At first, in an effort to get things off the ground quickly, we had set up a custom theme for that category, which was essentially the same theme as the rest of the site but with a custom list.phtml. We knew there had to be a cleaner, more elegant solution to this problem; one which wouldn't require further changes to the site to be made in two places; so at last, we've put together a solution using Layout Update XML.
If you'd like to create a custom layout for one category on your own site, locate the file /app/design/frontend/default/your-theme/template/page/list.phtml and duplicate it. For the purpose of this example, let's say the duplicate has been named "list-custom.phtml"
Now, access your Magento admin panel and navigate to Catalog > Manage Categories. Select the theme you wish to have a custom list.phtml and go to the Custom Design tab. Now, in the field labeled "Custom Layout Update," enter this code:
<reference name="product_list"> <action method="setTemplate"> <template>catalog/product/list-custom.phtml</template> </action> </reference>Click the orange "Save Category" button in the upper-right corner and check out your site. This category should now be displayed using the list-custom.phtml file you just created.
That's it! Of course, some custom templates may pose individual challenges not covered by this post, so if you have further difficulty with your customization, go to Magento Expert and get quick answers to your Magento questions from real Magento experts!
