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.
Inactive Categories
Inactive categories highlighted in red are not shown
on the website and are not included in the sitemap.
Inactive categories will return a 404 page not found
warning when a visitor tries to view the category
page(s). Inactive categories can be used to 1)
temporarily remove pages from your site or 2) store
images or files that are linked to from outside the
category or 3) simply to organise category hierarchy
in the admin area.
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