Editing Product Layout

[magicalwonders]

I am using Normans multi column templates and I'd like to re-arrange the way the products show on the page.

I want the Title of the product to be followed by a description underneath. (allowing for a graphic on either side). Then the "Price" "Quantity" and "add to "cart" all on the same line, below the description.

Can I achieve this by editing the Act_Productline template only, or are there other templates I need to look at as well?

Hopefully someone can advise.

Many thanks


Myles Sinclair

[NormanRouxel]

If you look at the template I provide in my patch you'll see that I've marked the begin and end of the bit you can modify to suit whatever layout you prefer. You shouldn't need to edit other templates but use my border trick below.

I would recommend using a table for your layout (temporarily set its border to 1 so you can see what's going on).

Norman

PS. Thanks for only posting this on the Forum. I've recently been getting bombarded with many people directly e-mailing me with their problems. I'm a volunteer and prefer to be able to choose the posts I look at, rather than having them forced upon me.

[magicalwonders]

Thanks Norman,

I spotted your beginning and end instructions in the template, but my attempt at change didn't seem to affect anything. This is down to me and my lack of knowledge of html.

It might be that I forgot to save my changes, it had been a long day.
Now that I know that no other templates are involved, I'll persevere!

Thanks for the Tables trick, I'll include that as recommended.

Best wishes,

Myles

[NormanRouxel]

The table you need to play with is already there. Just change

  <!-- START each product lives in this table - alter below to rearrange items -->
  <table width="100%">

to

  <!-- START each product lives in this table - alter below to rearrange items -->
  <table border=1 width="100%">

and you'll see the current layout. Now it's just a matter of rearranging things in that table to suit. Any HTML primer ought to be able to help you there.

Norman

[magicalwonders]

Thanks Norman,

Using your table trick certainly makes it easier to see how the editing affects the page.

I'm almost there, but for some reason, I seem to be having trouble getting the Price, Quantity and Add to Cart to position on the same line.
I'll try opening the template in Dreamweaver and see if that gives any clues.

At the moment, the code for that part of the page looks as follows:

<tr>
<td align="LEFT" colspan="10">
<span class="actxsmall">
<b>NETQUOTEVAR:PRODUCTPRICE</b>NETQUOTEVAR:CARTERRORXMLNETQUOTEVAR:PRODUCTQUANTITY<Actinic:ACTIONS>NETQUOTEVAR:ADDTOCARTBUTTON</Actinic:ACTIONS>
</span>
NETQUOTEVAR:TEMPLATEENDXML
</td>
</tr>
Although I have the relevant Netquotevars on the same line, they are showing on the page one under the other with a line space between Quantity and Add to cart. It looks like this...

Price
Quantity

Add to Cart

Whereas I'm trying to get:

Price Quantity Add to Cart

Does anyone have any ideas why this is?

Many thanks

Myles

[Darren B]

Have you had a look at the actproductlinecompact.html template, this lays it out as you want and im sure you could add some more stuff to it to get your images included.

Im not sure where i got the template but have a look here http://casupply.co.uk/acatalog/6mm_p..._sheeting.html and see if this is sort of what you looking for. You need to put each item into a table cell of its own to lay it out on a single line

hope this helps you a bit more.

Darren

[magicalwonders]

Thanks Darren,

I'll take a look at that template. Sounds like it has the sort of code I'm looking for.

Bye the way, I did my shed roof and back porch with your plastic a few years ago, and very good it is too!

Best wishes,

Myles

[magicalwonders]

Ahh, I don't seem to have an Act_productlinecompact. Maybe it's in version 6 or earlier? I've got a copy of 6 so I'll load it up and find out!

Myles

[magicalwonders]

O.K. the Act_productlinecompact template isn't in Ver.6. I did find a reference to it in the "discussions en Francais" part of the forum, but there's no way I'm learning French and html at the same time!!!

So if anyone knows the location of this elusive template? Any chance of a copy Darren?

Thanks

Myles Sinclair

[NormanRouxel]

I'm guessing that your colspan="10" is a mistake. You can't really have 10 columns in those tiny tables.

Anyway, I'd put each item in its own cell. E.g:-.

