Can AbanteCart be a full website

[soup-n-sandwich]

Hi guys,
I'm starting a new business and have been less than satisfied with website building companies that offer little in features and rob you blind when getting upgrades...tech support is also a joke.  As one of my solutions to this I have been working with AbanteCart as the replacement for a commercial ecommerce solution.  I really do like it!  As I'm trying to find a solution for replacing the website itself I starting see the potential in AbanteCart to use it as a full blown website rather than just a cart solution.
I was thinking how great it would be to have AbanteCart be my website.  Is it possible to have pages without products but something like a video gallery and documents page for download documents?

If so, does this require the installation of extensions or some other add-on?
Soup

[tastiger]

Hi Soup,
I found quit a lot can be done with AbanteCart. I built my basic website with using content pages and categories as pages. Have a look at how AbanteCart works with layouts and blocks and I am sure something will come to mind for how to form a video gallery and design document pages. I did end up using Wordpress for the blog though in hindsight I think my blog could have also been achieved within Abantecart. In time I learn more and maybe achieve holding everything in AbanteCart.

[soup-n-sandwich]

 Tastiger!  Hey thanks for taking the time to write me back.  So you do think it's possible?  That's great.  AbanteCart is also the only opensource cart that I found that offers the complete removed of the header and nav which makes it possible to embed it into an existing website if I was to only use AbanteCart as a cart only.

Any ideas on the video gallery page?  I've been messing around with different carts. I'm on week two now desperate to find a solution.  The cart aspect of the site is of course very important but being able to host some document file for download and offer a instructional videos gallery is important.

I've run into serveral issues that I'm sure how to cure yet.  The image slide banner is one of them.  Although I change the color of it and working on the image for it I have noticed on a smaller monitor of 15" using a res of 1024 X 768 the banner's images and HTML text run into one another.  Ironically, it's on the banner that reads "HTML 5 Responsive storefront to look good on all screen sizes".  I'm no programmer so I'm not sure what this is the case or how to fix it.

Thanks very much again for your efforts here.  I really do appreciate it.
Soup

[tastiger]

Hi Soup,
The resource library can hold videos and resources can be placed on an a page in multiple, There is also blocks to consider like the html block could hold a custom framework to hold your type of video. Multiple of these as a custom page layout might form a video gallery.

I don't have a video gallery myself and I am not sure what your ultimate aim is, but that was a couple of thoughts that jumped to mind. I think I have seen that you have resolved your banner issue.

[soup-n-sandwich]

Thanks again Tasiger.  I've been working with Abantecart long enough to see it's potential as much more.  The layout alone is big.  I haven't seen that design on any other cart so far.  I had great success yesterday with adding lots of options that have a fairly complex amount of detail.  Details and requirements that no other open source cart has not been able to do.  Thanks for your suggestions regarding the gallery.  I have to make a documentation page that has sub-pages for documentary videos for instructional and "how-tos".

I noticed at the footer there are non-product pages known as "content" pages. I was trying to get these content pages to display in my menu and not in the footer but so far I don't see how to do this.  I'll try the layout idea for a fresh page that would hopefully support the videos and files.

Yes, the banner issues I think is resolved.  It's not perfect but it's not bad.  I would like to find how to center the banner because on larger displays if favors the left.  I'm sure that's a code thing. 
Next I have to resolve some contrast issues of my color choices made in the css....my eyes are bleeding from the strain!
Thanks for the reply.
Soup

[tastiger]

Hi Soup,
I couldn't find a way either, but I did find that I could achieve content in the main menus. Simply build your content menu structure as categories and use category descriptions for your content. See the Advocacy menu on my website.
Cheers,
Tastiger

[cedlinx]

Hello,

I think you can simply build your website with any other tool you are conversant with and install AbanteCart in a subdirectory of your site and then link to and from it.

I've done that and you wouldn't know I have two "sites" running unless you're told.

Cheers,
Cedric.