This was getting all a bit complicated for me. I just wanted 3 in a row with thums and prices.
Being a newbie I gleaned a lot from this previous messages and decided, bravely to have a go myself.
Here's what I did to recommends.tpl
{* $Id: recommends.tpl,v 1.9 2006/03/21 07:17:18 svowl Exp $ *}
{if $recommends}
{capture name=recommends}
<table border=0 width=100%>
<tr>
{section name=num loop=3}
<td width=33% align=center valign=top>
<a href="product.php?productid={$recommends[num].productid}" class="ItemsList">{$recommends[num].product}</a></font>
<br>
<a href="product.php?productid={$recommends[num].productid}">{include file="product_thumbnail.tpl" productid=$recommends[num].productid image_x=$config.Appearance.thumbnail_width product=$products[product].product tmbn_url=$products[product].tmbn_url}</a>
<br>
<font class="ProductPrice">{$lng.lbl_our_price}: {include file="currency.tpl" value=$recommends[num].taxed_price}</font><font class="MarketPrice">{include file="customer/main/alter_currency_value.tpl" alter_currency_value=$products[product].taxed_price}</font>
</td>
{/section}
</tr>
</table>
{/capture}
{include file="dialog.tpl" title=$lng.lbl_recommends content=$smarty.capture.recommends extra='width="100%"'}
{/if}
It works for me.
All the best
Ade