Pop-up disclaimers at checkout

Online companies must inform customers about shipping, returns, and other policies. Instead of having disclaimers at checkout you may rather have a "Read Me" link that will open a pop-up window with details about your company's policies. Here is how you program a link at the first checkout page (where customers choose shipping methods):

File name and location (1/3):includes/languages/english/checkout_shipping.php
Modification:
Replace:define('TEXT_CHOOSE_SHIPPING_METHOD', 'Please select the preferred shipping method to use on this order.');

With:define('TEXT_CHOOSE_SHIPPING_METHOD', '<span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:85%;">Please select the preferred shipping method to use on this order.</span> <p>Read Me: <a href="javascript:openWindow(\'height=350,width=500,status=no,toolbar=no,menubar=no,location=no,resizable=yes,scrollbars=yes\')">Shipping Policy</a></p>');
Create Page (2/3):shipping_policy.html
Upload to:Store's root folder.

Add the following Script (3/3):<script language="javascript" type="text/javascript"> function openWindow(url, name, attrs) { popWin = window.open(url, name, attrs); popWin.focus(); }</script>

Location:...\includes\templates\template_default\common\html_header.phpbefore </head> tag.

You may test it now.

Changing keyword search box size

By default, Zen Cart's keyword search box at the header is configured to display with 100 pixels wide. The default will also limit customer’s keywords to 30 characters. To change the default you must edit the following file:
...\includes\templates\template_default\sideboxes\tpl_search_header.php

Note: if you are using another template you should replace “template_default” with the name of your template.

All you need to do is to edit the two function calls to zen_draw_input_field(...).

Change the parameter maxlength=30 to any number of characters you want to give users more space for keywords.
To change the size of your search box you need to edit the style="width: 100px". Resize the text box according to the requirements of your design.

Display a message pointing out the last keyword typed on failed results

In order to avoid users running the same keyword search over and over again you may want to display a feedback pointing to the last keyword used. Here is how you can display a more appropriate response to users when the result set returns an empty list:
File Location:..\includes\languages\english\advanced_search_result.php
Replace:
define('TEXT_NO_PRODUCTS', 'There is no product that matches the search criteria.');
With:
define('TEXT_NO_PRODUCTS', '<font size=2 face="Verdana" color="#000077">No products found matching </font><font font size=2 face="Verdana" color="#770000"><u>'.$_GET['keyword'].'</u></font><font size=2 face="Verdana" color="#000077"> search keywords</font>');