This v306 modification was a thought for a very long time, and we finally made it happen for as and our clients.
The whole idea is to give visitors “checkout as guest” by default checked and ready.
All the studies show that people hate register for all sort of reasons (mainly for spam abuse!).
See for your self
[color=#777777]In a number of stores now I’ve witnessed a tremendous increase in conversion rate simply by enabling guest checkouts. In a daily deals, impulse buying website it even increased checkout conversion by around 40%![/color]
http://www.boostinge…/guest-checkout
[color=#555555]Lots of websites force you to register before proceeding to checkout. I’m here to tell you: don’t do it! [/color]This website increased their revenues by $300 million[color=#555555] by offering customers the option to register or not.[/color]
http://blog.kissmetr…commerce-sales/
I found a few solutions in the forum, like leaving the store only with checkout as guest, which I find extreme (what about the people that want to register or are already registered) or hiding boxes etc, but none of them had the simplest trick.
Bring Checkout as guest on the top and make it checked by also having the button below as Checkout as guest also. ( I also prefer to have it on the left, and put login as an existing customer on the right but this is simple as css floating the boxes left and right).
[attachment=7172:checkout.jpg]
So here it is
You need to open and edit [font=arial, sans-serif][size=3]checkout_login.tpl in skins/basic/customer/[/size][/font][font=arial, sans-serif][size=3]views/checkout/components (basic is the default skin, you need to choose your skin).[/size][/font]
[font=arial, sans-serif][size=3]Then [/size][/font]Replace line 49
<div id="register_checkout" class="checkout-buttons">{include file="buttons/button.tpl" but_href="$curl&login_type=register" but_onclick="$.processNotifications(); fn_switch_checkout_type(true);" but_text=$lang.register}</div>
```<br />
<br />
<br />
with<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
```php
<br />
<div id="register_checkout" class="cm-noscript" ><br />
<div class="checkout-buttons"><br />
{include file="buttons/button.tpl" but_href="$curl&login_type=register" but_onclick="$.processNotifications(); fn_switch_checkout_type(true);" but_text=$lang.register}<br />
</div><br />
</div>
```<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
and then replace line 55<br />
<br />
```php
<div id="anonymous_checkout" class="cm-noscript">
```<br />
<br />
with<br />
<br />
```php
<div id="anonymous_checkout">
```<br />
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<br />
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Last but not least replace line 80<br />
<br />
```php
<br />
<ul class="register-methods"><br />
{if $settings.General.disable_anonymous_checkout != "Y"}<br />
<br />
<br />
<li class="one"><input class="radio valign" type="radio" id="checkout_type_guest" name="checkout_type" value="" onclick="fn_show_checkout_buttons('guest')" /><div class="radio1"><label for="checkout_type_guest"><span class="method-title">{$lang.checkout_as_guest}</span><span class="method-hint">{$lang.create_guest_account}</span></label></div></li><br />
{/if}<br />
<br />
<li ><input class="radio valign" type="radio" id="checkout_type_register" name="checkout_type" value="" checked="checked" onclick="fn_show_checkout_buttons('register')" /><div class="radio1"><label for="checkout_type_register"><span class="method-title">{$lang.register}</span><span class="method-hint">{$lang.create_new_account}</span></label></div></li><br />
<br />
<br />
</ul>
```<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
with<br />
<br />
<br />
```php
<br />
<ul class="register-methods"><br />
{if $settings.General.disable_anonymous_checkout != "Y"}<br />
<br />
<li class="one"><input class="radio valign" type="radio" id="checkout_type_guest" name="checkout_type" value="" checked="checked" onclick="fn_show_checkout_buttons('guest')" /><div class="radio1"><label for="checkout_type_guest"><span class="method-title">{$lang.checkout_as_guest}</span><span class="method-hint">{$lang.create_guest_account}</span></label></div></li><br />
{/if}<br />
<br />
<li ><input class="radio valign" type="radio" id="checkout_type_register" name="checkout_type" value="" onclick="fn_show_checkout_buttons('register')" /><div class="radio1"><label for="checkout_type_register"><span class="method-title">{$lang.register}</span><span class="method-hint">{$lang.create_new_account}</span></label></div></li><br />
<br />
<br />
</ul>
```<br />
<br />
Thats it! Clear your cache (admin.php?cc) and go to checkout to check it out.<br />
<br />
Hope this helps all of you that have the same opinion as I do about Checkout and Registering! ( I hate to register,,,)<br />
<br />
Fotis<br />
<br />
PS. If I ll find the time I will make it a mini Addon, as this file has a hook ({hook name="checkout:login_form"}) but if anybody else has the time be my guest....<p><a href="127.0.0.1/uploads/monthly_09_2013/post-11524-0-99506300-1378418214.jpg">checkout.jpg</a></p>