Component Layout

[asprott]

I have products with several components and some of the components have attributes/choices.

A major aim of ours is to minimise the screen space any product and its components take up. So, I tried the "Customising Where Attributes Apper" table approach in the "Designing with Actinic Developer" guide but that didn't work for this example.

I have attached a screenshot of the web page for a product using the standard Actinic block approach and a screenshot of the procuct set up in Actinic.

Can anyone help with this, as it looks like I could have the longest web pages known to man.

Regards

Andrew J Sprott:confused:

[garyhay]

I have done this on a few occasions for different sites. What was your problem with the Developer guide?

[asprott]

Originally posted by garyhay
What was your problem with the Developer guide?

Thank you for your reply Gary. The results from adding the "variant table" to my product layout have been "unpredictable to say the least. I attach my original screenshot with the addition of how the new layout looks (for the same product).

As you can see there are missing labels, duplicate labels, missing component and component choices separated from their components, etc.

Hopefully you can help.

Regards

Andrew J Sprott

ps. I have inlcuded VARIANTLABEL1 to 12 and VARIANTSELECTOR1 to 12 in the table.

[Ben]

Hi Andrew

Try deleting the <BLOCKQUOTE> tabs around NETQUOTEVAR:PRICEEXPLANATION in the Act_VariantCheckBox.html template. This will decrease the spaces between each component checkbox.

Ben

[asprott]

Thanks for the reply Ben. Removing the BLOCKQUOTE certainly cuts down on the some of the spacing, which is an aspect I haven't really go to yet.

If you look at the screenshot, it is the nonesense display of labels/components/attributes/choices that I have ended up with using the "Developer Guide" and the "variants table" approach, that is the problem.

Regards

Andrew J Sprott

[garyhay]

Perhaps I should have added that it was not easy to get all the parts lined up correctly and I am sure I used spacer.gifs to make the layout look correct.

If you are using a default Actinic template as a basis then you will have to produce the table twice.

[asprott]

Thank you for the reply Gary. I am using the Act_ProductLineTable template as a basis for my product layout.

What I did was, insert a table into the same cell of the table as NETQUOTEVAR:VARIANTADDTOCARTBUTTON. I then put the NETQUOTEVAR:VARIANTLABELs in one row then put the NETQUOTEVAR:VARIANTSELECTORs in a row below.

I may have interpreted your instructions wrongly, but I have now changed that to having the NETQUOTEVAR:VARIANTLABELs in one table and the NETQUOTEVAR:VARIANTSELECTORs in another table below it, all still in the same cell as NETQUOTEVAR:VARIANTADDTOCARTBUTTON. The only reason I chose the Act_ProductLineTable template as the basis for my layout as it looked resaonably compact and simple and as I mentioned earlier, it is an aim to minimise the screen space product take up.

Returning to the above, using two tables, I am still missing component lables and on some product pages I am missing components altogether.

I'm a bit stumped.

Regards

Andrew

[garyhay]

Andrew

Can you ftp a snapshot of your site and e-mail off the list with details of how to pick it up.

[asprott]

Originally posted by garyhay
e-mail off the list with details of how to pick it up.

Hi Gary,

Bear with me here; what ftp address do you want me to send the snapshot to. Secondly, I'm not sure what you mean by the above quote. Sorry about that, this all new to me.

Reagards

Andrew

[garyhay]

If you place the snapshot on your web space then use my profile details to e-mail me with URL of the snapshot I can have a look. I am out of the office all afternoon so it will be this evening before I can look

[asprott]

Thanks for this Gary. We're a small company with limited resources and the owner is starting to get concerned that we have chosen the wrong e-commerce product. We have just started the design phase of the project and seem to be running into problems withActinic Catalog's flexibility.

Anyway, I shall ftp the file and email you the details.

Cheers

Andrew

[garyhay]

No Problem

"Maybe just have the wrong developer":D

[asprott]

I have explored a vaiety of options with Gary Hay but without success. (A big thanks to Gary for his help)

I was wondering whether Chris or any of the other Actinic people would be able to help.

I attach the latest screenshot (in a long line) which has the product and its compoents/attributes laid out slightly better with all the problems mentioned in this thread already.

As already mentioned, we are quite concerned about trying to get a suitable product layout for our site, so any help would be much appreciated.

Cheers

Andrew:confused:

[cdicken]

It looks like there is an ongoing problem with the seperate layout of individual components which is scheduled to be fixed in the next maintenance release.

Until then, you need to adopt another approach.

Firstly, use the 'Include [None] in Attribute Choice List' option for any components which have a single set of attributes within them. This will remove the checkbox for selecting an optional component and cut down the number of items.

I then think you would have to go with your original plan of having the image and description in one column and then the components in another. This will reduce the space that a product takes up - but I know it will not be exactly what you want.

I will give the Development team a 'gentle' reminder to get this sorted.

[asprott]

Hi Chris,

Thank you for the reply. I assume that you are suggesting that I stick with a product template that uses NETQUOTEVAR:ADDTOCARTBUTTON rather than the NETQUOTEVAR:VARIANTADDTOCARTBUTTON based layouts from the AUG for just now until the next maintenance release (just checking).

I look forward to seeing what happens as I imagine I'm not the only one with such problems and it is having a negative impact on the look and feel of the site.

Regards

Andrew

[cdicken]

That is correct, but you can still use NETQUOTEVAR:VARIANTS to insert the list of components and attributes and NETQUOTEVAR:VARIANTADDTOCARTBUTTON to insert the add to cart button separately.

[asprott]

Originally posted by cdicken
That is correct, but you can still use NETQUOTEVAR:VARIANTS to insert the list of components and attributes and NETQUOTEVAR:VARIANTADDTOCARTBUTTON to insert the add to cart button separately.

Hi Chris,

Unfortunately this is all part of the problem as I can not get the component/atrriute information displayed properly using NETQUOTEVAR:VARIANTS and NETQUOTEVAR:VARIANTADDTOCARTBUTTON (as per my first screenshot1.gif in this thread), missing labels, duplicate labels etc.

I am unsure if I would get the exact layout I wanted (as you suggeted) before the issue of layout is addressed in a maintenace release, but I can't even get the above to work.

Regards

Andrew

[garyhay]

I think Actinic should at least put a post here and the knowledgebase saying that the layouts dont work as they should

[cdicken]

It is tricky because they work perfectly for attributes without components - just not with components.

I'll add it to the knowledge base.

[garyhay]

Thanks Chris

Will save me helping out when I cant:)

[MikeT]

Is there an ETA for this fix as it is causing me a great annoyance in trying to get a neat layout for products with several choices with a component?