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