ChetW
Staff
Sep 10, 2006, 10:17 AM
Post #10 of 21
(10266 views)
Shortcut
|
|
Re: [adidas] Using $detail_link$ with images
[In reply to]
|
Can't Post
|
|
Hi
Thanks for the post!
I have looked over http://www.auto-talk.net, you could achieve the same effect using Article Manager and server side inlcudes. The www.auto-talk.net website has three main categories displayed on its homepage.
Each of these three categories has a "featured' article on the left side and then a "latest headlines" section on the right side. To do this follow the steps below:
Create the Grid for these sections:
The first thing you will want to do is actually create the layout for a set-up like this, one way you could do this is by using a table inside the middle content area. Your table may look like this:
<table>
<tr>
<td></td>
<td></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td></td>
<td></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td></td>
<td></td>
</tr>
</table>
Looking at the code above you will notice that there are three tablerows (<tr>) with two tablecells (<td>) inside each tablerow, you will want to edit the layout of this table to suit your design needs. Inside these tablecells (<td>) is where you place the server side includes. For example the above table with the server side includes may look like this:
<table>
<tr>
<td><!--#include virtual="/path_to/your_/search.cgi?perpage=1&cat=1&template=search/custom_search_results_template.html" --></td>
<td><!--#include virtual="/path/to/your/publish/cat_headlines_1.shtml"--></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><!--#include virtual="/path_to/your_/search.cgi?perpage=1&cat=2&template=search/custom_search_results_template.html" --></td>
<td><!--#include virtual="/path/to/your/publish/cat_headlines_2.shtml"--></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><!--#include virtual="/path_to/your_/search.cgi?perpage=1&cat=3&template=search/custom_search_results_template.html" --></td>
<td><!--#include virtual="/path/to/your/publish/cat_headlines_3.shtml"--></td>
</tr>
</table>
Next we will go over what each of the includes used above does, lets start with this one:
<!--#include virtual="/path_to/your_/search.cgi?perpage=1&cat=3&template=search/custom_search_results_template.html" -->
This include will run return 1 article (perpage=1) from category 3 (cat=3) and use a unique template to display the results. Changing the "perpage" value to say 3 will make it so that three articles are displayed instead of 1.
The category number (cat=3) can be found by logging in to your Article Manager admin section and selecting 'Categoy Editor'. Inside this section you will see a list of your categories, hovering over the 'Modify' button will display code at the bottom of your browser similiar to this:
The number located after "cat_edit=" is the category number, placing this number at the end of "cat=" will tell Article Manager which category to display the articles from. So for each of the three include that look like this:
<!--#include virtual="/path_to/your_/search.cgi?perpage=1&cat=3&template=search/custom_search_results_template.html" -->
You will want to edit the "cat=" to have the category number for whichever category articles you would like displayed there. :)
Next we will cover the unique template that is called at the end of this string of code (template=search/custom_search_results_template.html). The "custom_search_results_template.html" is a template that we will create based off of the "search_results.html" template that can be found inside your /templates/search/ directory on your web server.
What you will want to do is create a copy of the "search_results.html" template and call it "custom_search_results_template.html" edit the design of this new template to suit the design needs of your "featured" tablecell. Once you are finished editing the new "custom_search_results_template.html" file save it and place it back into the /templates/search/ directory on your webserver. :)
Now you are finished setting up the include for your "featured" sections this include:
<!--#include virtual="/path_to/your_/search.cgi?perpage=1&cat=3&template=search/custom_search_results_template.html" -->
Will now display the number of articles you want (perpage=1) based on the categories of your choosing (cat=1) and will be displayed inside the tablecell based on the design you made in the "custom_search_results_template.html" file. :)
All we have left to do know is go over the include that is used for your "headlines" section on the right side. The include used for this section looks like this:
<!--#include virtual="/path/to/your/publish/cat_headlines_3.shtml"-->
This include links to the headlines file for category 3, you will want to change the number at the end of "cat_headlines_" to the number for the actual category whose headlines that you would like displayed. You may also want to control the actual number of headlines displayed to do this follow these steps:
1. Login to your Article Manager admin section and select 'Category Editor', you will then want to select 'Modify' for the category that you want to change.
2. Inside the selected categories 'Modify' screen you will change the "Articles per page" setting, select the radio button and choose the number of articles and headlines that you would like displayed. The amount of articles will control how many articles you will see when your looking at that actual category. The amount of headlines displayed will control how many category headlines are displayed. :)
Also remember to save the HTMl file that you placed this table into as an .shtml file, this will allow the server side includes to work for you!
This should give you a good start towards setting up the multi column category display that you are looking for! If you have any other questions please don't hesitate to ask. :)
Cheers,
Chet Woodside - Product Specialist
support@interactivetools.com
[hr][i][url "http://www.interactivetools.com/consulting/"][b]Hire me![/b][/url]
Save time by getting our experts to help with your project. Template changes, advanced features, full integration, whatever you need. Whether you need one hour or fifty, get it done fast with [url "http://www.interactivetools.com/consulting/"][b]Priority Consulting[/b][/url].[/i]
|
and it will autmatically parse links? 
TEST1.txt