Parts of a Category Page

Categories are great places to display generic descriptions and basic information that pertains to all of the sub-categories and guides contained in a category.

The category title is both what a category will be known as and the way that people will find a category. Therefore, it is important that the category title is appropriate for the subcategories and guides that it contains.

Category titles should be broad enough to include all of the pertinent subcategories, but narrow enough to exclude irrelevant categories. For example, if you wanted to create a category for Honda cars, you would not want to title it "Honda Vehicles" since that title would likely include Honda motorcycles and trucks. It is simply too broad. Such a title would be increasingly hard to manage as your content grows.

On the other hand, you also would not want to title it "Honda Coupés" since that would exclude four-door sedans. That is much too narrow. You want categories that give your content room to grow.

The Display Title field is automatically filled with the name that was provided when the page was first created. You can change the display title to update the page title that appears when users see the category on the site. However, changing the display title will not change the title in the URL for the category page.

Summaries are brief. They give users a general understanding of a category page's content, purpose, and value. Summaries show up on searches and underneath the category image; they are very useful for identifying a category.

Images help users recognize the topic of a category page. Most people use the category image as a form of identification. It is important that the category image is general enough to cover all the sub-categories and guides the category holds, but also specific enough that people can readily identify the category. Since the image will often be viewed as a thumbnail, it should be simple and free of clutter.

Attaching the category image is quite simple. Once an image is uploaded to the Media Manager, select the image, and it will replace the placeholder space on the page.

Images can also be put in the main body of the category page using the Additional Information toolbar.

When an image is added to this section, wiki text generates for the image. The wiki text allows the image to be easily moved and edited within the body text. To change the size and alignment of an image inside the body text, add "|size=small/medium/large" or "|align=left/center/right" inside the image brackets.

Here's an example:

[image|123456|size=medium|align=left]

Categories are wiki pages, which means they are open for public editing. This is great because it allows any expert to critique or make changes to the page. However, it can be a problem if people start to abuse their editing freedom. The Permissions Manager is a system that prohibits edits to pages from being automatically accepted if the user making the edit has a less than the necessary reputation. Check out these other pages for complete breakdowns on reputation and the Permission Manager.

Tags act similarly to other tags. They increase search popularity by including extra words commonly connected to a category. Tags increase search popularity even if they are not part of the title.

To add a tag, locate the Tags field on the category page. Type in the tag you want to add and click Add.

The Additional Information field is the meat of the category page. This is the best place to put the identifying characteristics of the category. The Additional Information field is also the best place to tell why all of the sub-categories and guides belong in this particular category. Additionally, the Additional Information field is a great place for interesting background information.

For more information about customization and formatting the Additional Information field, click the ? icon on the right side of the formatting toolbar.

Attached Documents can be used to attach documents to your guides either as the primary content for the guide itself or as reference materials for users to access as they move through the process.

More details about Attached Documents can be found here.