Product Image Dimensions Problematic

[dpatrick]

My company sells products with unusual dimensions. Some are of a more normal size, but our pool cues are of a particular problem.

I'm new to this software -- but I'm hoping that perhaps using the product type feature I'll be able to work it out so that it can fit our needs. It seems very flexible.

Two examples of how we're looking to display our cues:
The category page:
http://www.budgetcues.com/pechauer.htm
(We like showing them one per row, horizontally)

The product page:
http://www.budgetcues.com/pechauer-pool-cue-ph3.htm

(Notice that the image size isn't miniscule as it is in the default page.)

Anyway, I'm not sure where to start. I don't expect anyone to start coding for me, but maybe point me in the right direction. I do have a *little* PHP experience... I guess I'm just praying this can be accomplished.

Thanks a lot for any help you can give.

[gjh42]

This doesn't require custom coding. You mainly need to set the different product images to the desired dimensions/proportions.

The "small" image (the base image you select in the product editing page) can be set in admin > Configuration > Images to a horizontal layout with width 300px and height 30px or whatever.

The "medium" image (which shows on the product info page) can be set to width 50px and height 500px, and the "large" image can be set as desired for a vertical or horizontal layout.

Each of those sizes is a separate image file which can be oriented as you wish. The image files should each be made the exact size and orientation you want to display them at. The medium and small images should not be the same 58k as the large image. Small image files load much faster; the "small" image should be something like 5k.

See the tutorials for instructions on using different image sizes.

[gjh42]

Another thing:
If you have differently-shaped products, you can set the width and height to 0 in admin and the actual image file sizes will be used. That might be your best bet here.

For the product listing page layout (image above title and price), you can use the Column Layout Grid mod from Downloads, and set it to "columns" mode with one product per row.

[dpatrick]

Glenn,
Thanks so much for the help so far! I tinkered with it a little and while I'm not exactly where I want to be, obviously, you've at least given me hope that with enough effort I can accomplish this.