Standard Themes

[thruss]

I am using the standard themes within Actinic Catalog and have chosen "curves" as the one most suited to my requirements. Themes seem very rigid and don't allow me to change the menu buttons down the left of the page or at the top of the page. Will I not be able to add any new buttons / links?

[pinbrook]

Actinic themes are very versatile once you know what you are doing!!

Seriously though you will be able to add more buttons, look at the ACT_NAVIGATION html files.

Look at the images in your site 1 folder if you want to add more buttons the same as the curves themes you will have to take the exsisting button/images and amend them to make clones

[thruss]

Would a basic course in HTML help me understand these templates better? If there is something more appropriate pls sAY

[pinbrook]

Well it helps if you know HTML, but you may be able to bypass that by using the Dreamweaver extension, if of course you have Dreamweaver.

You may find that using a clean layout will make it easier to add nav buttons since the curves theme has that curvy left hand nav bar

Learning to modify the templates can be a steep learning curve but the more you learn the better designed your shop will be

and the better designed shops are the ones that make the sales

The best method is to take good backups and simply experiment.

Or see if there is someone local to you who can give you a few hours of one to one tuition

[thruss]

I have dreamweaver 3 (I know, very old) and have opened the navigation files there and can see even less information than when I opened them via notepad. Is there a specific view or preference to help me understand these files better?

[cdicken]

I would check out the thread at http://community.actinic.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=3376 as that chap was having similar problems to you.

With regards to learning about templates etc, have you looked at the 'Designing with Actinic Developer' guide (link is in my signature) as this does give an intro to templates and template editing. It does not cover the basics of HTML though - but there are some exercises for you to follow.