Joomla! Documentation™

Description

The List All Categories menu item type is used to show Categories in a hierarchical list. Depending on the selected options for this layout, you can click on a category Title to show the articles in that category.

How To Access

To create a new List All Categories menu item:

• Select Menus → [name of the menu] from the Administrator menu (for example, Menus → Main Menu). Then...
  • Select the New Toolbar button. Then...
  • Select the Menu Item Type Select button . Then...
  • In the modal dialog select the Articles item to open a list and then select the List All Categories item.

To edit an existing List All Categories Menu Item:

• Select its Title in Menu Items list.

Screenshot

Form Fields

• Menu Title: The title that will display for this menu item.

• Alias. The internal name of the item. Normally, you can leave this blank and Joomla will fill in a default value Title in lower case and with dashes instead of spaces. Learn more.

Details Tab

Left Panel

This layout requires a starting top-level category selection. This is done in the list box shown above in the screenshot. To include all article categories, select Root. Otherwise, select the desired top-level category. All child categories of the selected category will show in the layout.

• Menu Item Type. The Menu Item Type selected when this menu item was created. This can be one of the core menu item types or a menu item type provided by an installed extension.

• Choose a Category. The Categories that are within this category will be displayed.

Right Panel

• Menu. Shows which menu the link will appear in.

Categories Tab

The Categories Options allow you to control various aspects of this layout, as shown below. If you select Use Global for any option, the value from the Articles: Options will be used.

• Top Level Category Description. (Use Global/Hide/Show) Whether to hide or show the description of the top-level category. Note that this description can be overridden for this layout by entering a Top Level Description below.

• Alternative Description. Enter an optional description to override the category description for this layout. If the Top Level Description option is set to Show, this entered description will show instead of the normal category description.

• Subcategory Levels. (Use Global/All/1-5) The number of levels of subcategories to show in the layout. Select All to show all levels in the subcategory hierarchy.

• Empty Categories. (Use Global/Hide/Show) Whether to hide or show the categories that contain no content items or subcategories.

• Subcategories Descriptions. (Use Global/Hide/Show) Whether to hide or show the category description of subcategories.

• # Articles in Category: (Use Global/Hide/Show) Whether to hide or show the count of articles in each category.

Category Tab

Category Options control the appearance of the screen when you click on a category link. The following options are available.

• Category Title. (Use Global/Hide/Show) If Show, the Category Title will show as a subheading on the page. The subheading is usually displayed inside the "H2" tag.

• Category Description. (Use Global/Hide/Show) Show or hide the description of the selected Category.

• Category Image. (Use Global/Hide/Show) Whether to hide or show the category image.

• Subcategory Levels. (Use Global/All/1-5) The number of levels of subcategories to show in the layout. Select All to show all levels in the subcategory hierarchy.

• Empty Categories. (Use Global/Hide/Show) Whether to hide or show the categories that contain no content items or subcategories.

• No Articles Message: (Use Global/Hide/Show) If set to Show, the message 'There are no articles in this category' will display when a category contains no articles.

• Subcategories Descriptions. (Use Global/Hide/Show) Whether to hide or show the category description of subcategories.

• # Articles in Category: (Use Global/Hide/Show) Whether to hide or show the count of articles in each category.

Blog Layout Tab

When you drill down a category, it will normally be in a list or blog layout. Which one will depend on the settings in the Articles: Options and the Category Edit Basic Options. Blog Layout Options control the appearance of the category drill down if that results in a blog layout. Important Note: If there is a Category Blog menu item defined for a category, the drill down will navigate to that menu item and the options for that menu item will control the layout. The options here only take effect if there is no menu item for a category.

• # Leading Articles. Number of Articles to show using the full width of the main display area. "0" means that no Articles will show when using the full width. If an Article has a "Read more..." break, only the part of the text before the break (the Intro text) will display. Leave blank to use the default value from the component options.

• # Intro Articles. Determines the number of Articles to display after the leading Article. These Articles will display in the number of columns set in the Columns parameter below. If an Article has a "Read more..." break, only the text before the break (Intro text) will display, followed by a "Read more..." link. The order in which to display the articles is determined by the Category Order and Article Order parameters below. Leave blank to use the default value from the component options.

• # Columns: The number of columns to use in the Intro Text area. This is normally between 1 and 3 (depending on the template you are using). If 1 is used, the Into Text Articles will display using the full width of the display area, just like the Leading Articles. Leave blank to use the default value from the component options.

• # Links. The number of Links to display in the 'Links' area of the page. These links allow a User to link to additional Articles, if there are more Articles than can fit on the first page of the Blog Layout. Leave blank to use the default value from the component options.

• Multi Column Order. In multi-column blog layouts, whether to order articles Down the columns or Across the columns.
  • Use Global: Use the value from the component options screen.
  • Down: Order articles going down the first column and then over to the next column, for example:

• Across: Order articles going across the columns and then back to the first column, for example:

• Include Subcategories. (Use Global/None/All/1-5). If None, only articles from the current category will show. If 1-5, all articles from the current category and subcategories up to and including that level will show. If All, all articles from the current category and all subcategories will show.

