Template Monster: Public Service Announcement

If template monster had removed their faulty templates from sale as you guys advised, I wouldnt have been able to buy one, and wouldn't have the hassle of trying to fix my $160 purchase..

Shame on you template monster, you really have let everyone down. I hope many people read this you deserve to lose business over this.

I have emailed template monster, PM'ed the guy on here and never ever recieved one reply.

I dont see how you can get away with this legally in this day and age.

phil99:

If template monster had removed their faulty templates from sale as you guys advised, I wouldnt have been able to buy one, and wouldn't have the hassle of trying to fix my $160 purchase..

Shame on you template monster, you really have let everyone down. I hope many people read this you deserve to lose business over this.

I have emailed template monster, PM'ed the guy on here and never ever recieved one reply.

I dont see how you can get away with this legally in this day and age.

Well they get away with it because 90% of the search results for ZC template show up with TM or their plethora of affiliates. Someone looking for a template is going to feel they have few other choices. That's exactly what happened with a client I've been working with.

It's a difficult situation and frankly it leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I personally think it creates a bad mark on this project and I find that frustrating.

stage:

It's a difficult situation and frankly it leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I personally think it creates a bad mark on this project and I find that frustrating.

The lack of fully functional high quality templates is a serious deterrent to using zen cart .

Why is that,

forgive me but there are plenty of templates out there that can be tweaked to personalize em,

True there are several templates available and kudos to those who used their creative talents to create them. However I don't think the templates or the template system are ZC's strong points.

If someone outside this forum were to ask me to recommend shopping cart software, I would talk about ZC and say that its a well coded, sound, secure system, but I would also say that front end design is a little bit of a challenge. To have a really nice, original designed shopping cart is a significant challenge.

I'm not trying to knock anyone by saying that, just an honest opinion and I have nothing but respect for the core developers. To many users that front end piece of things is going to be high on their list. So I do think the previous poster does make a valid point.

stage

The point of this thread is that the TM templates don't work "out of the box" - they break functionality and use poor HTML/CSS and until that is corrected, the rest is a moot point.

It would seem like there could be a reasonable business model in providing zencart templates that actually worked. Probably not too difficult either. Just need some basic design skills and some marketing sense. Of course, they would need to look a lot nicer that what I have seen currently available. Not just simple adjustments of the colors and the top header picture.

One thing that might be a small barrier is the way Zencart works. From what I can tell, there is no way to provide a template as a download AND also make all the adjustments to the admin functions in an automatic way. That's what consumers want: a works-right-out-of-the-box solution. Let me give an example from Template Monster to illustrate the problem:

I bought one of their templates and loaded it up as described. Also ran the SQL thingy as instructed (the "full" adjustment SQL version). But when I went to the page to view the site, it was a mess. Why? I still had to go into admin and make a bunch of adjustments. Figure out which boxes were which. Turn on the right boxes. Place them in the right order. Adjust the width of the left and right columns, etc. For a new user (which is typically the profile of a template buyer), this is very frustrating and disappointing at the same time.

If there was some way to do this in an automatic way, so that the buyer of the template would have everything setup for him as soon as the upload is complete, then there would be a good chance of many happy buyers for these types of templates. Needless to say, they need to follow the zencart functionality and structure. I have no idea why Template Monster's do not do this.

Anyways, that's my two cents worth. Maybe I am totally wrong on the technical stuff, but I am still getting to know zencart.

The Simple Point Of This Post Is

Template Monster Is Selling Crappy Templates That Do Not Work,

If Your Post Is Not About This Topic Please Start A New Thread

I think my post was close enough to be in this thread.

Would also appreciate more civil communication regardless of whether you are right, wrong, or even a "black belt".

"From what I can tell, there is no way to provide a template as a download AND also make all the adjustments to the admin functions in an automatic way."

All of those settings that you had to tweak in admin to get your template fully functional are stored in the database. Therefore, a properly configured SQL patch should be able to set all of them automatically. As you say, I don't know why TM doesn't do this, but it is part of their problem.

Well wehave here a perfect example of a template monster template,

plese look at this link
http://www.lbgcanada.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=7 Looks pretty good ya?

well then how about this one.....
http://www.lbgcanada.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=9
still not to bad, till you getto the LAST item

now take a look at this one
http://www.lbgcanada.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=8

Hmm this one is kinda whacked right off the bat.....
and page2 of this category gets worse
http://www.lbgcanada.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=8&sort=20a&page=2

gotta love that professional template layout.....

the hard coded links in the header, buttons called from images folder rather than from the languages folder

need I say more

Regardless of where one gets their Template from, unless specifically stated the code is valid it should be presumed the code will be invalid and needs correcting. It was a mistake on the part of the site developer for LBG Canada to not check the work. And it was a bigger mistake to not check the Template in a Browser other than IE.

The above can be said for almost any Template so I'm not sure why you choose that site/template as an example. It goes more to showing how invalid code can do horrible damage to a layout rather specific problems with TM, of which we know there many besides invalid coding.

I just checked out the TM site -- idle curiosity only, I should add. Clicked on e-Commerce Templates in their top menu, and found this as one of the choices...

Zen Cart Templates
Template Monster is pleased to present to you our newly updated product line of Zen Cart Templates. We have added newly designed Zen Templates to meet with the improved abilities and standards of the new Zen version just released.
<View all Zen Cart Templates>

Since that statement is not dated, it's easy for a new Zen user to think that TM has recently updated their templates and that now they work. Clicking the link (the last line above) brings up a list of 86 Zen templates currently being sold by TM, at prices ranging from $140 - 179 (78 of them are claimed to work with ZC v1.3). On that page you'll read all sorts of promises about how the templates work with Zen Cart and about the great support you'll receive.

