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Catalog Management
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Working with attributes
Getting Super Powers
An attribute is a piece of information describing a product. Professional product management requires various types of information for effective administration of said products. Different levels of product management require different details.
As an example – to describe a shoe the following attributes can be used: SKU, name, type, size, heel type, available colors, main photo, detailed photographs, price, net price, detailed description, country of origin, supplier, retailer, ERP system code, amount in stock, etc.
Attribute listing page
Ergonode possesses a page listing all existing attributes. It is displayed as a table presenting data in a specific order allowing for the managing of attributes where appropriate. We use an attribute grid as a solution for managing product attributes on a large scale. Thanks to its tabular view, which includes sorting by values, a user can quickly ascertain which attributes need changes or are missing values, such as translations, or need to be added to appropriate attribute groups for example.
By default, attributes are sorted from newest to oldest. The grid consists of the following columns: Ordinal Number, System Name, Name, Type, Scope, Group. In order to edit or delete an attribute, click the pen icon on the last “edit” column or bin icon, respectively.
Creating an attribute
If there are no attributes present in the system, they need to be created first. This can be done by navigating to the Side Menu, selecting “Product Design”, choosing “Attributes” and clicking on the “+ New Attribute” button. This will bring up the modal window displaying options with several forms to fill.
MODAL-WINDOW OF CREATE ATTRIBUTE FEATURE
These options are:
System name - managing a large amount of data requires precision, therefore each attribute has its unique system code. This is the System Name and thanks to its unique value, Ergonode recognizes the attribute and performs actions restricted to it. You can create a more intuitive name for an attribute in the Translations tab.
Groups – to effectively manage attributes used in similar contexts or by users with similar requirements, attributes can be grouped. For example, a user working exclusively with car audio products would only require attributes describing technical specifications only. It would therefore be helpful for them to create a group of technical attributes, such as power output, display type, aux-in or dimensions. You can select one or many groups and confirm your selection by clicking “OK”. Similarly, if you want to clear your selection, simply click “Clear All”.
Type – attributes provide information about products. This can be presented in many different formats and described by distinct content. Ergonode currently offers 12 attribute types to achieve this in a structured way.
Scope – there are two options available in this selection. Global means that an attribute’s value will be the same for all languages, inherited from the root language (the highest-level language selected in the language tree editor). Option values can be translated but not altered on the product editor page. Local means that all values for each language will be inherited from the upper-level branch.
Create button - when this button is clicked, the attribute will be created, but the user will not be moved to its edition page.
Create & Edit button - when clicked, this will create the attribute and move the user to the edition page for the new attribute.
Attribute types
Ergonode currently offers 12 types of attributes, which are as follows:
- 1.Text – this attribute is a field with a single line of text.
- 2.Textarea – this is a multi-line text field attribute with the possibility of enabling rich-text functionality, with a build-in JS Editor, allowing for block-styled editable modules of content, including paragraphs, headings, images, lists, and more.
- 3.Unit – used to present units according to the SI system (i.e., 200hz or 3m) and fully customized units (for example special custom packaging units). When used a unit selector appears underneath. This unit will appear with the entered attribute value.
- 4.Image – used to present photos in the most popular formats, such as main product image or context use product image.
- 5.Gallery – an attribute used to present multiple images in the most popular formats. Users can view images in “slider mode”. The Gallery attribute is linked directly with assets and any image uploaded to the media directory can be attached to it.
- 6.File – with this attribute you can link any file uploaded to the asset directory (for example doc/sheets/presentations/images/zip files).
- 7.Numeric – used to present numbers only, for instance number of products in stock.
- 8.Select – used when out of multiple options only one can be chosen i.e., country of origin. After choosing this attribute, a second level choice appears allowing an option code to be provided. To add an option code simply press the “+Add Option”, this can also be done directly from the product card (see screenshot below). To remove an option click the bin icon. Options can also be arranged in a desired orded by dragging and dropping them.
- 9.Multi-select – used to present multiple options where one or more can be chosen, for instance colors on a bicycle or constituent materials of the fabric used in the manufacture of an article of clothing. To add an option code simply press the “+Add Option”, this can also be done directly from the product card (see screenshot below). To remove an option click the bin icon. Options can also be arranged in a desired order by dragging and dropping them.
- 10.Date – used to specify a date in a selected format, for example to denote a product’s expiry date.
- 11.Price – used to denote prices in selected currencies. While creating this attribute, a currency selector will appear.
- 12.Product relations – used to denote relationships between two different products for the purposes of cross-selling or upselling.
You can add options to Select and Multiselect attributes directly form the product card.
Translations tab
You can select as many languages at a time as you like, provided they are active in your system.
In order to translate an attribute name into different languages, follow these steps:
• Open an attribute's edition page by clicking the pencil icon in that attribute’s row on the tabular list of attributes.
• Navigate to the Translations tab.
• Select a language (or languages) from the “Translations” drop-down in the upper left corner.
• Enter a name for the attribute in the chosen languages.
• Enter a tooltip for writers (if needed).
• Click “Save Attribute”.
Translations - this is drop-down menu which allows you to select a language (or languages) to translate an attribute into. The languages you select will appear as separate language segments side by side. Keep in mind, that for a language to be available in this drop down, it must first be activated from settings. Read more on how to do that here.
Attribute name – this name will be displayed in the system. More intuitive for users than an attribute unique code.
Placeholder – provided for text, textarea, and numeric attributes. The text entered here will appear in the attribute box on a product template where this attribute was used. This is designed as a guideline for users to help them input correct values into the attributes.
Tooltip for writers – this field can be used to provide short guidelines for users who’s role will be to enter attribute values.
For example: for a shoe attribute: sole material, a tooltip for writers can include: “Check sole material type on batch label. RB – rubber. LE - leather”.
Extra fields to fill appear for attribute types with additional choices – currently this refers to select and multi-select attribute types.
Last modified 26d ago