normans fabulous "mulitple columns" trick.. problems with!

[shnufc]

hi all,

well first off.. norman.. top job.. i've been trying to get something to do that in actinic for ages... u are the man!!!

now to my problem.. in my excitment (oo-er) i seem to be missing the obvious.. I have attached a screenshot showing the obvious layout problem with the add to cart button and qty required fields..

which template are the locations of these controlled as i need to bang them under the currency conversion bit to make it all look neater...

cheers in advance all u clever bods

S

[NormanRouxel]

Look in my replacement Act_ProductLine.html.

You'll see that I've commented the beginning and end of the table that contains the product.

Look for "<!-- START each product lives in this table - alter below to rearrange items -->"

You can re-arrange things in there to suit. At the moment it's a 2 column table. You can make it whatever you like.

Norman

[NormanRouxel]

For anyone reading this thread I've updated the readme to allow for mixing multi-column and normal templates on the same page. I've also fixed a minor bug (new Act_ProductBody.html JavaScript code).

The new readme is attached here.

Norman

[Steven Barkess]

Hi

I was trying to mix the multi colum layout with my existing layout last weekend (I want the multi column layout for home page) but I dont understand how you can mix the two.

I have looked at the 3 files needed to amend, my Productline file is not an actinic standard one, and subsequently I am worried that I will lose all formating.

Can i glean some further advise. I feel this may be a case of creating a snap shop, giving it a go, and seeing where I get to, and revert to the snapshot if things go to wrong!!

Many thanks

Steven

[Steven Barkess]

That's snapshot rather than any kind of shop!!

[NormanRouxel]

I'd copy the entire Site1 folder somewhere safe as an extra safety net.

Now the patch only involves changes to Act_ProductBody.html, Act_ProductSeparator.html and Act_ProductLine.html so you could simply back these up too (or use a copy of the Product Template for these types of products).

As to customisation you will have to look at my sample Act_ProductLine.html and place your customisations between the

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

and the

</table>
<!-- END each product lives in this table - alter above to rearrange items -->


Just keep these 2 lines in place and customise to suit your site style.


As to mixing multi columns with other templates that can be done. Look in all your normal product templates and make sure that the line:-

NETQUOTEVAR:INCLUDE Act_ProductSeparator.html

isn't commented out.

If you don't want the Product separator line to appear thenedit the (patched) Act_ProductSeparator.html and comment out the line:-

<TR><TD COLSPAN="3">NETQUOTEVAR:TEMPLATEBEGINXML<HR SIZE="1" ALIGN="CENTER" WIDTH="100%">NETQUOTEVAR:TEMPLATEENDXML</TD></TR>


Norman

[Steven Barkess]

Hello Norman

Now that I have my new design working (with track samples in the product table - thanks again for that one!!), I am returning to the home page issue.

I am still keen to set the home page with a different layout to the main product table, and think that I will do as above, back up the site, and then make your edits and build back in my table.

In your text file you say:
_______________
Go Design / Options / Site Defaults / Properties, click the "+" sign
and select NUMCOLS. Set its value to 3 (for 3 columns, 4 for 4 , etc).

You can set this value on a per Section basis, if required, by opening the Section, selecting Properties and setting it as above.
_______________

Re per section, would I have to specify 3 columns in the home page part, and then for my Catalogue section (existing table), would I set that as 1 column or leave blank.

Sorry, may be not a clear question, dont think I have this straight in my head yet.

As always, thank you for your comments.

Steven

[TraceyG]

Hi,

Go Design / Options / Site Defaults / Properties, click the "+" sign
and select NUMCOLS. Set its value to 3 (for 3 columns, 4 for 4 , etc).

The value you set in here will be the default for your columns (all pages). If you are using the columns in your brochure pages (ie for fragments) and want them to be different in the shop then you will have to use the value set here for the fragments and then set your columns for products at the section level.

I hope this helps.