Layout Boxes Controller... Please Explain

I have searched the forums over and over, to no avail. Could anyone explain the Layout Boxes Controller?

Correct me if I'm wrong, I believe turning off the LEFT/RIGHT COLUMN Status and the Single Column Status will completely remove something from the layout.

I am very confused as to the sort orders. Where do these numbers come from? What defines the numbers?

Any help is greatly appreciated!:smile:

When you switch the left/right on and indicate where you want the box (left or right) it will be added to your layout. The sort order is simple. The lowest number for the specified side will display the highest (top-most) on your site.

You could number your sort order 1,2,3,4,5,6,7 etc. but what will happen if you now want to add somethiung between 3&4? You will have to renumber everything thereafter. It is common practice to number something you always want at the bottom something like 99 or 200 or so. It also makes sense to skip numbers for later use when adding boxes. Rather than 1,2,3,etc use 10,20,30, etc.

Now if you want to add something between 20&30 just use 25. The rest of the boxes remain where they were without having to re-sort them. Also, if you always want the Search box to be first on the left just give it a number of 1.

Same is true for your middle boxes.

Louis, thank you thank you. That makes sense!

Another thing I've turned on some things Layout Boxes controller that are not becoming visable on the site, regardless of whether you're logged in or not.

Any idea why they aren't showing?

Give me an example!

Remeber, certain sideboxes will only appear if you have something to show. Customer_order_history is one. The system cannot show you your purchase history if you did not buy anything yet. Your shopping cart is another. Will only show if you selected to add something to cart. (This one is different though as you can override the show cart setting in admin to always show)

Actually it's only one. The tell-a-friend. I've tried it logged in and logged out. It doesn't appear.

Thanks Again!

This is also one of those that can be controlled from the ADMIN

Admin > catalog > Product Types > on the right "edit layout" > Show Product Tell a Friend button > set to "1" or true