New here, need some help with modules/responsive banner

[lifwanian]

Hi guys, I'm new to Prestashop, but not to web development. I'm creating a new cart site, but have a few questions regarding banners.

 

I want the homepage to have a slideshow banner that is responsive with my site. I had a regular banner originally, but the image would not resize with the rest of the site. There is the Nivo and WOO sliders that I would LOVE to put in, but do they have to be modules? Or can I hard code them?

 

I guess I'm a bit lost on how the modules/pages work in general. Do I have to customize everything via modules? Or is there somewhere where I can customize files and build my own pages?

 

Thanks!

[PrestaNoob852]

The CMS is where you can build your own pages within the framework of the cart (header, side columns and footer remain, just the middle column can have custom code). You get to the CMS pages via Preferences > CMS and then you can you can create categories (i.e. store policies) and then below that you put in pages in that category (i.e. return policy, shipping policy, etc.). Then in the blockTopMenu you can have "store policies" listed and a drop down with all the sub pages will be listed. Or if you like you can simply link to any of these pages you create and use them as your pages in general. So in essence, you could build your own home page and only provide links to it instead of the index.php.

 

However, if you are using the default theme, there is already a module on the home page with a scrolling banner and it is the module named "Image Slider for your Homepage". In it you can set up the timing for each slide and have each slide with it's own clickable link if you want. Should handle most of what you are looking to do.

Edited December 2, 2012 by PrestaNoob852 (see edit history)

[lifwanian]

Thanks. Yeah I saw the CMS page, but when I tried to create a blank one (point to root '/' instead of another page '/about.php') it returned me an error.

 

And "image slider for your homepage" was the original slideshow that I had even with a custom theme. My problem is that I have the site responsive, and everything resizes and repositions properly, but the banner stays the same. I know the Flex and Nivo sliders work perfectly for what I'm looking for, and have seen them in Prestashop themes, just not sure if they were used as modules or hard coded...

[PrestaNoob852]

Yeah I saw the CMS page, but when I tried to create a blank one (point to root '/' instead of another page '/about.php') it returned me an error.

That would make sense. If I understand what you are doing correctly (as far as prestshop is concerned) you are doing the same thing as trying to save a file without allowing your computer to give it a name. Just can't be done. Even the root has a default file name and that is index.php, If you want it to be your new home page, for eample, just call it home or something like that.

 

As for the image slider, yeah, I haven't fully explored that yet. I've only started using prestashop this week and I've spent most of it redesigning the default theme into a custom theme. So one of the last things on my list is fine tuning that slider on the home page. I did see that it changed it's size when I switched from a 3 column format to a 2 column format, however, it just put the links to the right and kept the images the same size. So the slider box is larger, but the images didn't resize (if that is what you are trying to do?). BUT... using the CMS pages, you should be able to put any slider code you want into the page. Just put any javascript or whatever code you need right into the 'page content' section of the CMS page and it will run fine. You can even view that screen in html format so you can code it however you like. Just add any css you need to the end of the global.css file located in themes>*theme name*>css when going to your site via FTP.