Catalogs, Categories, and Items
The Catalog DataSource is a database of Items (which could be products, services, information or whatever) organized into Categories.
Adding a Catalog DataSource
- Click the Pages button
- Click the DataSources link
- In the red area, enter a name for your DataSource (for example, Kitchen Cabinets), choose the Data Type Catalog and click Add DataSource
Adding Categories
- Click the Manage Categories link
- Click the + Add Category link
Each category can have a name, description and 1 picture. Click
Save at the bottom when you're done.
Adding Items
Once you Open the Catalog DataSource you want, you can click the + Add Item link. There you can specify all the item details.
- Name: Give the item a name to easily identify it
- Category: You can put the item into a category
- Description: Fully describe the item here
- Short Description: Give a summary of the item; this is used while displaying a list of items; if you don't specify anything here, the system will use your longer description
- Click Save at the bottom
Associating Pictures with your Item
Once you've added the item, you can click the Item View link at the top. Here you can click the Pictures > link. The Catalog Item Pictures area shows 2 panels: the left shows you the pictures that are in your library and the right shows you pictures that are associated with your Item.
Simply find the images you want in the left panel and click the corresponding Add Image to Item > link to associate that image with your item.
Setting Price Points for an Item
Price Points are simply different prices for different versions of an item. For example, you may have a item that is an radio and then you'll have two price points, one for model number X and another for model number Y. Each model would have different feature that makes one more expensive than the other (for example, one radio might actually be a digital radio and the other would be analog).
While you are in Item View mode for a particular item, click the link for Price Points. Now enter a price for the item and an optional description. Click Add and you're done!
Adding Item Options
Item Options are really useful for specifying a series of parameters for your item that a site visitor must choose when they are adding the item to the shopping cart.
This is best explained with an example. Say you are selling shoes on your website and you need to add options to choose the size as well as the color. In this case you would add two options. The size option would have values 8, 8.5, 9, 9.5, 10 and the color option would have values Red, Green, Blue.
So, to do this you simply click on the Item Options link from the item view mode in the catalog datasource. Here, you specify the option name, in this case Color. Next, you enter all the values, separated by commas, so this would be Red, Green, Blue. Click add, and then you will see it will generate a drop down menu with all your values. Now you can navigate to this particular item in the view mode on the site and you'll see the item options listed for each price point. Simple, isn't it!