New and Need Lots of Help

I am very new to making my e-commerce site, and am having lots of trouble understanding how to do things.

I tried once before with Zen Cart, and my customers couldn't do anything with my site, and I couldn't get help that I needed from them.

They kept sending me to YouTube videos that were supposed to help me, and they just confused me more, so I deleted the Zen Cart, and replaced it with OpenCart, which I was told would be simpler to use.

But, I am finding that I am just as confused now, as I was then.

Could someone please help me? This is really something I need to do for my jewelry that I'm trying to sell, and if I can't get any help setting this thing up, then why am I even bothering trying to make money doing something that I love to do.

I am a year behind my original date that I tried to launch my e-commerce part of my site, and losing money every day its not up and running.

So, any help I can get will be greatly appreciated.

THANKS IN ADVANCE.

Kim

Hello!
Tell us what problems you have and we will ty to help you.

Okay, thanks.

First, to start out with, under category, there are 3 tabs, General, Data, and Design. What do all the boxes under them 3 tabs do, and what type of information do I put in them. I have the general tab filled out the way I think it means to fill it out, but not sure exactly what to do with the other 2 tabs.

Get a domain
Get webhosting
Get a SSL Certificate
Install Opencart
Make $$$

@ deltaguns,

I already know all that, and that has nothing to do with what I am asking.

If you read what has been said already, you'd know that.

Sorry if I sound mad, I'm not.

Think about it though, if I didn't already have all that done already, then why would I be asking about the CATEGORY page.

Did you look there: http://docs.opencart.com/display/openca ... t+1.5+Home

Best place to start!

Cleo

CutiePengu - Nice to see another person using Opencart. I always recommend to Opencart to everyone, beginner or advanced web design.

I was a beginner in web design and Opencart, but I came here for help so you are in the right place.

Ok, first off. I started out modifying the CSS stylesheet. Before doing this though, I would recommend creating a theme structure - http://forum.opencart.com/viewtopic.php?f=139&t=36665. Its only mostly a copy, paste and a little edit code job, nothing to hard.

Now, I say mess with the stylesheet because you will become more aware what divs goes where, what does what, how things fit etc.

The next step is to mess with the header.tpl file. Lets say you want to delete the search bar or move it, simply go into your header.tpl, move or edit the line of code for the search bar. After, you can change your stylesheet.

Now, another good tip I can give you is it download free Opencart templates. This will give you a nice understanding how themes are structured etc.

Also, I have about 3-4 folders on my localhost (WAMP) to practice Opencart on. Maybe downloading WAMP or XAMP and mess with Opencart through that.

Hope this helps and just ask for help when you need it!

@CutiePengu - First off, welcome and glad to have you here. Opencart is in my opinion one of the best e-commerce solutions on the market and trust me when I say I have looked for others and built several custom shops from scratch.

The first question nobody has asked is what experience do you have: Do you understand how to change/alter code? HTML/PHP/CSS ? Or do you just want a shop to sell things?

My best advice when learning is to 'have small goals' and try things. But once you have got something working undo it and then try something else taking notes as you go. The documentation is somewhat lacking a bit but these forums are full of great information. I appreciate you are a year behind launching but sadly you will need time to learn how to use this.

I hope this helped and I can be of any further assistance, but if you find you are strapped for time and really need 1and1 help or someone to do your site for you then please check out the 'Commercial' thread and see what people can offer. It may cost money but it will save time.

@@CutiePengu

When I first start I was/did exactly like you, I tried many other cart like zencart, oscommerce etc. and when I found oc I thought it was the easiest one, I made a lot of research in the forums and when I say a lot!!!!

When I did/do my research sometimes I find non-related post but if I think it could help me later I save/copy them, and when I wanted to know what to put in those box or what it is use for like you are asking I often went to the demo site (link is on top of the forum) and if I really can't find my answer then I ask in the forum.

In my opinion if you just ask you will never learn, but if you search/try/do it yourself you will learn a lot and will be proud of what you will be able to accomplish! But it is just my two cent!

Anyway good luck and like others said you can always ask!

Cleo

So..let's answer your question

Categories - General Tab - You've figure it out
- Design Tab - Leave it like this



DATA TAB

Parent Category: if you check another category , this one you edit now will become a subcategory of the selected parent category
SEO Keyword: - the keyword that will appear in browser when accesing that category
example(if SEO keywords are enable from System/Settings)
http://www.yourshop.com/seo-keyword/
Image: The category image.When you access your category in store front-end, it will appear at the top
Top: - If you check this, the category(if it;s not subcategory) will appear in menu at your store front-end(that grey one bellow the logo in the default template)
Columns: - the number of columns that a parent category will have if you hover it in the menu on store front-end
on http://demo.opencart.com/ hover over "desktops" and after "MP3-Players" and you will get it
Sort Order: sort order
Status: enable or disable the category