Book Image

Building Online Stores with osCommerce: Professional Edition

By : David Mercer
Book Image

Building Online Stores with osCommerce: Professional Edition

By: David Mercer

Overview of this book

<p>The book can be read from front to back, but each chapter is self contained so the reader can skip chapters to read those that they are interested in. Each chapter will move from basic to advanced where applicable and also relate what the administrator (reader) is doing to how this affects what the client sees on the site.</p> <p>So, for example, the customization chapter will start off with a discussion on the concept of design and how to relate this to your business. Once the reader has a clear idea of what they need to do, we look at some really simple changes such as modifying the site's language, before moving to some advanced modifications which may involve some PHP programming. At the same time the discussion will demonstrate how the changes made affect the site.</p> <p>Throughout the book, much consideration is given to the "right" way to doing things. Readers will have the great advantage that they begin, from the very start, doing things properly. This will save them a lot of time and effort in the years to come as they build on and modify their site. Utilizing best practices and sound methodologies is a great asset for beginners and experienced users alike.</p> <p>At all times, the coverage given in this book pays homage to the fact that, ultimately, the reader has a business goal in mind. To this end, the material never gets bogged down in technical issues or long discourses, but rather focuses on what is practically important for the online business and then moves on. To complement this, there are plenty of suggestions and hints as to how and where to look for further information.</p>
Table of Contents (19 chapters)
Building Online Stores with osCommerce: Professional Edition
Credits
About the Author
About the Reviewers
Foreword
Introduction
Index

Miscellaneous Customizations


There are an indefinite amount of adjustments or additions that you can make to the site—your imagination is the real limit in this respect. However, there are a few which deserve special mention because they are the most common. Remember that while we have only a bit of space to talk about some of the more important customizations, someone else has probably had to solve whatever customization problem you might have already. Make sure you use the online community to help you out if you get stuck.

Resizing Pages

The demo site needs to limit the size of the current pages to a determined width in order to provide space for some advertising, which is to appear down the right-hand side of the page. You might find that you wish to limit the width of your pages to keep everything compact and neat—especially if you have decided on a minimalist page design, which would look sparse on a large screen. Many companies do limit their page sizes for a variety of reasons, so it...