Matrix: 1 photo on first row, then a table

Hi,

I've just installed G2 RC2 and think it's absolutely fantastic. However, there is one customisation that I would like to achieve for a couple of albums and am not sure where to start (am a bit of a newbie on this stuff).

Essentially, I would like to have a copy of the Matrix theme where everything is exactly the same but the first row in the album table is for one large thumbnail (like a header picture) followed by a table of photos for the rest.

For example, I took a driving trip and want to show a larger map of the route on the first row, followed by my photos for that day below in a table.

Is this possible with minor changes to a theme file(s)? Or is this a more fundamental change?

If simple, can anyone please point me in the right direction? (I'm thinking it's not a major change in the album.tpl file, but don't want to screw around and mess it up)

Otherwise, absolutely love G2! Great work everyone and thanks!

Thanks nivekiam, it is very much like what I'm trying to do. As you say, it got me started and with a little playing, I've managed to get what I wanted.

Below is how I managed to make this work, in case anyone else wants to do the same thing. Essentially, I copied the "move into a new row" bit and went into the new row if item count = 1 then I reset the item counter to the number of columns (for mod purposes later). Then I put in the "move to a new row after a full row" section which did so when the item count was a multiple of the column count. To ensure this worked, I removed the count reset from each new row.

           <table id="gsThumbMatrix" width="100%" >
             <tr valign="top"><td align=center ><table width="100%"><tr> 
              {foreach from=$theme.children item=child}

              {* Move to a new row after first item*}
              {if ($childrenInColumnCount == 1)}
                </tr></table></td></tr>
                <tr valign="top"><td align=center ><table width="100%"><tr>
              {assign var="childrenInColumnCount" value=$theme.params.columns}  
              {/if}

              {* Move to a new row after a full row*}
              {if ($childrenInColumnCount mod $theme.params.columns == 0)}
                </tr></table></td></tr>
                <tr valign="top"><td align=center ><table width="100%"><tr>
              {/if}

              {assign var=childrenInColumnCount value="`$childrenInColumnCount+1`"}

etc.  etc.

It works like a charm.

see http://kodos.no-ip.com/gallery/Parent-Travels/2003Maritimes/ and it's sub-albums for examples of the finished product.

Thanks again.