Managing Categories and Subcategories

[hubcapsusa]

Re: Managing Categories and Subcategories

That is great. Thank you Rick.

[veniceninja]

Re: Managing Categories and Subcategories

We think that you should make the tree like the previous version. Honestly, that was the easiest to use since it mimics the store front tree. This is huge, and it was one of the best characteristics we found on miva vs. other carts. We are having a huge headache having to look up the category codes to manipulate assigned products. It was MUCH easier to be able to navigate the admin tree, click assigned products, and edit / sort them accordingly. Right now, we have to find the specific category code for each, and figure out which is the parent, etc etc. Not happy about this at all.

The major flaw I see with your mockup, is that if a store has 4-5 subcategory levels, it's going to easily go off the page on the right. We have 70,000+ products on our website. Your mockup may work for a small store, but it's definitely complicated on a store w/ 100+ categories / subcategories. Please make the navigation easy to use as the previous version. We shouldn't have to navigate an odd left-to-right interface and sort through each time we are looking for a category. I understand you're trying to make it prettier and easy to use, but that style doesn't even work well with Microsoft Windows, and it wouldn't work well here. We would like to be able to click specific catagories and their subcatgories at will. This is much more efficient. PLEASE make an effort to add this change in the specified manner. We've had Miva since version 2, but we are already thinking about moving to another cart as MIVA 9 has become more difficult for us to navigate. It's slowed down our work process quite a bit when updating products and categories.

[Krsullivan]

Re: Managing Categories and Subcategories

Veniceninja,

Well said! we also prefer side menu navigation that remains on the screen, and categories that are vertical and not horizontal.

Kevin
www.automotiveworkwear.com

[lesliekirk]

Re: Managing Categories and Subcategories

Veniceninja,

Well said! we also prefer side menu navigation that remains on the screen, and categories that are vertical and not horizontal.

Kevin
www.automotiveworkwear.com

I wish the forum had a Facebook style Like button. I'm also wondering how the mockup Rick showed will work affectively on a phone?

[Rick Wilson]

Re: Managing Categories and Subcategories

So one thing is certain, the left side navigation is not coming back. But with that said, I am still struggling to get my head around what's really that different between the old way and the new (yet to be released) way.

That'll obviously be easier once 9.0001 is out in a couple weeks.

Kevin or Veniceninja if either of you (or Leslie) are willing, I'd love for you to talk with Zeph on our side (once you have 9.0001) and walk him through your pain points.

We are committed to solving your pain and committed to no left nav (at least not the old way/one). I'm sure we'll find a solution.

[lesliekirk]

Re: Managing Categories and Subcategories

I'm more than willing - I have store dev site that will be perfect to try it out in. Plus I can get feedback from the store owner too.

Leslie

[veniceninja]

Re: Managing Categories and Subcategories

I'd be very happy to provide feedback and work with everyone to test any upcoming changes. Feel free to contact me at the number below.

Tony
626-336-3400

[Krsullivan]

Re: Managing Categories and Subcategories

Hello Rick,

I would also be happy work with you. Yes, LOL, we all know the nav is not coming back I'm working on a detailed email weekend for you, which should provide some interesting info No more negative comments from me on the forum.

Kevin
www.automotiveworkwear.com

[whona]

Re: Managing Categories and Subcategories

I am stuck trying to sort categories...where is the placement code? I don't need the ascending/descending option, I need the numeric placement.

NEVER MIND...I should have known that little triangles means to show the display order.

[Mark Hood]

Re: Managing Categories and Subcategories

I am stuck trying to sort categories...where is the placement code? I don't need the ascending/descending option, I need the numeric placement.

It will popup a warning just to tell you it has to change the display order you've selected before showing the numbers.

[whona]

Re: Managing Categories and Subcategories

Thanks Mark, I appreciate it.

Anyone notice how sometimes you have to hit "UPDATE" (usually on the right) to save something, other times you have to hit a Disk Image (usually on the left)?

[jsisk]

Re: Managing Categories and Subcategories

Just wanted to clarify the function of the new category management function in MM9 vs MM5.5...

At times, we make changes to a series of sub-categories that requires modifying code in say the footer or header of each sub-category in a parent category. (could be dozens of sub-categories) This is usually a fairly quick and simple process of opening the tree on the left, click on the first category, paste the code and save. Click on the next, paste code and save, etc. Takes a few seconds for each sub-category.

It looks like the new pop-out menu for the catalog is going to take you to the page to make the change them make you go back through the whole menu again clicking on each level to get to the next sub-category? If so, this is a huge step backwards in productivity.

[Rick Wilson]

Re: Managing Categories and Subcategories

Jim,

Why wouldn't you just use a CSV import for those changes?

[jsisk]

Re: Managing Categories and Subcategories

Jim,

Why wouldn't you just use a CSV import for those changes?

Because Excel doesn't play nice with fields loaded with punctuation, HTML, CSS, URLs, and Miva Script.
It is also easier to edit in a text box within Miva than a field in Excel.

We do use the CSV import/export frequently for updates, but there are also many that do not work well that way.

[Rick Wilson]

Re: Managing Categories and Subcategories

Jim,

You might check that again, our latest Imports should handle those things without issue (PR7 and older didn't, PR8 and newer do).

But I'll talk to Dev to see if there's another way to assist in your workflow.