[Vacman]

OK - I have been doing some work on this with mixed results.

Borrowed the css from Dana7 and added this to the main.css

/* Products list as multicolumn table */
.PListCell { padding: 0; width: 400px; border-right: 1px solid #e5e8ee; border-bottom: 1px solid #e5e8ee; float: left; background: #f9f9f9; height: 400px; }
.PListCell img { border: 1px solid #fff; }
.PListCellHover { padding: 0; width: 400px; border-right: 1px solid #d9e6fa; border-bottom: 1px solid #d9e6fa; float: left; background: #f0f5fd; height: 400px; }
.PListCellHover img { border: 1px solid #abb5c7; }
.PListCellInside { padding: 10px; text-align: center; }
.PListCellInside .sku { margin-top: 10px; text-align: center; }
/* Inside boxes */
.PListCellInside .image { padding: 0; margin: 5px 0; }
.PListCellInside .sku { margin-top: 5px; }
.PListCellInside .market-price { padding: 8px 0 0 0; color: #a6a6a6; font-size: 10px; }
.PListCellInside .price-row { padding: 2px; }
.PListCellInside .price-row .price { font-weight: normal; }
.PListCellInside .price-row .price-value, 
.PListCellInside .market-price .price-save { color: #b51a00; font-weight: normal; font-size: 12px; }
.PListCellInside .buttons-row,
.PListCellInside .button-row { margin: 1px 0 0 0; }
.PListCellInside .buttons-row button,
.PListCellInside .button-row button { margin: 0; float: none; }
.PListCellInside .buy-now { margin-top: 1px; }
.PListCellInside .buy-now .quantity-title { width: auto; padding-right: 5px; }
.PListCellInside .product-title { padding: 0; color: #103c89; font-weight: bold; }
.alter-curr { padding: 0 0 0 28px; color: #a6a6a6; font-size: 10px; font-style: italic; }
/*

Then I decided to redo the products_t.tpl

{*
$Id: products_t.tpl,v 1.58.2.1 2010/02/12 10:39:56 aim Exp $
vim: set ts=2 sw=2 sts=2 et:
*}
{list2matrix assign="products_matrix" assign_width="cell_width" list=$products row_length=$config.Appearance.products_per_row}
{assign var="is_matrix_view" value=true}

{if $products_matrix}

  <table cellspacing="3" class="products products-table width-100" summary="{$lng.lbl_products_list|escape}">

    {foreach from=$products_matrix item=row name=products_matrix}
      <tr{interline name=products_matrix additional_class="product-name-row"}>
        {foreach from=$row item=product name=products}
          {if $product}
          <td>
             <div class="PListCell" onmouseover="this.className='PListCellHover'" onmouseout="this.className='PListCell'">
                 <script type="text/javascript">
                   <!--
                   products_data[{$product.productid}] = {ldelim}{rdelim};
                    -->
                </script>
                <a href="{$product.alt_url|default:$product.page_url|amp}" class="product-title">{$product.product|escape}</a>
                 {if $product.productcode}
                  <div class="sku">{$lng.lbl_sku}: {$product.productcode|escape}</div>
                {else}
                    &nbsp;
                {/if}
                <a href="{$product.alt_url|default:$product.page_url|amp}">{include file="product_thumbnail.tpl" productid=$product.productid image_x=$product.tmbn_x image_y=$product.tmbn_y product=$product.product tmbn_url=$product.tmbn_url}</a>
                {if $active_modules.Special_Offers && $product.have_offers}
                  {include file="modules/Special_Offers/customer/product_offer_thumb.tpl"}
                {/if}
              {if $product.rating_data}
                {include file="modules/Customer_Reviews/vote_bar.tpl" rating=$product.rating_data productid=$product.productid}
              {/if}
              {if $product.product_type ne "C"}
                {if $active_modules.Subscriptions ne "" && $product.catalogprice}
                  {include file="modules/Subscriptions/subscription_info_inlist.tpl"}
                {elseif $product.appearance.is_auction}
                  <span class="price">{$lng.lbl_enter_your_price}</span><br />
                  {$lng.lbl_enter_your_price_note}
                {else}
                  {if $product.appearance.has_price}
                    <div class="price-row">
                      <span class="price">{$lng.lbl_our_price}:</span> <span class="price-value">{include file="currency.tpl" value=$product.taxed_price}</span>
                      <span class="market-price">{include file="customer/main/alter_currency_value.tpl" alter_currency_value=$product.taxed_price}</span>
                    </div>
                    {if $product.appearance.has_market_price && $product.appearance.market_price_discount gt 0}
                      <div class="market-price">
                        {$lng.lbl_market_price}: <span class="market-price-value">{include file="currency.tpl" value=$product.list_price}</span>
                        {if $product.appearance.market_price_discount gt 0}
                          {if $config.General.alter_currency_symbol ne ""}, {/if}
                          <span class="price-save">{$lng.lbl_save_price} {$product.appearance.market_price_discount}%</span>
                        {/if}
                      </div>
                    {/if}
                    {if $product.taxes}
                      <div class="taxes">{include file="customer/main/taxed_price.tpl" taxes=$product.taxes is_subtax=true}</div>
                    {/if}
                  {/if}
                  {if $active_modules.Special_Offers && $product.use_special_price}
                    {include file="modules/Special_Offers/customer/product_special_price.tpl"}
                  {/if}
                {/if}
              {else}
                &nbsp;
              {/if}
                {if $active_modules.Product_Configurator and $is_pconf and $current_product}
                  {include file="modules/Product_Configurator/pconf_add_form.tpl"}
                {elseif $config.Appearance.buynow_button_enabled eq "Y" and $product.product_type ne "C"}
                  {include file="customer/main/buy_now.tpl"}
                {else}
                  &nbsp;
                {/if}
              {if $product.fclassid gt 0}
                <div>{include file="modules/Feature_Comparison/compare_checkbox.tpl" id=$product.productid}</div>
              {/if}
              {if !$smarty.foreach.products_matrix.last}
                 <tr class="separator">
                   <td colspan="{$config.Appearance.products_per_row|default:1}">&nbsp;</td>
                 </tr>
              {/if}
            </div>
          </td>
          {/if}
        {/foreach}
      </tr>
    {/foreach}
  </table>
{/if}

When I go to my home page, the Featured Products section looks beautiful.... BUT...

When I go and view any categories where there are multiple products in that category, I end up with a vertacle column of products and then a row of three products.

Now, my template format is supposed to be showing products in a three-column format, so I am sure this issue has to do with the fact that I stripped out the "matrix" coding.

The other thing I can't figure out is that on the same product page (not home page) I also end up with a center section labeled as a Featured Products section containing all my products from the category I am currently viewing. Then just below that the normal category products.

Maybe someone with a little better grasp on this can take my code and make it into something more usable.