• Category Order. Order of Categories in this Layout. The following options are available.

• Use Global: Use the default value from the component options screen.
• No Order: Articles are ordered only by the Article Order, without regard to Category.
• Title Alphabetical: Categories are displayed in alphabetical order (A to Z)
• Title Reverse Alphabetical: Categories are displayed in reverse alphabetical order (Z to A)
• Category Manager Order: Categories are ordered according to the Order column entered in the Articles: Categories page.

• Article Order. Order of articles in this Layout. The following options are available.

• Use Global: Use the default value from the component options screen.
• Featured Articles Order: Articles are ordered according to the Order column entered in Articles: Featured.
• Most recent first: Articles are displayed starting with the most recent and ending with the oldest.
• Oldest first: Articles are displayed starting with the oldest and ending with the most recent.
• Title Alphabetical: Articles are displayed by Title in alphabetical order (A to Z)
• Title Reverse Alphabetical: Articles are displayed by Title in reverse alphabetical order (Z to A)
• Author Alphabetical: Articles are displayed by Author in alphabetical order (A to Z)
• Author Reverse Alphabetical: Articles are displayed by Author in reverse alphabetical order (Z to A)
• Most Hits: Articles are displayed by the number of hits, starting with the one with the most hits and ending with the one with the least hits
• Least Hits: Articles are displayed by the number of hits, starting with the one with the least hits and ending with the one with the most hits
• Article Manager Order: Articles are ordered according to the Order column entered in the Articles.

• Date for Ordering. The date used when articles are sorted by date. The following options are available.
  • Created: Use the article created date.
  • Modified: Use the article modified date.
  • Published: Use the article start publishing date.

List Layout Tab

The List Layout Options control the appearance of the category drill-down page when that is presented as a Category List. The following options are available:

• Display Select. (Use Global/Hide/Show) Whether to hide or show the Display # control that allows the user to select the number of items to show in the list. An example of how it is shown in the Front End (website) view below.

If there are more items than this number, you can use the page navigation buttons (Start, Prev, Next, End, and page numbers) to navigate between pages. Note that if you have a large number of items, it may be helpful to use the Filter options, located above the column headings, to limit which items display.

• Filter Field. The Filter Field creates a text field where a user can enter a field to be used to filter the articles shown in the list. An example of how this looks in the front-end layout is shown below.

The possible options for this (in the back-end menu item edit) are shown below.

• Use Global: Use the value from Articles: Options. Only appears in Menu Item Type Options.
• Hide: Don't show a filter field.
• Title: Filter on article title.
• Author: Filter on the author's name.
• Hits: Filter on the number of article hits.

• Table Headings. (Use Global/Hide/Show) Table Headings show a heading above a list, like generic heading image shown below.

If set to Show, this heading will show above the list. If set to Hide, the list will show with no headings.

• Show Date. This option allows you to show a date in the list. The options are as follows.

• Use Global: Use the value set in Article Manager→Options.
• Hide: Don't show any date.
• Created: Show the created date.
• Modified: Show the date of the last modification.
• Created: Show the start publishing date.

• Date Format. Optional format string to control the format of the date (if shown). If left blank, the date will use the DATE_FORMAT_LC1 format from the language file (for example, "D M Y" for "31 December 2012" or "m-d-y" for "12-31-12"). See PHP Date Documentation for more information.

• Show Hits in List. (Use Global/Hide/Show) Whether to hide or show the number of hits for this item.

• Show Author in List. (Use Global/Hide/Show) Whether to hide or show the name of the author.

• # Articles to List: The number of articles to include in the list. Select the desired number from the list box.

Shared Tab

The Shared Options apply for Shared Options in List, Blog and Featured unless they are changed by the menu settings. The following options are available:

• Pagination. Hide or Show Pagination support. Pagination provides page links at the bottom of the page that allow the User to navigate to additional pages. These are needed if the listed items will not fit on one page. An example is shown below.

The following options are available.

• Use Global: Use the default value from the component options screen.
• Auto: Pagination links shown if needed.
• Show: Pagination links shown if needed.
• Hide: Pagination links not shown. Note: In this case, Users will not be able to navigate to additional pages.

• Pagination Results. Hide or Show the current page number and total pages (e.g., "Page 1 of 2") at the bottom of each page. Use Global will use the default value from the component options.

Options Tab

The List All Categories Layout has the following Article Options, as shown below.

The List All Categories Layout has the following Article Options, as shown below. In addition to Yes/No or Hide/Show, these options allow the "Use Global" setting. This uses the default value from Articles: Options.

The Article Options are as follows.

• Title. Whether or not to show the Article's Title.

• Linked Titles. If the Article's Title is shown, whether to show it as a link to the article.

• Intro Text. If set to Show, the Intro Text of the article will show when you drill down to the article. If set to Hide, only the part of the article after the "Read More" break will show.

• Category. Whether or not to show the Article's Category.

• Link Category. If the Article's Category is shown, whether to show it as a link to a Category layout (list or blog) for that Category.

