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OpenCart. Quick Start Guide

Alex Ross September 13, 2012
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OpenCart Quick Start Guide. Preparations

This guide will help you pass through the OpenCart installation procedure and run a fully working OpenCart website on your server. Feel free to check the OpenCart template description and the official website to learn more about OpenCart.

The first and the most important things you need to start your website is web hosting and domain name.

  • Hosting is an offer that allows you to run your website on the Internet. In a few words it’s a place for your website files on a computer permanently connected to the internet (server).
  • Domain name is a name for your future website like info.template-help.com, google.com etc.

There is a huge amount of domain and hosting offers over the internet from different hosting companies. Unfortunately the web hosting market has various fraud offers that can harm your business. We recommend you to be careful in choosing a hosting provider and gather as much information as possible before ordering.

Before you can start setting up your OpenCart website please make sure that you and your hosting server is fully prepared for OpenCart.

Hosting requirements

Open the OpenCart official website at http://www.opencart.com and check the OpenCart requirements.

This is the list of features and requirements that your hosting server should fit.

We recommend you to contact your hosting provider to learn if you can host OpenCart on their hosting server.

Some hosting companies offer automatic OpenCart engine installation from the hosting control panel. You can use this option in case the offered OpenCart version fits the OpenCart template requirements.

Software requirements

If your template is going to be customized by a third party developer or you are willing to order the template installation from http://www.templatetuning.com you can skip this step.

Otherwise, if you are willing to customize the template yourself, please make sure you have all required programs installed on your computer. You can check the template preview page to see the template software requirements. Usually you need the following programs to edit the template:

The first application you need is a archive manager, the software that can extract the files from the password protected template package.

  • If you are on MAC you can use StuffitExpander software.
  • If you are on Windows you can use WinZip software.

Both archive managers have free trial versions available for download so you can use them.

  • Adobe Photoshop – to edit images
  • Adobe Dreamweaver – to edit CSS styles, HTML and PHP files, JavaScript files etc

Note that the above Adobe applications are required for the template customization, in other words you need them if you want to change the template design, layout and functionality. If you are fine with the template and want only to install it and change content you don’t need any specific software.

You may also need an FTP manager to upload the files to your hosting server (in case your hosting control panel doesn’t have any). You can use any FTP manager like FileZilla, CuteFTP, TotalCommander etc

OpenCart Quick Start Guide. Downloading

When you are done with the preparations you can start downloading the OpenCart files to your computer.

After the template purchase you got an e-mail with the link to the purchase details page. There you can see your order details and download the template using the Download button. The template is provided as a ZIP file. Download it to your computer and save it.

OpenCart Quick Start Guide. Extracting

When you are done with the downloading you need to extract the files template package.

The template package contains the password protected sources_XXXX.zip file. It countains the template source files and could be extracted only WinZip or StuffitExpander.

The following tutorials will show you how to extract files on Windows(WinZip) and MAC(StuffitExpander).

OpenCart Quick Start Guide. Uploading&Installing

After extracting the files you need to upload the OpenCart files and folders to your hosting server. There are seven folders included to the newly released template packages:

  • documentation – Contains detailed manual on template and engine installation;
  • screenshots – Contains screenshots of the theme;
  • sources – Contains Adobe Photoshop source file;
  • psd – Contains PSD layouts and buttons of the first page;
  • themeXXX – Contains the theme;
  • themeXXX(full).zip – The archive that contains OpenCart engine, template and template sample data (intended for clean installation);
  • themeXXX(update).zip – The archive contains the template only with no sample data included (for installation over the exiting store);
  • info.txt – Contains information about archive;
  • fonts_info.txt – Contains information about the fonts used in the template;

Depending on your template number, the structure may look different. For example, like the structure of the Opencart free sample template:

  • documentation – Contains detailed manual on template and engine installation;
  • screenshots – Contains screenshots of the theme;
  • sources – Contains Adobe Photoshop source file;
  • psd – Contains PSD layouts and buttons of the first page;
  • themeXXX.zip – The archive that contains OpenCart engine, template and template sample data (intended for clean installation);
  • info.txt – Contains information about archive;
  • fonts_info.txt – Contains information about the fonts used in the template;

The only difference between them is the presence of the themeXXX(full).zip file in the lately released templates.

There are several ways on how to proceed after you extracted the files. You need to choose the one that fits your current situation:

You have a working OpenCart website

You have a working OpenCart website that has the same version as the template you purchased and you only need to change its skin

To do this, you need to upload the content of the themeXXX.zip/themeXXX(update).zip (that is “admin”, “catalog” and “image” folders) to the folder on your FTP where your OpenCart files are stored, like PUBLIC_HTML, WWW etc.

If you don’t have such directories on your hosting server, please contact your hosting and specify where to upload the website files. The way you are going to upload the files is mainly up to you.

Such instructions should be provided by your host company. For additional information you may refer to our tutorial on uploading files to server:

Your template package may include (depends on the template number) an unzip.php file that helps you unzip the zipped folder on your server.

More information on how to use this file may be obtailed from the template documentation. If the folder you’ve chosen for uploading the files is correct, you will be prompted to replace the existing folders and agree to this. Once the necessary files are uploaded, you need to proceed to this tutorial:

You have not yet installed OpenCart

    • If your template comes with the themeXXX(full).zip file, you will need to upload its whole content to the to the root folder on your FTP, like PUBLIC_HTML, WWW etc. Please, refer to this tutorial on how to proceed:
    • It will allow you to install both OpenCart and the template at one time since the package has both of them already included.

    OpenCart Quick Start Guide. Sample Data Installation

    This step should be followed only if you want to have the same sample products as you see on the live demo on your template, i.e. to make your template look exactly as its preview/live demo page. For this purpose each template comes with a sample .sql file included to the sourcesfolder. The “sources” comes password protected, so you will need to unzip it first using your order ID as the password.

    The SQL file should be imported into your database using your database management tool (usually phpMyAdmin). For more information on how to import it, you need to refer to our tutorial

    Please make sure to back-up your store database and files before sample data import.

    Conclusion

    OpenCart is a multifunctional, light and user friendly e-commerce solution with attractive look. It’s a perfect solution for your online store. The default package contains all modules and extensions for successful sales. The open source code allows truly outstanding possibilities for your customers.

    Additional Information:

     

    OpenCart Responsive Themes
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