I spent some time creating a template for RC versions of osCommerce. I’m going to sell this at the same sort of price that Template Monster sell their templates for…but read on to learn how to get this template “at no cost”…
Overall Idea of the template look
The header area includes;
- search box
- language flags
- currency selector
- cart contents
Then I have used jQuery to rotate a few images (in the template I rotate between some adverts for my oscbooks.com site, but you can change these to anything you wish, of course!). I also created a funky logo – which you’ll probably want to change before using on your live site.
I then added a few buttons underneath (home, new products, my account etc).
In the sidebar I stripped out a lot of boxes to only leave navigation – you can add boxes back in really easily – just amend the column file. I amended the categories box substantially to only show top level categories with a nice design;
In the image, the current category is the one with the grey background…nice and easy to see where you are, I think.
I also wanted to draw your attention to the product listings. I’ve recoded a number of them to look as much alike as possible. So they mostly now look like this:
Much better I think. This layout is standardised across a number of files so it looks decent!
Conclusion
All in all I’m pleased with how this design turned out. I used the exact same methods as can be found in one of my best selling osc books – designing oscommerce – so, if you want to learn how to make good looking sites, take a look at my oscbooks.com website!
Special Offer
Do you like this template? I’m going to sell it at $175. However for anyone who purchases the designing osCommerce eBook before friday, I will send you this template absolutely FREE OF CHARGE on sunday of this week.
Look, you won’t find a professionally coded to osCommerce standards template hardly anywhere – especially for “free” – so do yourself a favour and buy the “designing osCommerce” eBook before friday – then on sunday you’ll get this template at zero cost. After friday, you will pay $175 for the template alone. So save yourself $175 NOW…
Got questions?
Fire away.
Hi Gary
I think you mean last week… I just saw your offer right now, to bad
Hi Arnold
Not one person managed to buy the book in the timeframe, so I’ll extend the offer out to the end of July. Spread the word!
Cheers, Gary
Hi Gary
I’ll order the book right away, thanks
Arrived today – Thank you Gary, the book is good, easy to follow (easier if you read it from the back and find out what the main files are 😉 ) It’s given me the confidence to tweak and play – I’ll do a writeup on my experience once I’ve finished along with pics.
I will say that even now it looks 1,000,000 times better than the standard osCommerce site – well worth the money
Just need the code to alter the What’s new box now – looks like I’ll be running my difference finder later 😀
Well after what seems like ages I’ve done it. Following Gary’s instructions in ‘Designing osCommerce’ and adding a bit of my own design I’ve managed to break away from the osCommerce ‘out of the box’ look.