New Template Preparations

The Smarty implementation is used to reduce the complexity of some of our extensions by presenting a HTML layer which can be modified to alter the display, but this alone cannot guarantee a risk free development, so we recommend you take some measures before creating/tweaking your template.

And one important note is: Never modify the default template!

Before starting to tweak your template, you should use the clone feature on the Default Template that comes installed with Auction Factory. Anything can go wrong when writing code, editing files, transferring files and who knows what. Loosing or corrupting one of the templating files can lead to downtime on your website on the corrupted areas of the extension.

This is why we recommend you use the clone feature on the Default Template: it creates a copy of the Default Template, which we test and offer support for. The Default template will always include all available features and will provide a solid foundation to start a new template from.

In the Administrator area → Auction Factory → Settings → Themes Manager

Click the checkbox of the Default Theme and click Clone Theme . Now you will have to enter the name of the new folder, the new theme name and also a Description. After you save, a new Theme(Template) will be created along with it's new folder in the frontend template directory.

You can now switch between the default template and your clone template with just one click. Any number of clones can be created.