Custom template help

[mustangfanatic]

Shopsite 9.0 Pro
Windows XP

I am trying to create custom pages for my site. I know some html and I also use dreamweaver for designing pages. I have the basic template done for my site. Now here are my questions. So do I know go through my template and take out information that can be replaced by shopsite using the tags shopsite supplies. For example:

My title for one page is Suspension. Do I know replace that title with this, [-- PAGE.Title --] and thats it? Does shopsite read that and repalce it with information I have entered in the back office? Thank you.

[Jim]

As long as you have the correct template format, then yes just using the tag [-- PAGE.Title --] would put the page title in that particular spot on the html.

You might want to review the help of the online help for template at
http://www.shopsite.com/help/9.0/en-US/ ... lates.html
there is also a tutorial for that you can step through at:
http://www.shopsite.com/templates/tutorial/

If you have an specific questions feel free to post them here.

[mustangfanatic]

Yea I have read through those, it is still a little too advanced for me, but I am still going to try it.

So once I get the template situated with all the correct tags, do I upload it in the custom page template section? Then I have to go to every item I have on my site and change the page template to my custom template?

[Jim]

Yes that is how you would do it.

Note that if you have a Pro level store you can use the Global Power edit feature to select all appropriate pages or Products and change the template for all of them at once.

[mustangfanatic]

so the global power edit enables you to change something on all products in shopsite without going through each and everyone one at a time? Is this the same as power edit?

[Jim]

With Global power edit you select the fields that you want to change on all pages/products selected. You are then given just one entry box, check box etc. that will affect all pages/products that were selected.

With Power edit you select the fields that you want to edit and a copy of the entry fields is displayed for each page or product selected.

You need to exercise caution on which fields you select for Global power edit because it changes all selected pages/products at once. So if you selected something like Name all of your pages or products would end up with the same name. So make sure you just select the fields that you really want to make all the same. I would strongly recommend backing up the database before doing a global power edit just in case you need to back out the change.

[mustangfanatic]

When assigning products to pages in the add a product section, do I want to add all the pages to the product? I ask because I noticed that I dont have any links in my sidebar to my other pages, which I want, but I dont want every item to be on every page. What am I missing here?

[Jim]

To assign links to other pages, on the Pages screen select the page you want the links to appear on and then click the Assign Items button. Select the Page option and then select all of the pages you want to have links to for that page. Save changes and Publish.

Products can be assigned to a single page or multiple pages but you generally wouldn't want them on all pages in the store.

[mustangfanatic]

Im confused, because when I am adding a product, there is a section that reads, "Assign Product to Pages", is this where the product will be available for purchasing?

Is there a seperate section that assigns links? Where is this?

[Jim]

You can assign product to pages when creating the product using the link you referred to. You can also assign product to pages from the Pages screen by clicking on the Assign Items button and selecting the Products option.

The pages that the products are assigned to will be what the shopper sees in your web store and where they will add the item to their shopping cart.

[mustangfanatic]

Okay i want to make sure I understand correctly, The link I referred to above are the links to the other pages in the side bar?

Then on the pages section of shopsite I add the pages that I want my product to be displayed for shoppers to purchase?

[Jim]

The link I thought you were referring to is on the Add or Edit product screen and is named "Assign Product to Pages". This is used to put a product on a (or several) store page.

A Store page is one that may contains links to other store pages. It may also contain products or other information pertinent to your store such as your home page or an About Us type page. These type of are what you edit when you are on the Pages section in the back office of your store.

Another type of page is a product More information page. This type of page contains information specific to a single product in your store. You set this type of page up in the Edit or Add a Product section of the backoffice. Since this type of page is about a product it does not "know" anything about pages in the store and therefore can't have page links generated automatically on it. In order to add a side navigation to this type of page you would need to create or copy the html for the links and paste it into Define Moreinformation page section of the product template.

Are you perhaps referring to placing link on the Product More Information page?

[mustangfanatic]

I think I understand now. thanks.

Earlier you referred to the global edit option. I took a look around shopsite but did not find this. Where can it be found?

[Jim]

ON the pages or Products screen you will see a button called Power Edit. Once you select that button there will be 2 radio buttons
Individual - edit each selected page
Global - same change to all selected pages
By default the Individual option is enabled so you have to specifically check the Global option. I don't remember if Manager stores have the Global option or not so if you have a manager level store and don't see the option it doesn't have that feature. Starter stores do not have the Power Edit feature.

[mustangfanatic]

Yea 9.0 Pro, I see it now, thanks for all the helpful info!