Answers.Body: <p>After a little more consideration, I decided it was best instead not to use categories for this.</p>
  
  <p>I have instead created a 'Product Categories' structure, and the relationships are handled through an entry field. </p>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2014-11-04T15:08:48.937Z
Answers.Text: I was just going to recommend this. The big question generally comes down to whether products will ever have more than one parent. If not, then a structure is usually the way to go for all the reasons you mentioned.
Answers.UserDisplayName: Douglas McDonald
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2014-11-04T15:14:27.413Z
Answers.Text: @DouglasMcDonald That's exactly it, took me a while to get there though! And no, products will only have one 'Category' for this project, so on reflection a structure seems to be the way to go.
Answers.UserDisplayName: Jamie Wade
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2014-11-04T15:32:45.093Z
Answers.Text: And if this ever changed, you can also later use categories to superimpose a separate category hierarchy on top of your already structured products. The structure can then just represent the default or canonical product structure.
Answers.UserDisplayName: Douglas McDonald
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2014-11-04T14:39:10.367Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2014-11-04T14:39:10.367Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: Jamie Wade
Body: <p>I'm currently working on an eCommerce project with categories for products:</p>
  
  <pre><code>- Category 1
      - Sub-category 1
      - Sub-category 2
      - Sub-category 3
  - Category 2
      - Sub-category 1
      - Sub-category 2
      - Sub-category 3
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>What I am hoping to achieve, is to give each top-level category its own entry in Craft, so I can apply my site-wide SEO, matrix content and utility fields.</p>
  
  <p>I am aware you can apply fields to categories, but the whole double-clicking on a category and managing the content from the small modal window approach isn't ideal, especially with category pages that are a bit heavy on the content side.</p>
  
  <p>These categories do have their own URL, and creating an entry with the same slug results in incrementation: <code>example-category-1</code>, which is to be expected.</p>
  
  <p>Is there any way in Craft I can get round this? I guess if there is no other way I can apply fields to the category, but I wanted to see if anyone had any other ideas.</p>
  
Tags: <categories><entry>
Title: What is the best way to have an entry for top-level categories?
ThreadText: # What is the best way to have an entry for top-level categories?
  
  (Asked by: username_0 on 2014-11-04)
  
  I'm currently working on an eCommerce project with categories for products:
  
  ```
  - Category 1
      - Sub-category 1
      - Sub-category 2
      - Sub-category 3
  - Category 2
      - Sub-category 1
      - Sub-category 2
      - Sub-category 3
  
  ```
  
  What I am hoping to achieve, is to give each top-level category its own entry in Craft, so I can apply my site-wide SEO, matrix content and utility fields.
  
  I am aware you can apply fields to categories, but the whole double-clicking on a category and managing the content from the small modal window approach isn't ideal, especially with category pages that are a bit heavy on the content side.
  
  These categories do have their own URL, and creating an entry with the same slug results in incrementation: `example-category-1`, which is to be expected.
  
  Is there any way in Craft I can get round this? I guess if there is no other way I can apply fields to the category, but I wanted to see if anyone had any other ideas.
  
  **Tags:** categories, entry
  
  
  ---
  
  ## 1 answers
  
  ### Answer by username_0 on 2014-11-04. Score: 3 | Accepted answer
  
  After a little more consideration, I decided it was best instead not to use categories for this.
  
  I have instead created a 'Product Categories' structure, and the relationships are handled through an entry field.
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_1**: I was just going to recommend this. The big question generally comes down to whether products will ever have more than one parent. If not, then a structure is usually the way to go for all the reasons you mentioned.  
  > **username_0**: @username_1 That's exactly it, took me a while to get there though! And no, products will only have one 'Category' for this project, so on reflection a structure seems to be the way to go.  
  > **username_1**: And if this ever changed, you can also later use categories to superimpose a separate category hierarchy on top of your already structured products. The structure can then just represent the default or canonical product structure.  
  
  ---
  
  