I've added some code to the function tep_image in html_output.php to return an src to image pixel_trans.gif if the specified image does not exist. I've also set width = 1 and height =1.

The above seems to work except that when the product image is not found for, eg the specials infobox, the space for a pixel_trans.gif is still the normal thumbnail size. I'm wanting to resize to 1 pixel square if the image is not found so that the normal sized blank thumbnail is not shown but instead only the text (and the transparent pixel).

// The HTML image wrapper function
function tep_image($src, $alt = '', $width = '', $height = '', $parameters = '') {
if ( (empty($src) || ($src == DIR_WS_IMAGES)) && (IMAGE_REQUIRED == 'false') ) {
return false;
}

// alt is added to the img tag even if it is null to prevent browsers from outputting
// the image filename as default

// Amended by ncw 15-01-04 to return pixel_trans.gif if image file does not exist
if (!file_exists($src)) {
$image = '<img src="' . tep_output_string(DIR_WS_IMAGES . 'pixel_trans.gif') . '" border="0" alt="' . tep_output_string($alt) . '" width="1" height="1">';
return $image;
} else {

$image = '<img src="' . tep_output_string($src) . '" border="0" alt="' . tep_output_string($alt) . '"';

if (tep_not_null($alt)) {
$image .= ' title=" ' . tep_output_string($alt) . ' "';
}

if ( (CONFIG_CALCULATE_IMAGE_SIZE == 'true') && (empty($width) || empty($height)) ) {
if ($image_size = @getimagesize($src)) {
if (empty($width) && tep_not_null($height)) {
$ratio = $height / $image_size[1];
$width = $image_size[0] * $ratio;
} elseif (tep_not_null($width) && empty($height)) {
$ratio = $width / $image_size[0];
$height = $image_size[1] * $ratio;
} elseif (empty($width) && empty($height)) {
$width = $image_size[0];
$height = $image_size[1];
}
} elseif (IMAGE_REQUIRED == 'false') {
return false;
}
}

if (tep_not_null($width) && tep_not_null($height)) {
$image .= ' width="' . tep_output_string($width) . '" height="' . tep_output_string($height) . '"';
}

if (tep_not_null($parameters)) $image .= ' ' . $parameters;

$image .= '>';

return $image;
} //ncw
}