Help your leads and students find the products most relevant to them by grouping your courses, bundles, and communities by category, and using a Categories section to display a browsable listing of products!
In this article:
About This Section
The Categories and All categories [smart section] sections let you display your products in category groups, helping potential and existing students to browse for the products they find most interesting. Using categories is particularly valuable when you have a large number of product types, and/or your products focus on multiple different topics; they can also be useful if your products have very specific requirements, or follow a clear progression from beginner/entry-level to expert.
The Categories section allows you to specify exactly which categories to display on that particular page, while the All categories [smart section] option will auto-populate with every category in your system.
Categories sections rely entirely on the category names and images you have set up in Thinkific, so you must create and populate your Categories before making use of these sections.
Where to Use This Section
You can use these sections anywhere you want to promote your products, or allow visitors to easily browse parts of your product catalog. A targeted Categories section can help promote related products to enrolled students on a landing page, while the All categories [smart section] could provide an overview of your available products on your Home Page.
Adding a Categories Section
- From your Admin Dashboard, go to Channels
- Click Website
- Select the page you want to edit by clicking on its card. This will open your Site Builder.
- Click the pencil icon to edit this page in Site Builder
- Click Add section and select Categories from the list
Optional: Rearrange the position of the new section, if necessary - Click on Categories to open the section settings
- Click Add category; a new card will appear in the Blocks section
- Click the Category card and choose the Category you want to display
- Optional: Repeat steps 5-6 to add any additional categories you want to include in the section; you can reorder the categories by dragging and dropping the individual cards
- Optional: Customize the section as required (see below for options)
- Click Save to apply your changes
Section Customization
Headings: The heading is the title for the entire section, and the subheading appears directly below or above the heading (depending on your Theme.) Alignment controls the alignment of the heading and subheading. This is the area in which you can change the title of the Categories section.
Layout: You can remove top or bottom section padding if there appears to be too much space between this and adjacent sections.
Category: Select the Category you want to display in the section; you can uncheck the Show category name box if you only want to show the category image.
Important Considerations
- Along with the Categories section, there is also an All categories [smart section] available in Site Builder. The smart section version will automatically include every Category you have set up in Thinkific, whereas the Categories section lets you choose which categories to feature — otherwise these sections are the same.
- You must have already created your Categories in Thinkific before adding the Categories section to a page in Site Builder, or there will be no Categories to display. However, if you're using the All categories [smart section], you can add the section at any time, as it will automatically include any Categories you add later on.
- The All categories [smart section] will list your categories in alphabetical order.
Section Examples
Empire (Jet)
Vision (Tempo)
Vogue (Parker)
For in-depth examples of our different Themes and Styles in action, check out our Theme Demo Site. Use the buttons along the bottom of the page to browse all the different possibilities!
More About Site Builder Sections
List of All Available Site Builder Sections