Categories
The categories page in the admin area lists all of your custom
categories and the system default categories. Categories essentially
represent pages on your website. A single category can be used to
group and display item listings such as products or articles or it can
be used for just one single web page.
It’s important to know how categories work and link with other
content pages. Below is a summary of the main types of content
pages that the cms generates.
Category Pages:
Category pages can be used to display items such as products or
news articles. It is possible to change how many items are listed on
a category page by modifying the category. If there are too many
items to show on one category page then extra pages with
numbered page links are generated automatically to accommodate
the rest of the items. If a category does not have any items to show
it is essentially a stand-alone web page. Usually you will want to link
to your main category pages on your websites navbar. You can copy
a category URL by right clicking on its category name. If you have a
lot of categories then you can also use special tags to display
dynamic category menus on your website.
Product Pages:
A product page is a page dedicated to displaying just one particular
product and is usually linked to automatically from a category page
that has been set up to list products although you can also link to a
product page manually from anywhere. If a particular product has
related products selected then these may be listed on this page
also. You can change how related products are displayed on a
product page by modifying system category 2 (Related Products).
Article Pages:
An article page is a page dedicated to display a particular news
article and is usually linked to automatically from a category page
that has been set up to list news articles although you can also link
to an article page manually from anywhere.
System Categories
System categories are created automatically by the cms and cannot
be deleted. Categories 1,2 and 3 are only used for e-commerce
websites that are displaying products. Category 4 (Search Results)
is only used if you want to allow visitors to search products or news
articles.
Category ID 0 - This is the root category which is usually used for
your websites home page.
Category ID 1 - This category is used for displaying products on the
shopping cart page, beneath the shopping cart itself.
Category ID 2 - This category is used for displaying related
products on a product details page.
Category ID 3 - This category is used for displaying a website
visitors recently viewed products. Put the special tag
{recently_viewed} on your page template and modify this category to
change how the products are shown.
Category ID 4 - This category is for displaying search results, you
can change how search results are listed by modifying this category.
Adding New Categories
New categories can be added by clicking the Add link beside
Categories in the admin menu. For more information on this see the
add/modify category section.
Category Sort-Order
Click the Up - Down links to move categories up or down. This can
help you arrange them in way that suits you. If you are using one of
the special menu tags to display a category menu on your website
then the menu will list the category links in accordance with the sort-
order here. There is also a button to sort all categories
alphabetically but note that clicking this will reset any custom sort
order - bear this in mind as re-sorting a lot of categories manually
can take time.
Sub-Categories
It is possible to arrange categories in a hierarchy. To add a sub-
category to an existing category click on the + link after the category
name. You can also change a categories parent category on the
modify category page. If you are using one of the special menu tags
to display a category menu on your website then the menu will list
the category links in accordance with the hierarchy here.
Modifying a Category
To modify a category click on the modify link beside the name. For
Deleting Categories
To delete categories select the check boxes beside the categories
you want to delete and click the delete selected button. You cannot
delete a category if it has any sub-categories, instead you will need
to delete the sub-categories first or modify the sub-categories so
they are under a different parent category. Deleting a category will
not delete any products or articles associated with it. If you delete a
category remember to remove any links that you have manually
created to it.