Categories
Categories allow you to organise the overall structure of the web
pages and content on your website. In general they are used for the
main web pages on your website.
A category can be used for just one single web page or to group and
display item listings such as products or articles across multiple web
pages.
It’s important to know how categories work and how they link
automatically with other content pages generated by the cms. Below
is a summary of the main types of content pages that the cms
generates.
Category Pages:
Category pages can be used to display item listings such as products
or news articles. You can change how many items are listed on a
category page by modifying the category. If there are too many items
to show on one particular category page then extra pages are
generated automatically to list the rest of the items and numbered
pagination navigation links are displayed below the items on each
page.
If a category is not displaying items it essentially works as a stand-
alone web page.
You can manually link to any category by copying it’s url - simply right
click on its category name and copy the url. Typically main category
pages should be linked to on your websites main navbar. If you have
a lot of categories then special menu tags can be used in page
templates to display dynamic category menus on the 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. You can also link to a product
page manually - simply copy the product URL by right clicking on its
name.
If a particular product has related products selected then these may
be listed on the products 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. You can also link to a
product page manually - simply copy the product URL by right
clicking on its name.
The categories page in the admin area lists all the categories you
have added and also the default system categories.
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
adding & modifying a category help section.
Sorting Categories
To arrange your categories click the Up and Down links to move
categories up or down. There is also a button to sort all categories
alphabetically but note that clicking this will reset any custom sort
order, please bear this in mind as re-sorting a lot of categories
manually can take time. Any dynamic category menus on your
website will follow the sort-order set here.
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. Any dynamic category menus on your website
will follow the hierarchy set here.
Modifying a Category
To modify a category click on the modify link beside the name. For
more information on this see the adding & modifying a category help
section.
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 or update any links that you have
manually created to it.
CMS Help - Categories