Difference between revisions of "Help:Categories"

Latest revision as of 21:38, 11 June 2014

This article is a help page for using categories. For information about categories specifically for the Twinsuniverse, see Twinsuniverse:Categories

A Category is a technique for grouping together articles of the same subject. For example, the category Spheros is a list of all spheros in the Twinsuniverse. For a list of all categories in the Twinsuniverse, see Special:Categories for a complete listing, or go to the root Category:Categories to browse them as they are organized.

Adding an article to a category

Adding an article to a category is not done through the category page, but rather through the article itself. To add an article to a category, enter the article's edit page, and insert a link to the category at the bottom of the article, like this:

[[Category:Spheros]]

This will add a link to the category in the bottom of the page, as you can see in this page for example. Although the position does not matter, preferably place it at the bottom of the article, so that editors will be able to find it quickly. Regardless, the list of categories an article belongs to will always appear at the bottom of the page.

Also, most templates already categorize pages automatically when you use them on a page, so it is good to check out the related page of a template to find out which categories it adds your page to for you.

Adding an article to several categories

Adding an article to more than one category is easy and common. All you need to do is simply add multiple Category links.

Again, first check out the templates you use, often you might not even need to categorize yourself at all, as we have put much efford in making the templates 'smart' :).

Location in the category

The list of articles in a category is alphabetized. However, sometimes we want an article to appear in a different location in the list, sometimes even under another letter. To do so, add "|[sorting name]" after the category name in the link. For example:

[[Category:Spheros|Vortix, Bob]]

This will make the article appear under the letter V in the list of that category, rather than B as in "Bob Vortix". Note that the name of the article will not change, and that the sorting name is never visible. The sorting name is only used to calculate it's position in the list.

If the article is the main subject of the category, use an asterisk (*) as the sorting name. For example, Sphero is categorized as [[Category:Spheros| ]]. That way the page for the race itself is listed at the top of the listing of all characters and enemies of that race.

Linking to a category

Sometimes we want to link to a category, but without making the article a part of the category (just like the Spheros category is linked to in the beginning of this page). To do so, simply add a colon (:) before the word Category in the link. For example, [[:Category:Spheros]] becomes Category:Spheros. Of course, you can also use the pipe technique here as well to let the link appear with custom text.

Creating a new category

If you added an article to a category that does not yet exist, the link to it will appear in red. First, check it's spelling, it may still exist under a slight different spelling. Otherwise, click on the red link, and you will be taken to the category's edit page. Write a brief description of what this category is about, put an appropriate category link below it to categorize the new category, and save the page. The new category is now ready. For example:

This category lists all Spheros of Twinsun.
[[Category:Species|Spheros]]

Sub-categories

As mentioned above, each category can (and should) be categorized, thus creating an entire tree of categories.

All categories in the Twinsuniverse are sub-categories of a wider category (except the root Category:Categories). For example, all the locations categories are sub-categories of the planet they are on. This creates trees like Locations / Twinsun / Southern Hemisphere / Citadel Island / Lupin-Bourg / Bug Street.

Images in categories

Images can also be categorized, and in categories they will be displayed as a gallery, i.e. thumbnails of the images. If you wish to display the file name rather than the image, insert __NOGALLERY__ in the category page.