ZenCart Template Override System

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Before you start styling and customizing the ZenCart templates is to understand the template override system described here.

Most of the templates to be overridden will be in catalog/includes/templates

There you see a folder called “classic“. Anywhere you see the folder “classic” it indicates that there are templates that can be overridden. Let’s say that we want to create a new template called “better“. First we clone the “classic” template and call that the better template. To clone the “classic” template, you duplicate the classic folder whereever it is found. And then rename that newly cloned folder as “better“.

After you have cloned all the “classic” folders giving them the name “better”, next we will change a line to be …

$template_name = ‘My Better Template’;

in the template_info.php file of the “includes/templates/better” folder to give it your new template name. In this case, we have changed it to “My Better Template“.

Now you can switch between the default classic green ZenCart templates and your newly customizing better templates in the administrative panel under “Tools -> Template Selection“.

In order for your “better” template to look like the “classic” template, you also have to set the layout box settings (Admin -> Tools -> Layout Box Controller) exactly as they had been set in the “classic” template.

Now to customize the “better” template, make changes to the files in the “better” folder.