Managing Categories and Sections

Magazine allows you to place articles in one or more categories, and in a single section.  Both categories and section are administered from this page.

Categories/Sections List

Selecting Categories & Sections from the Linkbar will present you with a list of the categories/sections defined in Catalog.

Toolbar

In conjuction with selecting one or more checkboxes in the list, the Toolbar provides the following functions:

• Publish the selected category/section(s).
• Unpublish the selected category/section(s).
• Edit a selected category/section.
• Add a new category/section
• Delete the selected category/section(s).  Please note that in order to delete, you must remove all catalog items from the category/section(s).

Filters

You can filter the list by the following:

• Part of a string in the title of a category/section.
• The published state of the category/sections.
• The type of category (Article or Author), or the publication in which to create sections.

List Interaction

You can interact with the list of category/sections in the following ways:

• Click the linked column headers to change the sort order of the list and to reverse the sort direction.
• In the Title column, click the first link to edit the category/section.
• In the Published column, click the icons to toggle between published and unpublished states.
• In the Order column, click the up and down arrow icons to weight the ordering in different directions.
• Use the list pagination features as you would for any other component.

Related Information

The table also shows how many articles have been created in each category/section.

Batch Update (Categories Only)

You are able to batch change the parent that categories belong to.  Select any number of categories from the list, then select the new parent  that you want them to belong to, then click Process.

Quick Add

The quick add feature allows you to generate many new categories/sections in one operation.

Then type as many titles in the text box, each title on a new line.  Click Add and the categories/sections will be created automatically for you.

Adding or Editing a Category/Section

Toolbar

The Toolbar provides the following functions:

• Save the current item but as a new copy of the original item (Save To Copy).  Any change made are saved with the new item, not the original.
• Save the current item and then returns you to add another (Save & New).
• Save the current item and return to the list.
• Apply the changes made to the current item and return to the same page to continue edits.
• Cancel the edits without saving and return to the list.

Main Page

The add/edit page is divided into two main areas: a Title Block and a tabbed section.

The Title Block allows you to manage the following fields:

• Title - the title for the category/section.
• Alias - The alias for the category/section used in URLs when Search Engine Friendly URLs are activated.
• Subtitle - An optional subtitle for the category/section.

General Tab

This tab allows you to manage the following fields:

• Description - The body text or desciption.
• Published - Allows you to set the item to a published or unpublished state.
• Category Parent - (Categories only) The parent category under which this category will be placed in the tree.
• Order - the weighted order for the item.  Negative numbers rise to the top of lists, and positive numbers sink to the bottom.  The order values do not need to be sequential.

Media Tab

This tab you to manage the following Media settings for the category/section:

• Thumb - An option image path that could relate to a thumb sized image.
• Small - An option image path that could relate to a small sized image.
• Medium - An option image path that could relate to a medium sized image.
• Large - An option image path that could relate to a large sized image.
• Full Size - An option image path that could relate to a full size sized image.
• Caption - An optional caption that will be used for the any of the other preset sizes listed above.
• Gallery Folder - An optional path that will be examined for images to use in a popup gallery.  Images to be used for thumbs must be prefixed with "t_" and only images with thumbs are displayed.
• Custom Code - Optional custom code to be used for media such as Flash or other web objects.

For the five preset sizes, you can use the Media Manager to select the image by clicking the Select button beside each field.

This tab you to manage the following Map settings (supported by Google Maps) for the category/section:

• Longitude (X) - The latitude (X coordinate) for the map point.
• Latitude (Y) - The longitude (Y coordinate) for the map point.
• Map Width - The display width of the map (in pixels).
• Map Height - The display height of the map (in pixels).
• Initial Scale - The initial map scale (smaller numbers show more of the Earth).
• Map Zoom Control - Whether to display the zoom controls on the map.  A number of variations are available.
• Map Type Control - Whether to display the map type controls (Map, Satellite, etc).
• Map Overview Control - Whether to display an overview (birds-eye view) map within the main map.
• Map Scale Control - Whether to show the scale controls on the map.

If you have a Google Map key defined for your Administrator path (because Google looks at the path, you will need to obtain a map key for both the website and the administrator), then a simple location finder is provided beside the map fields.  Type in an address and click the Find button.  Use the zoom controls on the map to fine tune your location.  Pan around by clicking on the map and dragging it around (while holding the mouse button down).  Move the map marker by clicking on it and dragging it around (while holding the mouse button down, then release the button at the desired location).  When you are happy that the marker is in the correct location, click the Use This Point button and the coordinates will be updated.

Parameters Tab

This tab allows you to manage the following parameters for the catgories:

• Title - Hide or show the category title.
• Subtitle - Hide or show the category subtitle.
• Description - Hide or show the category description.
• Jump Links - Hide or show internal page jumps to sub-categories.
• Map Link - Hide or show a link that will point to a map page that assembles all of the mapping points from all the articles in the category.

This tab allows you to manage the following parameters for articles that are displayed on the same page as the category:

• Show Articles - Hide or show the articles.
• Show Article Title - Hide or show the article titles.
• Show Article Subtitle - Hide or show the article subtitles.
• Show Article Summary - Hide or show the article summaries.
• Show Article Body - Hide or show the article bodies.
• Article Ordering - The order to display articles on the page.
• Show Article Media - Which of the preset media types to display with each item in the list.

This tab allows you to manage the following general parameters:

• Print Button - Whether to display "print this page".
• Email Button - Whether to display "email to friend".
• Button Images - Whether to display the print and email actions as images (otherwise they are display as text links).

Metadata Tab

This tab you to manage the following settings for the category/section:

• Keywords - An optional set of keywords (separated by commas) that will be inserted into the actual web page (good for Search Engine Optimization).
• Description - An optional description that will be inserted into the actual web page (good for Search Engine Optimization).  This description will usually be display as a part of the search results in search engines.
• External Reference - An optional external reference to an external datasource.

The path is built up from the alias values of all parent categories going back up the tree.

Additional Comments

Articles and authors are able to be mapped into one or more categories, and the category tree can have an unlimited depth.  Categories are also global in scope.  That means that different articles from different publications can be grouped together by using categories.

Articles can only be placed in one section.  Unlike categories, sections are defined separately for each publication and can be used to group articles within a common theme within the publication or issue.