Catalog Creation
Audience
Site Admins
Summary
Catalogs are useful to organize a complex list of items, as in a program directory. See an example at https://www.ncdcr.gov/things-to-do/place-finder.
A catalog consists of 3 kinds of items (see screenshot):
- Parent Categories (a taxonomy term). Aim for 3-6 parent categories.
- Secondary Categories (a taxonomy term that must have a parent). For example, under the parent Colors, secondary categories might be "red" and "blue." Aim for 3-10 secondary categories within each parent category.
- Catalog Items (a content type, that usually links to a page on the website). Each secondary category should have multiple catalog items.
Procedure
- Determine your parent and secondary categories, and your catalog items. Each catalog item must have at least one parent and one secondary category.
- Ask Digital Solutions to set up a catalog for you. This provides you with the basis to add your categories and catalog items.
- Go to Structure > Taxonomy > Catalog Categories and click add terms to create your first Parent Category. Name is the only required field (but that may change in the future).
- Once you've created a few parent categories, create terms for the secondary categories. The only difference for secondary categories is that you must select the correct Parent term under Relations. Do not choose a secondary term as the parent term, only a primary category term.
- Finally, add items to the catalog: Go to Add Content > Catalog Item. Enter a Title and select a Catalog (required fields). Catalog Categories are also required. You can add multiple categories by clicking on the "Add another item" button, and you can add a new secondary category by selecting a primary category (the first element) and choosing "<Add new item>" from the secondary category (second element). Optional fields are description, links, contact and location information. Try to be consistent for each catalog item. Save.
- To visit the catalog, go to Admin > Structure > Taxonomy, click on 'list terms' for 'Catalog.' Select the term that matches your catalog.