RE: Official plan for template?

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The template system that is currently planned for inclusion is [url=www.oscommerce.com/community/workboard,48]on the workboard[/url]. The system is planned to be based on the template system used for the tep-docs module in the CVS.

I've also been planning a system to go along with the CSS conversion being worked on that should not be difficult to implement from a logic standpoint and mocking up interfaces for it's implementation: http://www.vertexwerks.com/osctemp/ 

It should be better organised, more usable and more consistent between tabs, but I would hope it would provide easy and fast store layout modification, particularly if used in conjunction with CSS. There are several things I'm working through now:

There may need to be two (or more) versions of the base template files: one for the table rendering (legacy version for backwards/existing compatibility), and one for an XHTML/CSS layout. There could be also a button or pop-up list on the main page that toggles (possibly by declaring alternate "base" folders) between nested tables or XHTML/CSS layouts. This would also enable the user to create several store types that could be used for development, deployment, testing, etc., if the ability to add to this base list were implemented.

Also, I've considered placing another button on the Main tab that automatically creates a .zip archive of the currently active theme/template. This could be download and shared with others via another text input-field to upload said files (through the new file upload class). This would then be unzipped and have everything put into place. Voila! Instant customization and easy sharing of store layouts, as it would be easy for even someone with zero coding ability to install an entirely new look and feel for their stores.