here is as far as I have got. This is the code as it is now.
home.tpl:
{if $categories ne "" and ($active_modules.Fancy_Categories ne "" or $config.General.root_categories eq "Y" or $subcategories ne "")}
{ include file="customer/categories.tpl" }
{/if}
in categories.tpl
* $Id: categories.tpl,v 1.23 2004/06/24 09:53:29 max Exp $ *}
{capture name=menu}
{if $active_modules.Fancy_Categories ne ""}
{include file="`$fancycategories_config.modules_path`/fancy_categories.tpl"}
{else}
{if $config.General.root_categories eq "Y"}
{section name=cat_num loop=$categories}
<FONT class="CategoriesList">
{$categories[cat_num].category}</FONT>
{/section}
{else} {section name=cat_num loop=$subcategories}
<FONT class="CategoriesList">
{$subcategories[cat_num].category}</FONT>
{/section}
{/if}
{/if}
{/capture}
in there somewhere. Im thinking I can clone this somehow and use it, but I dont know what "{section name=cat_num loop=$categories}" means, and I think I may be biting off more than I can chew.
Oh well, at least I have nice indented frames around my product icons
