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After creating your category, you will have several fine tuning options available to you.
- Go to Products >Categories
- Select the category you'd like to edit and click its name
(or look to the far right and click its "Action Wheel" to select "Details")
On the category "Details" page you will see a series of sections with a plus (+) or minus (-) icon on the right of each section. To expand a section, click on its respective + sign to see the settings found within it.
SEO Title & Meta tags
As in the case of product listings, your category names and titles are used for the default Search Engine Optimization (SEO) processes. However, you can also further define these parameters within the category options section.
Under SEO Title and Meta tags you have access to the following parameters:
- Page Title
Use this field to edit thecategory page's title at the top left of the browser window
- Custom File Name
Similar to custom file names for products, this field allows you to set a specific file name for the category page as well. (Must end in either .htm or .html)
- Link
In some cases, you may want to edit the category's link so that it redirects to another page.
Tip
This can be useful if you'd like to link to a manufacturer's page or perhaps link to a different page within your store - while taking advantage of the category link placement on your store. For example, you may have a category of products that are not yet available for purchase. While the category itself is created and populated with items, you may need to temporarily have the link direct to a "coming soon" page until the items can be sold.
- Meta Tags
Create specific Meta Tags
Category Page Settings
These settings will allow you to control the basic layout of the individual category page.
- Template/Category Page
If you have additional templates created for your categories, you can use this to assign a different style to the category
Note: this will require creating your own category_x.html template and uploading it to your store's theme folder via FTP
- Default Product Sorting
Here you will select the default "Order By" sorting that will be used for the category page.
- Display Type / Category Special Items
Allows you to control how the Category Special Items will be displayed on the category page.
Your choices are:
- Thumbnails
Displays a thumbnail of the item with pricing and add to cart options below.
- Listing
Displays the name of the item (no image) with pricing and add to cart options laterally across
- Details
Displays a thumbnail of the item with pricing and add to cart to the right of the image.
- Display Type / Category General Products
Allows you to control how the Items will be displayed on the category page.
Your choices are:
- Thumbnails
Displays a thumbnail of the item with pricing and add to cart options below.
- Listing
Displays the name of the item (no image) with pricing and add to cart options laterally across
- Details
Displays a thumbnail of the item with pricing and add to cart to the right of the image.
Additional Information
If using an HTML-5 theme, The above settings for Listing and Details will work best when the items are shown in one column display.
- Subcategory Columns/Category Page
Allows you to specify how many columns will be used in the display of sub-categories.
Note: "0" will use global settings (see Settings >General >Store Settings | Display Options tab)
- Hide Left Bar
Mark this checkbox to hide the left column from the category
Note: This can also be done globally on the store using the Content >Titles & Content section
- Product Columns / Category Specials
Allows you to specify how many columns will be used on the category to display items marked as "Category Specials"
Note: "0" will use global settings (see Settings >General >Store Settings | Display Options tab)
- Hide Top Menu
Mark this checkbox to hide the top navigation menu from the category
Note: This can also be done globally on the store using the Content >Titles & Content section
- Product Columns / Category General Items
Allows you to specify how many columns will be used on the category to display its regular items
Note: "0" will use global settings (see Settings >General >Store Settings | Display Options tab)
- Hide Right Bar
Mark this checkbox to hide the right column from the category
Note: This can also be done globally on the store using the Content >Titles & Content section
- Items per page / Category Special Items
Allows you to specify how many items marked as "Category Specials" will be shown on each page before pagination.
Note: "0" will use global settings (see Settings >General >Store Settings | Display Options tab)
- Items per page / Category General Items
Allows you to specify how many items will be shown on each page before pagination.
Note: "0" will use global settings (see Settings >General >Store Settings | Display Options tab)
- Category Menu Group
Allows you to select the category's menu group designation if you are using the more advanced FRAME_CATEGORY_X code block for your categories.
Product Display
These settings will allow you to contorl how the product listing pages will display when accessed via the category.
- Template / Product Page
If you have additional templates created for your products, you can use this to assign a different style to the category
Note: this will require creating your own listing_x.html template and uploading it to your store's theme folder via FTP
- Category Wide Product Options
This section allows you to add options to products when they are viewed from the specific category.
- Product Columns / Up-sell Products
Allows you to specify how many columns will be used on the product pages to display related items.
Note: "0" will use global settings (see Settings >General >Store Settings | Product Display tab)
- Product Columns / Related Products
Allows you to specify how many columns will be used on the product pages to display related items.
Note: "0" will use global settings (see Settings >General >Store Settings | Product Display tab)
SmartCategories™
If you would like to make the category a SmartCategory, your settings will be found here.
The following are your SmartCategories display options:
- None
Use this option if you'd like to not use Smart Categories for the category page
- On Sale Items
This setting will populate the category with your items that are marked as On Sale
- Free Shipping Items
This setting will populate the category with your items that are marked as Free Shipping
- Top 50 New Releases
This setting will populate the category with your top 50 newest items that were added to the store
- Keyword Search
This setting will populate the category with your items that share the keyword you specify.
For more information on using SmartCategories, please click here.
Access Permissions
These settings will allow you to control customer group access to the category.
- Allow Access
This drop menu allows you to limit access to the category to either ALL of your customers (default) or customers belonging to a specific customer pricing group.
- On Fail Redirect to
If using a group specific access mentioned above, and the user is not part of the specified group, you can redirect them to another page using this field.
Page Content
By default, your category pages will display either a listing of products available within the category, or a listing of the sub-categories contained within it. However, through the "Page Content" section of the category options, you can also add elements to the page's header and footer sections.
- Category Header
Use this section to add additional content to the category's header area. Use regular text or HTML as needed. For example, a category logo, or formatted text. You can also use the WYSIWYG editor to make adding HTML even easier!
- Category Footer
Use this section to add additional content to the category's footer area. Use regular text or HTML as needed. For example, a category logo, or formatted text. You can also use the WYSIWYG editor to make adding HTML even easier!
- Additional Keywords
Along with your category's meta-tags, you can also specify Additional Keywords for your category pages that will help with the SEO process. Unlike meta tags, these keywords will be listed as part of the page's content and viewable to the browser. However, as they are part of the page's actual content they will also be beneficial in returning search engine result hits.
Note
When adding additional keywords to your category pages, you will also need to add a dynamic variable tag to the HTML coding of the store's frame.html template.
Adding Additional Keywords
The Additional Keywords area of the category option screen will accept both regular text and HTML formatted text.
Once your keywords are created, you will need to add a dynamic variable tag to the store's frame.html page. To do this, follow these steps:
- Go to Settings >Design >Themes & Styles
- Then click the "Edit Template (HTML)" button at the top right
- Click "Edit" for your theme's "frame.html" page.
Within the frame's coding, look towards the end of the code for the closing </html> tag and place [page_keywords] directly before this tag.
This tag will take the contents of your additional keywords section and apply it to the category page when it is rendered on the server. The variable code added to the frame.html template will only display this content when the specific category is called upon and rendered.
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