Defining Categories in the Admin Panel

Purpose:

To explain how to manually create and manage product categories using the Manage Categories option in the Admin Panel.

Solution:

To open the Manage Categories option, click Catalog (top horizontal menu) / Manage Categories.

The Manage Categories screen is comprised of two sections. On the left is a sidebar that displays category buttons as as well as a list of the categories currently present in your store. The right side will display the properties of the category or sub-category you currently have selected.

The root category is the home or top level of your category structure. Any categories created under this top level will be display along the top horizontal menu bar on your site. Categories can be created at any time and will be immediately visible on your website unless you change their status to inactive or if you set the "Include in Navigation Menu" to No. That setting is available on the General Information tab.

TIP: Create additional categories for the purpose of becoming anchor categories.

To create a new main level category, select "Default Category" and then click the Add Subcategory button. This will refresh the right side and allow you to modify your new category.

General Information Tab

Name - The name of your category.
Active - Use this drop down menu to select whether you want this category to be visible or not. A disbaled category will not be visible on your site and cannot be accessed by a direct URL.
URL Key - A URL key allows you to uniquely define a category page. When you create a category and save it, NRO will automatically generate a key using the category name to define the page's name. For example, if your category is Apparel, the page will be labeled as yoursite.com/apparel.html . If you want to change the page name, enter in your own URL key in the box. This feature is useful in guiding Search Engin Optimization (SEO) .
Thumbnail Image -
Description - This is the dscription of your category that will appear on the category page.
Image - This is the image that will be shown on the category page.
Page Title - This page title will be place in the meta tag in the head of the category's HTML source.
Meta Keywords - Meta keywords help identify the overall theme of a page and can assist in some search engine crawling. Use as many keywords as you like, separated by commas, to help identify your page.
Meta Description - Like Meta Keywords , the meta description can be used to better assist in identifying the theme of your category for search engine crawling. This description may also appear when this page comes up in search results.
Include in Navigation Menu - Turning this option off will remove the category from the top horizontal menu of you main page. The category will stay active, but visitors will not be able to see it.

Display Settings Tab

Display Mode - This option will determine which content blocks are displayed on the category page.

Products Only - Displays the products assigned to this category in grid / list format, and will also display any description and image selected in the General Information tab.
Static Block Only - Displays the static block you assign in the CMS Block field. No products are displayed on the category page, even if products are assigned to the category
Products Only - Displays both the specified static block and the assigned products in a grid/list format.

CMS Block - This option assigns a CMS static block to be displayed on the category page. CMS static blocks are covered in another article and can be accessed by selecting CMS (top horizonal menu) / Static Blocks .
Is Anchor - This option enables and disables navigating subcategories from the left sidebar while on the category page.
Available Product Listing Sort By - This option allows you to sort products on the category page by one of the options available.

Article ID: 239
Created On: Fri, Jul 27, 2012 at 9:09 AM
Last Updated On: Sat, Sep 29, 2012 at 6:23 AM

Online URL: http://help.ncrretailonline.com/article/defining-categories-in-the-admin-panel.html