WikiIndex:How do categories work

WikiIndex:How do categories work — this 'meta' article here on WikiIndex describes the requirement to add further categories to an existing article here on WikiIndex beyond its 'main topic'. This help page describes the additional command (or wiki syntax) which may be used within the description prose area, or as separate categories listed below the prose description at the very bottom of the edit box.

Examples

• ArborWiki
• ICANNWiki
• DavisWiki
• Game Design Wiki

Basic overview

• Add relevant categories (and / or tags) to articles; try to be consistent and use CamelCase where there are multiple words such as 'ProgrammingLanguages'.
• As new categories are added (without any text within said new category), category pages will naturally appear in the Special:WantedPages section; create these 'red link' category pages as needed. Also, if these category pages are subordinate to larger categories, categorize them appropriately. i.e. the category 'Lisp' should be a sub-category of 'Programming', and hence when you (originally) create(d) the category 'Lisp', categorize that category pages in 'Programming'.
• Top-level categories should be categorized to 'Wiki Topic', which is the highest level. From time to time, the WikiIndex article page (as indeed many other existing article pages) will require manual updating of the top- and high-level categories.
• A list of every category used at WikiIndex — whether or not its actual category page has been 'created' (ie, a red link category), much less whether that category has been properly categorized — is at Special:Categories.

WikiIndex category map

An early illustration of how categories fundamentally work here on WikiIndex. The blue coloured categories now form the basis of 'structured data' now used on WikiIndex as part of the Semantic MediaWiki extensions.

See also

• WikiIndex: Categorizing articles
• WikiIndex: Frequently asked questions

Template: Category discussions

Note: in order to assist readability of included talk pages, please ensure the template rendering this table is kept at the BOTTOM of the displayed page (manually move to bottom if required).

This is the text of the Template: Category discussions. It is intended to connect the various discussions about categories here on WikiIndex that are taking place (or have previously taken place) on various pages. Please also see WikiIndex: How do categories work, and how to use our {{Tag}} template. If you find a discussion on categories which does not display this message box, please add this template by copying the following {{Category discussions}}, and pasting at the bottom of the edit box on the required talk page, and then go edit this template to include it, and summarise the discussion you found. The following discussions have taken, or are taking place: WikiIndex: How do categories work — tries to explain to new editors how our category system works. (Or at least, how we hope it will someday work, once we finish the tasks in the below WikiProjects). WikiIndex:Wiki project - Categories and tags — lists some category-related projects we have been working on, and how we use our {{Tag}} template (which 'wikilinks', and auto-includes into its linked category); please feel free to help. Category talk: Browse — the talk page of the de facto 'root' (or top tier, or parent) category; a logical place for general category discussions to occur. Mentions language stuff; also questions whether 'category: Browse' should even be a category. language issues: Discussion of language categories at Community talk — de facto policy?: A suggestion that the English name for a wiki language should have the language's own name for itself as a sub-category. Proposal:Authentic language categories — how to deal with non-English languages' own names for themselves. WikiIndex: Frequently asked questions — a question asked and discussed regarding the appropriateness of having several translations of a wiki's description – the ubiquitous 'FAQ'. Category: Wiki language and its talk page — alternate proposals have been suggested and implemented here. general structure debates: WikiIndex talk:Community talk — one of the earliest discussion spaces, which included some general categorisation issues. Proposal:Category tree — offers a picture showing how categories should maybe work in general; also summarises how various categories are actually being used currently. Category talk: Wiki Topic — what should the 'root' or 'parent' of the topics or subject matter of all wikis indexed here on WikiIndex. WikiIndex: WikiProject - By Size and its talk page — original discussions for methodology on creating categorisation of wikis by size, and the templates used to generate the required output. Category talk: Wiki Size — brief comment on how to determine page count of wikis, especially from the various wiki engines; more detail can be found at template: Size. dealing with geography: Category talk: Places — the former fundamental 'location cat'; previously suggested for depreciation, and proposed as being edited out of existence; now used for non-geographical locations. Category talk: wiki location — the new location root category; discussion general geography schemes here. Category talk: City — one scheme: a category just for 'city wikis'. . . see also: Regiowikis. Category talk: Earth — how to structure a 'tree of locations'; discussion at the root of the tree. specific categories: User talk: TedErnst — discussion about the resolution to use for 'category: Wiki Size' sub-categories. Category talk: Wikia — discussion about the commercial behemoth that is category: Wikia, now also known as 'Fandom'. Category talk: Wiki engine — discussion about category: Wiki engine structure. Category talk: Wiki status — inconsistency, some editors consider it overlapping with category: Wiki Edit Mode. You can also check all pages that link to this template (using the backlink function).