How to show all products on the main page?

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?

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

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?

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

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

Thanks!

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:

swguy:

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.) ?

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 ...

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

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 ...

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 ...

Linda,

Thanks for the reply.

As to display resolution: I've tested it both ways, and it doesn't concern me that much. (I do realize that any smaller than 1024x768 will be cumbersome, but I'm not too worried about that, given the average depth of most current monitors.) But I do appreciate your advice.

As far as setting the main page to "Always Show Categories," that did work -- except that now the ONLY thing on the main page is the Item Listing; the Featured Items and New Items are gone. (???) [see attached thumbnail]

This is not what I want.

I would like, again, to have:

1.) Featured Items
2.) New Items
3.) Everything else

umm ... if you don't like the feature you turned ON ... perhaps turning it OFF would take it back to how it was? :unsure:

Ajeh:

umm ... if you don't like the feature you turned ON ... perhaps turning it OFF would take it back to how it was? :unsure:

Umm ... Yeah, thanks for that.

Any idea why the other sections dissapear when "Categories - Always Show On Main Page" is turned on? Is this the expected behavior? Meaning one can either show Categories on the Main page, or Featured/New Items, but not both -- is that correct?

Seems odd to me.

This would depend on how your products are setup ...

How do you have the settings for the Index Listing?

Linda,

That is a very interesting idea. Thanks!

Stephen.

Ajeh:

This would depend on how your products are setup ...

How do you have the settings for the Index Listing?

This is the current setup (screenshot) :

http://platypusman.com/ZenCart_IndexListing.gif

(I haven't even messed with this, except to turn on "Featured Items" and to move that above "New Items.")

I really would like to get this figured out, since I'm also having problems with the "New Items" section (the dates are not being saved, for some reason, so there is currently no rhyme or reason to which items are selected as "new" -- and until I get that figured out, I'm going to just get rid of the "New" section altogether, since it's completely wrong).

I really to know how require tpl_modules_products_all_listing.php on includes\languages\english\html_includes\define_main_page.php

code :

with this code I don't view anything product why?

This will work

Succes!
Wim.

Ajeh:

Now enable the All Products Category ...
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 ...

What and where is the products_to_categories

Not quite following this explanation, although would really like to customize in this way. I only have ten products and I want these to list on the front page.

Just found another post wich worked for me. Have pasted it below hopefully it may be of some use to someone..........,.

I think that you could do this by putting all the products in the same category.

Then go to configuration / layout settings / main page - opens with category and set it to open with that category.

You may well have to get rid of some of the existing stuff that you have on the home page, if that's what you want.

Then you can display the products and add to cart, or buy now buttons as you would in a normal product listing. That is also configurable in admin.

Hope that helps

Nick