In today’s case,  I am using the manufacturer attribute. While this is not a custom attribute, the same process can be used for any attribute.  What we are going to do is display a message depending on the manufacture’s name.

My first step is to make a static block and put in the content I want to display. This can be anything you want-text or images. My static block is called brand_notify.  Here is the contents of that static block: ‘Dietitian appointment must be indicated as completed in Magento prior to shipment of product.’.

Now that we have our static block, we will need to insert it into the product page, right above the price. I am going to use the app/design/frontend/default/default/template/category/product/view/type/default.phtml. If it doesn’t exist in your theme’s folder, make a copy from the base package, and place in your theme folder.

If you open up the code sample >Display block based on mfg (14)
you can see that we are using a conditional to identify which manufacturer  to show our static block for, ie: if manufacturer is Advanced Formula, show this static block. Otherwise don’t.

Here is what visitors will see if the product’s manufacturer attribute is Advanced Formula:

Here is what they will see if the manufacturer is not Advanced Formula:

Using this same technique, you could have multiple messages delivered dynamically via static blocks, depending on which value a product attribute has.

So go have some fun with static blocks!

Resetting the Magento admin password.

In my case, they wanted the main product images to be larger and they wanted the standard zoom feature replaced with a rollover function. In other words, when a visitor moves their mouse over the ‘More Views’ thumbnails, they want the main image to change to match the thumbnail. Here is how they want it to work:

It’s actually easier than you would think. The first step is modifying the app/design/frontend/default/yourtheme/template/catalog/product/view/media.phtml. This is the file that generates the product image and the thumbnails.

Our first step is to remove the zoom/slider images and text from the media file. After that we will modify the main image size, thumbnails, and add the on mouseover function to the page. And finally, we will modify the styles.css stylesheet to remove any remaining images in the zoom/slider div.

Here are all the changes to be made, step by step, in a downloadable file:Rollover modifications (46)

Good luck and I hope this helps you improve your Magento store.

The first thing to modify is the default layout, which is three columns. Three columns is kinda cramped, especially if you have the list mode set as default. By going to two columns left,  things will display much better. To do this, look for the catalogsearch.xml file. If it’s not already in your themes layout folder, put it there. Within the catalogsearch.xml file, look for the line that controls the number of columns. Take a look here:Change columns (33)

The second issue is that by default, Magento uses the Like search type. There is another option, called Fulltext. The fulltext search option will return a much more focused results. You may need to do a few searches with both search types to see which one works best for your store.

The third issue is that by default, Magento will sort on an ascending order. In other words, the most relevant products will be at the bottom. We want descending order, in other words, the best results at the top. We are going to change it by specifying the descending sort order in the template file. Look for the form.mini.phtml file, and if it’s not in your theme’s  template/catalogsearch folder, add it.  At the beginning of the file, you want to add the two relevance and sort order. Take a look here:Sort Direction (54)

You will know that you have done this correctly when your seach results url has a direction and order added to the url string:

http://www.yourstore.com/catalogsearch/result/index/?dir=desc&order=relevance&q=threshing+crew

The fourth way to improve search is by far the coolest. Magento has a way to modify search terms, so that you can change what is displayed. Let’s say you want to have a search term display a category page.  To do this we would access the search terms that visitors have used by going to Catalog>Search Terms (top menu).  By clicking on the Number of Uses column, you can sort the terms based on how many times they have been searched for. Once you find a search term you want to modify, click on it. You now have the option of adding a synonym (similar word with better results) or redirect to another url (your category) by pasting in the full url.  The synonyms work well for singular and plural terms, and the redirect works well for pointing to a category that contains the products. You can also redirect to CMS pages, for example store locations or contact us.

If you monitor and improve search results over time you will vastly improve the visitor experience for your store. And that usually translates into more sales.

Good Luck.

Orders over $60 Free UPS Ground

You setup your shopping cart promotion to give customers free shipping, when they have over $60 in their cart. The problem is that not everyone see’s your promotion. Let’s see if we can help draw some attention to your shipping promotion…

Here is what the normal Magento side bar looks like, before our modifications:

The first step is opening the app/design/frontend/base/default/template/checkout/cart/sidebar.phtml file and moving it to your custom theme’s template folders, in the same location as the default file above.

We are going to insert a conditional statement, so that if the subtotal is $60 or more, the sidebar cart will let the customer know that they have free shipping on their order. If they have less than $60 subtotal, we want to let them know that they need another $20 to get free shipping.

Here is the codeMagento Sidebar Cart Promotions (57)

Here is screenshot of what finished sidebar looks like:

You can customize the sidebar text, as well as add an image when the order is free, to entice customers to add more to their shopping carts. So, go supersize your orders, with this handy sidebar modification!!

Client of course wants them to be full sized on the product page. That’s what they are selling.  So how do I get them all to display the proper size?  Custom Design, of course.

Magento allows you to select a different template, in Catalog>Manage Products. When you have the product page open, under Design Tab, there is an option called Custom Design, where you can select the template to use on this page.

So what is the process?
We are going to make a theme for the 700×400 products. Modify your standard theme’s template and skin files to accomodate the various product image sizes. This usually involves a new theme folder in app/design/frontend/default/new theme. You will need the following folders: catalog, product and view. Inside the view folder, you will have a new media.phtml file, customized for the image size. Around line 65, you will want to modify the product image size.  Also note I am using the direct resize extension, NetAmbition_DirectResize to maintain the aspect ratio of the images.

You will also need the corresponding skin stylesheet in your new themes’s folder: skin/frontend/default/your-new-template/css/ and the style.css file around line 1006 dealing with product images.

Just rinse and repeat for the different sizes.

Here is the what it looks like after:

In most stores, this is done at least 3 times per week, to sync Magento with warehouse inventory levels. If you have a store with 2,000+ products, uploading and importing an updated inventory csv file can take 2+ hours. That’s 6+ hours per week spent! There is an alternative, though.

Our Inventory Update Script will reduce the uploading and importing time to 5 minutes for 2,000 products, saving you time and money every week. More info