Customer Zone and the Storefront

The part of LiteCommerce-based online store that is accessible to the visitors and customers is called the Customer Zone. It can be used to browse the store, put products into a shopping card and place orders.

Note: The functionality of the Customer Zone depends on the store configuration settings and can be expanded by installing and activating add-on modules.

The Customer Zone is comprised of:

The dynamic components of the Customer Zone are serviced by the 'cart.php' script file located in LiteCommerce installation directory:

http://www.example.com/litecommerce_directory/cart.php

If not configured otherwise, the storefront also displays the content dynamically generated by 'cart.php'.

Figure 2-3: Customer Zone using 2-column design layout

The 'cart.php' script file uses the design templates specified by the store administrator in order to present the information located in the store database. LiteCommerce software is distributed with 4 sets of design templates (skins), two of which have 3-column layout and the other two have 2-column layout. Two-column page layouts make more of product presentation and are better suited for small businesses, while three-column page layouts are easier to navigate and are intended for bigger stores with greater number of products. If needed, the store administrator can create custom layouts that better meet business-specific requirements.

Figure 2-4: Customer Zone using 3-column design layout

In the 2-column layout (Figure 2-3) the wider left column is used to display the catalog entries (product categories, product descriptions), customer shopping carts, checkout pages and any other information that requires the customer's highest attention. The right column contains the list of categories, the 'News' box and any additional information/functional boxes introduced by certain add-on modules. The header of the store contains a product search form and several tabs which provide access to the top level of the catalog, customer's shipping cart and account settings and the 'Contact Us' form. An 'Affiliate' tab is added in case the Affiliate System add-on module is installed. The header part also contains a product search form. The footer contains a customizable 'Help' bar and the copyright notice.

In the 3-column layout (Figure 2-4) the wider column with the relevant information is located in the middle. The column to the left of it contains the 'Categories' box with a list of product categories available at the store and the 'Help' box. In case additional modules are installed, they can create boxes of their own in the same column. The right column contains boxes with links pertaining to the customer's authentication and account information, his shopping cart and the store news. The header contains the search form, and the footer displays the copyright notice.