['categories_name'];
     $catname = str_replace(" ", "_", $catname); // Replace Spaces in Category Name with Underscores

     $template["cat_" . $catname] = tep_href_link(FILENAME_DEFAULT, $cPath_new);
     $template["urlcat_" . $catname] = tep_href_link(FILENAME_DEFAULT, $cPath_new);
     $template["cat_" . $path] = tep_href_link(FILENAME_DEFAULT, $cPath_new);
     $template["urlcat_" . $path] = tep_href_link(FILENAME_DEFAULT, $cPath_new);

     // print "<b>template[" . $categories_description['categories_name'] . "]=" . $template[$categories_description['categories_name']] . "<br>template[" . $path . "]=" . $template[$path] . "</b>";
}

So, first the query scans the entire products_description table.  Not a few rows or select rows...the ENTIRE TABLE.  If there are more than a few categories this will cause a table lock while scanning thereby locking out every customer that may be trying to access the table as well.

 

As if that HUGE, INEFFICIENT query weren't enough it the calls tep_get_path for each cat_id which will then access the products table twice.  So, for every category in the database (regardless of whether they are disabled or not) count 3 queries.

 

Now, the effects may not be apparent to someone not versed but the table lock combined with inefficient coding leads to serious performance issues with stores that have more than 1 custom browsing at a time.

 

There are a few other areas beside this one example...

 

So, I re-iterate: for your store that has more than a few categories I would not recommend STS since it will kill your MySQL server.

 

Bobby

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Ok , thanks for the warning. May you explain me what's the best way to edit the index.php file? I tried it but i got an fatal error so i undid it. I want to put a canadian flag and the text "We are Canadian" ... that's all i want but it didn't work. I took the html-code from the frontpage and put it in the editing file in the WSFTP but i got this fatal error when i tried to open my page...

 

sandra

[TAPAKAH]

Ok , thanks for the warning. May you explain me what's the best way to edit the index.php file? I tried it but i got an fatal error so i undid it. I want to put a canadian flag and the text "We are Canadian" ... that's all i want but it didn't work. I took the html-code from the frontpage and put it in the editing file in the WSFTP but i got this fatal error when i tried to open my page...

 

sandra

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

You are editing the wrong index.php. Go to catalog/includes/language/english/index.php

 

Find:

define('HEADING_TITLE','<a href="URL if you want to link the flag"><img src="images/CANADAFlag.gif">');

 

good luck.