I am having issues arranging the categories in magento. The system has more than 3000 categories. There are 4 level categories which means: Parent>Level1>Level2>Level3>Level4.
All the products are sitting in level4 categories and level1,2 and 3 are just empty.
What I am trying to do is under level2 display its sub categories using a static block and then under level 3 display the categories from level 4.
2nd issue is I dont want to show all the categories in the main menu bar as loading 3000 categories will kill the server.
I want to do something similar to this: http://www.staples.ca/ENG/Catalog/cat_super.asp?catids=%2C&name=CA_SU_Office+Supplies
Here is the link for the site: bindersnink(dot)ca
From what I can see in the Staples link you added, they only show top level categories on their main menu nav bar. You can do this in your Magento store by simply changing a configuration value. Just login to your backend, go to System > Configuration and click on the Catalog > Catalog section in the left panel. On that page you will see a section called Category Top Navigation. Change the Maximal Depth to 1. This way only your top level categories will show up in the menu.
Just note that if you want all products in child categories to display on the top level category page, you will need to go to the edit category page, go to the Display Settings tab, and make sure that Is Anchor is set to yes.