ContentEngine Top Tips

[noaf_e]

Here are some tips and recommendations to help you make the most of the ContentEngine:

• Download the PDF manual available in the Management Area to get a quick overview of the ContentEngine
-> Get a full explanation of all variables in the code and their use from page 17 onwards

• Customize the size, layout, colors, product description, image size, fonts and more. Just go through the tabs and explore the possibilities.

• Products without descriptions are suppressed from the result-set; In order to change that, go onto the “Content” tab and de-select “Suppress items with no description”

• The ContentEngine defaults to display 9 results per page… why not change the number of results to suit your needs?

• If you are not getting a specific required result, you could try:
-> Adding or removing a sub-category
-> Selecting a price range by setting a min and max price
-> Widening your search term

• Once you have created your ContentUnit, make sure you save the template; that will save you having to re-build it all next time!

• To get the most benefit from your ContentUnits, insert the code using a server side language, such as PHP, ASP or ColdFusion rather than using the JavaScript, so that it can be crawled by the Search Engines

Why not try it out?

You can simply generate a ContentUnit within a matter of minutes. All you have to do is add a search term in the ContentEngine Wizard and hit preview. To see what it looks like on your site, just copy the code and paste it in!

[paullas]

have you or anyone got any example sites? post here or pm me...

[noaf_e]

Hi Laskos,

all you have to do to see what the ContentEngine looks like on site is copy and paste the code into a html document. That will give you a live preview.

We are currently working on developing a specific site for demo purposes and I will post the link on here with a few days.

Regards,

Noaf

[matthew1471]

Probably a silly question, but is it ok to insert search terms using php? For example, from a post or get?

Also changing the merchant etc, based on a users search?

[Kris Kennedy]

Hi matthew1471,

The ContentUnit URL string is made up of many parameters which control the various unit attributes (such as SEARCH=wii or PROG=all).

You can certainly use PHP to manipulate these parameters. If you would like any further information on the parameters and their options, or need help achieving this with PHP just drop me a private message and I'd be happy to help with this.

Best regards,

Kris

[matthew1471]

Great stuff, thanks a lot for your help.

Matt