<tr>
<td><span class="actxsmall"><b>NETQUOTEVAR:PRODUCTPRICE</b></span></td>
<td><span class="actxsmall">NETQUOTEVAR:CARTERRORXMLNETQUOTEVAR:PRODUCTQUANTITY</span></td>
<td><span class="actxsmall"><Actinic:ACTIONS>NETQUOTEVAR:ADDTOCARTBUTTON</Actinic:ACTIONS>NETQUOTEVAR:TEMPLATEENDXML</span></td>
</tr>

Of course, we're now using a 3 column table so you'll need to make sure that other rows use 3 cells (or a single <tr><td colspan=3>Blah blah</td></tr> for full width).

Now you may also need to look at the Act_CartButtonImage.html (assuming you're using an image as the cart button) template which is:-

<P><INPUT TYPE="IMAGE" SRC="NETQUOTEVAR:BUTTONIMG" NAME="NETQUOTEVAR:BUTTONNAME"
WIDTH="NETQUOTEVAR:IMAGEWIDTH" HEIGHT="NETQUOTEVAR:IMAGEHEIGHT" BORDER="0" ALT="NETQUOTEVAR:BUTTONLABEL"></P>

and remove the <P> and </P>

Also Act_productPrice.html is:-

<br><span class="actxsmall"><b> NETQUOTEVAR:PRICEPROMPT &nbsp;NETQUOTEVARISCOUNT_QUANTITY&nbsp;NETQUOTEVAR:COST</b></span><span class="actxxsmall">NETQUOTEVAR:TAXMESSAGE</span>

so you should remove the <br>

Norman

[magicalwonders]

WOW,

Thanks Norman. I didn't get notice of your post from Actinic this time for some reason, so I've been struggling all day without success. Was going to make an updated post when I saw yours!

This works a treat. I've decided to have the "Quantity" show in the basket as all three items side by side result in a horizontal scroll. However, it's nice to get the "Price" and "Add to Cart" on the same line.

Before I saw your post I tried putting these items in the same table row. Even after cutting everything else, they still wouldn't go on the same line! Very frustrating.

Thanks so much for your help!

Myles

[magicalwonders]

Netquotevars Left over

I found it easier to make a new template which for me consists of a table containing three rows and four cells (at least on paper), and then cut and paste the various bits of code into the locations I want.

Although everything seems to work great, I have a few bits left over though and am not sure which cells to put them in. (if indeed I need to at all)

My first row contains a cell called "Title" and this spans three columns.
The second row contains two cells "image" and "Description"
The last row has two cells "Price" and "add to Cart".

These are the bits I have left.

<span class="actxsmall">NETQUOTEVAR:PRODUCTBEGINLINKNETQUOTEVAR:PRODUCTLINKTEXTNETQUOTEVAR:PRODUCTENDLINK
NETQUOTEVAR:PRICEEXPLANATION </span><br>
<b></b><br>
<span class="actxsmall">NETQUOTEVARISCOUNTINFO</span>

I'm guessing that the Netquotevar:Productlinktext, and Netquotevar:Productendlink can safely go in the "Description cell" ?

But not sure what to do with "Productbeginlink" "Priceexplanation" and "Discountinfo"
Does anyone have any recommendations as to location for these items?

Many thanks,

Myles Sinclair

[cdicken]

NETQUOTEVAR:PRODUCTBEGINLINKNETQUOTEVAR:PRODUCTLINKTEXTNETQUOTEVAR:PRODUCTENDLINK

These three netquotevars create the 'File/URL'-'Information Link Text' hyperlink. I suggest putting them in the 'Description' cell.

NETQUOTEVAR:PRICEEXPLANATION

Do you have Actinic Business with customer accounts? If so, this variable becomes the text you enter in the 'Customer Message' field in the 'Prices' tab. I suggest putting this in the 'Description' cell as well.

NETQUOTEVARISCOUNTINFO

If you have Actinic Business and use the discounting features, this variable becomes the discount message shown against certain products that make up your special offers.

[magicalwonders]

Thanks Chris,

I'm only using Catalog so I guess it's safe to ignore Netquotevar:Priceexplanation and Netquotevariscountinfo.

Many thanks

Myles