Laying Out Products In Columns

[cdicken]

Attached is a zip file containing three templates that will lay out products in any number of columns across the page. Actinic will not generate these columns automatically, you have to select a different template for each product depending on where you want the product to appear on the page; either in the first column, the last column or in a middle column.

The three templates are:

Act_ProductLineRowStart.html – To be used if you want the product to appear at the beginning of the row (i.e. appear in the first column)

Act_ProductLineRowEnd.html - To be used if you want the product to appear at the end of the row (i.e. appear in the last column)

Act_ProductLineRowMiddle.html - To be used if you want the product to appear in the middle of the row (i.e. in one of the central columns)

Copy these templates into your 'Site1' (or equivalent) folder and select the correct template in the 'Product Layout' field depending on whereabouts you want the product to appear.

You have to remember a few simple rules such as:

1) 'Act_ProductLineRowStart.html' can only be used for a product at the start of a section or for a product that appears after a product using 'Act_ProductLineRowEnd.html'

2) A product using 'Act_ProductLineRowMiddle.html' can only be after a product using 'Act_ProductLineRowMiddle.html' or 'Act_ProductLineRowStart.html'

3) The last product in a section must always use 'Act_ProductLineRowEnd.html'.

Other template changes:

It is quite a good idea to remove the WIDTH="500" command from the HTML table in Act_ProductBody.html in order to allow your product rows to appear as large as possible.

[garyhay]

Norman is this the same as your version you did helped me out with for the single image and rows

[NormanRouxel]

Gary,

No. Mine did multiple product rows per image. The idea was that you could show your existing big tall image that displayed lots of numbered products down one side while having a buyable list of products on the other.

Norman

[BSO]

Hi there,
Is it me or is the Zip file empty? / corrupt ?
I can download it but not unzip or view it !!

[garyhay]

zipe file is okay

Norman

The idea with three different templates is similar though

[NormanRouxel]

Chris's zipfile can be improved on (as long as you expect JavaScript capable users).

Instead of having to use different templates for position and possible problems when adding / removing products how about having a Section level Customvar "NumCols" that defines how many columns you want and sets a JavaScript variable "CurrentColumn" to 0.

Then all your products use the same template and that template includes a tiny bit of code that generates the appropriate bits of the table as they bump CurrentColumn and compare it with "NumCols".

Norman.

[mcottam]

Can this be used for the sections pages as well?

TIA

[cdicken]

Actinic has a feature built in for laying out section links in columns. This is set by default in 'Design | Options | Sections' and can be overridden at the section level in the 'Layout' tab.

If you want to edit the HTML that builds the columns, you need to go to 'Design | Text | Website | HTML' and edit the table tags in lines 9, 10, 11 and 12.

[mccanm]

Norman

Can I be a cheeky newbie and ask to have a look at the templates Gary mentioned for a big tall image displaying lots of numbered products on one side and a buyable list on the other side.

I've a feeling that this might be in line with the product layout I'm looking to do.

Also in the start/middle/end templates provided above and combined with Act_productbody how can I fix the cell widths in the nested tables so for example the first column is say 60% of the overall page width and the middle and end are 20% each?

Thanks

:confused:

[garyhay]

Is this what you are after http://www.concept-worldwide.com/acatalog/Bohemian24.html

[memix]

I have tried putting in the three templates - start, middle, end - as described and stored them in site 1. I have restarted Acitic Business but still don't see the temples available in the Product Layout filed dropdown menu.

help

[chrisbrown]

You need to add the new templates into ProductTemplates.ini (in your Site folder) before they will show up in the list. This is also where you can specify a preview image for the template.

[memix]

thx