One thing I am sure of more than ever, those lazy template creators who never update the actual files but claim their templates work on all versions will really have problems with this version. Freebies and cheapies have always been the bane of my existence and their usefulness is taking a dive in 1.5.8. So be aware – choosing a template is just getting more difficult.

Zen Cart is moving to a templating system that will no longer require core file edits or even template file edits. The new Shop by Brands follows that idea but I’m not happy that this cannot be managed by admin. Easy enough to add this into my template but I have never had many site owners that did much with the manufacturers on their sites.

Many of my template changes continue to be incorporated in default Zen cart and the number of files I use is greatly decreased in this version. All this simplifying greatly improves and streamlines the work for me. Updating this time required more thought and less mind numbing secretarial changes but I was really pleased with how easy updating my template is becoming. My template install with 1.5.8 is installed separately on my server here. A look at the variety of templates possible still exists here on the 1.5.7 version. (My apologies to those who tried to access those links after they got my newsletter. Everything is back to normal now. I need whipping for testing a site while sending folks there!)

I know folks getting these emails are still on version 1.5.5f. Please upgrade! The longer you wait, the more upgrading is going to cost you. Contact me!