Magento design update to replace list.phtml on search results page only

Question

How would I issue a design update to Magento to replace the list.phtml template only for the search results page? Is there more than one way to do it? It would be ideal if there was a way to do it through the admin panel like I can for individual categories, but if not then editing an xml file is okay too.

Answer 1

You should create the file: app/design/frontend/YOURPACKAGE/YOURTHEME/layout/local.xml having the content:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<layout version="0.1.0">
  <catalogsearch_result_index>
    <reference name="search_result_list">
        <action method="setTemplate"><template>custom/list.phtml</template></action>
    </reference>
  </catalogsearch_result_index>
</layout>

and to create your custom template like app/design/frontend/YOURPACKAGE/YOURTHEME/template/custom/list.phtml