This section assumes that you have read the previous section Creating New Stores and (probably created new stores) are ready to add content to your stores.
How content works?
In order to better understand how 'multistore' works, it is helpful to understand how content works in a single app scenario. Your understanding of the below terms will help you better manage multiple stores and their content when working with the Stores plugin.
Landing page (sometimes called, 'view')
In this context, think of a 'landing page' as the base URL or a page that your users will land on first before going into seeing your content.
Content
The 'content' is like a canvas that holds your selling items, booking items, text, buttons, pic, or anything that users interact with. In Zappter, you can create multiple 'contents' and put them under a single landing page. Read below to learn single and multiple content usages.
'Single content' example: if you're selling clothes, it's all about clothes and related items, there is no 'product line mix' in this. So you can put them in a single 'content' and categorize them (using category plugin) like "Men's clothes" and "Women's clothes" to organize your listing.
'Multiple contents' example: You're selling unrelated or remotely related products under a brand, for example, Microsoft selling software and hardware or Caterpillar selling heavy equipment and shoes. Or, Disney's hotel bookings and theme park tickets. These are examples where you might need a whole different content for each product line. When users connect to your store, you would show them different options to different product lines like in the case of Microsoft example, Software to see all software products, and click on Hardware to see all laptops and so on. In the below info card, under "Why Content?" there is an example showing Products as different content and Service as different under a single store.
UI elements
These are user interface (UI) elements that you add to your content.
Why Landing Page? As the name implies, it is the app view your users will land. You can create multiple Landing Pages and set one of them as the 'Start Page' so whenever your app starts, your users will land on this particular landing page by default.
Why Content? Content in this context is the content layout or canvas where you will later add your UI elements to design your app content. You can add multiple content layouts under a single Landing Page. For instance, if you want your users to get 2 options, 1. Products 2. Services separately whenever they get into your landing page.
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Preparing new store
You have now added a store as shown in the previous section, Creating New Stores, you need to prepare it before adding your content to it. To prepare, you add a Landing Page and Content. Follow the below steps to do that.
1. Admin > Content. The default store is selected in the store navigator button at the upper right.
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2. Click on the store navigator button to get a list of all your stores. And, select your newly created store or any store that you want to add content.
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3. A newly created store looks like the below, with empty space and a couple of buttons. Click on the '+ New' button and then 'New Landing Page' creation screen comes up.
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4. Click on the 'New Landing Page' and you will be prompted with landing page setup. Give it a name and leave 'Origin Landing Page' as ticked (explained below) and create it.
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Landing Page Name: Give it a unique name, probably the name of your store
Origin Landing Page: If you have landing pages already created, you can tick on one of them where you need to keep your design connected to it. Default is always there, so it is ticked by default. If you don't want to base your design on any of the landing pages, untick
5. You have now created a landing page.
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6. Now create the content layout under this landing page. Click on the '+ New' button again and now you get different option since you have already created a landing page.
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7. Click on the 'New Content' to create a content layout. You get the content layout setup screen. Give your Content (content layout) a name and choose an image and hit 'Create.'
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8. Click on 'Cancel' once and you can see your Content (actually content layout) is ready. Remember to 'Put online' to ensure it says 'Published.'
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Your new store is now ready to add content (user interface elements) just like the regular way.
Adding store content
Now your new store is ready for adding UI elements for your users. Note that adding UI elements on app content is no different from how you add your app content in a single app environment except that you need to select your store first.
1. Admin > Content. The default store is selected in the store navigator button at the upper right.
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2. Click on the store navigator button to get a list of all your stores. And, select your store where you need to add your UI elements.
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3. One or more of the Contents (content layouts) you created earlier appears. Click on whichever one to customize just as how you normally customize app content in regular app (single app without Stores plugin). Visit this documentation to learn about customizing your app.
