How to Hide Your WooCommerce Cart: A Comprehensive Guide
Are you looking to customize your WooCommerce store’s appearance and functionality? Perhaps you want a cleaner, more minimalist design, or you’re implementing a unique checkout process. Whatever your reason, hiding the WooCommerce cart icon or even the entire cart page can significantly alter your user experience. This guide provides several methods to effectively hide your WooCommerce cart, along with considerations for each approach.
Why Hide the WooCommerce Cart?
Before diving into the how-to, let’s explore why you might want to hide your WooCommerce cart. Several scenarios benefit from this customization:
- Improved Design Aesthetics: A prominent cart icon might clash with your overall website design. Hiding it allows for a cleaner, more streamlined look.
- Unique Checkout Process: If you’re using a custom checkout system or a plugin that handles checkout differently, the standard WooCommerce cart might be redundant.
- Membership or Subscription Sites: For membership or subscription sites, hiding the cart until a user is logged in or has a valid subscription can improve the user experience.
- Specific Product/Service Offers: You might want to hide the cart for specific product categories or promotions, directing customers to a different checkout flow.
Methods for Hiding the WooCommerce Cart
There are several ways to hide the WooCommerce cart, ranging from simple CSS tweaks to more involved plugin usage and custom code. Choose the method that best suits your technical skills and desired level of customization.
#### 1. Hiding the Cart Icon with CSS
This is the simplest method, ideal for minor adjustments to your theme’s appearance. You can add custom CSS to hide the cart icon. Locate your theme’s `style.css` file (usually in your theme’s folder) and add the following code:
.woocommerce-cart-icon {
display: none;
}
This code targets the class `woocommerce-cart-icon` and sets its display property to `none`, effectively hiding the cart icon. Remember to always back up your files before making any changes. This method only hides the icon; the cart functionality remains. If you want to hide the entire cart page, see the subsequent methods.
#### 2. Hiding the Cart Page with a Plugin
Several plugins offer the functionality to hide the WooCommerce cart page entirely. These plugins often provide more advanced control and features than simple CSS edits. Search the WordPress plugin directory for plugins like “Hide WooCommerce Cart” or similar. These plugins generally offer options to hide the cart icon, page, and even the mini-cart. Carefully review plugin reviews and ratings before installation.
#### 3. Hiding the Cart with Custom Code (Advanced Users)
For complete control, you can use custom code to hide the cart. This requires a more advanced understanding of PHP and WooCommerce. The exact code will depend on your theme and WooCommerce version. Always consult your theme’s documentation and create a child theme before modifying core files.
Example (This might require adjustments depending on your theme):
//This code will hide the WooCommerce Cart page itself.
add_action('template_redirect', 'hide_woocommerce_cart');
function hide_woocommerce_cart() {
if (is_cart()) {
wp_redirect( home_url() );
exit;
}
}
This is a basic example and may require modifications to suit your specific needs. Consider consulting a developer if you lack the necessary experience.
Conclusion
Hiding your WooCommerce cart can significantly improve your website’s aesthetics and functionality, but choose the method carefully. Start with the simplest approach (CSS) and only move to more complex methods if necessary. Remember to always back up your website before making any code changes, and thoroughly test any modifications to ensure they don’t negatively impact your site’s functionality. Using plugins offers a safer approach than directly modifying theme or core files for those less comfortable with coding. Consider the implications for your users’ experience – clearly direct them to the appropriate checkout process if you hide the standard cart.