• Parent Category. Whether or not to show the Article's Parent Category.

• Link Parent Category. If the Article's Parent Category is shown, whether to show it as a link to a Category layout (list or blog) for that Category.

• Author. Whether to show the author of the Article.

• Link to Author's Contact Page. If the Article's author is shown, whether to show it as a link to a Contact layout for that author. Note that the author must be set up as a Contact in Contact: Edit.

• Create Date. Whether or not to show the Article's create date.

• Modify Date. Whether or not to show the Article's modify date.

• Publish Date. Whether or not to show the Article's start publishing date.

• Navigation. Whether or not to show a navigation link (for example, Next or Previous article) when you drill down to the article.

• Show Voting. (Use Global/Hide/Show). Whether or not to show the a voting icon for the article.

• Show Read More. (Use Global/Hide/Show). Whether or not to show a "Read More" link to allow a drill down to the entire article.

• Show Title with Read More. (Use Global/Hide/Show). If set to Show, the Article's title will show in the "Read More" button.

• Hits. Show or Hide the number of times the article has been hit (displayed by a user).

• Unauthorised Links. If Yes, the Intro Text for restricted articles will show. Clicking on the 'Read more' link will require users to log in to view the full article content.

Integration Tab

The List All Categories layout has the following Integration Options.

These determine whether a news feed will be available for the page and what information it will show.

• Show Feed Link. (Use Global/Hide/Show) Whether to Hide or Show a link to a news feed (RSS Feed). If set to Show, a Feed Link will show up as a feed icon in the address bar of most modern browsers.

• For each feed item show. (Use Global/Intro Text/Full Text) If Intro Text, only the article's intro text will show in the feed. Otherwise, the entire text of the article will show.

Common Options

See Menus: Edit/New Item for help on fields common to all Menu Item types, including:

• Link Type Options
• Page Display Options
• Metadata Options

Module Assignments Tab

See Menus: Edit/New Item for help on fields in this Menu Item.

Toolbar

At the top of the page you will see the toolbar shown in the Screenshot above. The functions are:

• Save. Saves the item and stays in the current screen.

• Save & Close. Saves the item and closes the current screen.

• Save & New. Saves the item and keeps the editing screen open and ready to create another item.

• Save as Copy. Saves your changes to a copy of the current item. Does not affect the current item. This toolbar icon is not shown if you are creating a new item.

• Cancel. Closes the current screen and returns to the previous screen without saving any modifications you may have made. Or

• Close. Closes the current screen and returns to the previous screen without saving any modifications you may have made. This toolbar icon is not shown if you are creating a new item.

• Help. Opens this help screen.

Front End Site Screenshot

Example Front End Site images are generic images using Joomla! core installation supplied free Front End Templates. The actual view can depend on the installed custom template used and the template's style for those views on a Joomla! website.

Quick Tips

• Categories can be "nested" into levels, similar to folders on a disk drive. In theory there is no absolute limit on the number of levels you can have. However, as a practical matter it is recommended to keep the levels to a minimum. The Show All Categories layout may not work correctly if the number of levels shown is greater than five.
• If you set up category titles as linkable, the user can drill down on the category. When they do, they will normally see either a Category List or Category Blog layout, depending on which option is selected. If there is a pre-existing menu item for this category (for example, a Category Blog menu item), then that menu item will show in the drill down and the options set for that menu item will control the page display. Otherwise, the options set for the current Show All Categories menu item will control the page display.
• You can set the option to drill down to a list or blog in two places.
  • In Articles: Options you can set the default value for all categories.
  • In Category: Edit you can set a value for a specific category. If this is set, it overrides the default value.

Related Information

• To create a new menu see Menus.

• This Portal brings together information related specifically to Joomla 4.

Related Help Screens	Description
Articles: Options	Used to set global defaults for menu items that display articles. These default values will be used when 'Use Global' is selected for an option in an Articles menu item.
Articles	The Article list is used to find, mark featured, add and edit articles.
Articles: Edit	This is where you can add and edit Articles. You can also select the Category for an Article and indicate whether or not it is Published and if it is selected to appear on the Front Page.
Articles: Featured	Used to control which 'Featured Articles' are displayed on the Front Page and in what order they are displayed.
Articles: Categories	The Articles Categories list is used to find, add, and edit articles categories.
Menus: Archived Articles	Shows a customised list of articles ordered by date or title. Archived articles are no longer published but are still stored on the site.
Menus: Category Blog	Used to show articles belonging to a specific Category in a blog layout. Controls the Leading Articles, Intro Articles and additional links to more Articles.
Menus: Category List	Used to show articles belonging to a specific Category in a list layout.
Menus: Create Article	Allows users to submit an article. Normally this is available only to users who have logged in to the Frontend of the site. Users must have permission to create articles.
Menus: Featured Articles	Used to show all Articles that have been tagged as Featured. Articles are shown in a Blog Layout.
Menus: List All Categories in an Article Category Tree	Used to show a hierarchical list of Categories. Depending on the selected options for this layout, you can click on a category Title to show the articles in that category.
Menus: Single Article	Used to show one article.