Feature Pack 5Feature Pack 6

Header and Footer (B2C)

The header and footer are consistent throughout the store. The header contains the catalog browsing menu, the search field with the top category navigation menu, the mini shopping cart, and multiple links to various store pages. The footer includes other links to store pages, such as the site map page and the store locator page. Both the header and footer contain e-Marketing Spots.

Elements of the Header and Footer

Figure 1: Header

Header screen capture
Figure 2: Footer

Footer screen capture

E-Marketing Spots

You can display default content, or web activities, or both, in any of the following e-Marketing Spots on this page:
E-Marketing Spot name and details Supported default content types Supported Web activities
1 HeaderStoreLogo_Content

Recommended usage: Display your store logo in the top-left corner of every store page.
  • Content - Yes
  • Categories - No
  • Catalog entries - No
 Typically, Web activities are not used for this e-Marketing Spot because it displays the logo; however, you can run Web activities that use the following actions:
2 HeaderCenter_Content
Recommended usage: Display a small ad in the center of the header on every store page.
Note: This e-Marketing Spot exists in the store page, but not in Management Center. To use the e-Marketing Spot, create the e-Marketing Spot in Management Center.
  • Content - Yes
  • Categories - No
  • Catalog entries - No
 Run Web activities that use the following actions:
3 HeaderBanner_Content

Recommended usage: Display a page-wide banner ad in the header on every store page.

Dimensions:
  • Width (default): 951 pixels
  • Height: Variable
  • Content - Yes
  • Categories - No
  • Catalog entries - No
 Run Web activities that use the following actions:
9 FooterRight_Content

Recommended usage: Display links to store pages that are not in the default footer, such as an FAQ page or a Shipping Policy page.
  • Content - Yes
  • Categories - No
  • Catalog entries - No
 Run Web activities that use the following actions:

Standard functions on this page

4 Catalog browsing menu
Displays a pop-up menu featuring department and category names, which helps customers browse through the catalog.
5 Standard header links and information
Customers can click the following links to navigate to specific storefront pages:
  • My Account
  • Sign In/Register for both registered and unregistered customers or Sign Out for registered customers
  • Contact Us
6 Mini shopping cart
Displays the number and the value of the products in the shopping cart. Customers can hover over this area to display a pop-up window.
Mini shopping cart functionality:
  • When a customer selects a product to add to cart, a message displays at the bottom of the mini shopping cart to confirm that the product was successfully added.

    Feature Pack 6 or laterTo improve the speed of storefront interactions, the confirmation message displays the details of the product that was added by reusing the details that are already loaded on the page. For example, when a customer adds to cart when viewing Quick Info, the confirmation message reuses the product details already available from the Quick Info Page.

  • When a customer hovers over the mini shopping cart area, a drop-down window displays a list of products that are in the cart. Feature Pack 6 or later
    • To improve page load time, the product details are retrieved through Ajax requests only when a customer hovers over the cart. If the contents of the cart change, then the drop-down window is rebuilt. If the contents of the cart do not change, the drop-down window displays the previously built product details.
    • To improve catalog browsing time, the order subtotal and number of products in the cart are tracked in the browser cookies.
  • Feature Pack 6 or laterCookies are updated only when a product is added, updated, or removed. By tracking the details in the browser cookies, unnecessary server calls to retrieve cart information are eliminated.
8 Footer links
Customers can click the links to navigate to various store pages.

Optional functions on this page

The following functions can be enabled or disabled for the Aurora starter store by using the Store Management tool in Management Center. For more information, see Selecting store functions.

5 Optional header links
Customers can click the following links to navigate to specific storefront pages:
  • Wish List
  • Language/Currency, which displays a pop-up window for customers to select the preferred language and currency to display on the storefront.
  • Store Locator
7 Search
Customers can use this field to search for a product. For more information on search, see ../../common/refs/../../com.ibm.commerce.aurora-starterstore.doc/concepts/csmsearch_dup.html

Catalog browsing menus

The browsing menu adjusts automatically to accommodate both a two-level catalog hierarchy and a three-level catalog hierarchy.

Figure 3: Example of a two-level catalog hierarchy

Catalog browsing menu screen capture
Figure 4: Example of a three-level catalog hierarchy

Three-level catalog hierarchy screen capture

Elements of the header pop-up windows


Header pop-up windows screen capture

Full size screen capture

Header pop-up windows

The header contains links to the following two pop-up windows:
1 Language/Currency
Customers can select their preferred language and currency. This link is visible only if your store supports two or more languages.
2 Mini shopping cart
Customers can view the items in their shopping cart and also navigate to the shopping cart page.