OK I give up :( Please help with my sections & categories

yonnermark · 2006-06-14 00:01:35

I have a site that I want to consist of the following

1. A blog split into three sections:
a) personal posts
b) posts about other websites I want to tell people about
c) posts that are authored by visitors with freelance permission

2. A page containing my MP3s
3. A page containing my Videos
4. A link from the main nav to my existing forum which is at /forum

I want my navigations links to be something similar to below:

blog
mp3s
videos
forum

When a visitor goes to the “blog” page he should be presented with blog section (a) but be given the option to view the (b) and © blog sections too.

I’ve sat here for 2 hours this evening, 2 hours last night and 2 hours the night before. I keep creating/editing/deleting sections & categories but now I’ve blown my brain and need help.

Thanks for any tips offered
regards,
mark

Elenita · 2006-06-14 00:59:30

The distinction between categories and sections is something that confuses a lot of newbies (you’re not alone!), but I’ve found that this is the best way to explain it:

Categories separate different topics of content. Examples of possible categories using your example are my personal, other sites, etc.

Sections separate different types of content. Examples of possible sections are a blog, mp3s, videos, etc.

An example I posted a while back in a different thread:

<blockquote>Here’s perhaps a clearer example differentiating sections and categories. Let’s say you’re a blogger who loves to read, and thus set up two sections: blog and reviews; blog contains a daily blog, and reviews is where you post book reviews. Thus, the urls are:

http://www.example.com/blog/
http://www.example.com/reviews/

Let’s say one day, you post an entry to your blog about how much you want to visit New Zealand one day. And then, a month later, you post a review of someone’s memoirs about living in South Africa. If you categorize both articles under travel, they should appear to any reader who’s browsing your site by categories—even though those articles are in different sections:

http://www.example.com/category/travel/

Hope this helps!</blockquote>

Sorry for quoting myself and not tailoring it to your specific situation, but I’m a bit pressed for time tonight…

And one last tip: if you want categories to be “under” specific section, there is a plugin out there that will do that. Can’t remember the name, but maybe a search or two…

Edit: I think <a href=“http://www.bjers.biz/downloads/347/xor_sectiontools”>xor_sectiontools</a> is it, but not entirely sure.

Last edited by Elenita (2006-06-14 01:10:05)

Mary · 2006-06-14 01:25:27

You want sections: “blog”, “mp3s” and “videos”.
Use a separate page for each section.
You want categories for dividing up your blog topics, named say, “personal”, “elsewhere” and “guest”.
Make use of this category method.
Add links to your various categories on your “blog” page, either by hand or by using category_list.
Put your navigation links inside a form, and use output_form to call this form from each page (so you don’t have to do ridiculous copy & pasting all the time). Alternatively, you could use a plugin, like ako_nav.

Last edited by Mary (2006-06-14 01:26:22)

stef25 · 2006-06-14 10:25:05

Sorry to butt in. I too have spent days and days trying to get my head round it all

if I had a site about “usa”, “mexico” and “canada” and articles about “people” “culture” “travel” – what would the sections be and what would the categories be?

I assigned the countries as sections mainly because I want domain.com/mexico

Is that not the best way to go about it?

colak · 2006-06-14 12:32:03

I know I am going to be corrected here but in the simplest form, at least the way I use sections/categories.

You could have:
<ul><li>Animals<ol style=“list-style-type:lower-alpha”><li>Cats<ol><li>persian</li><li>rex</li></ol></li><li>dogs</li></ol></li></ul><ul><li>Birds<ol style=“list-style-type:lower-alpha”><li>Eagles</li><li>Chicken</li></ol></li></ul>

Where Animals and Birds are the Sections and cats, dogs, eagles, chicken are categories affiliated to their respective sections. Persian and rex are individual articles under the cats category which is under the Animals section.

Having said that, I use sections for layout alterations between different parts of the site.

So If say for section animals you want to have a lion as a background image, you create the section, give it its own stylesheet and all posts in any category within that section will have the lion in the background… Now for birds do as above but have a bird in the background.

Many sites do not need sections and categories are enough. For me sections are basically about presentation.

Last edited by colak (2006-06-14 13:16:53)

yonnermark · 2006-06-14 12:47:13

thanks mary and elenita
I’ve just spent another half an hour playing but have come stuck again.

Here’s my url
yonner.co.uk

Please click the section “blog” (notice you get 4 new navlinks that are my blog categories)
Then click the blog category “noteworthy” (notice this makes you break out of the blog section)

I want to have it so that the when you are viewing the “blog” section and you click to view a particular category of the blog that you stay within the “blog” section and therefore the “blog” presentation.

thanks for your patience and help
Mark

els · 2006-06-14 13:30:27

You can keep categories in their own section using Mary’s suggestion:

Make use of this category method.

Mary · 2006-06-14 18:37:18

stef25: there isn’t really a right or wrong way to go about it, just whatever works best for what you’re trying to accomplish. In your case, I think you’re headed in a good direction, that what you’re using makes sense to a site visitor.

…what would the sections be and what would the categories be?

Your sections as they are, your article “topics” as categories. :)

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#1 2006-06-14 00:01:35

OK I give up :( Please help with my sections & categories

#2 2006-06-14 00:59:30

Re: OK I give up :( Please help with my sections & categories

#3 2006-06-14 01:25:27

Re: OK I give up :( Please help with my sections & categories

#4 2006-06-14 10:25:05

Re: OK I give up :( Please help with my sections & categories

#5 2006-06-14 12:32:03

Re: OK I give up :( Please help with my sections & categories

#6 2006-06-14 12:47:13

Re: OK I give up :( Please help with my sections & categories

#7 2006-06-14 13:30:27

Re: OK I give up :( Please help with my sections & categories

#8 2006-06-14 18:37:18

Re: OK I give up :( Please help with my sections & categories

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