Categories and Category Pics on Home

How could I dispaly a grid of Categories and their associated pictures on the middle of the frontpage?

Thanks

Configuration/Layout Settings - set Categories - Always show on main page to 1

I have seen this feature. However I would like for the categories to disply in the middle of the page , below the horizontal menu and between the left and right columns. Sort of like the New Products Box on the default template.

That is exactly what will happen, except that if you have some custom text defined for the home page, it will appear first.

Then your categories

Then your centerboxes such as New Products, Featured Products, etc

I am sorry. I don't think I explained clearly.

If you look at my test site http://zencart.bjtechnologies.com you will see that the category tags (only one is Pets) is include above the horizontal bar and not in between the two columns.

I would like to move it down in between the columns, so it will look alot like https://www.allaboutyoumonograms.com

Thanks! :laugh:

The URL for your test site is nonfunctional

Very sorry. Its http://zencart.bjrtechnologies.com

It is simply the defualt installation. Thanks again for even taking the time to look.

Also, in addition to turning on the Always Show ... you may wish to tell it what Category to open to:

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

It's too bad you chose not to install the demo products while evaluating for suitability. All the demo products exist to show off the features and capabilities of Zen Cart, and several of them contain instructions on how to "make" them right in their product descriptions.

You might want to add at least one more product to that test category, and perhaps another additional category as well. There are a few things that behave differently if only 1 product exists within a category (unless you turn this functionality off ... Admin->Configuration->Layout Settings->Skip 1-prod categories )

I used Fantistico and was not given the option to add the demo products. That would have been nice.

I just wanted to check out ZenCart to see if it was better than what I am currently using , Virtuemart.

I am liking what I am seeing.

The only thing I have yet to figure out is how to make a grid of categories , 3x3, appear in the middle of the page between the left and right columns.

Right now I can see the Category Tags but they appear at the top of the page above a horizontal bar.

Ideally I would want the Categories displayed similar to the New Products for September box (seen at the bottome of the page).

Thanks again.

Setting the "Always show categories on main page" to 1 should do that automatically, depending on whether you've changed a number of other layout settings.

Please create a 2nd category too...

Okay, you now have your categories showing in the center.

right below all the text (which you can delete via Admin->Tools->Define Pages Editor->define_main_page.php )

You see "Pets" and "Stuff"

Since you didn't upload a category image yet, all you see is the text.

NOTE: you also have Skip Cats with 1 Product on Product Listing turned on ... so add a couple three products to at least one of those Categories to see the difference in how they function ...

I should be nice and tell you that to add a category image, click on the green "e" next to the category name in the admin, and browse for the image on your PC that you want to use, and save it. It should upload it and attach it (provided your /images folder is writable)

Thank you for being so patiend and helpful. I am sure much of this is in the Wiki but I need to ask specific questions sometimes to help organize the way it works.

I should be able to move the categories up and down the page (above or below the text) in the template , correct?

Also can I change the number of categories displayed per row on the main page?

bjraines:

I should be able to move the categories up and down the page (above or below the text) in the template , correct?That would require manual editing of the template file.

Also can I change the number of categories displayed per row on the main page?Admin->Configuration->Maximum Values->Categories To List Per Row

Wow this is great.

Just to be sure. It is best to change the template by doing an overide, correct?

OK and how would I change the size of the image in the category tags on the main page.?

I guess ZenCart is dynamically resizing. Is there a way to prevent that?

Again thanks. This is leading righ to where I want to go!

Admin->Configuration->Images
... if you have proportional resizing set to On, then if you leave EITHER a width OR a height blank, it will auto-calculate the other dimension for you ... effectively turning the width or height that you set into a "maximum".

If you specify both dimensions, it will resize to those dimensions exactly.

So is this system perfect or what? Thanks again so much for your help. I will do some reading tonight. Now that I have a hold on what is going on I can grow from here. Nice thread, nice people.

bjraines:

So is this system perfect or what?We like to think so :)

There are many more improvements ahead on the roadmap, which will materialize over time...
http://www.zen-cart.com/forum/showthread.php?t=36912