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- Prestashop Tutorial
How to install a PrestaShop theme?
In this video tutorial, we will see how to install a template in PrestaShop 1.7. Specifically, the theme Warehouse by iqit-commerce will be installed. The template includes and integrates Elementor Page Builder, which is well-known in the WordPress CMS. This plugin for PrestaShop allows you to create and configure the pages of your e-commerce without knowing anything about programming. As we will see, installing a template in PrestaShop is very simple and does not require technical skills; however, it is advisable to have a basic understanding of HTML and CSS. These are not programming languages but markup languages: simplifying, they are a set of instructions that can be quickly learned by consulting some guides on the Web.
What is an Ecommerce template?
A template is, simply put, the graphic appearance of a website and the most accurate translation in Italian is Model. Similarly to the templates we can find in various programs from text editors to professional publishing software like Adobe InDesign, a template serves to standardize the style of our website independently of the data and content represented.
In the specific case of PrestaShop, a front-end template is developed using Smarty, which is a template engine written in PHP that allows for the separation of PHP code, the software programming, from HTML code. With version 1.7 of PrestaShop, the decision was made to migrate to the Symfony framework, as Smarty has been surpassed by Twig, but this migration mainly concerns the BackOffice. Currently, both are used, and it is not certain that Smarty will be completely abandoned in the future.
This information is not necessary if you do not intend to develop a template from scratch or modify the pre-installed theme with the CMS using a Child theme. In most cases, in fact, you will purchase a template that is very close to the design you want to achieve and will simply install it.
Features of a PrestaShop Theme
The main commercial themes you find on addons are extremely simple to install and modify, even without any knowledge of web programming. Once you purchase a template, you will receive an installation package that does everything for you, including the installation of some sample data and configuration. The features are as follows:
- The presence of modules like Theme Editor that allow us to quickly modify the graphic appearance.
- They allow for uniformity in style and appearance across the entire ecommerce site.
- A package of the most common modules: Wishlist, Product Comparison, Cross selling, Slides, PopUps, etc., useful for recreating the look and functions present in the Template demo.
These features are common; some templates allow us to go much further by also adding a Page Builder, a true page configurator that lets us modify the appearance of every piece of content. Warehouse includes, as already mentioned, Elementor, while other themes like Leo include Ap Page Builder. Page builders can also be purchased on addons and installed on many themes that do not include them, but if they are already included in the theme, they are much better integrated.
What is a Page builder?
Page builders are literally page builders; they are modules that allow us to create web pages in an extremely simple way, using a technique called drag&drop, which means dragging and moving elements with the mouse to any point on the screen. They are therefore WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) editors, meaning: what you see is exactly the result you will get. The real strength of this approach is having an immediate feedback on how our web page will look.
Page builders have some disadvantages; this freedom comes at a cost in terms of performance, significantly affecting loading times and requiring more resources on the hosting side. However, they allow you to manage your site without becoming web programmers and, if you are a Developer, to save hours and hours of work.
Using a pre-made template allows us to keep costs down, but it comes at the expense of our ecommerce loading times, which can be partially resolved with the use of advanced caching modules.
Why not use a custom template?
For our ecommerce, we could also choose to have a specific template developed from scratch, all our own. Like a tailored suit, it would have many advantages, including high performance. However, this is only if the "tailor" does a professional job; otherwise, like the wool sweaters from grandma, we would end up with just an uncomfortable and ugly piece of clothing.
A Custom Template, in addition to a high cost, would present poor scalability; we would have to rely on the developer every time our business grows and new features are needed, and every time we need to update the CMS. With the speed of change in the modern market, such a solution is unfeasible unless for ecommerce that generate hundreds of millions of euros, and especially must handle a huge traffic of users and have the necessary professional figures in their staff. In this case, the choice is dictated by technical needs, and CMS are not used, or if they are used, they are completely rewritten. Therefore, in the realm of CMS like Wordpress, PrestaShop, Magento, etc., the best solution is a professional template, with the development of a Child theme that provides a level of customization that makes it unique and performance-wise very similar to a Custom solution.
Author: Loris Modena
SENIOR DEVELOPER
Per Ind Loris Modena, owner of Arte e Informatica, started working in the IT sector in 1989 as a system administrator responsible for the maintenance and installation of computer systems. He began programming for the web in 1997, focusing on CGI programming in PERL and later transitioning to programming in PHP and JavaScript. During this time, he became familiar with the Open Source world and the management of Linux servers.