I was tickled to death when the Zen Cart core team opened up development to approved contributors. I dug right in and was so excited to get that sneak peek into version 1.6. Oh, and to get a say so in upcoming features! I started working on some of that right away.
And then I realized, wait, some of this that I want to see happen I can do now for my customers!
So Came the Birth of the Ready To Go Template for Zen Cart.
I fixed all those niggling CSS things and removed some legacy crap from the template files that have been bugging me for years.
Then I added in the Checkout Without Account (Guest Checkout is more an accurate name), the CKeditor, UPS and USPS that are no longer included the default files. (FYI: the editor may have been removed for PCI compliance)
New Features
So then I got down to the features that in so many cases I’ve been recreating for each website.
The Shopping Cart in the Header – now it’s a sidebox that can be turned off and on. And the ability to have that in the menu bar as well if you don’t want it up in the header.
Adding in your authorize.net number in admin automatically pops up the clickable a.net seal, and the icons for your chosen credit cards will show if you want. (including Paypal!) Those icons are available in two sizes. And you can also add in what ever text you want between the authorize.net image and the credit card icons. I like to add in the clickable secure certificate seal for the certs I sell. You can see it (and buy this new sidebox separately) in all its clickable glory at ZenCartDelia.com
A displays CSS styled buttons of the social media sites you want to display. Just put in your facebook page or twitter profile address and those icons will pop up. Style it without the box itself or in your templated sidebox. Finally, an easy way to add these in!
Now it’s really easy to set up Mail Chimp. The settings are in admin – no files to edit. And there’s two extra possibilities besides the normal sign up sidebox, including a header box and a one for the login page. All the Zen Cart unsubscribe links that so tormented some owners are now gone. Full integration finally!
And there’s lots more – such as EZpages on Sitemap, Save your Sideboxes Layout as the Default, my own Streamlined Checkout, and I’m going to stop now ’cause the list just keeps going on!
Metatags and Other Admin Settings
Now you have full control of your site metatags from inside admin. I don’t know why this hasn’t been done though I have seen mods that do it. It’s just easier. You can decide whether to have your home page have the featured / new / specials boxes and your add to cart up top or at the bottom. You can opt for the search box buttons to automatically be either the default image or a css button or you can choose a custom button like the magnifying glass that comes with the template.
The Look
It’s not the most exciting thing to come down the pike but it is a good starting point for a basic site and easy to fancy up to your heart’s content. There are a number of colors available cruising through the various templates you can get an idea of what’s possible with little effort. It’s a clean look – designed by a graphic/web designer for one reason only – to sell! Read more about my cart design guidelines here.
And then you can buy it or ask me to install it, configure it and customize it just for you.