osCmax without BTS

[voltaq]

Hello,
does anyone have a osCmax without Basic Template System(BTS). Because I want to install Simple Template System(STS) on it.
Or an osCmax with STS?
Thanks in advance.

[michael_s]

Sorry, one of the core elements of osCMax, in fact one of it's best features is BTS. If you don't want BTS, you don't want osCMAx.

[vinces]

Is there a reason you would rather have STS, because their features are very similar. I think you will be able to accomplish just as much with BTS, but that's just my opinion.

[miahac]

he wants sts because it lets you re-arrange all the boxes real quick ( it puts the content, left and right colums on the main editing page and you can move all the components around just by moving some text-- I have seen some asp carts that let a store manager do this from an admin web page), you can edit more of the layout from the one page and is much simpler. The good news is that bts 1.4 has this feature and I am sure Max will incorporated that eventually.

[JasonM]

BTS seems great and all...but I am used to the old Oscommerce way of doing things. I have not yet figured out how to install new mods on OscMax, because of the way BTS breaks up the pages. Mod instructions don't take into account that you have BTS installed, so I am having real difficulties working with OscMax.

But I love that OscMax already comes with so many mods installed. I just need to install a few more, and it looks like I will be struggling for awhile.

JasonM

[paulM]

Originally Posted by miahac

The good news is that bts 1.4 has this feature and I am sure Max will incorporated that eventually.

There isn't much difference between the current MS2-MAX BTS version and the BTS1.4

The only (except for some very small mods) new thing in the BTS1.4 is that it uses a fallback, or overrides, system. Older versions require you to have all files in all templates directories, with v1.4 you only add the files that are different from the fallback template to your new template directory.

So let's assume you have created a new template directory and set it as defeault in admin. As long as this directory is empty all files will be loaded from the fallback template dir. But when you want to load a modified stylesheet you only have to copy it to the new directory and it overrides the stylesheet in the fallback directory automaticly. If you decide the change was a mistake you can just delete the file and the original stylesheet.css will be loaded again. The same way any other template file you like can be overridden.

An advantage is that you can have a lot of different templates without the need to copy hundreds of files to all different template dirs. Since most templates only need changes to one (the stylesheet) or a couple of files this will save a lot of disk space (and ftp trouble) and make managing the templates a lot easyer. Just a quick look into a template dir will make clear what the differences are to the fallback template because only changed files will be in the directory.

Back to the STS: I think a handy programmer wouldn't have much trouble in combining the BTS and STS. The one does not exclude the other in any way I believe. The BTS offers the template structure (separating most output and other code, which a.o. enables to edit the main layout through one php file), and the STS offers a system that enables you to edit the layout through an HTML file. Why not have the best of both?

[miahac]

Thanks for the clarification, I was just reading about 1.4 it sounded like what I was used to with sts.

[JasonM]

BTS is cooler than it looks at first glance. I think you have to become familiar with it to realize its' potential. Although, it does change how things work quite alot, but everything is still there.

J

[doumawis]

Originally Posted by msasek

Sorry, one of the core elements of osCMax, in fact one of it's best features is BTS. If you don't want BTS, you don't want osCMAx.

yes i think also that bts is too complicated for the ordinairy shopowner: a person who want to sell something and not want to be a programmer
( i do like also programming, but this is too much for a ordinairy shopowner)


I think also that STS offers more freedom in design via HTML-templating and is much easier than bts
You are totally free to design whatever layout page you want in STS and as excercise you can try to make the original oscommerce site in STS
doumawis

[paulM]

Originally Posted by doumawis

I think also that STS offers more freedom in design via HTML-templating and is much easier than bts
You are totally free to design whatever layout page you want in STS and as excercise you can try to make the original oscommerce site in STS
doumawis

There isn't anything that you can do with the STS that you can't do with the BTS. If you don't want to change the PHP, just leave everything inside the <?php ?> tags as it is (you don't split your STS tags either ), and copy/paste your HTML around it.

BTW the first release of the STS for the BTS is on its way