There are a few articles and extensions I've come across showing how to add "Featured Products" on the home page of Magento. The problem is that none that I have read, seem to fully tackle the issue of being compatible with Magento 1.4.x (Magento 1.4.0.1 at the time of this writing) AND fully using Magento's features while being fairly easy to implement (i.e. without adding complicated, unnecessary,redundant or outdated code).

Here's a fairly simple way you can add a featured product listing using the standard Magento files, which should work for any version of Magento.

In your Magento /admin section:

1. Create a category as usual (you can put it in any path) and call it, e.g., "Featured Products" and make sure to note the "ID:XX" number. You can set this directory to "Active:NO" if you don't want it to display in your category listing on the front end of your site or just leave it as is. You can leave everything else at the default settings.

2. Go to each product, that you want to appear under "Featured Products", and edit as usual, but this time put a check mark next to the new directory you created "Featured Products". Do this for every product you want to be a "Featured Product". Easy enough.

3. Now... go into your CMS --> Pages and select your home page (you can identify which is for the home page, by looking at the url key which would be something like "home")

4. Click the "Content" tab--switch to HTML editor (non-wysiwyg) and paste in the Content text area:

<div class="featured-products">
<h2 class="heading">Featured Products</h2>
{{block type="catalog/product_list" category_id="YOURCATIDNUMBER" template="catalog/product/list.phtml"}}
</div>

since my category id # was ID:36, I would do the following

<div class="featured-products">
<h2 class="heading">Featured Products</h2>
{{block type="catalog/product_list" category_id="36" template="catalog/product/list.phtml"}}
</div>

Save, and you're done.... You will be presented with a listing of the "Featured Products" on your home page.

- NOTE: you can make a copy of the list.phtml file and name it, e.g. "feature-products.phtml" if you need to make further edits to the listing. Also, if you've upgraded to magento 1.4 , it may be a good idea to copy the latest template file from:

app/design/frontend/base/default/template/catalog/product/list.phtml

and paste this into your template directory overwriting the old.

5. However, if you want it to appear in a grid--i.e. more than the single column, which you will get by default--then all you need to do is edit your CSS file…
Simply add this to your css file used to style your site (I put my at the bottom of my css file):

/* View Type: Featured products, list changed to grid */
.featured-products { width:100%; float:left; clear:both; padding:0;  }
.featured-products .products-list { margin:0; padding:0; border:0px solid red; float:left;}
.featured-products .products-list li.item { list-style:none; list-style-image:none; border:1px solid #D8D9D9; background:#FFFFFF; margin:0 3px 3px 0; width:205px; float:left; height:400px; padding:8px; }
.featured-products .products-list h2.product-name { margin:6px 0 6px 0; padding:0;   }
.featured-products .products-list h2.product-name a { font:bold 12px/14px Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; display:block;}
.featured-products .products-list .product-image { float:none; }
.featured-products .products-list .product-shop { float:none; width:auto; margin:0; padding:0;}
.featured-products .products-list .price-box { float:none;}
.featured-products .products-list .desc { float:none; font:normal 11px/13px Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin:6px 0; display:block; width:100%; float:left; }
.featured-products .products-list .desc .link-more { display:block; }
.featured-products .products-list .add-to-links { display:none; /*i hide this since I don't want to show "compare" link on the featured section */}

note the critical usage of ".feature-products" class, which we wrapped around the "Featured Products" block in the CMS home page--without that, this won't work, as you don't want to mess with the regular listing throughout the site, you just want to make the list view into a grid view for the "Featured Products" only.

To change the width and height of your grid, simply change the width and height under

.featured-products .products-list li.item {}

Alright, then…

That should do it... a pretty simple way to create a "Featured Products" section on the home page of Magento, that should be compatible with any current, past, or future Magento versions

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To install a theme from Magento Connect you need to follow certain steps which are explained below (Advance users may skip few steps):

1. Select the theme by browsing the huge Magento theme archive. OR, If you know the direct URL of your favourite theme just open it’s Magento connect URL

2. Now, you will see a button right under the theme image called “Get Extension Key”. You need to click “Get Extension Key” and agree to extension license agreement.



3. After you select agree checkbox and click “Get Extension Key” you will see the Magento extension key right there itself (displayed in the box). You need to paste this extension key in your store’s Magento connect tab. Keep it safe.

4. Copy this Magento extension key. E.g. It will look like “magento-community/Magik_Autocomplete”

5. In order to install this theme into your Magento store you need to login to your store admin panel and go to System->Magento Connect->Magento Connect Manager. Magento connect manager will ask you to login again. You need to use your store admin login credentials to get past the login screen.



