Categories Dressing

[gjh42]

I am using the Collapseable Categories Tree. I would like it so, when the main category is clicked the tree expands which exposes all the sub-categories.

Did you install the Uncollapsed Categories Tree files? You are not using that option, and you don't have stylesheet_chcategories.css which you would need to style the sidebox in that case. You cannot expand full trees without chcategories.

The added code can only affect whether a category is a link or not. Changing the top cats from <a> to <span> elements could affect styling, as anything which referenced "a" elements will no longer apply. Duplicate those rules and change a to span.

[sports guy]

Did you install the Uncollapsed Categories Tree files? You are not using that option, and you don't have stylesheet_chcategories.css which you would need to style the sidebox in that case. You cannot expand full trees without chcategories.

Yes this is where the problem is most likely going to lie. I did not install the uncollapsed tree (and therefore the stylesheet_chcategories.css) because for my use I need these to be collapse-able. The reason I need them collapse-able is I have way to many sub-categories. In the Shop by Designer category alone I have 47 sub-categories, so having these show sub-categories permanently is not good for my shop.

So my plan was to keep it a collapse-able tree, keep the top categories click-able, but does not redirect the corresponding category URL. But does still open to display sub-categories. So clicking the top categories in this collapse-able category tree, will only open and show the subcategories and nothing else.

(For now I am going to change it back to the way it was)

With my needs, am I missing the point of your statement above?

[gjh42]

The Uncollapsed Categories can be made collapseable with a few stylesheet rules (generally used for making it a flyout menu). The stock categories menu can only show the immediate active part of the subcat tree, when what I understand you want is all subcats, sub-subcats, etc. of the open top cat.

If the top categories are made not links, they are no longer clickable and cannot cause any action. What was the reason you do not want to be able to use the top cats as links?

[gjh42]

So clicking the top categories in this collapse-able category tree, will only open and show the subcategories and nothing else.

For this functionality, you need javascript. You would have to write any such script yourself, or find one you could adapt.

CSS and the uncollapsed option can easily turn the categories into a flyout menu which will show relevant subcats on hover.

[busyMom]

The one real bug it had only happened in IE7, so is pretty much irrelevant now.

Glenn, if this was the only bug keeping you from releasing V2.8, are you willing to make it live yet? In browsing through a bunch of pages of posts since the post where you released the Beta code, you indicated that you made some additional changes to your development version (links comes to mind). I'm just pulling this mod into a new site build and would like to start with the new stuff in V2.8.

Would also like to verify that either V2.7.3 or V2.8 are drop-in compatible with ZC 1.5.1. The tpl_categories.php were so different, I haven't yet verified that the differences were due to changes you made for functionality vs. ZC code level changes due to the ZC has migrated since the last time I worked with ZC 1.3.8 on a development site!

Thanks! Karen

[gjh42]

Either v2.7.3 or v28 will work with ZC v1.5.x, as tpl_categories.php has not changed in at least 5 years, maybe more.

There was one coding tweak I made to account for correct <ul> nesting in a rare case of subcategory display, and I have not set up the conditions to test that yet. Other than that, v2.8 is useable now, and I could post or send a current copy in a few days when I finish some urgent work. I do want to get that final test out of the way so I can update the mod in Plugins.

[uncharted]

Hi Glen,

Are there any extra features for version 2.8?

Best Regards

[gjh42]

v2.8 (added easier special category styling, image type setting, image function for links, optional flyout styling)

You can single out any category name for special styling, by adding a define in categories_dressing_defines.php instead of the old method of adding cases in tpl_categories.php.

You can reset the image extension used for image replacements with one define, instead of editing several PHP statements in other files.

The image replacement feature now works for all/special/new/featured links as well as category names.

Stylesheet rules for turning the expanded categories version into a flyout menu are included in the stylesheet, and only need to be uncommented to be used.

And some miscellaneous improvements to coding, and one or two new stock choices for varieties of category/subcategory level visibility.

[busyMom]

Stylesheet rules for turning the expanded categories version into a flyout menu are included in the stylesheet, and only need to be uncommented to be used.

Hi Glenn, FYI I think that this isn't in the beta version you had released. I've added flyouts using the three or so posts that you had instructions in, but I don't think the stylesheet that came in the beta 2.8 had this in it. I suspect it is one of the tweaks you've put into your development version since making the beta download available.

Flyouts are exactly what my next question was about. So I've tried a few different versions of the flyouts to see what works best for me and I think I'm actually looking for some kind of hybrid. I suspect it is do-able, I just can't put my head around the right incantation of what to change. Right now I have a couple of top categories that have two sub-cat levels, a few with only a single sub-cat level, and (intentionally) the bottom one with no sub-cat levels which has a header image. At first I thought that having just the top level cats showing in the listing by default looked too minimal, so I added the special flyout code to only show flyouts for the 2nd sub-cat level and always showing the top and 1st sub-cat levels. What happened when I did that, though, is my image for the last category moved below the fold. For my front page, I'd really like to keep that image at least partially above the fold, so I want to go back to all sub-cat flyouts when there is no active selection. Once a level has been selected, though, meaning there is now an active tree, I'd like to expand the displayed listing to include the active levels or tree. At this point, I feel like I've grabbed the potential customer interest enough that I don't mind the image moving below the fold with the expanded cats taking up more vertical space. The flyouts can still function the way they did before displaying the active tree, or they can just function relative to the expanded cats - this part doesn't matter to me so much - but I want to be able to show the active tree.

If the flyout / active level code isn't easily tweaked to allow this, one possible solution that is in the back of my mind is to use the flyouts with ch_categories sidebox when on the main page, but once navigated into the store, switch to the main categories sidebox which shows the expanded categories approach. Any ideas/thoughts on how to accomplish what I'm looking to do?

Thanks - Karen

[gjh42]

I think per-page stylesheets will be the best way to get what you want. Make a file index_home.css with rules that override the subcat flyout as desired; this will only be loaded for the homepage. You can also make other stylesheets with the same rules for any other pages where you want the flyouts modified, according to the notes in /includes/templates/template_default/css/CSSreadme.txt (it may be under /classic/ depending on your ZC version).