As above!
Thanks!
You can bulk import 301 redirects, but I would be very cautious about using them how you describe. 301 redirects are permanent and aggressively cached by browsers and search engines. If you ever add another product to that category you'll have users and search engines which will NEVER see the category page as they cache the 301 with no expiry. Permanent redirects are designed for moving sites and mapping from the old to new URLs.
I'm not sure exactly what you are trying to achieve overall but from a UX point of view it can be confusing to just automatically redirect a user to the product page when they are expecting to browse a category. A category with one product won't surprise them, but a product listing suddenly appearing when they think they clicked a category will.
Ah ok that situation is slightly different to your original question. So you want a category page to show a list of product thumbs, but each one actually links through to a sub category? That can definitely be done, just create a custom category template which renders sub categories however you want.
Thanks Erik, that's what I've ended up doing. The client basically just wants this page to list out the 5 products, but make the subcategory (accessories) appear in a single tile inline with the products...I might just discuss with them and have another section underneath the main items and call it 'accessories' or whatever...hmmm.
Thanks so much for your help Erik!
I'd set it up like the following (using sewing machines as an example):
Sewing Machines category (5 products) > Sewing Machine Accessories child category (20 products)
Then, modify the category page template so it first lists all product thumbs like normal. Then it lists out all child categories, either as a nice separate section or actually simulating product thumbs depending on your customer's desires. Make sure the child (accessories) category isn't displayed in menus.
That structure makes it logical and easy for them to maintain the products themselves.
Perfect, that's what I had in mind. Thanks again for your advice, as always!
