How to make ZenCart more secure

Posted on May 30, 2010 by Jamie Johnson

Those who find themselves considering the idea of building an online store always have a wide range of considerations they have to take into account. When you are handling customers’ money, it is always a smart idea to make sure that you have a very reliable and easy to interact with script working in your favor. The ease of the ZenCart install makes it a very solid solution for those who are wanting to set up a very stable shop that isn’t going to run into a lot of errors along the way. Down time in the online retail world is a very bad thing, so making sure you have read a ZenCart review or two first is important. The reviews are going to demonstrate exactly why ZenCart is the right choice for you. You can also take a look at the ZenCart demo site to get a very solid feel for how it all hangs together. The software has managed to create quite a name for itself, so you can rest easy knowing there is a large following who can often help with any problems that arise.

After you are sure that you have a trusted source for ZenCart hosting, it is a smart idea to familiarize yourself with the product. The installation is a snap, with thorough documentation to support you along the way. Once you have the ZenCart download, simply navigate to the documentation section and check that out first. As the product is frequently upgraded for better performance, you will want to read a version specific set of documents that explain the version you have for the best results. Simply set your store up the way you and you’re on your way to internet riches, as they say.

Now, there are many people out there who have ZenCart installed, but have not gone the extra lengths to secure it. You certainly do want to take every possible action that you can to make your shop safer both for yourself and your valued customers. The list below is going to show you several steps you can take to make ZenCart much more secure. These often overlooked areas of ZenCart maintenance can save you a lot of aggravation in the future if you take care of them now:

SSL – The ‘Secure Socket Layer’ is the online standard for security. Ask your web host about making sure that all transactions go through SSL to protect your customer’s data. Getting your own security certificate is a very smart idea and makes your site much more trustworthy.

Installation Folder – Immediately after completing the installation of ZenCart, it is highly recommended that you delete the folder titled /zc_install/ as this contains files that could allow others to wreck your store. Don’t wait around for an accident, take care of it as quickly as possible.

Admin Folder – All ZenCart installations start out with a standard /admin/ folder within them. This is where you access your store’s set up and configuration – basically, this is the directory from which you run your store. Do not leave it lying around for others to come snooping into. First, back up your ZenCart install, then set to renaming your admin directory. This is very easy to do.

Navigate to the /admin/includes/ directory and open up configure.php with an editor such as Notepad2. Look for this section in the code and where it says “admin” change it to your new admin directory name:

define(’DIR_WS_ADMIN’, ‘/admin/’);
define(’DIR_WS_CATALOG’, ‘/’);
define(’DIR_WS_HTTPS_ADMIN’, ‘/admin/’);
define(’DIR_WS_HTTPS_CATALOG’, ‘/’);

Be sure to leave the ‘ and / symbols exactly where they are and only change the lower case “admin”. Then, find this chunk of code:

define(’DIR_FS_ADMIN’, ‘/home/mystore.com/www/public/admin/’);
define(’DIR_FS_CATALOG’, ‘/home/mystore.com/www/public/’);

Again, change the lower case “admin” to your new directory name, but change nothing else.

Once you have completed these changes, save the configure.php file and close it. Now, rename the “admin” directory itself to the new directory name you have chosen and implemented into the configure.php file.

From now on, to log into your admin section, you will navigate to:

https://www.YourDomainName.com/NewDirectoryName

YourDomainName.com = The domain of your ZenCart shop

/NewDirectoryName = The new name for your admin directory that you chose above.

These quick steps have just helped make your ZenCart far more secure than it was before! Wasn’t that easy?

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New Server= New Sale!

Posted on February 25, 2010 by Jamie Johnson

New Server = New Sale! To celebrate the launch of our newest quad core Server we created some of the best deals we have ever offered and made them available to you for the next 2 months.

hostgladiator.com is proud to present our complete line of shared and reseller hosting solutions.  Your first payment 50% off with the promo code BLOG on any billing cycle!

Use coupon code: BLOG during the checkout process to get your first payment 50% off!

This offer is valid for a limited time so order now!

