e-Start Your Web Store with Zen Cart

Contents......Page 2
Foreword......Page 14
Preface......Page 16
Features......Page 22
History......Page 23
Support......Page 24
Software Requirements......Page 26
Understanding the Installation Setup......Page 28
Using a Pre-Packaged Solution: XAMPP......Page 29
Installing XAMPP......Page 30
Setting Up a Local Domain......Page 33
Configuring Apache......Page 34
Configuring Mercury......Page 35
Creating Your Store's Database......Page 36
Creating Test Email Accounts......Page 37
Configuring Your Email Client......Page 39
Pre-Installation Activities......Page 42
Performing the Installation......Page 43
Applying Bug Fixes......Page 49
Summary......Page 50
The Store Front......Page 52
A Typical Shopping Flow......Page 53
Setting Up a Test Customer......Page 59
The Admin Console......Page 60
Setting Up Test Products......Page 61
Summary......Page 64
The Email Options Screen......Page 68
Mail Server Settings......Page 69
Message Recipients......Page 71
Other Email Options......Page 74
Customizing Email Messages......Page 76
Understanding How Email Messages Are Formed......Page 77
Changing Text In Emails......Page 78
Summary......Page 79
Understanding the Use of Location Information......Page 80
Countries......Page 81
Address Formats Used in Different Countries......Page 82
Purpose of Zones......Page 83
Adding a Zone......Page 84
Adding a Zone Definition......Page 85
Specifying Your Store Location......Page 86
Summary......Page 87
Specifying Store Contact Information......Page 88
The Contact Us Page......Page 89
Packing Slips......Page 90
Store Information Appearing in Emails......Page 91
Summary......Page 92
The Currencies Screen......Page 94
Adding a New Currency......Page 95
Using the Currency Conversion Ratio to Achieve Realistic Exchange Rates......Page 96
Configuring the Displayed Default Currency......Page 97
Summary......Page 98
Implications of Changing the Weighting Unit......Page 100
Changing the Weighting Unit......Page 101
Summary......Page 102
Understanding How Taxes are Configured......Page 104
Basis for Tax Calculation......Page 105
Display of Tax Information......Page 106
Adding a Tax Class......Page 108
Adding a Tax Rate......Page 109
Compounding or Adding Different Tax Rates......Page 110
Summary......Page 111
Default Shipping Modules Overview......Page 112
Important Shipping Considerations......Page 114
Tare Weight and Calculation of Shipping Boxes......Page 115
Shipping and Packaging Details......Page 116
The Shipping Modules Screen......Page 118
Common Shipping Settings......Page 119
Flat Rate......Page 120
Per Item......Page 121
Per Unit......Page 123
Store Pickup......Page 124
Table Rates......Page 125
Zone Rates......Page 127
Free Shipping......Page 129
Free Shipping Options......Page 132
Summary......Page 133
Default Payment Modules Overview......Page 134
Enabling Network Access to Third-Party Sites......Page 135
Common Payment Settings......Page 136
Cash on Delivery......Page 137
Check and Money Order......Page 138
Free Charge Card......Page 140
Credit Card......Page 142
PayPal IPN......Page 145
Summary......Page 150
Basic Catalog Concepts......Page 152
How Categories Are Displayed......Page 153
Adding a Category......Page 155
Moving Categories......Page 157
Editing a Product Type......Page 158
Editing Definition Properties......Page 159
Creating Products and Services......Page 160
Product Manufacturers......Page 161
Creating a General Product......Page 162
Creating a Music Product......Page 171
Creating a Document......Page 172
Summary......Page 174
Adding Attributes to a Product......Page 176
Understanding How Attribute Flags Work......Page 180
Attribute Images......Page 182
Attribute Pricing......Page 184
By Absolute Value......Page 185
By Percentage......Page 186
By Quantity......Page 188
By Words or Letters......Page 190
Attribute Weighting......Page 192
Enabling Mass Attribute Copy, Add and Delete......Page 193
Copying Attributes to Other Products......Page 194
Adding Attributes to Other Products......Page 196
Deleting Attributes from a Selection of Products......Page 197
Summary......Page 198
Using Different Images for a Product......Page 200
Providing Pre-Scaled Images for a Product......Page 202
Providing Music Samples......Page 204
Deciding How Download Options Are Structured......Page 207
Configuring a Downloadable Product......Page 208
Checking and Changing Download Statuses......Page 213
