Magento

Ok..after going through the design guide and trying a few changes here and there, I always think “Ahh now I got it!” only to run into another wall where any built-up assurance of what I’m doing plummets again.

The design guide clearly states that you can approach the frontend in a logical manner..for example if you’re looking at changing something within the catalog area of a category page, you can generally head to the /catalog directory and head within the /category directory to edit view.phtml. Ok. I suppose that makes sense.

So I try to apply this logic and I want to change that 24/7 Support col_left_callout.jpg image (which by the way, in the default blank theme, its on the *right* side..not left?) so I figure i could approach it either via right_col.phtml. Ok so I open it up and I find that the only image it references is the “Back to School” col_right_callout.jpg image with this

So its not there. I check out col_left_callout.phtml just for the hell of it and find this:

I’m confused as to why the first chunk of code seems to grab the image directly while the other references a class function to grab the image/alt tag (which i assume to be what im looking for:col_left_callout.jpg) from somewhere else? is there a reason i’m not aware of as to why its inconsistent like that?

Plus, I’m finally able to find the reference to the 24/7 Support col_left_callout.jpg image and to my complete surprise, its within catalog.xml? Huh? Why is it there?? I’m not understanding the logic of placement at all here.

thanks minu. i understand the template system is there for maximum flexibility. i guess its kind of hard to follow initially when you think you understand whats going on and then all of a sudden don’t get what you *expect* to be the next step.

either way, i’ll keep on trucking with this. its actually kind of fun to figure out (albeit slowly)!