4 replies to this topic

[rvnds]

Hi there community,

I've a couple of quick questions. I've not worked with OSCommerce before, but I have been asked to update the clients dated look and feel.

I am a designer, and am familiar with html, CSS and have themed Joomla, Drupal, Worpress and others before.

My questions:
- Is there a themeing guide?
- Is V3 of OSC being used for live sites?
- What is the difference between a theme and a template?

[DunWeb]

@rvnds

• You can read Basics for Design v2.3
  
• v3.x is a Developers release, it is not currently being used for live sites
  
• A theme (you could look at theme roller) changes the fundamentals of a site, a template changes the layout and design to a greater degree.

Also, I DON'T suggest taking on an osCommerce website as a paid project.  osCommerce takes years to master and offering osCommerce services with little or no experience with the software will only end up with an upset client and a bad review on you.


Chris

[rvnds]

The client wants to change from osC to Wordpress and some kind of commerce plugin. I don't like WP for ecommerce, and moreover, he will need to transport all his customer history from the past 5 years to the new platform. That'd be a right royal pain.

In my experience with other php/sql systems, often the mechanics don't need to be touched much, if at all, and changing the css + template will achieve the new look. That's normally the whole point of keeping content and design separate with external stylesheets and templates.

I'm sure it isn't so different themeing for osC?

Let me reiterate that I am not building a website on osC - the site already exists.

[DunWeb]

@rvnds

I agree with you about the WP with osCommerce plug in, I wouldn't recommend it to anyone either.  Depending on what your client already has in place, you could make changes to the stylesheet and if there is a template in place, change the template graphics to freshen up the look.  If the site is v2.3.1, then some changes to the jquery ui would be needed.

Some other things you may want to consider:

• Ckeditor will allow the client the ability to update the site content from the admin area (conditions of use, privacy policy, about us and any other information pages) This can also be configured to work with product descriptions.
  
• If using v2.3.1, theme switcher could be implemented to allow the client to change themes on demand from the admin area.
  
• Featured products could be added to allow the client to change front page products on demand.

Chris

[rvnds]

DunWeb - thanks. That sounds good.

It sounds like I should encourage an upgrade to 2.3.1.

The source code of the site shows too many tables and lousy classing of elements, so I'd want to make my job easier anyway. I've spotted a guide to themeing in someone's sig, so I'll look there for the guidelines.

Thanks again.