Managing Downloadable Products Centrally......Page 214
Duplicating Products......Page 215
Listing Products in Multiple Categories......Page 216
Advanced Product Linking......Page 217
Based on Store Status......Page 219
Based on Customer Logged In Status......Page 220
Summary......Page 221
Understanding Order Totals......Page 222
The Order Total Modules Screen......Page 223
Core Modules......Page 224
Choosing a Discount Type......Page 225
Product Specials......Page 226
Product Quantity Discounts......Page 228
Product Sale......Page 230
Customer Group Discounts......Page 232
Low Order Fee......Page 234
Cash on Delivery (COD) Fee......Page 235
Summary......Page 237
Common Layout Elements......Page 240
Footer......Page 241
Columns......Page 242
Side-Boxes......Page 243
Banners......Page 244
New, All and Featured Product Listings......Page 245
Search and Category Product Listings......Page 248
Product Center-Boxes......Page 249
Product Specials Grid......Page 252
The Product Info Page......Page 253
The Shopping Cart Page......Page 255
Define Pages......Page 256
EZ-Pages......Page 258
Altering the Shopping Flow......Page 261
Delaying the Display of the Shopping Cart......Page 262
Using Split Login/Sign-Up Screens......Page 263
Managing Images Centrally......Page 264
Summary......Page 265
Handling Special Characters in HTML Code......Page 266
The Template Override System......Page 267
How the Override System Works......Page 268
Specifying Template Information......Page 269
Switching Templates......Page 270
Modifying Stylesheets......Page 271
Changing Static Text......Page 272
Understanding ISO Language Codes and Language Encodings......Page 274
Web Browser Language Preferences......Page 275
Adding a Language Pack......Page 277
Third-Party Contributions......Page 282
Summary......Page 283
Common Customer Settings......Page 286
Editing a Customer's Details......Page 289
Sending Emails to Selected Customers......Page 290
Determining How Many Customers You Have......Page 292
Summary......Page 293
The Orders Screen......Page 294
Order Statuses and Their Meanings......Page 295
Updating Customer Order Statuses......Page 296
Viewing Order Statistics......Page 298
Generating Invoices from Orders......Page 299
Resetting Order IDs......Page 300
Summary......Page 301
Current Stock Levels......Page 302
Configuring Stock Settings......Page 303
Summary......Page 305
Products Viewed and Products Purchased......Page 306
Total Order Values Per Customer......Page 307
Configuring the Discount Coupon Module......Page 308
Creating Discount Coupons......Page 310
Restricting Coupon Usage by Category or Product......Page 312
Delivering Discount Coupons to Customers Electronically......Page 313
Implementing a Customer Referral Scheme via Discount Coupons......Page 315
Viewing Discount Coupon Usage Statistics......Page 318
How Gift Certificates Work......Page 319
Configuring the Gift Certificates Module......Page 323
Selling Gift Certificates as Products......Page 324
Approving Gift Certificates......Page 325
Delivering Gift Certificates to Customers......Page 327
How Newsletters Work......Page 330
Enabling Newsletter Sign-Up on Account Creation......Page 331
Creating Newsletters......Page 332
How Product Reviews Work......Page 334
Moderating Product Reviews......Page 336
How Tell-a-Friend Works......Page 338
Enabling Tell-a-Friend......Page 339
Tracking Tell-a-Friend Email Messages......Page 340
Banner Display Concepts......Page 341
Creating a Banner......Page 343
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)......Page 345
Robots and Security......Page 346
Site Map......Page 347
Meta Tags......Page 348
Also Purchased Products......Page 352
Best Sellers......Page 353
Featured Products......Page 354
Summary......Page 355
Changing Administrator Details......Page 356
Checking Server Time......Page 357
Website Maintenance......Page 358
Viewing Who's Online Information......Page 360
Database Back Up......Page 361
File Permissions......Page 364
Secure Sockets Layer (SSL)......Page 365
Sessions......Page 366
Gathering Performance Statistics......Page 368
Enabling GZip Compression......Page 370
Reducing Database Reads......Page 371
Obtaining the Latest Upgrade Instructions......Page 372
Summary......Page 373
Appendix A: Utility Software......Page 376
Appendix B: Setting Up Shop on the Internet......Page 380
Appendix C: Test Account Information......Page 386