Changing the Default Descriptions on Product Pages

Question

On our store our Short Descriptions and Descriptions all have basically the same template when it comes to html but when we create new products the fields are all blank. Just wondering if there is a way that I could plug in some html default text so when I create new SKU's the HTML can already exist and then I can either remove or add what I need?

i.e. Short Descriptions are blank by default but being able to have this Bullet List be the Default when I create a new product.

Manufacturer Warranty: Lifetime Workmanship Guarantee

Manufacturer Item Number:

---

same goes for the Description

content

Features:

Manufacturer Warranty: Lifetime Workmanship Guarantee

Manufacturer Item Number:

I can just make a sku and duplicate everything based on that single sku, was just wondering if I could make the changes myself without hassling our developers.

Thanks!

Answer 1

I'll give an exemple for the short description in view.phtml

In app/design/frontend/{package}/{theme}/template/catalog/product/view.phtml you replace this code:

<?php if ($_product->getShortDescription()):?>
      <div class="short-description">
           <h2><?php echo $this->__('Quick Overview') ?></h2>
           <div class="std" <?php if($enabled_richsnippets): ?>itemprop="description"<?php endif; ?>><?php echo $_helper->productAttribute($_product, nl2br($_product->getShortDescription()), 'short_description') ?></div>
      </div>
<?php endif; ?>

with:

<?php if ($_product->getShortDescription()==null):?>
        <div class="short-description">
            <h2>default description</h2> // here you put your default description, It appears when the short description is empty.
        </div>
<?php else:?>
        <div class="short-description">
               <h2><?php echo $this->__('Quick Overview') ?></h2>
               <div class="std" <?php if($enabled_richsnippets): ?>itemprop="description"<?php endif; ?>><?php echo $_helper->productAttribute($_product, nl2br($_product->getShortDescription()), 'short_description') ?></div>
        </div>
<?php endif; ?>