OpenCart Community

I'm trying to get some inspiration for 1.5.0. this is what i have done so far:

you can download the store mockup png here. its multi layered and can be edited in fireworks and photoshop.

---------

you know that i am in Daniel

Should we not wait until we know what template system will be used?

I'm pretty sure we are sticking with the current system.

Qphoria wrote:I'm pretty sure we are sticking with the current system.

In that case: yes, we should have a template competition!

My suggestion is to get a template that is W3C valid as it can be.

Maybe we should get 2 templates, so we get rid of all the nagging and moaning that there is only one template in a default OC install

Actually, putting in more than 2 templates might be a good idea. If the templates are good quality, and don't add to the filesize very much, having more than one default template would make OpenCart even more appealing to end users, in my opinion.

I personally disagree about having more than one template. But that is just my opinion

"ok lets hold the stick from the middle"
some agrees on more templates, some dont.

well let just call them themes for now. cuz this is what they are acually.

how about 1 main themes and a complimentary theme with it.
the complimentary theme is acually "A COLOR CHANGE ONLY" theme, so basiclly just a 2nd stylesheet.css.

i recommend this for 2 reasons:

1- Some people wanna step out the default color a bit, so here you go. use the 2nd one.
2- Stop those who "Change a Line For a Fine". yes i have seen it. its a Green default theme(just changed blue to green) and.. walaaa, pay me $25-$45. thats insane.

so what do you think?

To offer an opinion, I think that one standard template is absolutely ideal HOWEVER, the template framework should be able to handle the option of having no right column (no modules), effectively making it optionally two column.

If that can't be accommodated, maybe both two and three column default templates are needed.

I realise that the new template is a work-in-progress, but it has less immediate appeal than the existing one (although some of the new features sound great).

i agree on a 2 column theme, or even better if it has a line comment where it says: delete this if you want 2 column

i was thinking to make a mobile friendly theme, but that is for another topic.

anyhow, i blv the 1.5 new coming template will be stunning

lets wait and see

Themes are handled with css. Just take the 3 column default.. change a few lines in css and upload that customized stylesheet.

I have to agree that there should not be more than one default theme. Generally people use themes other than those supplied with OC, so it would just mean more download bandwidth, then slower uploads. Surely it's better to just offer other templates as free templates in the extensions area? I personally think half of the modules that ship with OC should also be removed since they're not always used, same as payment and shipping extensions. They can still be maintained by opencart, but don't need to be part of the core

I know it is easy to change the stylesheet; it is also very easy to change tpl files. Come to that, it is pretty easy to change code... but look how many issues it raises here.

Nicest CMS systems now allow modules to be drag and dropped into left/right sidebars or footer and, if an area doesn't contain any, it simply doesn't show and the main area floats into the vacant space.

Do you mean the admin can move them or the user?
I've considered doing something along these lines as a free module for admins, just not had time lately to do it
It's more in line with being able to drag categories and manufacturers and the sort order to automagically update. Fairly simple to do

Daniel wrote:I was thinking of having a template competition. I'm trying to get some inspiration for 1.5.0. this is what i have done so far

Interesting..
1.5.0 feature looks promising..

I was purely talking about shop administration. I am not suggesting that drag-and-drop sidebars are necessary; though very nice, the dropdown module position is fine.

I was simply making the point that there are some things that ought to be considered possible without users needing to get into css or php (both of which I knew little about a few months ago) to change things.

Minorities can be ignored but two-column / three-column is a very big divide and a single template is desirable.

JAY6390 wrote:I have to agree that there should not be more than one default theme. Generally people use themes other than those supplied with OC, so it would just mean more download bandwidth, then slower uploads. Surely it's better to just offer other templates as free templates in the extensions area? I personally think half of the modules that ship with OC should also be removed since they're not always used, same as payment and shipping extensions. They can still be maintained by opencart, but don't need to be part of the core

I agree.

Let get rid of some of the modules, shipping and payment options and offer them as a separate download.
This so that we have a smaller package + less unused rubbish for Admins in the BO.

ok I'll throw in my $0.02 I don't really care one way or the other if we have more than one theme, however I do not want to see 5 different theme's that are simply color changes. The users can do that themselves easily enough. If you are going to offer more than one make them very different to show off the capabilities and give users very different bases to start customizing on. I would also like to see the code change back to a more standard header - column left - content - column right - footer. Since the vast majority of templates you will find have this order it currently makes it a pain to use on of them as you have to edit every file to correct the order so that the column right comes after the content. Also pushing the column over using css is one of the reasons you can't simply exclude column right on some pages. If you change the order you can make the center content dynamic so that if you remove column right on a page it will flow to the edge without having to go messing around in the stylesheet where it's more difficult to do conditionals.

as requested from Daniel.

along with the 1st design in 1st post, i provide to the public a 3 more designs to get some feedback on.
feed back should be constructive and clear.

I like the second one