If you have any questions please feel free to contact us anytime at: sales@HostGladiator.com

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Happy Birthday Marines!!

Posted on November 10, 2009 by Jamie Johnson

usmcDuring the American Revolution, many important political discussions took place in the inns and taverns of Philadelphia, including the founding of the Marine Corps.

A committee of the Continental Congress met at Tun Tavern to draft a resolution calling for two battalions of Marines able to fight for independence at sea and on shore.

The resolution was approved on November 10, 1775, officially forming the Continental Marines.

As the first order of business, Samuel Nicholas became Commandant of the newly formed Marines. Tun Tavern’s owner and popular patriot, Robert Mullan, became his first captain and recruiter. They began gathering support and were ready for action by early 1776.

Each year, the Marine Corps marks November 10th with a celebration of the brave spirit which compelled these men and thousands since to defend our country as United States Marines.

Happy Birthday My Fellow Marines!!

Semper Fi

SGT/USMC 1996-2003

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HTML Headings

Posted on November 10, 2009 by Jamie Johnson

HTML Headings

You created headings in HTML by “tagging” certain chunks of text with heading tags. The format for an HTML heading tag is:


     <hN>Text to Appear in Heading</hN>

where N is a number from 1 to 6 identifying the heading size.

Here are some examples of different heading sizes:

sample web page

Heading Level 1

Heading Level 2

Heading Level 3

Heading Level 4

Heading Level 5
Heading Level 6

Heading levels range from level 1 (Most Important) to level 6 (Least Important). Like an outline, your heading levels should have logical, consistent order and be parallel.

Placing HTML Headings in Your Document

  1. Re-open your workspace (if not already opened).
  2. Go to the text editor window.
  3. Open the HTML text file you created in lesson 2,
    “volc.html”.
  4. First, we will use the tag to display the title as the
    biggest header, <H1>. Enter the following above the existing body text and after the </head><body> tags:

    
          <h1>Volcano Web</h1>
  5. Below the text already entered, create other headings for future sections of your Volcano Web page.

    Enter the following headings inside the body of your web page (Note that some are H3 and others are H2 tags):

    
          <h2>Introduction</h2>

          <h2>Volcano Terminology</h2>

          <h2>Volcanic Places in the USA</h2>

          <h3>Mount St Helens</h3>

          <h3>Long Valley</h3>

          <h2>Volcanic Places on Mars</h2>

          <h2>Research Project</h2>

          <h3>References</h3>
  6. Save changes in your text editor.
  7. Return to your web browser, Open and Reload the HTML file.

    8. Note that on the computer you are using now, you can use the
    settings in your web browser to define the fonts and/or size of
    the headings. For example, on one computer you could have
    a browser display h1 tags as Times font and 36 point;
    h2 tags as Helvetica font and 24 point, etc.
    HTML codes designate only that the headers are of a
    certain type (h1 to h6); how it is displayed is controlled by the
    user of the web browser.

Check Your Work

If some of your headings do not appear correct, be sure to check that the starting tag and ending tags have the same heading level.

As an optional exercise, take a look at what happens when you make a typographical error. Open your HTML document in the text editor and delete the slash (/) in the <h1> tag, after the header Volcano Web:

 <h1>Volcano Web<h1>
[missing "/" ------------^^^]

Save the changes and reload into your web browser. Without the correct ending of the h1 tag, your web browser interprets all of the succeeding text as part of that header! After trying this you should go back to your document and re-insert the slash in the correct spot.

Review Topics

  1. What are the different levels of headings in HTML?
  2. What are the tags associated with these different levels?
  3. What steps did you use in placing headings in your HTML document?
  4. What happens if you forget a slash at the end of a header tag?

Independent Practice

Add at least three headers of different levels to your own HTML document.

Coming Next….

Breaking up text into paragraphs.

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Geocities web hosting closes it’s doors

Posted on October 30, 2009 by Jamie Johnson

For those that haven’t already heard geocities free web hosting has officially shut down. HostGladiator will be offering those geocities customers a month of free hosting, so if you previously had a geocities hosting account contact us for your free month.

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