Menus

I’ve asked this question in a previous post and was given some instructions regarding the categories addon which they seemed to think was included in the template :S

I queried this but have not received a reply. Have you noticed any speed issues with this template over the default magento one? Mine is so slow it’s unusable, considering asking for a refund.

Matt

Hi
I have quite a few product categories, and while it looks good in the vertical menu in the left hand column, it doesn’t look very good as the top menu.
Can anybody make a suggestion as to what to do:

thank you
Michael

Hey Michael:

One suggestion might be to separate your main navigation (horizontal) menu from your left vertical menu. Even if you want both there, you can simply create another menu, assign it to the left position and copy all the entries to that new menu. THEN, get a little creative with your top main navigation menu in terms of the headings.

For example, instead of having a different heading for each product category, create ONE heading and label it "Products" or "Online Shop" or something, and then have each category as a sub-item (suckerfish/moo would probably be best -- or possibly even dropline). THEN, you can even include MORE main navigation items on your main horizontal menu.

Just a possible creative alternative (without seeing a visual of what you have now, that is).

Hi Tom,
thank you for your post. This is exactly what I want, however, I find Magento really confusing. I spent the last 2 years learning joomla and I just don’t get Magento yet! I will try to follow your suggestion.
The site is http://www.ecohaven.com.au/shop

Update: had a quick look and I still don’t get it.
With the JM Tube I got the file left.phtml, but the top.phtml comes from the default template.
So I guess this is the one I have to change.

I wonder why JM Tube template comes like that. Who wants the same menu on the left as at the top??

Do I make static links in top.phtml?

I also notices that there is a home button, but that does not seem to come from the top.html as far as I can see. It only displays the categories. Which file has the Home?

I really feel JM Tube should have had a topmenu with moo drop down function built in.

I am currently trying the extension Navigation Bar Administrator. It looks good but I can’t get it to show up in my admin.

Matt, this extension is free from the Magento community extensions, I just can get it to work yet.
I haven’t notices the JM Tube being slower than the original Magento, but I am so confused by it all that I don’t really know!
thank you
Michael

Thanks for the heads up on Nav Bar Admin, I’ll take a look over the weekend. As for the template, I’ve noticed a 2 -- 3 second further delay when loading pages using the JM Tube template compared with the default template. I wonder if someone from Joomlart can comment, however I don’t believe anything can be done considering the speed at which their own demo runs. It’s a lot of money to just give up on so I guess I’ll just press on and try and speed it up 🙁

Matt

Hi Matt,
I worked out one of the problems with the navadmin module. It installed itself in the root folder in a folder called Magento. I found it by accident and then copied the files to app/code/community/ and the frontend template and design files to JM Tube. Very annoying, it took me ages to work out.

You have to add various codes to various files as per the instrucitions under navadmin.
I then started to build the menu and it is working, excpet it appears in the wrong place -- in that stupid Quantum of Solace Ja-banner-top wrap. Right now I can’t figure out how to move it to the home nav.

Joomlart: I really feel this should have been part of the template for which I just paid $200.

UPDATE:
Here is what I did to position the navadmin after the home button and pick up the CSS:
I moved the topNavadmin into the Main Navigation area:
page/html/header.phtml

global $tmpTools;
?>

<div id="ja-header" class="wrap">
<div class="main clearfix">
<h1 id="logo"><a href="<?php echo $this->getUrl(”) ?>">JM TUBE</a></h1>
<p class="no-display"><a href="#main"><strong><?php echo $this->__(‘Skip to Main Content’) ?> &raquo;</strong></a></p>
<div class="quick-access">
<div class="shop-access">
<strong><?php echo $this->getWelcome() ?></strong>
<?php echo $this->getChildHtml(‘topLinks’) ?>
</div>
<div id="ja-search">
<?php echo $this->getChildHtml(‘topSearch’) ?>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>

<!-- MAIN NAVIGATION -->
<div id="ja-mainnav" class="wrap">
<div class="main clearfix">
<?php if ($tmpTools->isHomepage()===FALSE) {
$homecls=’class="nav-home"’;
} else {
$homecls=’class="nav-home active"’;
}
?>
<a <?php echo $homecls;?> href="<?php echo $this->getUrl(”) ?>" title="Home"><span>Home</span></a>
<div class="nav">
<ul id="nav">
<?php echo $this->getChildHtml(‘topNavadmin’) ?>
</ul>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<!-- //MAIN NAVIGATION -->

<!-- TOP BANNER -->
<div id="ja-banner-top" class="wrap">
<div class="main clearfix">
&nbsp;
</div>
</div>
<!-- //TOP BANNER -->

Michael

Hi Michael,

Thank you for your post as I found it very useful and handy. So far I am still learning but I guess it is the same for all of us when we learn something=frustration. A lot of reaserch and learning.

Thank for sharing .. .not many write answers when they found them.

Hi Matt,
I am pretty happy with the outcome (still working on it). There are still a few problems with the styling of the top menu in the magento shop (the menu buttons don’t have rounded bottoms), but having wated time trying to make magento wrap neatly into my joomla site, I decided to have them as standalone and just looking very similar.
If anyone wants to have a look, go to http://www.ecohaven.com.au and click on online shop.

I also install the free ReCaptcha from Fontis as I was getting spam registrations.
Again it installed itself in the root folder and I had to move it manually to get it to work.

Joomlart: I stillhave a line across the middle of the page in Firefox but not in IE. Could someone please have a look at my site? I cannot work out what the problem is.
thank you
Michael

I couldn’t resist to give you thanks forgot to put button for that post with menus. I installed extensions follwed tutorials etc. Simiar to oscommerce… where you have to update few files.. but did not work. So I pasted and copy your code… and working like a charm.

Michael.. Thanks it was great post I am sure many will find use of it in the future as more and more people will start buying templates. Fantastic. I did video tutorials based on your post… and this installation some might find useful too. as it is much easier to watch than read sometimes.

Hi di38,
that is nice to hear. So many other people have helped me.
Where is the video tutorial?

However, Joomlart, are you listening. I still think something is wrong with the JM/JA Tube templates -- UNLESS I have done something wrong, which is always a possibility.
My sites do not look similar in Firefox and IE. For once they look fine in IE but not FF.
I still have the line across the page in Firefox when the URL contains the www

I would like to see other sites using JM Tube, anyone?

thank you
Michael

HI Michael,

tutorials I will place on my website as soon as I learn this magento. Gonna be quite a time. The only reason I mention is -- because I am using your post too. I usually do things to remember later..with next site. So I will use all of them later.
I cannot see line……..which template you talk about line.. magento or joomla? I browsed in fire fox whole site could not see any line

Hi Sund, sorry I haven’t responded sooner I’ve been away. I don’t think you’ve done anything wrong WRT Tube. It’s just slow, plain and simple. Have a look at my post over on Jackberrys thread.

Matt