You need to paste the theme extension key copied from the Magentocommerce.com’s Magento connect here.

Magento connect checks for the extension key validity and downloads the theme on your system. Depending upon your internet connection speed (bandwidth) and theme size it will take time to install. These extension keys are specifically created with a unique combination so that there is no confusion over which extension to download. If you have correct extension key and there are no errors in theme or your internet bandwidth you will not see any error messages. In case there are any error messages try downloading and installing again. If you do not succed at all then you can contact the theme owner or ask questions in the theme documentation tab.

6. Soon after you see “Theme successfully installed” message go to System->Configuration->Design->Themes and provide the theme name in Default field (which will change your default theme to this new theme) and click “Save Config” button at the top right corner of your screen.



7. A Magento theme revolves around different columns in your theme layout. In case your store home page doesn’t load properly and shows weird design then go to CMS->Manage Pages. You will notice that there are two different layouts for the home page (may be more depending upon how many themes you have tried in the past). Based on your new theme layout disable all the other home page layouts. You can easily disable/enable the layouts by clicking “Enabled” or “Disabled” links provided in the status field.



8. Check your home page if the store is looking just like your new theme, you are done. If you still see problems chances are that you haven’t disabled the correct home page layout. Repeat step 7 until you see a correct store home page (not required if you have only two home page layouts showing in your “Manage Pages” section.

This was the easiest and fastest way of installing a Magento theme using Magento Connect manager.

Many Magento theme sites don’t publish their theme template in Magento connect (sometimes their themes do not pass through Magento connect guidelines). These themes are provided directly by the theme owner sites. If you are interested in downloading a Magento theme from such sites then following are the steps required to install a Magento theme within your existing Magento installation.

How To Install A Downloaded Magento Theme

Unlike single template themes (WordPress) Magento themes are quite different as its layout depends on four elements i.e.

- Layout – Present is (app/design/frontend/your_interface/new_theme/layout/)
- Templates – Present in (app/design/frontend/your_interface/new_theme/template/)
- Skins – Present in (skin/frontend/your_interface/new_theme/)
- Locale – Present in (app/design/frontend/your_interface/new_theme/locale/)

In order to install and integrate a new theme you need to follow few steps more than what you are accustomed to follow in case of wordpress themes.

If you have already downloaded your preferred Magento theme then here is how you can install and integrate this new theme into your existing Magento installation.

- Uncompress the zip file containing theme templates (you can use winrar or winzip to uncompress files on windows machine or use unzip zipfilename.zip to uncompress files on Linux server)
- Copy entire app folder of your new theme under Your_Magento_Installation/app/design/frontend/default/ so it becomes like Your_Magento_Installation/app/design/frontend/default/new_theme
- Copy entire skin folder of your new theme under Your_Magento_Installation /skin/frontend/default/ so it becomes like Your_Magento_Installation/ skin/frontend/default/ new_theme
- Now, as you have added your newly downloaded theme in your Magento store you need to login to your Magento store admin to tell Magento which theme to use as layout.
- Sometimes Magento Cache doesn’t let you see your changes instantly. In order to test your new theme it would be wise to disable cache for the time being. Go to System > Cache Management and select “Disable” then click “Save Cache”. Once you are done with all the steps Enable the cache again.
- Now go to System -> Configuration and select the Design Tab.
- Type the name of your new theme which you have copied in your Magento installation in front of skin (Images/CSS) input box and click “Save Config”.
- Optional – If you have downloaded a widget ready Magento template then you need to install the widget provided with the theme. In order to install Magento theme widget you have to go to CMS -> Static Blocks and click on “Add New Block”. Based on your widget installation instructions you have to add your new widget and activate that using this new widget block. Finally select “Enabled” and click “Save Block”. Go and select “Custom Design” Tab and in Layout select “Homepage” otherwise your widget won’t show on home page.
- Optional – Home page of default Magento store is a CMS block so you have to provide custom code there in order to display something on home page. To do so you have to go to CMS- > Manage Pages and select “Home page” and in the content area type the home page content code which comes up with your new theme. You can change this area anytime you want.

All set. Open up a new page on your browser and type in your store name to see the new theme. Your new Magento theme is ready to be used.

I have installed a New Magento Theme but i can’t see any products showing up, why?

Well, It can only happen in case of a new store. You need to follow few steps to fix this problem

- Go to Catalog -> Manage Categories
- Select the category you want to show on your Homepage and look for its ID.
- Go back to CMS -> Manage Pages and select Homepage
- Paste the code for showing Products on home page with the selected category ID.

I hope this is quite comprehensive tutorial for installing Magento themes. I would love to hear your thoughts, views and experiences. Please leave me a comment and let me know.

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