Categories with other Subcategories and Products

[ReginaStelling]

Hi!
Not sure how subcategories are supposed to work...but I have a category with other subcategories AND products. Looks like the products are displayed first before the subcategories. Is that how it's supposed to work? Would it be possible to mix them all together?? Or would that be illogical?

Also...on the left hand toolbar, when I click on a Category...is there someway to suppress the products listed under each category? I've got too many products & it looks junky.

THANKS!

[JohnW]

It will mix them together if you have a sub under a category with products. You might think about putting the products into a sub of it's own under the category and that may make it easier to understand for your customers.

[ReginaStelling]

Hey John,
YES! That's probably what I'm going to do... If I have ANY subcategories, I'm not going to have products mixed in...Just looks to sloppy & unorganized. In order to make them sort properly, I have created subcategories, even if it only has 1 product in it!!

Does that make sense? Is that what everybody else is doing??

[JohnW]

Actually It would be best if you don't have just one or two items in a sub unless there is no other way to do it. Or, if you will only have it that way for a short time, as in you are burning down an inventory and then you can put them in the special category.

My site had the sub categories break on it over a year ago and I have just run with main categories. Bottom line is I couldn’t fix it and I was waiting to redo the site. That is what I’m working on now. But, I do a pretty good level of sales and no one has seemed to mind it because they like the way everything is organized. I thought it was going to be a disaster, but it really isn’t. I get a lot of compliments on the site from my customers.

So, don’t sweat it as long as you have a logical and easy to understand flow in your categories and items.

You will be amazed at how much you will learn about this system over time. You might feel lost about some things now and you will always have something stump you but it is an interesting ride to say the least. I have had some real eye opening experiences in the last month.