New to Squirrelcart

[Otismonster]

I just purchased Squirrelcart. I'm very excited to start using it but have not a clue about it. I'm familar with html and I use dreamweaver as my html editor, my first question is how do I get the Squirrelcart from the remote server to my local so I can customize the way it looks?

2nd question:

I had Squirrelcart install the software for me. In reading the vast documentation file, at what point am I at? Meaning where can I pick up from where SquirrelCart left off?

That's a start I'm sure I'll have more questions.

Best Regards
Otismonster

[pbxcom]

Answer to first question:
To get the files from your web sever you will need to use FTP. If you are unfamiliar with FTP and have windows just open internet explorer and type ftp://webseverusername@ftp.yourdomain.com/ . Replacing webseverusername with the user name that was setup for you when you purchased your web sever space and replace yourdomain.com with your web sites domain name. Then just select all the files, from the public folder, that your sever has setup, and copy and past to a new folder on your computer.

Answer to second question:
If you can go to your site (www.yoursite.com) and see the default cart layout (like on the demo page) all they have done is uploaded the files and the database and setup your config.php file. The rest is in your hands. If you cannot see your site try www.yoursite.com/store.php and if still nothing try making the changes needed in the config.php file. If still nothing you will have to ask them what needs to be done.

The first thing you may want to do is after downloading all the files from your sever is make a backup, on your computer, of that download (that you never touch!!!) and a backup of your database.

Second, I am assuming this is a new site so you will want to rename store.php to index.php, if it hasn't been done already, so that when you type in www.yourdomain.com, squirrelcart will load automatically.

Third, make sure you read the documentation on accessing the administration area of your cart. You will want to change the user name and password for best security. And then browse around and change any setting that you need to.

Fourth, you may want to look into creating your own theme. Check the documentation first for information on doing that and then come back here and read most of these posts :D and then start hacking away ;) . Trial and error, and I mean big errors, are best way you learn.

Here's a few files that most end up modifying:
From the main folder
store.php (or index.php if it was renamed)
home.php

and then from the squirrelcart theme folder:
(any files you modify from the squirrelcart theme folder should be saved in your new theme folder)
store.css
window.php
categories_menu.php
show_product.php
show_category_detail.php
show_subcategory_detail.php

Now you may not end up modifying these but they seem to be the most common as they are seen the most by the customer if you take a thorough look through the squirrelcart theme folder you will notice there is a very large quantity of files that are available to edit to fit your design idea.

And on last side note I have heard of a few people having minor problems with dreamweaver if it appear to be not showing you the code properly open the file in a raw text editor like notepad.

Well, I'll be the first to say good luck and if (more like when) you have questions, well there's a whole lot of people here that seem willing to help.