You can help users browse to the assets that are most relevant to them by effectively managing categories.

Categories appear under the quick search on the homepage.

Fig 1 - Categories on the Asset Bank Homepage

When a user clicks on a category they will be taken to a results screen similar to the search results.

Fig 2 – The Browse Categories results page

By adding subcategories, that is categories within categories, you allow users to further refine their results based upon the categories they need. As you can see in the example above, the user has navigated to the Animal category and now has the option of choosing that category’s subcategories (Mammals, Birds etc).

How to manage categories

• From the menu click Admin – Categories.

Fig 3 – Category Administration screen

To add a category

• Add your category name in the ‘New category name’ field and click ‘Add’.
  • Your category will appear at the bottom of the list.

To manage your category list

• You can move your category up and down the list by clicking the [up] or [down] link next to your category.
• Alternatively you can put your categories in alphabetical order by clicking the ‘Alphabetise categories’.

To edit your category details

• Click the [edit] link next to your category, you will be taken to the following screen

Fig 4 – The Update Category screen

From here you can

• Amend the title in the ‘Name’ field.
• Add a description that will appear at the top of the results screen for the category.

• Add a thumbnail image for your category, click the choose file button and select your image.
  
  
  Note: Your image will be automatically resized to the thumbnail dimensions (40px by 40px). For best results make sure your image is square and will still be useful at this size (i.e. if, when re-sized the thumbnail is hard to make out, then this will have a negative affect). We recommend that if you are adding a thumbnail image to one category, then you add one to all categories at the same level, resulting in more consistent formatting of the page they appear on.
• Give your users access to the Advanced Download options on this category by ticking the ‘Show Advanced Download’ tick box. (Note, users must also be in groups that have Advanced Download set in order to see this option at point of download.)
• Hide this category on the homepage by un-ticking the ‘Is browsable’.

To add subcategories

• Click the open link next to your category. You will be taken to the following screen.

Fig 5 – Managing a category’s subcategories

• Add the sub- category name in the ‘New category name’ field and click Add.
  • The  category will appear in your list of sub-categories.
• This screen behaves in exactly the same way as the main categories screen, follow the same process to edit details, move or delete your subcategories.

To move a category to within a sub-category

• Click move next to the category you wish to make a subcategory of another.

  • You will be taken to a screen similar to the following, it will list all your categories and subcategories

Fig 6 - The Move Category screen

• Select the category you wish to move the subcategory into.  

To delete a category

• In the category list, click the [x] next to your relevant category or sub category.
  
  

  Note: If you have assets in that category, you will be asked to specify which category you wish to move those assets to. You will be taken to a screen similar to the Move Category screen above. Select the relevant category and click Save

Extended Categories

If you have extended categories enabled on your Asset Bank (via the category-extension-assets-enabled setting in ApplicationSettings.properties) then you will see the following form when adding a new category...

A standard category will be as previously described, but selecting an extended category will enable you to associated extra information with the category you are creating but tying an asset to the category in question. If you have Asset Types enabled then, when creating an extended category, you will be allowed to create an instance of any type that you have marked as a category extension type in the Admin > Asset Types section. If you don't have asset types enabled then you will be able to associate a standard asset instance with the category in question.

Selecting the 'Extended Category' option will remove the category name field because the category's name will be automatically populated from the asset instance's name attribute when you create the associated asset.

Creating an extended category will result in a block of extra information being displayed at the top of the browse page for the category in question. The information displayed will be the values of attributes selected on the Admin > Attributes > Display Attributes > Category Extension Assets section for the associated asset. You will also see a link to view the full details of the asset.

Editing the associated asset's name will result in the name of the category being changed to match the asset's name. Deleting the extension asset will revert the category to a standard one.