AbleCommerce Shopping Cart Software

Is there an easy way to set a different left sidebar for a specific category page? I thought I saw this solution somewhere, but I am unable to find it.

Example:
Category A - Left sidebar A
Category B - Left sidebar B
Category C - Left sidebar C
Categories D-F - Left sidebar D

Right now, our left sidebars are the same for every category. They are static links using HTML and CSS.

Thank you!

One pretty easy way would be to take your current category page and make several copies. If we assume you're using Category.aspx [Category Grid (Deep Item Display)], make several copies of that file in the root folder of your site. Open each in your editor and change the <NAME> parameter so you'll know which one is which.

Then, go to CATALOG >> BROWSE and open your category tree and click on the edit icon for each of the categories. There is a dropdown near the bottom for Display Page. Once you've created your new pages and named them, they'll each display in the Display Page list.

Next you'll want to create new sidebar scriptlets through the WEBSITE >> CONTENT AND LAYOUT page.

Then you can browse to each category and edit the left sidebar and choose your new sidebar.

Another approach would be to create a custom ConLib control that looked at the category name or categoryID and displayed different content. But you wouldn't be able to edit the content of the ConLib through the Able Admin screens.

I've tried this, but the new category page doesn't show up as a selection

Here are the steps I've taken and it works for me.

• 1. Create your new Sidebar scriptlets
  2. Make copies the appropriate category page
  3. Log in as admin and browse to the store
  4. Select one of the categories which should have the different sidebar
  5. Scroll to the bottom of the page and select EDIT MODE
  6. Change the Display Page to use one of the copies of your category page
  7. Click UPDATE THEME
  8. The Editor Zone layout drop downs will likely have changed back to the original category defaults.
  9. Update the layout drop downs to the correct options and select one of your new sidebar scriptlets for the left sidebar
  10. Repeat steps 4 through 9 for each category you want to customize

See if those steps work for you.

That's pretty much what I did, but I used the footer instead of the sidebar. My problem is that the new category page does not come up as an available display page.

Never mind. I just did it. It was probably because I was working on this last night when I was tired. I just scratched everything I already did and simply tried again, and it WORKS!

I finf that when I get stumped with something, just give up for the moment and come back later or the next day with a fresh mind, and many times it seems simple.

Thanks for your help,

Scott Kahle

This is what I see at step 6:
You'll see the multiple copies of the category grid page.

I just wanted to ad that what I am trying to do is add unique content to select pages for SEO purposes. Rather than just have the product summaries and standard side bars and footers for ALL categories. I thought it would be good to have custom content for each page that is SEO optimized. This gives the search engines something more to look at than just pictures and summarries.

Perhaps Able should add a section to page structures for such content? That way you could simply enter your text in the box on the admin page of each caterfory or product.

Just food for thought

For custom category content have you tried using the category description? Here's a recent topic about modifying the category grid page to display the description above the grid of products.

viewtopic.php?f=42&t=16578

The problem is the description is ABOVE the products. I don't want users (people) that find my category page to be hit with a big glob of text. That would lead to a high bounce rate, I would think. Shoppers want to see pictures of products and short descriptions they can click on for more info. Any editorial content should be below that or off to the side. I prefer below.

I can understand your concern. You can easily move the category description to display under the product grid and paging controls.

The last few lines of the standard CategoryGridPage3.ascx looks like this:
Change it to this:
and change the BindPage() in the .cs file as in the other post:
That will display the description at the bottom of the content area.

Thanks,

I am using CategoryGridPage4, but I tried it anyway and broke it. I changed it back.

Would it be different for CategoryPage4?

CategoryGridPage4.ascx is already displaying the description - only at the top. Moving it to the bottom is very easy. Look for code in the ASCX page:
Cut that code and paste it just above the at the bottom of the page. You'll probably want to put the <br /><br /> line above of the <asp:Literal> line for formatting. The code is already in the CS file to grab the category description if it exists.

Thanks a lot!

I think I want to reformat the whole website a bit now. Does anyone know how to set up Windows 7 as a web server?

You can turn on IIS (the web server) on Windows 7 through the control panel "Turn Windows features on or off". See:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/libr ... 31911.aspx or

http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows- ... ows-vista/

Thanks

Which specific features are needed?

Also, how do I get my store onto my local computer and start running it locally?

Thanks again,

Scott Kahle