DOM scripting and Javascript and jQuery

The purpose of this article is to help me (and perhaps yourself) differentiate between true and truthy in JavaScript. If you read through the article, in the end you will face two small challenges. Good luck. Read more →

The goal of this tutorial is to show how to “descramble” a long list of variants in Shopify using JavaScript.

The code will work for any number of variants. It will also work for any number of categories of variants. For example, you could sell a pen with these three categories of “variation”: quantity, precision in points (fine, extra-fine, etc.), and color. Other products you sell may hold a different list of options for quantity, type and color — and that's all good. Some other products may have different categories of variants altogether, or just more categories. Still all good. The code will actually parse through the variants titles and create select elements based on what is available on a per-product basis.

The following is not a screenshot. Pick something.

Hard to find anything in there. JavaScript will simplify that.

We want to present visitors with one drop-down select box per hard attribute your product has (for example, one for quantity, and one for color...). By hard attribute, I mean an attribute that justifies the creation of Shopify variants — any attribute that affects pricing. In our little example case, we assume that the color does affect pricing. But it is also possible to add to the mix a pure JavaScript attribute for color, as I explain in this other tutorial.

Here is a way to select a variant that is much easier on the eye:

This method uses JavaScript and is cosmetic. With JavaScript disabled in the browser, your visitors will still be able to pick any variant they want but will need to locate it in your list. If you do have a long list of variants, this tutorial may prove useful. If not... what are you doing here? ;-)

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As promised over there, I will present you with the algorithm and the JavaScript code needed to implement multiple attributes for products in Shopify without variants. With this method, you are not squandering any of your precious SKUs, and you are avoiding the long dreaded drop-down variant selection box of death:

You will present your visitors with one drop-down select box per attribute your product has (for example, one for size, and one for color...). The method works for an unlimited number of attributes, ie. two, three, whatever. The chosen options for the cart items attributes will be stored in a web cookie and submitted to Shopify's 'back-end' during the checkout process. This method uses JavaScript. With JavaScript disabled in the browser, your visitors will be unable to pick any attributes other than the default ones chosen for them. This method is a workaround. Jaded Pixel really should implement multiple attributes (most commonly, these are size and color), but they have chosen not to, so we have to make do. Read more →

I received in the mail my pre-ordered copy of Pro Drupal Development Second Edition yesterday.

The book is a brick. 667 pages with the index.

I am a little disappointed already... To be fair, I had high expectations. The treatment JavaScript and Ajax would receive was the first thing I'd look into. Read more →

The book jQuery in Action is no light reading. It's not the type of book you can read in a couple of sittings. I started reading my copy several months ago. It might easily become one of the best three-to-five computer books I'll read in my life. I am reading the excellent appendix now, titled: JavaScript that you need to know but might not! Boy did I totally not! I will dump what I am learning here in two installments.

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I’m currently working on a Drupal 6 theming ebook. The beta ebook attached to this posting is for Drupal 5.
— Update, March 29th, 2008.

I am in the process of writing a 50-and-some pages ebook on Drupal theming. I have an outline and a spiral book full of notes, and lots of sections are already written. My current draft (call that a beta-book) is 15 pages long and if you log in you may download it. Read more →