From WeRelate
Currently WeRelate.org does not use categories very well. We're planning to make better use of categories in early Spring. If you have ideas on how we could use categories better, please leave them on this page's Talk page.
Introduction
What and how
- Categories are a relatively new (2004) development in MediaWiki software. They have numerous uses
- One of the main uses being that each category shows an automatic listing (generally in alphabetical order) of all of its subcategories followed by the same sort of listing of all individual pages that have been put into the category.
- Putting a page (whether an ordinary page or a category page) into a category is easy:
- Just add something like "[[category:category name]]"
- As soon as you preview the page it will display the fact that it is in that category
- As soon as you save it the category will list it.
- The category page itself starts with any text it has been given then lists the subcategories then the pages.
Page can be in two or more
- Many pages are suitable for two or more categories
- Many categories can similarly be subcategories of more than one category, but it is wise to ensure that a subcategory is wholly contained within its parent category so as to avoid ambiguity and circularity.
- If "Russia" is a category, for example, it can be a subcategory of "Countries" but should not be a subcategory of either "Europe" or "Asia"
- The way to link it to them would be by a sentence on its page saying something like "See related categories [[Asia]] and [[Europe]]".
Tweaking the order of listing within a category
- Order of listing is by page or category name unless a piped link is used to force a particular page to list differently.
- Examples:
- Top of the list: if you have an article called "Russia" you will want it near the top of the list in the "Russia" category rather than after Alexandrovsk, Leningrad, Moscow, and Rostov
- So, just before the closing brackets, add "|*" - that is [[category:Russia|*]] - or use a space instead of the star
- The category will list it before the "A"s.
- Surname order: if a category contains articles that use people's names in normal "Western" (First name, Surname) order, put them all in surname order by giving them all piped links
- John Doe's page might show him in the "Poets" category as [[category:poets|Doe, John]], which will have him under D, not J.
- Anything else: if you have pages or categories for centuries but want them to use words, not numbers, for the page names
- Try something like this: "Ninth century" has [[category:calendar|09]]; "Eleventh century" has [[category:calendar|11]]
- If you expect to go earlier than 1 AD, maybe add something to those!
Some more Examples
- Categories are different when it comes to linking to them.
- A normal link such as [[Category:page name]] puts the page into that category, with a link to the category appearing at the bottom of the page.
- If you just want to link to a category, you can put a colon before the word category, as in [[:Category:page name]].
- Examples:
- Category – Add Category to Article:
- [[Category:Category Name]]
- Category – Link to Category:
- [[:Category:Category Name]]
- Category – Sort:
- [[Category:People|Einstein, Albert]]
Our category structure
Our top-level category is called "Browse" (the name respectfully borrowed from Wikia).
The number and names of the first-level ("child") categories down from it have not been finalised. They are appearing as people feel a need for them, and they can be changed fairly easily. Suggestions for new categories can be discussed on the talk pages of individual existing related categories.
See Special:Uncategorizedcategories and Special:Uncategorizedpages for some "gaps" in the system.
