Categorizing products in categories and sub-categories?
I'm thinking about the best way to structure products in a new Umbraco site (I'm in the planning stage). Here are the prerequisites:
This site will have companies/brands and these companies/brands will have products/offers.
Products/offers will be categorized with a system that has two levels: main category and sub category. An example: a shirt will probably be categorized with "Clothes and fashion" as the main category and "Menswear" as the sub category.
How do I set up the node structure in Umbraco? A product/offer node can, on one hand, be sorted under the category + sub category:
- Clothes and fashion -- Menswear --- The actual product/offer, in this case a shirt
On the other hand it could be sorted directly under company/brand.
- Acme Jeans -- The actual product/offer, in this case a shirt
These products/offers will be displayed on the site on a number of different pages - it could be displayed on the start page as a quick link/banner. It will turn up as a search hit if the user searches and it's a match. It will also be possible to browse (using the categories/sub categories) and find the product that way.
Having the products sorted directly under the company/brand is very convenient for the administrator. Whenever a certain client want's to add a new product or alter one, the administrator just locates the company name and there it is. The client name is the primary key from the admin perspective (to use some database analogies). On the other hand, the public structure (the way visitors will browse) will be by category/sub category. So setting up the node structure to reflect the categories would be convenient when it comes to getting nice URL:s, writing XSLT-scripts and so on.
I will need to store information about both companies/brands and category/sub category for a product. But I can only set up the node structure to reflect one of them. The other one will have to be implemented using a selectbox or something like that.
Some advice from the Umbraco braintrust would be much appreciated since setting this up right the first time will save me a lot of headaches in later stages!
What about using tagging instead of category structure?
one can tag a product for with Clothes, Fashion and Mensware. Suddenly you have a very flexible solution. I.e. if you wish to do an easter special you just add it as a tag to the products in the campaign .
You can then store the products under each supplier.
This would also mean that one product could potentially be categorized under several categories/sub categories. I had planned that a product should only be categorized under one category/sub category.
Categorizing products in categories and sub-categories?
I'm thinking about the best way to structure products in a new Umbraco site (I'm in the planning stage). Here are the prerequisites:
How do I set up the node structure in Umbraco? A product/offer node can, on one hand, be sorted under the category + sub category:
- Clothes and fashion
-- Menswear
--- The actual product/offer, in this case a shirt
On the other hand it could be sorted directly under company/brand.
- Acme Jeans
-- The actual product/offer, in this case a shirt
These products/offers will be displayed on the site on a number of different pages - it could be displayed on the start page as a quick link/banner. It will turn up as a search hit if the user searches and it's a match. It will also be possible to browse (using the categories/sub categories) and find the product that way.
Having the products sorted directly under the company/brand is very convenient for the administrator. Whenever a certain client want's to add a new product or alter one, the administrator just locates the company name and there it is. The client name is the primary key from the admin perspective (to use some database analogies). On the other hand, the public structure (the way visitors will browse) will be by category/sub category. So setting up the node structure to reflect the categories would be convenient when it comes to getting nice URL:s, writing XSLT-scripts and so on.
I will need to store information about both companies/brands and category/sub category for a product. But I can only set up the node structure to reflect one of them. The other one will have to be implemented using a selectbox or something like that.
Some advice from the Umbraco braintrust would be much appreciated since setting this up right the first time will save me a lot of headaches in later stages!
/Thomas Kahn
What about using tagging instead of category structure?
one can tag a product for with Clothes, Fashion and Mensware. Suddenly you have a very flexible solution. I.e. if you wish to do an easter special you just add it as a tag to the products in the campaign .
You can then store the products under each supplier.
Interesting!
How is tagging implemented in Umbraco?
I see how this would be advantageous if you use search as the main way to locate a certain product, but what if the user want's to send an email to a friend with a nice URL to the product page, http://www.mycompany.com/clothes-and-fashion/menswear/this-awesome-shirt?
This would also mean that one product could potentially be categorized under several categories/sub categories. I had planned that a product should only be categorized under one category/sub category.
/Thomas Kahn
Tagging is implemented as a datatype, Tags, which you can add to the product document type. When adding a new product the user can create tags for it.
If you store products under each brand the url would be http://www.mycompany.com/acme-jeans/this-awsome-shirt.aspx
The tag datatype is used in the blog package if you wish to see an example.
h.
If you're looking for grouping logic using XSLT, check out the following.
http://our.umbraco.org/wiki/how-tos/xslt-useful-tips-and-snippets/grouping-output
Cheers,
Nik
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