OPENCART ADMIN – CATEGORIES
How to edit categories in an OpenCart store
Online stores often deal with large numbers of different products, so categorising them is very important.
In an OpenCart store, the section where you manage categories and products is called “Catalog”. It’s in the admin navigation, as an item in the main side menu. Categories are the online store’s “table of contents” into which products are sorted. They guide customers to the products within each category. When you add products to the store, you’ll need to assign each product to at least one category, so we recommend planning your category structure in advance and sorting products into the store’s categories as you go.
Make your work easier and keep the store structure clear by first writing down the structure of categories and subcategories on paper or, for example, in an Excel spreadsheet. Excel or a similar tool is very practical, as you can build the structure in a table (each column represents a level) and easily move items around with Cut/Paste. When building the category structure in your online store, put yourself in your customers’ shoes and set up the categories the way you expect will be most logical for them. The structure is also very important for the store’s SEO. If you add a product without a category, customers will only be able to reach it if they find it through search.
Catalog: Categories
To open the categories page in the admin, go to Catalog and choose Categories in the menu. You’ll be taken to the category list, where you can edit, add or delete categories. To delete a category, simply tick the box in front of the category name and click the red “Delete” button at the top right. If you click the “Edit” button in the “Action” column, you’ll be taken to a form where you can change the category’s details. Click the “Add New” button to create a new category.
Create a new category
Before you learn how to add products, you need to understand how to create a category for them in an OpenCart store. A product category is an essential organisational feature of the website structure. Each category in the online store has its own space that shows customers the products available in that category. Organising products into categories is important for website navigation as well as for the admin. Categories help the store owner keep track of products within each product group, and customers can browse and search for products more easily in a well-designed category structure. Before adding products to the online store, think about which categories you’ll put them in. Organise categories so users also browse products that might interest them. To create a new category, go to Catalog > Categories. Click the “+” button in the top right corner of the screen, and you’ll be taken to a page with a form for creating the new category.
General
- Category Name is the name of the category shown to visitors in the navigation menus.
- Description is the text users see below the category name in the online store. It lets you describe the category and add images or other HTML elements. Some designs don’t show this section, but it can be added on request.
- Meta tags and descriptions are for the category’s SEO. Meta Tag Title is the title of the category page (Page Title) that search engines (Google, Yahoo, etc.) show in their search results. SEO Heading Title is the heading shown as the category name on the category page (if you want it to differ from the name used in the navigation menus). Tags are the category’s keywords, shown below the category description and linking to other categories with the same keywords. Meta Tag Description is a description of up to 160 characters that search engines show below the page title in their results. Meta Tag Keywords have been meaningless since Google’s Penguin algorithm update, so you no longer need to fill them in, although some other search engines still use them.
Data
- Categories are organised in a hierarchy, with the parent category at the top. To create a category inside a parent category (a subcategory), click the “Parent” field or start typing the parent category’s name, then choose it from the list of existing categories. If the category has no parent, leave the field empty.
- Filters let customers filter products within a category by predefined parameters. To assign filters to a category, you first need to create them under Catalog > Filters. To assign filters, start typing the filter name in the “Filters” field and choose them (you can choose several) from the list.
- If you manage several stores on different domains from one admin, you can choose in the Stores field which store the category appears in.
- In the SEO field, enter the URL you want for the category. This field is for optimising the page for search engines such as Google, Bing and Yahoo. The URL must be unique and mustn’t contain special characters or spaces!
- The category Image is shown as a featured image. Click the image and then the “Edit” button to add a new image, or the red “Delete” button to remove the existing one. The image editor is described in more detail in the separate “Image editor” guide. Some designs don’t show the category image, but it can be added on request.
- If you tick “Top”, the category is shown to visitors in your online store’s header (menu). If you don’t, the category is only visible in the left column at product level. Some store designs don’t use OpenCart’s default elements and may show categories in the menu differently.
- Columns set the number of subcategories shown for a category. Some designs don’t use this OpenCart admin setting and show categories in the store menu differently.
- Category Sort Order is alphabetical by default. If you give categories numbers, they’re sorted numerically from the lowest to the highest number. This depends on the store’s design and can also be set up differently.
- Status sets whether the category is visible in the online store or only in the admin.
Design
The “Design” tab lets you change how the category is shown in individual parts of the OpenCart store. In most cases it isn’t used – the general settings are enough.