Question

I am new to Magento CMS, i have configured products using admin panel, at the home page

1. I want to list down random famous
   products from different categories
   dynamically.
2. When i list the products they appear
   in the menu by their categories,
   when i chose page type 3 columns
   where are the source files for
   column 1 and 3 how can i
   change/configure them.
3. I installed Magento with sample data
   from home page when i click upon any
   item it does not display data.
4. I see default home page using
   dynamic contents block from where to
   create it and how to see it ?

Answer 1

I think it’s better to split questions into individuals one, in order to get more accurate answers. Anyway:
1. Yoast Landing Pages allows you to create products listings of any attribute you want
2. I’m not sure to understand you, but I think what you’re looking for is in app/design/frontend/[package]/[template]/layout/catalog.xml. Inside <block type="catalog/product_list" name="product_list" template="catalog/product/list.phtml"> add/modify <action method="setColumnCount"><columns>2</columns></action>
3. It seems you don’t have mod_rewrite enabled in your server
4. If you’re using Magento’s sampla data, it is not dynamic content: check in your admin CMS -> Pages -> (Title) Home Page