Help:Categories

From PLN

Articles in the PALINET Leadership Network should be in categories. You categorize an article by adding one or more category tags to the page, usually at the bottom of the text. Category tags create links at the bottom of the article taking you to lists of all pages in that category, making it easy to browse related. articles.

How to add categories

To categorize an article put the following at the end of the page you are editing...

[[Category:{Name}]]

where {Name} (without the special brackets) is the name of the appropriate category. You can assign more than one category to an article, preferably putting each one on a new line.

• Don't feel constrained by the categories you currently find. If you believe this article should have a new category (or a more specific category), feel free to add that category. Doing so will create a new Category page.

• Category names can have more than one word. Just type in the appropriate name.

You can also specify an additional {Sort} parameter that dictates where the page will appear (alphabetically) on the category page. To do this, add a vertical bar and the sorting name:

[[Category:{Name}|{Sort}]]

So for example, to add this page to the 'Help' category, you would use:

[[Category:Help|Categories]]

Note that we used 'Categories' as the sort parameter. Without this the page would be listed under 'H' for 'Help:Categories', instead of under 'C', which is more useful. Other situations where you might want to use the sort parameter is when you have articles about people that are titled as FirstName LastName but you want them listed as LastName, FirstName on the category page.

Another way to sort the article in the correct letter without the namespace is

[[Category:Help|{{SUBPAGENAME}}]]

This is extremely helpful when using templates which include a category tag.

Note: the {sort} parameter does not affect how the page title is displayed within the category listing, just how it is ordered. In the above example, the link to this page will still be 'Help:Categories', and not 'Categories' as you might expect!

Linking to Category Pages

To link to a category page, precede the name with a colon, as follows:

[[:Category:{name}]]

If you were linking to the Category Page for Help, the link would look like this: Category:Help

If you want to display alternate text for the link:

[[:Category:{name}|{alternate text}]]

Here is an example of the same link to the Category Page for Help with alternative text: Help Index

Categorize Categories

When you've created a new narrower category, it's useful to link the Category page to its broader category--by adding a category to the Category Page.

• Let's say you've created the first success story about your library's leadership in passing a bond measure. You might create a new category Bond measures: [[Category:Bond measures]]. That category should probably have one and maybe two broader categories: Funding for sure--and maybe also Marketing? Once you've saved the page with Bond measures as a category, you can click on that category link, go to the new page, add a description (if you think it needs one), and add one or more broader categories: [[Category:Funding] and [[Category:Marketing]].
  • PLN category lists and category pages show category hierarchies as soon as categories are linked to other categories, making topical browsing easier and more productive.
  • You can skip levels in a category hierarchy: Add a category where it belongs.

Uploaded files like Pictures can be categorized exactly like normal pages.