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<title>Welcome To Zen Cart&reg;</title>
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<h2>Welcome To Zen Cart&reg; - The Art of E-Commerce</h2>
<h3>Designed for Online Merchants</h3><br />
Zen Cart&reg; truly is the art of e-commerce; a free, user-friendly, open source shopping cart system. The software is being developed by group of like-minded shop owners, programmers, designers, and consultants that think e-commerce could be, and should be, done differently. <br />
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Some other "solutions" seem to be complicated programming exercises instead of responding to users' needs. &nbsp;Zen Cart&reg; puts the merchant's and shopper's requirements first.  
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Similarly, other programs are nearly impossible to install and use without an IT degree. Zen Cart&reg; can be installed and set-up by anyone with the most basic computer skills.<br />
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Others are so expensive ... not Zen Cart&reg;, it's FREE! <br />
<h3>Designed for Online Shoppers</h3>
Zen Cart&reg; will deliver the ultimate online shopping experience to your customers. Navigating through your merchandise offerings is a breeze with Zen Cart&reg;.<br />
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The program provides several "Spotlight" lists in addition to the traditional category-to-product links. Once a product is added to the shopping cart, secure checkout is a simple 3-step process. <br />
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After providing the billing information, your customer chooses the shipping method (multiple shipping methods including real-time internet shipping quotes are built-in). <br />
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Next, a payment type is chosen from one of the popular payment modules. (PayPal&trade; and AuthorizeNet&trade; are just 2 of the included modules) <br />
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Last, the customer reviews the order, shipping and payment choices, and confirms the order. You are immediately notified of the order and your customer automatically receives an e-mail confirmation. <br />

<h3>Zen Cart&reg; addresses many of the goals we set:</h3>
<ul>
<li> make the program easy to set up </li>
<li> make it easy to customize </li>
<li> automate tasks, such as order confirmation </li>
<li> make navigation simple </li>
<li> built in promotions; easy-to-configure Sales/Specials, Discount Coupons, Gift Certificates, Newsletters and Product Notifications</li>
<li> offer single-item or category-wide specials and storewide discounts (group discounts and quantity discounts) </li>
<li> password protect the Administration Tool (administration "levels" will be coming in future editions) </li>
<li> support multiple languages, currencies and tax structures</li>
</ul>
<h4>In short, Zen Cart&reg; is shopping cart software the way it should have been all along.</h4>
<h3>For Web Designers</h3><br />
Zen Cart&reg; gives web designers a robust and customizable electronic storefront that's easy to keep up-to-date with new features. It provides usable, intuitive and unobtrusive purchase flows right out of the box based on proven industry best-practices - there are no major revisions required to get things right for your clients!<br />
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One of the secrets behind its power lies in our robust template system that "abstracts" the look-and-feel from the code and logic behind Zen Cart&reg;. This enables you to give clients a truly custom solution that integrates quickly and perfectly with their existing marketing websites. Using the customized template system helps you implement a core upgrade very quickly. <br />
<h3>For Developers and Hosting Providers</h3>
<p>Developers are able to deploy cutting-edge solutions based on Zen Cart&reg;'s modern standards and technologies. Combining PHP server-side technology with the ability to choose from multiple databases on the back end  results in flexible software that you can customize and modify to suit your needs. <br />
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<strong>Zen Cart&reg; Minimum Server Requirements:</strong><br />
<p>* PHP 5.2.14 or higher, Apache 2.0 or higher, and MySQL 4.1.3 or higher. (NOTE: MySQL STRICT mode *not* supported in this version of Zen Cart&reg;.)</p>
<p>* Apache must be configured with AllowOverride set to either 'All' or at least both 'Limit' and 'Indexes' parameters, and preferably the 'Options' parameter as well.<br />
* PHP must be configured to support CURL with OpenSSL
</p>
<strong>RECOMMENDED server capabilities:<br />
PHP 5.3.5 or higher, Apache 2.0 or higher, and MySQL 5.0.90 or higher, and the Apache/PHP configuration settings mentioned above.</strong>
<p>While Zen Cart&reg; can run on Windows/IIS servers, Linux/Apache servers are recommended for best results.</p>
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