How to show all products on the main page?

[gibsons]

I'd like to have the main page open up with the all products listing, or something similar. How can I do that?

I don't see how to customize the center box very well. Any pointers?

[swguy]

Try admin->configuration->index listing to see how to turn things off and on, and look at the file
./includes/languages/english/html_includes/custom/define_main_page.php to see how to change the top of the main page.

Good luck,
Scott

[gibsons]

Thanks.

Unfortunately there is no way in the Index Listing to turn on the 'All Products' by default.

What I would like is when customers first come to the site to see all products or its equivalent.

Do I have to define a new page? How do I do that? How would I make that page the default to show up first?

[swguy]

Before you do that, have you considered adapting an existing feature? For instance, you could make a certain set of (or even all) products "Featured" and put the featured products on the front page.

Have you timed how long it would take to load a page that has pictures of all your products? It might be a bit slow ... something to consider.

Good luck,
Scott

[gibsons]

That's a good idea. I will look into it.

Thanks!

[ungeziefer]

I would like to do this also -- it seems like it should be quite simple, but I'm having a hard time figuring it out for some reason.

swguy said:

Have you timed how long it would take to load a page that has pictures of all your products? It might be a bit slow ... something to consider.t

That's true, if you have a lot of items and you really want to display ALL of them -- but shouldn't you be able to just include the "Item Listing" on the main page? (Instead of showing all items, it will show the number that you set and then display the "next" button at the bottom.) ?

[Ajeh]

Be careful about displaying all products on the Main Page ...

1 Does it have meaning to the customer?

2 How large of a page does your main page become?

3 If this is a huge page, what effect will this have on your band width limitations?

4 Along comes a spider and does the google dance ... was this a good experience or a waste of band width?

There are many ways to show all Products on the main page ... but you have to determine what does that broad term All mean and do for your site? for your customers? etc. etc. etc.

If you have half dozen to a dozen products ... this works great ...

But if you are getting into more than that ... it may be a bit much for the customer to appreciate and looked cluttered and messie ...

You can also make a new Category ...

Category:
Hide me

SubCategory:
All Products

Disable the Hide me Category ...

Now enable the All Products Category ...

Next, add a new entery to the products_to_categories table for each Product so these will become Linked Products ...

The advantage of this method is two fold ...

You can set your main page in Layout Settings:

Categories - Always Show on Main Page
Always Show Categories on Main Page
0= off
1= on
Default category can be set to Top Level or a Specific Top Level

Main Page - Opens with Category
0= Top Level Categories
Or enter the Category ID#
Note: Sub Categories can also be used Example: 3_10

Now you can make a quick entry to your products_to_categories to ensure that all Products are Linked Products to the All Products Category ...

When you need to reset this, you can just delete for categories_id = XX in the products_to_categories table ... then rebuild it based on your current products ...

Or, you can build a Centerbox or page of your own to manage this display ...

There are multiple ways of doing this effectively ... but it depends on your individual site as to which method is easiest for you and for the final display ...

[ungeziefer]

Linda,

Thanks for the quick reply.

For the store that I'm working on, there are no categories (well, technically there is one, but only one).

To me it seems reasonable, and not overly bandwidth-heavy (but, then, many of my Flash sites are over a MB anyway). What I'm looking for is just 3 main sections on the main page: Featured Items (maybe 2 or 4), New Items (the same), and after that the Item Listing (10 items, with the "Next Page" button at the bottom).

I do see your point. And for large store fronts with lots of products, you're right.

But consider that people who visit a site for the first time might very well think that the items displayed are in fact ALL of the items.

Here is the store as it is currently:

http://store.zippermosaics.com/

Unless you click on one of the images shown -- and then either notice that it says "Item x of xx" or else click on the "Listing" button -- there is no reason to assume that there are a great many other items as well, which there are.

Maybe I'm assuming people are less bright than they actually are. And I DO believe in "Less Is More" . . .

If nothing else, is there an easy way to just add a LINK to the Item Listing on the main page ("Click here to see all items" or whatever)?

Thanks,

dustin

[Ajeh]

You need to view that site from a customer stand point at 1024x768 and 1280 x 1024 ...

Natural clicks on the scroll bar make those large images a real pain to try to see the product as moving thru the page splits the images from a display stand point ... and adjusting the page, due to size of imagesm to see the whole is time consuming ...

This makes for an unpleasant shopping experience ...

Have you tried to see the site using the setting for showing the category for the Configuration ... Layout Settings ...

Set to ON:

Categories - Always Show on Main Page
Always Show Categories on Main Page
0= off
1= on
Default category can be set to Top Level or a Specific Top Level

Set to 1:

Main Page - Opens with Category
0= Top Level Categories
Or enter the Category ID#
Note: Sub Categories can also be used Example: 3_10

You could customize this to display the welcome, even though you are displaying the listing of categories_id 1 when on the home page, if you need that ...

[Ajeh]

You can always add a link to anything ... anywhere ... you just need to code for where and when you want to see it ...

Turning on the Category Tabs is one method ... or building your own link into the header is another ...