I recently needed to create custom 'arrays' within Magento's admin panel to support drop-down lists rather than just text fields. This can be a much more convenient means of configuring more complicated backend settings.
When I say 'arrays', I'm talking about the type of interface element you can see if you go to System -> Configuration -> General -> Design -> Themes in the Magento admin interface and click one of the 'Add Exception' buttons. Each time you click the 'Add Exception' button, you'll be presented with a pair of text fields. You can add news rows and delete existing ones, and they'll still be there when you save the config settings.
Read MoreSort products by rating
by Chris Norton in Magento
If your Magento site supports reviews and ratings for products, as many do, then adding a way to sort by product rating is a feature that your customers may appreciate. The following is a quick way to add in "Rating" as a valid sort selection in category toolbars.
First we shall alter the way products are retrieved from the database, to include the overall rating (shown as the number of stars on the product) along with the rest of the product attributes. Copy the file app/code/core/Mage/Catalog/Block/Product/List.php to app/code/local/Mage/Catalog/Block/Product/List.php and open it for editing.