Basic information on Open Cart templates?

Hello,

I just downloaded Open Cart v1.4.0 and would like to create a custom template for my ecommerce site. I took a gander at the Documentation and browsed through the past few pages of the Template Support forum, but found no information on what kind of template system Open Cart uses.

Does Open Cart use the Smarty Template Engine? I have a good knowledge of HTML & CSS, but would I also need to have a substantial amount of PHP knowledge in order to build a custom template?

no it does not use the smarty template system it uses straight html/php, but you really don't need too much php knowledge to create a template. Have a look at the .tpl files. most of the php is simple echo $variable.

Thank you X, I also wondered where the index page is as I couldn't really find it in any of the folders...?

well this uses the mvc programming structure, so the index.php is probably not what you are used to it simply pumps everything into the framework for display.

what you are looking for will most likely be found in catalog/view/theme/default/template/common/
look at the header.php footer.php and home.php

Whoo, looks like I've got a lot more to read up on... thank you very much for the help! (: