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Understand menus and categories

Use a business menu to review the category and product sections returned for the current business and ordering context. What appears is a presentation of one returned state, not a promise that every product is current, available, or ready to add.

What the menu can present​

A menu can present an All section, a Featured section, returned categories, subcategories, previously ordered products, professional or school controls, and product cards. Which sections appear depends on the current app variant, business, ordering context, account state, returned configuration, and catalog data.

Category order and product order can differ by business or vertical. A category can also be absent, disabled, or present without products. Do not use the absence of one section to infer that a business or product does not exist.

Category selection and freshness​

Category selection has two presentation modes in the pinned source:

  • In a preloaded menu, choosing a category can move the page to that category's section.
  • In a lazy-loaded menu, choosing a category can request and present another product set.

Additional products can be requested as a lazy menu approaches the end of its current list. Category links, the selected category, product pages, and later pages can therefore settle at different times or from different catalog revisions. A selected tab or loading-more notice does not prove that a list is complete or current.

The pinned source defines a separate Browse-tab business/product search for eligible account contexts. It is separate from the business menu; menu-local search controls are inactive. Source reachability does not certify deployed availability or catalog freshness.

Product cards and handoffs​

A returned product card can include a name, description, price, current cart quantity, favorite state, ribbon, tags, and remote image. Configuration and theme can hide optional details. A missing image or description is not by itself an error.

Selecting a card can hand off to Customize a product, a service flow, or an unavailable state. A recognized product link can also reach the business menu before attempting a product handoff. Link recognition does not establish product authorization, availability, or destination success.

Some authenticated, eligible product states can expose a quick-add path. That path is a cart mutation, not browsing. A visible quantity, vibration, changed card, navigation, or message does not by itself prove that the authoritative cart accepted the change. Review the cart-owned state before relying on it.

Loading, empty, disabled, and unknown states​

Treat these states separately:

  • Loading: the business or product list has not settled; category controls can be absent while placeholders are shown.
  • Empty: the current returned category or product set contains no displayable products; this is not proof that another context is empty.
  • Error: a business, category, product, media, or later-page read did not settle. Preserve the last clearly identified state as stale or unknown.
  • Disabled or unavailable: the current product cannot use its normal handoff. Do not interpret the message as a catalog-wide result.
  • Partial or stale: some categories, product cards, images, or later pages settled while others did not.
  • Unknown after an action: do not repeat a quick-add or favorite action just because the visible menu did not update. First reconcile the owning cart or account surface.

Privacy and remote media​

Product, category, banner, and tag images can be loaded from remote media services. The media request can disclose network and device context to a provider. Avoid inferring that an image is current, safe, or owned by the business merely because it rendered.

Menu content can also reflect account, order, cart, school, professional, or previous-order context. Share only the minimum information needed to diagnose the affected section, and do not include customer details, addresses, product identifiers, cart contents, or screenshots containing private catalog data.

Accessibility​

Category tabs, product cards, favorite controls, expandable descriptions, and loading or error feedback must expose distinct names, roles, selected or busy state, and a predictable focus order. The current pinned source does not establish complete VoiceOver or TalkBack behavior, large-text reflow, reduced motion, or equivalent keyboard and Back behavior.

Troubleshooting safely​

Record which section was visible, whether the menu was loading or already populated, whether category selection moved the page or requested another product set, and whether the result remained empty, stale, or unknown. If an action may have changed a favorite or cart, reconcile that owning surface before another attempt. Do not use live product actions, real identifiers, or remote-media requests as diagnostic probes.

Recertification boundary​

Recheck this guide when menu configuration, category ordering, lazy loading, product cards, search reachability, product links, quick-add, favorites, remote-media handling, account or project lifecycle, or shared accessibility primitives change. Source inspection alone does not certify deployed catalog, provider, cart, navigation, or accessibility behavior.

Related guides: Business page overview · Customize a product · Use favorites · Review carts before checkout