Skining

Just looked at your site (www.bgreenbenefits.com) looks good. did you do all that with the CSS file?

Are you still using MS-Expressions to do that? I have never known much about working with CSS files. I have only seen it as code and had to peck my way through it, hit and miss. its there and easyier way?

John

Posted this twice, cant delete, sorry.

Just looked at your site (www.bgreenbenefits.com) Looks good.

I have no idea how to edit the CSS file.

All I have ever done is look at the code and peck my way through it, hit and miss. Do you use MS-Expressions for that and is there some sort of GUI, like doing the HTML?

John

If anyone has any input on this we would appreciate it, thanks.

John

You have to use visual studio 2008 for nopcommerce 1.6 or visual studio 2010 for nopcommerce 1.7.
Maybe it's not the best software for designing but it's the only software to open nopcommerce solution.
You can download vs2010 express from http://www.microsoft.com/express/downloads/
Don't forget to download sql server express too.
After you successfully download and install this software open the NopCommerce.sln file from the source code.
Then in visual studio go to nopcommercestore\app_themes\darkorange  for example and customize it. There is mostly CSS stylesheets and some skin files.
I can help you more with it, you can contact me on my site

Thanks for you post but I am totally new to VS. so have a few questions.

1. do I still need to download and install SQL, I host all my own servers right here, the site is running on Server 2008 R2 with SQL 2008. VS 2010 is install on my PC so can I just use VS and connect/work from my PC the on the site on the server via the internal network?

2. I just downloaded the source, do I unzip and keep all packaged as is and place all folders in site root folder? Because right now I only have the contents of the store folder on the site.

John

NopCommerce versus Magento - is there much difference between them ? - I dont know which way to jump

Try some of the Microsoft training videos on the ASP.NET website http://www.asp.net. A good one on css is at http://www.asp.net/general/videos/css

There are many videos on this site for all areas of ASP.NET 4.0, 3.5. It's a very good resource.

"Silverlight Control Skin Sets" at http://weblogs.asp.net/mschwarz/archive/2008/03/24/silverlight-control-skin-sets.aspx

Okay here are the basics...

You just need the nopCommerce without source.

Copy/unpack the files into any folder, like projects...

Goto to Visual Studio (VS) and 'file - open website' goto the folder with the unpacked files. No need to open a file just the folder. In VS the project files are visible in the solution explorer.

Run the project by pressing F5, at first the install pages are visible, this wizard will ask for your DB connections. Assuming you have already installed SQL server I think you know your credentials etc.

When als is ok and the installation has been complete you can start the website...

Without a working website you cant'see what you changing to the CSS... Does your website works?

If Yes.. In VS copy the darkorange theme folder (App_theme/darkorange) and rename it to your own...
Run the website and goto to administration-configuration and here you can change the theme from a dropdown box. Yours should be there also.

Every element in the pages have a name or ID ... You can find the ID in the source of the HTML. That's why firebug is very useful. These id's you also find in your VS CSS file styles.css. Just start at the top (HEADER) and play with some values like height. CTRL-TAB to the running website and see what happens. Learning CSS is a profession like programming you need some time to master these skills. If you do this not for a profession you will never get really good at it. So just keep it simple and one thing at the time. Start from top to bottom. Just my 2 cents :-)

Good luck with a lot of sweet/tears and sleepless nights. Like all of us :-)

Hi John,  I read you are having a bit of a problem.  It is a bit of a learning curve, but with a little time you should have no problem.

  First thing is you want to get a firefox extension either firebug, or Ardvark. I use Ardvark.  Install these gadgets first into firefox.  Now when you have a web page loaded in firefox you can right mouse click on the screen and you select Ardvark.

Ardvark outlines all the structure of the web page and shows the id and classes where you can target in the CSS.


In VS 2010, Go to File, Open Web Site and select your stores main folder.  This will load it up in VS. In your solution explorer (which is in the right side bar of VS) .  Select the main folder and right click, select browse with and select firefox.  Follow the steps and install nopcommerce.  Then you can check the structure with Ardvark.

Also, you can dig into the  Master Page folder.  Nopcommerce uses nested master pages and by nosing around you can figure out the structure and how CSS effects those.

Hi,

I have been playing with the master.css file in the darkOrange templete. The funny part is the changes I have made in this master.css file has no effect at att. I have doubled check dozens of time just to be sure that I am in the right directory. eg. removing the logo it would disappear but to update the logo under a new name; it won't show. When I put the old logo name back, the new logo shows up with an old name. Now I have my WHITE logo with a BLACK logo name attached to it.

My real question is master.css file does not usually have any effects on the changes I've made such as: color; height; width, etc. Can anyone tell me what I am doing wrong?