Web Development•eCommerce•Content Management•Graphic Design•Image & Branding

Product Catalog - Categories

Product Categories are the building blocks of your e-commerce website. Each product must be displayed in a category to be viewed on your web site. A product may be displayed in more than one category, but must first be assigned to a Primary Category. Product information is entered only once into the system. It may then be displayed in multiple categories.

Example - A clothing store carries many different types of clothing, for men and women, from different brands. You must decide what is the primary category. In this case, brand is the primary category. All products manufactured by Brand X would be entered in the Brand X category. Additional categories could also be defined such as Men/Outerwear, or Women/Dresses, or Sale. Each product could then be assigned to as many categories as necessary and displayed on the corresponding pages.

Category Setup

My Account --> Catalog Module

When you enter the Catalog Module for the first time you are confronted with a rather blank screen.

Click on the "Add Category" or "clicking here" links to create your first category.

Category entry is rather straight forward.

1. Category Name - Enter the Category Name as you want it to appear at the top of the Product Page.
2. Category Tag Line - If you want a tag line to appear below, or to the right of your product name, enter it here. Otherwise, leave blank.
3. Category Image - enter the image name, including site ID (e.g., /site/##/images/imagename.jpg), or click on the image icon to open the file browser. Select the appropriate image from the the list and add it to your category. As usual, all images must be uploaded to the site before they can be added to the page content.
4. Category Layout - Click on the drop down button for a list of available options. Layouts that offer multiple columns will offer a Number of Columns option. Current Category Layouts are:
   • Default - list, e-commerce
   • Gallery - multi-column, no e-commerce
   • Gallery III - multi-column, e-commerce, all products in category display below selected product.
   • Gallery Plus - multi-column, e-commerce, single product
   • Classic - list, no-ecommerce
   • Millennium
5. Category Type:
   • Default (product)
   • Services
6. Display Category Name - Yes/No
7. Display Category Tag Line - Yes/No
8. Additional Category Text  (Simple Editing Box) - You may enter additional text to describe your category and include some limited styling. This text will be displayed to the right of the Category Name and/or Category Image.

Once everything is complete, click the "Add Category" button.

Note: Experiment with the different layouts and combinations of display options to find the option that suits your web site the best.

Your category is now complete and ready for products. You may edit or delete the category at any time (If you have already entered products into a category, it would be wise to delete those products before deleting the category). Continue to add categories or click on the Category Name and start entering your products.

 

 

Updated 11/17/2007