Remember to search the osCMax forums carefully … it is more than likely that your question has already been answered.

However, here are a few of the more regular queries.

Q. Why does osCMax keep skipping the shipping page?

A. When a product weight is 0, shipping is skipped because osCMax is assuming that it is a digital product for download.

Q. What is the default admin login?

A. User name: [email protected] and Password: admin

Q. When I enable SEO URLs why do I keep getting 404 Page not found errors?

A. You need to edit the .htaccess file to enable the Rewrite functions.

Q. How do I stop my products disappearing from the New Products bit on my homepage?

A. You need to change the query to remove “month()” - see this for more details.

Q. I've just installed osCMax, why do I get a blank page on my shop?

A. You need to re-read the installation instructions, with regards to the configure.php.new/configure.php files.

Q. I have finished installing my new admin module but it doesn't show up anywhere!

A. You need to set the permissions correctly for your new admin files.

Q. I have a problem and want to see error messages for my store

A. Edit catalog/includes/application_top.php and change the file so that it reads like the following:

// set the level of error reporting

// error_reporting(E_ALL & ~E_NOTICE & ~'E_DEPRECATED');

Q. How do I upgrade to the latest release?

A. Normally there's no simple answer, due to the customisations to most installations. Each public release has an upgrade directory included and check on the osCMax forum for details, in Announcements and Blogs. Furthermore, look in this wiki.

Q. Briefly, how do I change the look of my shop?

A. osCmax uses a facility called Basic Template System (BTS) - a vague understanding is needed, to make modifications a lot easier.

• Equip yourself with a means to analyse the served up pages of your website. Firefox with Firebug is an excellent choice, otherwise use your favoured browser with an appropriate method. This will make editing the CSS entries simpler.
• Using fallback (or other osCmax supplied template) as a basis for your modifications, copy the catalog/templates/fallback to /catalog/templates/yourtemplate - files only, not directories.
• Modify /catalog/templates/yourtemplate/stylesheet.css to change colours/fonts and some layout elements.
• Say that you wish to change the layout of the product page: copy catalog/templates/fallback/content/product_info.tpl.php to catalog/templates/yourtemplate/content/product_info.tpl.php and make changes to the newly copied file.

Do NOT make changes to any files in fallback.

Q. I noticed there are some files i have never seen before in my admin. They look like this pThumbBckeXy any idea what these are?

A. Your environment doesn't like the location of the phpThumb cache - possibly due to permissions.

Simple solution: delete catalog/your-admin/phpThumb*.* and set admin directory to read only (eg. 555). Alternatively, locate and change $cache_dir = 'cache/'; in catalog/your-admin/includes/functions/instant_update. Notice any future updates will likely revert this to the default, so the first solution is better. (Additionally, you may notice these files stored in your server's temporary directory. The phpThumb routine is supposed to erase these automatically but may be simulated/enhanced by adding a recurring job to delete these, a cron task being one example.)