Linking from Product Duplicate back to product

[Truska]

I am trying to link from a Product Duplicate back to the main product and can not seem to identify the variable that holds the url of the original product.
I have looked under products, duplicates and others whilst scanning down the list of variables numerous times. Am I been silly and missing the obvious.

The duplicate products are been used to populate sections at a higher level to promte other goods and are set so they can not be ordered on-line.

I have tried the DuplicateLink variable but it only returns text "{Link to product} and does not seem to hold the actual URL?

I think I could somehow use the Advanced Links but was hoping that the duplicate product would automaticlly hold the originals section url those saving the need to set it up numerous times.

Any advice much apprecieated.

Regards

[leehack]

I am not aware of a variable for this, however i do recall Jont recently detailing how you can link to a product from within the description field. You can embed the html and hard code a link to it. I believe you will need the product refernce number to do it. Have a search on the v7 forum for Jont's posts over the past 10 days or so, i'm sure you will find it in there.

From an SEO point of view i would hate to have one product pointing to an exact copy of it on a different page, is there any need why the master cannot be available for sale, i can't think of any reason personally.

[Truska]

Thanks for the reply - was off reading the thread on "Consistently Repeated Lazy Requests" and hoping, as an ocassional visitor to the forum, that I have managed to get it right.

I will have a look for Jont's posting and see if that helps.

The reason for "not for sale" products is that most of what the site sells comes in a range of sizes and colours therefore the first product on the page describes the product "Cashmere Jersey" and then a number of additional products are arranged in a grid to add to cart from.

The duplicate product therefore advertises and links to the main product - we have only one product per buy page (but it is made up of many Actinic Products). The site can be seen at http://clatteringford.dev.truska.net/ - it is still far from complete but selecting the womans section from the green bar on the left shows the 4 duplicate products that SHOULD then link through to the main product several levels lower in the section heirecharcy.

A quick link to womans section mentioned above: http://clatteringford.dev.truska.net...log/woman.html

Any suggestions on doing things better would also be apprecieated. My instructions on layout and the look and feel od the site have been set by a 3rd party design company....!

Thanks - off to trawl for Jont's post

Regards & Thanks

[RuralWeb]

Any suggestions on doing things better would also be apprecieated

You have a very odd navigation system on the site it drills down by having separate nav bars being added into the product layout so it leaves very little room for product info - if you wanted this style it would be better done using one of normans plugins.

Also a dropdown navigation apears on certain pages and not others this would be better in the outer layer.

[RuralWeb]

selecting the womans section from the green bar on the left shows the 4 duplicate products that SHOULD then link through to the main product several levels lower in the section heirecharcy

You have lost me compl;etely - why do you need duplicates you can select the colour and size on the main product.

[leehack]

David on the page you directed us to, i would have those as the sections (you can include whatever image you want for this) and then have the products sitting within that section.

If you have a look at this page - link you will see that all of those models are "Traxxas" and there is a section for each of the products. If you select one of the sections, you can then get an in depth analysis on that product.

So the section gives you the outline, go into that section and you get the product.

I would add some interactivity to the links (a hover state) so it is quite clear where your mouse is and where you are going to.

I see no reason at all to do what you have mentioned.

[RuralWeb]

My instructions on layout and the look and feel od the site have been set by a 3rd party design company....!

I think you need to go back to the design company and double check with them what they are suggesting you do with the site because it does not seam right to me.

[Truska]

The drop down list was just as an experiment and currently being removed (uploading as I type).

The navigation is odd, yes - but the idea I think is quite good - it would allow much easier navigation between say a Cashmere Sweater and an Alpaca Sweater - quiet a few less clicks to get from a to b

- the problem is in coding this - Actinic can not see the sibling sections of those above the current one - it can see the breadcrumb trail but not the other sections at the various levels above current (unless someone can tell me otherwise) so these are all being included using a set of custom variables to call .txt files populated with the appropriate HTML. It works but is a bit of a nightmare.

That aside - it is not what this thread is about - I can not see how to link each of the 4 duplicate products, on the womans section for example, to their corresponding original products, when clicking on the image for example, without either using the advanced Linking and selecting the original product and altering the layout to work with this rather than as designed, or by adding a new user variable for the page link and manually populating it.

As you can see there will be a lot of duplicate product scayyered around the site, and the plan is to change them quite regularly, so that would be quite a job.

Regards

[leehack]

Having had a further look round i would also agree with the above. The navigation is messy and pointlessly difficult and unhelpful. If one menu is going to open a page with just 2 or 3 links, then as Malcolm says, use the Norcascade menu OR create sections with images to help with navigating.

There are a number of pretty useless and unhelpful clicks. Try and get to all of your products within a max of 3 clicks if you can. Less clicking is more sales. Also use images to help with this.

I think i can grasp what the site is trying to achieve, it is just the "user friendliness" that needs to be added.

[leehack]

David

The links in the left hand navigation could easily house the sub sections they currently contain. Why do i have to click on "bathrooms" to be able to see towels, robes and accessories. That to me is a pointless click. These could easily be included in the left hand navigation and avoid a click.

I am not against people trying to create new exciting navigation methods and fair play if you manage it, it just seems you are trying to be far too clever. Simple, consistent, easy to find and navigate is what you are after.

For starters, the two of us responding in this thread are completely lost on what you are trying to achieve, that doesn't bode well.

[Truska]

Thanks guys for the feed back - I will talk to my client about this and maybe see if we can review things a bit.

That said the original question - does a variable exist within ver 8 to hold the url/section of the original product to allow a duplicate product to link back to its original?

Even if not used here in the end, after a review of navigation, it seems an important piece of information.

By the way the drop down list of the site has now gone. - Maybe we need it back and to do away with the rest of the .txt. files I am busy creating...

Thanks again

Regards

[RuralWeb]

As you can see there will be a lot of duplicate product scayyered around the site, and the plan is to change them quite regularly, so that would be quite a job

This is a disaster waiting to happen and your comment about the site being a nightmare seems correct. I dont have a clue about what you are trying to achieve so in the words of Dragons Den - Im out.

[RuralWeb]

does a variable exist within ver 8 to hold the url/section of the original product to allow a duplicate product to link back to its original

The normal way of doing this is to simply use the link tab.

[leehack]

Thanks guys for the feed back - I will talk to my client about this and maybe see if we can review things a bit.

That said the original question - does a variable exist within ver 8 to hold the url/section of the original product to allow a duplicate product to link back to its original?

Even if not used here in the end, after a review of navigation, it seems an important piece of information.

By the way the drop down list of the site has now gone. - Maybe we need it back and to do away with the rest of the .txt. files I am busy creating...

Thanks again

Regards

David

I would be astonished if that variable existed as it seems to be something that would be totally useless. If i have a product on my screen which has a link to go to exactly the same product, what use would it ever be?

I think what you need to create is section > sub section > products. There is no need whatsoever to do what you are doing, you are complicating things for no reason whatsoever.

If products are within sections, the the section will automatically have links back to the parent sections unless you remove them. Creating text files and whatever you are trying to achieve is adding work and time that you do not need to do.

Take a look round some Actinic sites and you will see how simple and easy navigation is, just using what you get as standard.

[Truska]

Again thanks for your input. A review may be needed but I will play around a bit tonight on a clean site taking on board the comments from above.

For now I think some grub to keep me going is needed along with a hour with rthe kides before their bedtime so I will sign out for a while.

The feed back abobe is what the forum is all about so again I really do apprecieate your time guys. Thanks

Regards