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**Duncan Rounding** · 30-Mar-2009, 05:18 PM

For a text link all you need is this:
<a href="<actinic:variable name="OrderLinkText" />">Checkout</a>

And for a button:
<a href="<actinic:variable name="OrderLinkText" />"><img src="my_button.gif" border="0" alt="Checkout"></a>

For a rollover - someone else can probably show you that...
Personally I'd consider doing that in css instead.

**pinkequine** · 30-Mar-2009, 05:36 PM

Hi

Thank you so much for that rapid response, I'll do that now... no probs about the rollover I can do that via CSS.

Thanks again.

Denise

**pinkequine** · 06-Apr-2009, 07:59 AM

Hi again

That checkout link doesn't work, I get a broken link page in the browser, is there something I am doing wrong..

the website testing area is www.pinkequine.eu I'd be grateful if anyone can shed any light on it.

Many thanks

Denise

**leehack** · 06-Apr-2009, 08:16 AM

Have you created and added the button and changed the code to suit the name of your new button? You need to give a full picture of what you've done, we are left imagining or guessing things otherwise. I think the AUG has an article on using images in this area too.

**pinkequine** · 06-Apr-2009, 08:51 AM

Hi

Hi Lee

I created the buttons as follows,then put in the code that Drounding said, to be fair thats the exact same coding as used by the Expert theme that my live website was on and the code never worked there either.

What I've done so far is this:-

This is the CSS to create the rollover:

And this is the code for the actual link:

I looked on the AUG and found a variable that will take you straight from the cart to the checkout, will this work in place of the OrderlinkText code for the HREF ??

<actinic:block if="%3cactinic%3avariable%20name%3d%22GoDirectToCheckout%22%20%2f%3e%20%3d%3d%20true">
<input type="hidden" name="ACTION" value="<actinic:variable name="CheckoutButton" />">
<input type="hidden" name="CHECKOUTURL" value="<actinic:variable name="OrderLinkText" />" target="_self">
</actinic:block>

**leehack** · 06-Apr-2009, 09:22 AM

The code Duncan provided is how you turn an image into a link, basically you replace the link text with the image code instead. You seem to be wanting to do that and also style an <a> tag via css, you won't generally do both, it's either or usually.

Your <a hrefs are pointing to incorrect places and your background images style declarations are also pointing to the wrong places. The code is awful to be honest. Multiple inline styles and multiple   is the not the way to approach this at all. I understand you are new to this and learning, but you got to do things better than that. Padding is the modern way to do the multiple   and inline styles should be in the stylesheet instead defined as your own styles, not what dreamweaver creates for you.

Get things back to standard in this area and then show the graphics you wish to use and I will try and guide you on a much quicker and simpler way, your approach at the moment is awful. I think reverting to standard and following the AUG instructions would do it fine for you.

**pinkequine** · 06-Apr-2009, 10:52 AM

my god I'd better not show you the rest of my coding then

you'd probably have a heart attack.. I did think when you saw all the spaces you'd think what the heck.. **holds hands up in shame** I did only have the one days CSS training

so I am still just a novice really.

I am not sure I really understand what you mean by the links and refs pointing to the wrong places, sorry for being a bit thick, do you mean I should use Actinics methods for cart/checkout images and replace the image sources with my own?

**leehack** · 06-Apr-2009, 11:03 AM

Originally posted by pinkequine View Post

I am not sure I really understand what you mean by the links and refs pointing to the wrong places, sorry for being a bit thick, do you mean I should use Actinics methods for cart/checkout images and replace the image sources with my own?

I think this is probably your best course of action. If you create your buttons in theme config and then select them on the design tab on the pages where they are used, you can see the name of the files being used. You can either overwrite those files with yours, or change them links to point to differently named files.

Your incorrect linking on the a href and in the CSS is where you are doing - ../ - i can't see why you are doing that on the cgi bin (why not use the cgibinurl variable if you wish to code it yourself) and in your CSS all images sit in your acatalog folder online, unless you are uploading your own to your own folder outside of actinic control (if so, for what reason, no advantage to that).

Checkout pages are not to be messed with, I still tread carefully in there after years of experience, I think you are best to get back to standard if I am honest, you need to get your CSS up to scratch first. Remember you have 7 main browsers to get your site working across nowadays, that will be an impossibility if you keep coding the way you are.

**pinkequine** · 06-Apr-2009, 11:15 AM

yes, I amended my post above to mention I only had the one days CSS training, not ideal really, we didnt have the time to cover all the topics on the course and I did think at the end that I was way out of my depth.

I can't do the CSS on the stylesheet as I am not that clever to make it change on the relevant pages as I wanted, so I had to do 5 page styles and put some local CSS on the page, it does work, but it isnt perfect I know.

Re:- the images, I am not sure whats going on there, probably because I did the design bit in dreamweaver and thats how it referenced them.

You are right about the browsers, I had checked all the main CSS (menus/images etc) on most of them, and that worked fine, but the text style/positioning isnt right on all of them so I will need to fix it.

**leehack** · 06-Apr-2009, 11:33 AM

I'm not really sure what to say then to be honest, it would get you thinking with a years experience in CSS, let alone just a day. Keep it simple while you are learning would be my best advice, you've got to get your 25m badge before you go for the channel. If you learn to code correctly and create correct CSS, it actually makes things easier not harder, that's the hardest part to get across. For instance multiple   will bite your ass at some stage, whereas padding is very reliable and consistent across all browsers.

I learnt CSS in bite size chunks, read and do a tutorial on an area you wish to work on now, it's the best practice. The more and you do that, the more each part blends together and suddenly one day, you know wtf you are talking about somehow.

**pinkequine** · 06-Apr-2009, 11:36 AM

lol yes thats what I was hoping

**TraceyHand** · 06-Apr-2009, 11:39 AM

your checkout_spacer line code is messed up

you have <a href="<a href="OrderLinkText"</a><span class etc.....

This can't be right..where is that from?
You have <a> tags in <a> tags and unclosed quotes and all sorts of confusion in there

**pinkequine** · 06-Apr-2009, 11:48 AM

Y I can see now, going to cut it all out and start again. It's probably me fixing a problem with another one, if you know what I mean.

**guccij** · 06-Apr-2009, 12:10 PM

Denise - I just had a quick look at pinkequine.com (I assume that's the site we're talking about here?)

Two little things - I couldn't find a link to the checkout from the product pages, only a View Basket. Perhaps this is what you are trying to resolve in this thread?

And, you've a load of white space on the right in FF (can't get IE to load so dunno about that)

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