Bypass Product Listing?

[PaulineNMU]

Hello, I searched for this and couldn't find anything on it, apologies if it's already been answered.

What I want to do is bypass product listing all together. So, for example, I click on a category, then pick a subcategory, and instead of getting a listing of all the products I just want it to go straight to the first product so I can scroll through with the next button. This would be similar as it would do if there was just one product in the category.

I know this is a weird way to do things, but it's not my call, it's the clients. -sigh-


So if anyone has any ideas, or could point me in the right direction it would be appreciated.

Thank you!

[Kim]

What is going to determine what the first product seen is?

As a consumer I would not stick around very long if I had to click through all of the products to find what I want. Might want to educate the client on usability ...

[PaulineNMU]

What is going to determine what the first product seen is?

As a consumer I would not stick around very long if I had to click through all of the products to find what I want. Might want to educate the client on usability ...

I'm aware of the poor navigation of this, but I'm not the one making the decisions. Believe me, I argued a lot about it.


Basically it would just go straight to the first product in the listing.

[DrByte]

Echoing Kim's sentiments ... I don't recommend it, but you could adapt the code as follows:

/includes/modules/pages/index/header_php.php
around line 54:

// if only one product in this category, go directly to the product page, instead of displaying a link to just one item:
// if filter_id exists the 1 product redirect is ignored
if (SKIP_SINGLE_PRODUCT_CATEGORIES=='True' and (!isset($_GET['filter_id']) and !isset($_GET['alpha_filter']))) {
  if ($listing->RecordCount() == 1) {
    zen_redirect(zen_href_link(zen_get_info_page($listing->fields['products_id']), ($cPath ? 'cPath=' . $cPath . '&' : '') . 'products_id=' . $listing->fields['products_id']));
  }
}

change that as follows:

// if only one product in this category, go directly to the product page, instead of displaying a link to just one item:
// if filter_id exists the 1 product redirect is ignored
if (SKIP_SINGLE_PRODUCT_CATEGORIES=='True' and (!isset($_GET['filter_id']) and !isset($_GET['alpha_filter']))) {
//  if ($listing->RecordCount() == 1) {
    zen_redirect(zen_href_link(zen_get_info_page($listing->fields['products_id']), ($cPath ? 'cPath=' . $cPath . '&' : '') . 'products_id=' . $listing->fields['products_id']));
//  }
}

[PaulineNMU]

That's great! Thank you!

Is there a way to make it so that it will still show the category page? All the products are going into subcategories, and now it's saying that there are no products to display on the straight category pages.

You can see here: ***edited***

If you try to click just the main Butterfly category, it's not letting me get to anything. I'm guessing maybe some kind of if/then, like.. If there are no products, then display the page, else display the first product?

Sorry, my knowledge of php is limited. This help is VERY appreciated!

[DrByte]

Use:

// if only one product in this category, go directly to the product page, instead of displaying a link to just one item:
// if filter_id exists the 1 product redirect is ignored
if (SKIP_SINGLE_PRODUCT_CATEGORIES=='True' and (!isset($_GET['filter_id']) and !isset($_GET['alpha_filter']))) {
  if ($listing->RecordCount() >= 1) {
    zen_redirect(zen_href_link(zen_get_info_page($listing->fields['products_id']), ($cPath ? 'cPath=' . $cPath . '&' : '') . 'products_id=' . $listing->fields['products_id']));
  }
}

[PaulineNMU]

Thank you SO SO MUCH!! You guys rock!

And yes, I know this method of navigation is completely stupid. But I'm sure everyone knows how clients are when they wrap their minds around an idea. ;)

[s_mack]

Personally, I disagree that it is stupid.

In most cases, it would be... depending on what you sell you may have very impatient customers that would be happy to go somewhere else as soon as they can't figure something out.

But in this case, it appears there are relatively few products in the categories... going through three things (or whatever) isn't a big deal, and it shows the customer full detail photos right away. I see the appeal from a marketing perspective when you are dealing with items like these. A casual customer seeing a page full of low-res thumbnails may just glance and not be interested in what they see, whereas if they see the full-res picture they may be blown away and decide they want it even if its not what they were looking for.

I think they're on the right track in that particular situation.

Some stores have customers that are looking for a particular thing. This navigation style would suck for them.

Some store have customers that have no bloody idea what you sell and just got there window shopping... and visual is everything in these cases. Or can be, anyway.

- Steven

[s_mack]

Actually... I know the site isn't ready yet, but can I find out what some of these things are worth and get something shipped by X-mas?? Sorry for going off-topic, but I am interested.

(and if you believe that is genuine, which it is, it proves my point. Had I not been immediately presented with the lovely photos I probably wouldn't have been intrigued)

- Steven

[PaulineNMU]

Haha, fair enough. I can see your point. It just seems frustrating to me as a person who likes to save time and pick out what I want. Guess I'm just impatient.

It's the same idea as how Tiffany's does their site navigation, so I suppose it has it's merits.


The jewelry is really pretty. Drop me an email and I'll hook you up with someone who can talk to you about ordering. websites @ snowshoedesign.com

:)