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category set up
Category Set Up Overview
The multiple category system introduced
in version 4.0.0 allows for a hierarchy of up to 10 sub levels
and replaces the
previous hierarchy of Top category > Sub category > Product.
This means that you can tailor your store set up to meet the needs
of
your product requirements. Products can be added to several categories
if necessary and you can have categories with the same
name on your store but differentiate between them in your control
panel by assigning unique "working names".
Accessing
the Categories
Select the “categories” link from the
left hand menu of your control panel.
The Screen Explained
Order Category Path: This
will give you the hierarchy of your category set up.
The drop down option on the left allows you to order the categories
on your store.
Category Name: This is the working
name assigned to your category – it
may be different from the name that appears on your store depending
on the naming system you have chosen. Text in bold denotes a category
that can have products added to it. The number in brackets (15)
refers to the category id and is useful when manually setting up
links on the store. A category name with an overline and underline
denotes the product category root, more information can be found
here.
Discounts: Option to assign a Discount
Modify: Modify the properties of the Category
Delete: Delete a Category
Adding
a New Category
Click on the New Category button
The Screen Explained
Category Name: This is the name of the category that will appear
on your store.
Category Working Name: This is for internal use only and is useful
when you have categories that could have the same name.
Sub Category Of…: This drop down allows you to choose the
category above the one you are adding. In the example above, “Toshiba” will
be a sub-category of “laptop1”.
Category Function: There are two options when setting up a new
category. The category may have products added to it, in this case
select “Products can be added to this category”. If
there are to be further sub-categories in the hierarchy then select “Categories
can be added to this category”. It will not be possible to
add a product to a category that has subsequent sub-categories.
Category Image: This is an optional field where you would place
the path to the image to accompany the category name.
Category Description: Also optional if you would like to describe
the category to your users. It is possible to add HTML to this
field.
Login level: This is an optional
field where you can set the login level to be used in conjunction
with the client login feature. It is also possible to disable a
category (and all their products) rather than delete it so it can
be put back at a later date. (Version 4.8.0 + required).
Category URL: Also optional if
you would like to specify the static URL of the category which
would
have been set up using the search
engine friendly features. This now means that your
menu system won't pick up on the dynamic URLs as the store is browsed.
It also works with the DHTML and CSS menus and avoids duplicate
URLs / content on the store. (Version 4.8.4 + required).
Product category root: This is
used in conjunction with the content menagement system and css
menus introduced in
version 5.9. If you aren't going to use those features, you can
ignore this setting. If you want to read more on its use, visit
our help page on css
menus.
Notes
Products can only be added to the last category in your hierarchy
- these are shown in bold type in your categories admin page. Be
sure that when creating sub categories you don’t
get into a loop of categories when the "Top Category" of
one of your categories links back to one of its own sub categories.
If
this
occurs you will see the error message “LOOP”. You must
fix this before adding more categories / products.
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