Section List in Coloums

[Ehson]

im working on my site at the moment using smart theme. the URL is http://www.shy2shop.com/acatalog/index.html
Im wanting to list the section list in the middle of the page in coloums of 2 or 3. an example of what im tring to do can be found at this site
http://www.aloevera-and-you.com/acatalog/index.html

i have been searching the forums for a few days now trying to find out how to do this and im having a bit of trouble as most of the posts seem to be how to do this with list of products on products page, Not sections on the main page which is what im trying to do.

I would appreciate it if someone could tell me how this is achived (im not to tech minded so an idiot prof guide would be preferable)
or if someone could point me to a good post about how to do this would be fine as well.

Thanks
Ehson

[jont]

Design | Options | Sections | Default Location of Section Lists | enter the column counts there (number of columns required)

[Ehson]

re

Thanks you so much, that was exactly what i was looking for.
Much appreciated
Ehson

[Ehson]

Sorry to bother you guys again but i was wondering if it is possible for the text to be below the picture rather than to left and how this is done.

thanks
Ehson

[jont]

You will need to edit the Act_SectionLine.html template (or whichever template is in place for that section) and move the NETQUOTEVAR:SECTIONNAME beneath the section image .... from memory these are often in a 2 cell table so you can then merge the 2 cells into one

[Ehson]

ok i think i have found the act_section_line, seems to be under the sections tab and in child sections.

i think this is the code ou want me to edit.

<TR>

<TD ALIGN="LEFT" VALIGN="TOP">
<A HREF="NETQUOTEVAR:SECTIONLINK">NETQUOTEVAR:SECTIONIMAGE</A>
</TD>

<TD ALIGN="LEFT" VALIGN="MIDDLE">
<A HREF="NETQUOTEVAR:SECTIONLINK"><B>NETQUOTEVAR:SECTIONNAME</B></A>
<br><span class="actxsmall">NETQUOTEVAR:SECTIONTEXT</span>
</TD>

</TR>

But im a bit unsure as to how to edit it, dont want to screw it up.

[jont]

If you are just wanting to move the section name use:

<TR>

<TD ALIGN="LEFT" VALIGN="TOP">
<A HREF="NETQUOTEVAR:SECTIONLINK">NETQUOTEVAR:SECTIONIMAGE</A><br />
<A HREF="NETQUOTEVAR:SECTIONLINK"><B>NETQUOTEVAR:SECTIONNAME</B></A>
</TD>

<TD ALIGN="LEFT" VALIGN="MIDDLE">
<span class="actxsmall">NETQUOTEVAR:SECTIONTEXT</span>
</TD>

</TR>

you may need to look at the alignments (ALIGN) to get them into the correct positions but will leave that to your artistic / site requirements

[Ehson]

Thanks that has done the trick and the text is now below the image as i wanted.

Still having trouble alligning it. Not to sure about the correct command.

<TD ALIGN="LEFT" VALIGN="MIDDLE">
<span class="actxsmall">NETQUOTEVAR:SECTIONTEXT</span>
</TD>

thats what it was origonally.

I tried to enter CENTER and MIDDLE to the ALIGN but dosent seems to make any difference to the allaignment of the text.

[wjcampbe]

VALIGN controls vertical alignment, and ALIGN controls horizontal alignment. Each has its own set of valid values.

VALIGN can be top, middle or bottom, ALIGN can be left, center or right.

Does that help?

[jont]

If you have the knowledge I would be inclined to remove the inline table formatting and use CSS - this will speed page loading times and make any future updating that much simpler.

Not essential but a nicer approach.

[Ehson]

OK i have managed to get everything centered ok as far as i can see.

But im now got a big problem with the page width, everything is fine on resolution 1024 x 768 and upwards. But on 800 x 600 i have a large amount of left and right scroll.

my url is http://www.shy2shop.com/acatalog/index.html

any ideas on how i can go about changing this so it fits on the screen with all resolutions.

Ehson

[cdicken]

This is a feature of the Smart theme I'm afraid. It's columns don't really fit that well if you go right down to a low resolution. You can try reducing the value of ACTSTDWIDTH in 'Design Options | Site Defaults' to something like 550 rather than 600