Defining Categories for Content

Categories are similar in concept to tags, but are designed for use by administrators, not regular users. Hierarchies of categories can be created, and categories can be grouped together in vocabularies. While tags represent an ad hoc method for grouping content, categories exist to allow administrators to organize content in a more official, hierarchical structure. Think of tags like the index of a book and categories like its table of contents. Both serve the same purpose: to help users find the information they seek.

You can add properties to categories. Category properties are a way to add information to specific categories. You can think of category properties as tags for your categories. Structurally, category properties are just like tag properties: they are key-value pairs associated with specific categories that provide information about the categories.

Adding vocabularies and categories is similar to adding tags:

1. Go to the site where you want to create categories.

2. Click Categorization → Categories to view the Categories application.

Figure 1: After adding new vocabularies, you'll notice your vocabularies indicate the amount of categories existing beneath them.

Clicking on a vocabulary displays categories that have been created under that vocabulary. To create a new vocabulary,

1. Click on the Add Vocabulary button ().

2. Enter a name and, optionally, a description.

3. Click Save.

By default, the Allow Multiple Categories option is enabled. This allows multiple categories from the vocabulary to be applied to an asset. If the box is disabled, only one category from the vocabulary can be applied to an asset. The Associated Asset Types lets you choose which asset types the categories of the vocabulary can be applied to and which asset types are required to have an associated asset from the vocabulary. Finally, you can configure the permissions of the vocabulary. By default, guests can view the vocabulary but only the owner can delete it, update it, or configure its permissions.

Creating new categories is similar to creating new tags except that categories must be added to an existing vocabulary and they can only be created by site administrators. Once created, however, regular users can apply categories to any assets they have permission to create or edit. To create a new category:

1. Click the Add Category icon ().

If you’re already viewing a vocabulary:

1. Select the Actions button () next to an existing vocabulary and select Add Category.

2. Enter a name for the new category and, optionally, a description.

3. Click Save.

Just as with tags, you can configure the category’s permissions, choosing which roles (guest, site member, owner) can view the category, apply it to an asset, delete it, update it, or configure its permissions. By default, categories are viewable by guests, and site members can apply categories to assets.

Once you have created some vocabularies and categories, you can take advantage of the full capabilities of categories by creating a nested hierarchy of categories. To nest categories, select the Actions button for the category you want to be the parent category. Then select Add Subcategory, which adds a child category to the selected parent.

After you’ve created a hierarchy of categories, they’re available to apply to content:

1. Click on Web Content in the Content section of Site Administration and click Add → Basic Web Content.

2. Click on Categorization from the right-side menu and click Select on the vocabulary you’d like to apply. A dialog box appears with your categories.

3. Select relevant categories by checking the box next to them, and they’ll be applied to the content.

Suppose you’re running a Lunar Resort shop called Lunar Fireworks and you have many web content articles describing the colors and types of fireworks you offer. The abundance of your articles is overwhelming, and as your shop grows, so too does the web content articles you’re required to manage. You’ve decided to categorize your web content based on the color and type of firework, so the articles are easier to manage.

1. Go to Site Administration → Content → Categories and create vocabularies Type and Color.

2. Make sure both vocabularies are only used for web content articles by clicking the Associated Asset Types dropdown and selecting Web Content Article.

3. Create categories Fire and Smoke for the Type vocabulary and Red, Yellow, and Blue categories for the Color vocabulary.

4. Now navigate to Content → Web Content in Site Administration and create an article called Red Rocket. This is your best selling product, so make sure to give it a detailed explanation and an awesome picture.

5. Select the Metadata dropdown for your web content article and select the Type → Fire and Color → Red categories.

When you publish your new web content article for your best selling product, it’s organized by its type and color. Once you’ve organized all your articles, you’ll always be able to reference the type and color of a firework, just in case you forget.

There are a few other cool features for vocabularies and categories. A few of them were mentioned already when the Allow Multiple Categories and Required selectors for vocabularies and categories were discussed. The three new features are targeted vocabularies, single/multi-valued vocabularies, and separated widgets for every vocabulary. They’re in the next tutorial.