Category Navigation widget

This widget automatically retrieves and displays a list of category links to help customers navigate as they browse and search your catalog. For each category link, the number of catalog entries is displayed in parentheses. Typically, this widget is placed in the left sidebar of the page.

Note: If you use this widget on a content page, you must select the Display department links when no subcategories are found check box. Otherwise, this widget must be used in layouts for category or search results pages.
Note: This widget is limited to a maximum of 3 levels of catalog hierarchy.

Page dependency

This widget is used most often in layouts for the following page types:
Category pages
The widget displays links to all subcategory pages for the category that the customer is viewing. Customers can click the links to navigate to subcategory pages.
Search results pages (layouts that are assigned to search terms)
The widget displays links to the categories to which the catalog entries in the search results belong. Customers can click the links to filter the catalog entry list by category. You can use this widget in combination with a Facet Navigation widget to provide more filtering options for the catalog entry list.
You can also use this widget in layouts for content and catalog entry pages, but only to display a list of department (top-level category) links. For these pages, you must select the check box in the widget properties that is labeled Display department links when no subcategories are found.

Example of widget content


Example of a Category Navigation widget

Widget properties

After you add this widget to a layout, you can set the following properties:

Properties of a Category Navigation widget

Property Description
Widget name Type a name to identify this widget in this layout, for example, Category navigation for search results. This name is not displayed on the storefront.
Display department links when no subcategories are found How you use this check box depends on the type of page to which the layout is assigned:
  • For category page layouts: Select this check box to display a list of department (top-category) links for any categories that do not have subcategories. If this check box is cleared, the widget is not rendered on pages for categories that do not have subcategories.
  • For content page and catalog entry page layouts: You must select this check box so that the widget is rendered on the page.
  • For layouts that are assigned to search terms (search results pages), this check box has no effect.