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SP3 Categories 3rd level down loses parents in category list
Rank: Member
Joined: 4/30/2007(UTC)
Posts: 383
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Symptom: Create a category, subcategory, and a sub-sub category.
Click on the category, subcategory all is fine. Click on the sub sub and the root categories vanish.
This may be a theme thing, not sure, but I can't find any way to make it work.
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Rank: Member
Joined: 5/24/2004(UTC)
Posts: 4,147
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No, this is the way the category module was built - to conserve drill-down space - which is much like the way it worked in BVC 2004. I get a lot of complaints about it. I had thought SP3 was going to update it for some reason, but not so much. |
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Rank: Member
Joined: 4/30/2007(UTC)
Posts: 383
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Let's hope Marcus and Co address it going forward.
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Rank: Member
Joined: 3/1/2006(UTC)
Posts: 1,142
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Sorry it was not address. Please clarify exactly how you want it to work so that we can try and get it in the pipeline for SP4. I'm assuming that you want a way for it to display all roots, down to any number of levels? |
Justin Etheredge
Senior Software Engineer
BVSoftware |
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Rank: Member
Joined: 11/5/2003(UTC)
Posts: 1,786
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The current side bar menu is designed to show up to three levels at a time. The logic behind not showing every level is that we (as software designers) have to account for the case where someone has 99 or more levels of nested categories. Most store layouts have a very small fixed width for showing menus and three seemed like the optimal number to:
a) allow full navigation
b) fit within a limited width column
c) work with any number of nested levels
Here's how the system determines which categories to show in plain english:
1) See if the current category has a parent other than the root. If it does start listing all the categories that are on the same "level" as the parent of the current category.
2) When you reach the parent of the current category look for all of it's children (which includes the current category). Render out the list of the current category and all other categories on the same "level"
3) When you render the current category check to see if it has any children. If it does, show them.
So, what happens when you get to the "end" of the category tree is that only two levels are rendered. The parent-level from the current category and the peers of the current category. There are no children to display.
How would you ideally like the system to work?
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Rank: Member
Joined: 4/30/2007(UTC)
Posts: 383
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Marcus, I think maybe this is better answered by Cliff, but possibly could you extend the current feature you have for "all categories" IE, let the admin determine the number for those that are displayed when roots/parents/childs are displayed.
In our case we just wanted that 3rd layer to display underneath..we weren't going any deeper. Is that a simple change in the code from 2 to 3 somewhere?
I like the functionality of being able to set the number if you are doing all categories with subs, but we're not doing that. It would be great if on the admin side we had that feature on the child/subs.
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Rank: Member
Joined: 12/23/2003(UTC)
Posts: 909
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Options are the best. I would like that category tree does not collapse, however provide the option to collapse via admin.
not collapsing allows for greater/easier control of the styling via css with Parent, Sub, current/active classes in the UL lists.
It's understandable that you have to compensate for merchants that may toss 99 sub categories in, but I feel that you should also compensate for merchants that are correctly organizing their stores or have catalogs that aren't too big, but still need to drill to a 4th selection.
Educating a merchant that has 99 subcategories is easy! |
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Rank: Member
Joined: 5/24/2004(UTC)
Posts: 4,147
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I think we last discussed this here, but I cant find the thread where we discussed the solutions in depth. Matt and C have the right idea. Currently, if the user starts on the home page and clicks Category Level One, then Sub-Category Level One, then Sub-Category Level Two, everything except for those last two sub-categories and siblings disappear. Practically every merchant I've ever worked with has asked me why it's 'broken'. * It's too easy for the user to get lost because the navigation has changed - there suddenly being no reference point - so it's more likely that they'll abandon the category/store.
* I think Matt nicely sums up what we've been talking about for the last three years. Make collapsing the rest of the list an option. Otherwise, let us drill down indefinitely.
* With some creative styling, we could easily browse 10 levels deep without pushing out the column (not that you'd want to).
* Collapsing parent category siblings seems like a decent option, but I don't think collapsing the root categories, or categories in the drill-down chain, by default is a good idea. |
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Rank: Member
Joined: 4/30/2007(UTC)
Posts: 383
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This is actually something we'd love to see patched on an optional basis. We're willing to be the crash test dummies, but working on the site tonight I just see no way we can go to a deep structure without it. It's incredibly limiting. Is there any chance this could be written to at least allow a 3rd full level?
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Rank: Member
Joined: 3/1/2004(UTC)
Posts: 145
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Any new discussion on this topic? Is BV going to address this?
Thnaks
Rich
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Rank: Member
Joined: 12/23/2003(UTC)
Posts: 909
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No idea, but it's more and more apparent after testing in live environments with customers and suppliers that it's a usability issue and it should be fixed. |
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Rank: Member
Joined: 7/14/2004(UTC)
Posts: 254
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I understand Marcus's issues with "limitations" as above but I think the current solution is not great.
Imagine navigating Windows Explorer if all the siblings and ancestors weren't retained. That said, store developers do need to be realistic about the practical limits of the UI when designing the hierachical structure (categorization) of their items.
So far as indenting goes, it might be useful for some (say those who don't want to go near CSS) if this was driven by a variable (in the admin?) for X no. of characters (ie: spaces).
Just some thoughts.
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Rank: Member
Joined: 1/10/2005(UTC)
Posts: 714
Thanks: 14 times
Was thanked: 1 time(s) in 1 post(s)
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I go 4 deep and it hate after going 3 deep how it limits. Makes it hard to go from one "department" to another in my situation. For now I may add a site wide menu in my header for only departments so they are always accessible.
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Rank: Member
Joined: 12/23/2003(UTC)
Posts: 909
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Hey Bryan, are we operating the same store without realizing it? LOL....
toss me an email when you get a chance |
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Rank: Member
Joined: 3/1/2004(UTC)
Posts: 145
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Marcus/Justin,
Is this somehting that is going to be addressed by BV or do I have to have someone do a mod?
Thanks
Rich
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Rank: Member
Joined: 11/5/2003(UTC)
Posts: 1,786
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Rank: Member
Joined: 3/1/2004(UTC)
Posts: 145
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I've had a new custom control made for my category tree, I'm looking for some feedback. The site is still a work in progress but the control is just about done. http://www.nationalfleetparts.com/ Any feedback would be appreciated. Thanks Rich
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Rank: Member
Joined: 3/3/2006(UTC)
Posts: 1,737
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Clicking on the left hand menu resulted in a run-time error if you miss the tiny plus sign next to a parent. Children seem to work OK.
I hate plus signs that do something other than what the link does. |
Optimists invent airplanes,
Pessimists buy parachutes. |
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