Catalog Navigation

Users navigate the site content through a combination of the Browser control and the NavigationTabs control.

When the user first enters the main page no catalog is selected. The navigation tabs display the catalogs available to the user.

The main content area displays a list of featured products. These products are chosen by the site based on a combination of site configuration and the attributes of the products in the catalog.

The number of products shown in the list of featured products can be changed by the developer. The list of featured products can be configured to select products for display using one of the following methods:

  • Select products by Ad using a PageGroup with a context of "Main" and slot context of featured product.

  • Select products by discount using the same targeting context as ads.

  • Select products by catalog which displays the list of root products (products without parent categories).

    After the user selects a catalog, the Browse navigation control displays the title Browse Categories the top of the control. Below this, it shows the root categories.

    There are three different templates for displaying product information in various areas of the site. This section discusses products shown in the medium template. For more information about product display templates see Product Catalog Display.

    As users drill into catalog categories, the browser control displays their location in the catalog hierarchy and shows the categories below their present location. The products in the current category are shown in the main content area.

    The site can distinguish between authenticated users and anonymous users, and use that information to display different catalogs to the user. As the site is configured the two catalog sets are identical. The catalog sets are specified, and can be changed by editing the web.config file.

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