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Squirrelcart v6.1.0

Themes - Overview

About this Page

This page is an overview to help you get acquanted with some of the terminology and concepts associated with themes. There is much more detailed information regarding specific theme features throughout this section of the documentation.

Important: If you are feeling adventurous and plan on skipping this section and going straight to modifying your templates, it's extremely important that you read the Modifying Templates topic first.

What is a theme?

In Squirrelcart, a set of design elements put together to achieve a certain appearance is considered a theme. Each theme has a unique name that is used to reference it. By changing the theme setting, you can dramatically alter the appearance of your storefront.  Themes are comprised of files and database records.

Where to Find Themes

If you prefer to purchase a complete theme instead of designing your own, you can find themes for purchase on our website. If you would like a price quote to have a custom theme created to match the look of your website or of a template you've purchased, please contact us.

Theme Folder

Theme files are stored in your squirrelcart/themes folder, inside a folder corresponding to the name of your theme. For example, if you have a theme named sunrise, the folder for that theme would be squirrelcart/themes/sunrise:

Theme Files

When Squirrelcart needs a theme file, it looks for it inside your current theme's folder. Example:

squirrelcart/themes/sunrise/

If the file is found there, that file is used. If the file is not found in your current theme's folder, Squirrelcart will then use the file found in the master Squirrelcart theme folder:

squirrelcart/themes/squirrelcart/
 

Squirrelcart is intentionally designed so that you do not need to keep a copy of every theme file inside your current theme's folder. You should only put files in your current theme's folder that differ from the master Squirrelcart theme. This makes upgrading much easier.

 

Some of the files that make up a theme are:

Templates

Template files are used to control pieces of HTML used to generate a page. They are stored directly inside a theme's folder:

squirrelcart/themes/sunrise/product_detail.tpl.php

For more information, see the Templates area in this section of the documentation for more information

CSS Stylesheets

Stylesheets control many visual aspects of your store, including fonts, colors, borders, margins, padding, etc... They are stored directly inside a theme's folder:

squirrelcart/themes/style_main.css.php

For more information, see the CSS Stylesheets area in this section of the documentation for more information

Images

Theme images can be in jpg, gif, or png format. Image files are stored in a folder named images inside your theme's folder:

squirrelcart/themes/sunrise/images/example.jpg
squirrelcart/themes/sunrise/images/example.gif
squirrelcart/themes/sunrise/images/example.png

For more information, see the Images area in this section of the documentation for more information

 

Theme Database Records

Some of the elements that make up a theme are stored in your database. Those database records are:

Navigation Blocks

Navigation Blocks are areas (boxes by default) that contain links and other HTML specific to navigating particular areas of your store:

For more information, see the Navigation Blocks area in this section of the documentation or more information

Links

Links can be created to navigate to different pages. Those pages can be a part of Squirrelcart, custom pages you've created, or links to other websites on the internet. Links can be grouped together by purpose, and shown via some PHP code in your template files. They are a good way to display links that aren't already handled by one of your Navigation Blocks, such as links in a header or footer. You can also create links that will appear inside a Navigation Block with a little custom PHP code inserted inside the Navigation Block's Content field.

For more information, see the Links area in this section of the documentation or more information.


 

Content

Content records are used to display specific pieces of content in your storefront:

Squirrelcart comes with some built in content records, and you can easily create your own to add any information you like.

For more information, see the Content area in this section of the documentation or more information.

 

 

 


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