Customizing Store Layout & Pages

[dougnyc]

I need to make a store to sell clothing and I would like to change the layout on all the pages like (giannidesignsinc.com) has.

 

Once the layout has been designed, how much time and how difficult is it to change the rest of the pages?

 

And, does anyone have some sample files they could share with me?

 

Thanks,

 

- Doug

[Rumble]

Hi,

 

Unless you know HTML, CSS, PHP or are adventurous and a quick learner you will probably need a designer to change the layout.

 

I would take a look at the help site http://wiki.oscommerce.com to find out how you can change the layout.

 

But, If you go with a designer I wouldnt pay more than $200 to get the layout/graphics changed.

 

HTH

[dougnyc]

Hi,

 

Thanks for the quick reply.

 

I am a designer and I wouldn't have a problem designing the ideal layout.

 

I need to know how to apply that layout to all the pages in the catalog such as the default page, the customer log in page, the search page, etc.

 

I know there are multiple files that make up the layout in general. I would just appreciate some insight and some advice from someone has has changed their site a lot, like giannidesignsinc.com.

 

Thanks,

 

- Doug

[Rumble]

If you are a designer take a look at the code you should be able to spot it without blinking :?:

 

Or view the source code.

 

HTML is HTML at the end of the day even if its embedded in php or not.

 

Play around with one page what harm can it do!?

[wizardsandwars]

Basically, ou're going to want to split your design up into 4 different sections.

 

header.php

footer.php

column_left.php

and column right.php

 

Then you'll want to "include" them into each php page you wish to apply the design to. Roughly like this

 

<?php

// This is the customer login page

include('header.php');

include('column_left.php');

 

// the body of this page

 

include('column_right.php');

include('footer.php');

 

of course, the columns currently include all of the infoboxes, so if you want to keep them, but you want to change the look, you'll need to edit each box using embedded html.

 

Best of luck!

[dougnyc]

Yesss... that's what I'm talking about!

 

Good man!

 

Do you have any sample sites where you've done this?

 

Thanks,

 

- D

[wizardsandwars]

www.wizardsandwars.com

www.madmacgames.com

 

with the qualification that "we've" done this and not just me.

[dougnyc]

Dude-

 

It's the holy grail of OSC custom sites. It's bangin!

 

How many hours of work did it take to integrate that layout?

 

- D

[wizardsandwars]

Millions. :lol:

 

Actually, it gets easier as we go. I'm a Database Programmer, and when we first formed our Corporation about a year ago, I had zeip experience developing on hte web, but quite a bit of experience with SQL and procedural languages like c++ and perl. So the webDesign took awhile for me to pick up, but with time and effort, it's coming to gether nicely.

 

You can expect hte same sort of results if you put in hte effort. But there's no 'contributions' that are going to customize your site this much. It's aot of work.

[Guest]

The color changes, etc. are made in stylesheet.css, and box layout is in includes/classes/boxes.php. I figured that I would mention that, since no else had.

 

Hth,

Matt

[dougnyc]

When I look at the actual pages I get lost fast. I'm beginning to make sense of it but I would appreciate it if someone has could share some of the files they used to customize their site...

 

madmacgames.com and the like are awesome.

 

Thanks,

 

- Doug

[wizardsandwars]

I'm not sure what you mena by "share some of the files". Here's some of the files that you have to change.

 

header.php

footer.php

column_left.php

column_right.php

index.php

 

The index.php will be that hardest, because it has multiple cases for what it dispays.

 

Customization to this extreme is not going to be easy for somone without any php experience. Perhaps you might want to create your template, and hire a programmer to integrate it for you.

[Guest]

Great job on the wizards and wars site guys!

 

I am totally new to php so don't be mean, OK.

 

I have quite a bit of html and db programming history so it looks familiar.

 

My question is, I would really like to know what file contains the text in the center (body) of the front page? The section on the Wizards and Wars site that says:

Greetings, Wizard! Welcome to the premier source to buy PC Games and Strategy Guides.

We carry the most popular Action, Adventure, RPG, and RTS pc games. View the latest New Releases, or check out what games are Coming Soon. Looking for tips and tricks? Head over to our PC Game Forums. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact us.

 

If you have already created a profile, feel free to log in.

 

I would love to learn how to edit this section first. Is this going to be super difficult? Someone please tell me what files I will need and where to edit?

 

Thanks,

Shawn

[Guest]

When you first install osCommerce CVS 2.2, default.php includes the following info...

 

2) Editing Page Texts



The text shown here can be modified in the following file, on each language basis:



[path to catalog]/includes/languages/english/index.php



That file can be edited manually, or via the Administration Tool with the Languages->English->Define or Tools->File Manager modules.



The text is set in the following manner:



define('TEXT_MAIN', 'This is a default setup of the osCommerce project...');



The text highlighted in green may be modified - it is important to keep the define() of the TEXT_MAIN keyword. To remove the text for TEXT_MAIN completely, the following example is used where only two single quote characters exist:



define('TEXT_MAIN', '');



More information concerning the PHP define() function can be read here.

 

Hope this helps

 

Regards

 

Paulzag

WealthEsteem.org :: Psychology of the Deal

http://www.wealthesteem.org

[Guest]

Thanks!!!!

 

Hopefully this will take care of things for a while.

 

Shawn

[PropioWeb]

BTS v1.0 helps a lot when trying to customize your site using pl;ain old html.

 

Check them out here.

Contibution: http://www.oscommerce.com/community/contributions,1263

Forum: http://www.oscommerce.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=51299

Patches: http://www.w3design.ca/files/

 

BTW Wizard, that Mac site looks awesome dude! Being a designer myself I can tell a lot of work went into it. I might have to pick your brain someday when I want to do something like that, if you don't mind. Awesome Job!

[Guest]

Thanks Samuel,

 

I am using 2.2cvs. So it appears that this won't work, correct?

 

I also have another quick question:

How do I add text under the "New Products For %s" table on the main page? Does anyone have example code they could share? And please tell me where it needs to be installed.

 

Thanks so much.

 

Shawn