Managing Page Content in Zen Cart
Zen cart is a Content Management System (CMS) which means that most of the
content that you see on the various web pages is data stored in a database and
retrieved for viewing as each pages loads when requested. An Admin program
is available to the owner (or anyone with the correct username and password) to
create and adjust the content in the database. I will provide the URL,
username, and password for your Admin after I install your Zen Cart.
You don't have to know anything about web page coding or technical matters to
manage the content in Zen Cart. Most of the work is just filling in boxes
and making selections from drop down menus.
When I do the installation and configuration I usually create some simple
(placeholder) content for you to give you the idea of what can go on the various
pages. You will need to learn how to create your own page content as you
go along. The ideas that follow will help get you started. There a
many resources on the web and Zen Cart is a very powerful program, so you can
take this about as far as you wish if you are willing to make the effort.
Define Pages Editor and EZ-Pages
With regard to actual page content, most of it will be created in one of two
places: the Define Pages Editor or the EZ-Pages Editor. Both can be found
under the Tools tab in the Admin.
The Define Pages editor is where you will find the the "Main Page" or front page
that is displayed when Zen Cart first loads.
Plain Text or HTML Editor?
When you click on the Define Pages Editor you will see two drop down menus.
One drop down menu is for selecting the page to edit and the other is for
choosing whether to edit it in plain text or html.
The first decision is to determine whether to edit in plain text or html.
Plain text is usually for people who know how to code with html and is very
powerful if you know how to use it. The html editor allows you to work
with content like you would with a word processor (like Word). It has some
very basic functions and is usually preferred by people who don't know how to
code html directly.
To edit your Home page, you will need to select this file:
define_main_page.php
EZ-Page Editor
You can create or maintain other pages from with the Define Pages Editor, but I
usually prefer to use EZ-Pages for all the other content pages. The
EZ-Pages Editor looks like this:
As with the Define Pages Editor, you should first choose to edit with the Plain
Text Editor or HTML Editor. Same choice as before.
Once you have made that choice, either select an EZ-Page from the list or create
a new one with the New File Button. To select from the list, click the
green cirlce with the letter "E" inside it. Or select the page from the
list and click the edit button.
Creating or editing EZ-Pages is pretty straightforward except for one very
important point. You must assign an Order Number in one of the boxes for
the page to be visible. I usually choose the Sidebox. The order
number will determine where in the navigation menu it is listed. Higher
numbers go to the bottom.
I usually create one EZ-Page and name it "Home". I then point it to the
home page URL so that it refers to the define_main_page.php file that we
created/edited with the Define Pages Editor. That way you only have to
work with one file when updating your Home page.
These are the basics for working with your page content. I suggest that you
watch some of the online video tutorials on YouTube that are available to fine
tune your skills (or just to get an overvew when starting out).
Of course, once you get the knack of working with the pages, you can refine and
update your content as your business grows and you make adjustments in how you
provide your products and services. You may find it helpful to study the
content created by some other farms or businesses to see how they have
structured their ideas about how Zen Cart works for them.
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