I've looked everywhere!! Classifieds help please!

Hi everyone! I'm new to Dolphin and first want to say that I love the software and all the tutorials and information that is available. (if you know how to search!) I've been pouring through the entire Unity site as well as all the links to tutorials, mods, and other help pages, but I can't seem to find the answer to my question anywhere.

I'd like to be able to edit the way the classifieds are set up, but can't seem to find where to edit the main page.

I can see where you add categories and sub categories and I've done that, but with a lot of them I'll need to have a subcategory on a subcategory.

For example:

Category: Autos

Subcategory: Pick-ups

(sub)Subcategory: 2 wheel drive (or) 4 wheel drive

I'd also like to be able to add pictures next to each category to make them easier to navigate, like a picture of a car next to the Autos category.

Drop down menus for the subcategories in each of these categories would be great as well, and I know how to make them but don't see where I would be able to edit the main classifieds page.

The classifieds section is going to be a big part of my site, so I want it as easy to navigate as possible. Thanks in advance!!

There is no pagebuilder for classifieds or a number of other pages on Dolphin.  To edit any of those pages, you should work with the actual php files, the html pages, and css files directly.  If you are not sure how to do that, there are a number of excellent mods available from the authors here which will do what you want, or that could be modified to do what you want.  Check out ue30's stuff on www.expertzzz.com and also Dolphinmods, and a few others.  Worth the small price to get what you want right away, and without the associated headaches of trying to recode those pages yourself.

Thanks so much for your reply!

I have seen the mods on expertzzz, but haven't checked out dolphinmods yet, so I'll head over there now.

I'm thinking I'm probably going to end up having to edit the files you talked about though, because so far none of the mods that I have seen can do what I need to do. Wish me luck!

Thanks again!

I just want to say...

I am in WAY over my head.

In this case you will need to change current 2 level categories to 3 level categories.

Possible it will better to redevelop this part. And create new table for categories.

And keep here next field:

ID

Name

ParentID

like this.

but it will require changing of many code

Does Dolphin 7 have page builders for classifieds or the other pages on Dolphin or are they available when purchasing a package of Dolphin 6? It just seems like I've hit a brick wall without knowing how to code PHP.

Here are the steps I've taken so far:

Went to w3schools and learned all I can about html, XHTML, CSS. I scored high enough on the quizzes there to feel comfortable to start learning PHP, but then saw that before learning PHP you need some sort of background in Javascript, so I went through that course, but mostly managed to confuse myself even further. I went ahead and read pages and pages of the PHP course and there was a lot I learned there, but nothing really that helped me figure out how to do what I want to be able to do with these classifieds pages. I started thinking I need to head to some college course and get a masters in PHP....

I have installed Dolphin on a WAMP server using Technoman's tutorial (which was so incredibly helpful!).

I downloaded Dreamweaver and set it up to work with Dolphin with this tutorial. http://www.adobe.com/devnet/dreamweaver/articles/first_dynamic_site_pt1.htm

I installed Firebug, ultra edit, and Web Developer after finding DeeEm's super helpful blog post. http://www.boonex.com/unity/blog/entry/Website_design_for_n00bs. I was able to figure out how to change a lot of things on my dolphin site, but not exactly what I need to do to change the classifieds.

I read through every tutorial and outside forum that I could find about dolphin without much luck.

I found Joomla and decided it looked easier to build pages in, but I'm wary about starting a site there because I'll probably have to download all sorts of extensions in order to get it even partially close to what I already have with Dolphin and I'd much rather be able to start with Dolphin and make it work the way I want it to.

I understand that it's probably going to cost quite a bit of money in order to get what I want going, but after looking through the jobs pages here I'm not sure anyone is even going to want to do what I need done and am afraid to post the job on expertzzz or another site. I feel sort of like a pain in the butt because I don't know what I'm doing and have to rely on all of you for help, but I am really completely lost here.

Am I going about all of this the wrong way? Am I just completely too inept to try to use Dolphin?

(Sorry for the lengthy post, I just thought maybe it would help if you guys could see how much I'm really trying to learn!)

1.  Your on the right track, taking the time to learn. 

2.  Add SQL Tutorials to your list to study.

3.  Don't try to learn all of it at once, it'll just overload your brain sorta like Katrina tryin to sit on 1/2 a doublewide for a week.  Ain't gonna be pretty when it happens.

4.  See Aramis for your classifieds issue.  People seem to forget he is the expert in that area.  AndreyP already pointed you in the right direction concerning adding a 3rd level to the classifieds categories, but if you don't know what your doing then stay out of there.  I'm usually the first to recommend that you experiment, but I also recommend you do it on a test site if your going to.

Thank you for your reply, I'll definitely start studying up on SQL. I guess I was just getting myself frustrated because I'm normally so quick to learn things, but most of this was completely over my head. Thank you for all of you suggestions, I'll definitely keep them in mind!