How to create a product page with fully custom CMS content?

Question

I would like a product detail page that doesn't follow the typical layout of a PDP in my store. I've tried changing content with custom templates but this requires a code change - is there any way to do this from the CMS?

Answer 1

This is entirely possible!

The easiest way to do this is to remove the content with Custom Layout XML and then replace that with the contents of a static block.

Layout XML:

<remove name="content">
<reference name="root">
    <block type="cms/block" name="my.custom.block" before="footer">
        <action method="setBlockId"><block_id>your_block_id</block_id></action>
    </block> 
</reference>