Maybe it's time that Zen Cart started to think about legal action against TM to prevent them from using the good name of Zen Cart in their advertising? It won't remain a good name if it isn't protected from this sort of abuse.

Rob

rstevenson:

Maybe it's time that Zen Cart started to think about legal action against TMAre you volunteering your wallet ? :D

It was a mistake on the part of the site developer for LBG Canada to not check the work

Now this is priceless,

this is STOCK tm code,
and if anyone needs to look in more than IE its the developers ( Once again TM )

I chose this template to show the links im refering to because it typical template monster crap code

when you pay the prices they are asking, the damn thing should work,

change a few graphics and text and voila......

the really bad part of this one is,
there were not even any NEW switches turned on,
thats what normally breaks these piece of crap templates, this one was straight outta the box for functions,

and please remember that DEVELOPERS and DESIGNERS dont buy this crap,
these are everyday users that just want it to plug and play........

its to bad that TM cant even get their buttons to load in the right place,

the button for this site ( the big ones in the left of the header ) are stored in the images folder,

last I checked that is NOT where buttons are to be stored,

the links at the top are hard coded, once again no defines, so now way to make these multilingual without either re-writing the whole damn thing or getting real creative.......

Please tell me how the average user is going to manage that........

SO you think its ok for Joe Shmoe ( just wants to setup a store to sel his wifes projects online and knows Nothing about html or css ) to layout $160 then realize that his template dosnt work, and then have to layout at least as much if not more to a designer to fix the crap that he bought that shoulda worked in the first place?

If you think this way maybe you shoud talk to TM pretty sure that they would put you on the payroll.....

Stop blaming the folks that buy these templates, and start blaming the bull &^&^ people that are putting them together,

Kinda funny how they have added

Template Monster is pleased to present to you our newly updated product line of Zen Cart Templates. We have added newly designed Zen Templates to meet with the improved abilities and standards of the new Zen version just released. and no one has heard from em here,
and their template still suck

( more from last post I missed the 7 minute mark )

and they go so far as to make this claim

Zen cart templates
Zen Cart Templates on this page are presented to provide you with the simplest solution in setting up your own Zen Cart store. From our large collection you can easily find a ZenCart Template that best suits your business. Our Zen Cart Templates are available in any categories that you might be seeking: Accessory or Clothes Zen Cart Templates, Cars ZenCart Templates, Zen Cart Skins for Electronics Shops, PC Hardware Zen Cart Themes and many more.

And we guarantee the high quality of our Zen Cart Templates. Be sure that the ZenCart Template that you purchase is a premium design and contains all the necessary files for easy installation and customization. Now imagine - you can create your own ecommerce store in no time and start earning money right away. The only thing you need to do is browse our collection of Zen Cart templates and choose the one that meets your needs and wishes.

now I see they guarantee high quality templates, however we know this is BS, their templates are far from high quality and they offer no guarantee... they take the $$ and run

and this part is priceless

Now imagine - you can create your own ecommerce store in no time and start earning money right away. The only thing you need to do is browse our collection of Zen Cart templates and choose the one that meets your needs and wishes

I am wondering what they consider in no time.....

lets see, buy the POS
download it,
try to decipher the instructions
upload it finally
turn it on,
( maybe it works )
now we get to the fun part....
they bought this book and they see this neat feature called ez pages in the book, they go to the right place and turn on ez pages and now their template is busted.....

they add real product and not the product display is broke....

now they spend 4 or 5 days arfuing with TM then come tothe forumat the recomendation of TM and are told to take it up with TM cause they guarantee....
now thye have to FIND a developer, and wait for them to either fix the tempolate the best they can or scrap it and start from scratch, now this $160 template that gets them up and running in no time has cost them $600 and is 3 months in the making.....

Kinda ironic isnt it.....

DrByte:

Are you volunteering your wallet ? :D

Hah! :shocking:

Being Canajun, it seems like it's about a $100 fee to get a lawyer to write a cease and desist order. But then I realize that TM is Murican, and you'd probably have to be mildly wealthy to get the same thing done. :cry:

If I win the 649 tonight we'll get right on it. Really.

Rob

lol
and Rob, last thing would have matered if the designer looked at it in IE

Its screwed up there too.. just didnt kill the width,

it screws up the headers and puts the description BELOW the images

http://www.lbgcanada.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=9&sort=20a&page=2

rstevenson:

Maybe it's time that Zen Cart started to think about legal action against TM to prevent them from using the good name of Zen Cart in their advertising? It won't remain a good name if it isn't protected from this sort of abuse.

Rob

Ok maybe it would be a large expense to initiate legal action against TM. However could the project perhaps take a more official stance? Perhaps make a statement that is clear for new zenners to find that states that ZC does not endorse TM nor their claims of ZC compatibility?

I mean to the core team, they are using your project's name, one I assume you have the copyrights to. It would seem to me that you have the right to protect your good name.

The evidence in this thread alone seems to clearly suggest that many have experiences with TM not living up to their claims.

This project has gone to great lengths to provide an install wizard, there is an informative book available, which together provide a shopping cart solution here that a non-technical person can use. I don't think that I am over stepping anything by saying use of a TM requires that a technical person knowledgeable in PHP, HTML, and CSS be involved in order to make it work.

I feel and I have stated before that TM by their claims are hurting the ZC project.

stage

Template monster are biches anyway, if you want any of their flash sites/intros for free (and editable), contact me