Thread

I don’t know why I just cannot grasp my head around Categories in EE.  I have read and re-read the userguide 20 times in an effort to understand.  I simply don’t get it.

I understand channels and custom fields.

I created a bunch of category groups and category field groups to see if playing around with them would help me understand them but…I don’t get it.

Can anyone give me a real world example?
On my site I just created a Category Group for “socks”.  Then I added categories:  red socks, long socks, short socks.
Then I created custom category fields for red socks, long socks and short socks.

I added the Socks category to my channel…but…
well…so how does it all come in to play?  No friggin’ idea.

I published a new entry and went to the categories tab and noticed red, long and short socks are there.  So I selected one and hit publish.  So what did that do?  I don’t get it ;(

A category is just that, a way to categorize your content, i.e. group it by some common defining criterion. you can then search for it, or pull it out again using that category. That’s really pretty much all there is to it. To get a better grasp, perhaps this article might be useful. Slightly dated, perhaps, but still highly relevant.

Coming into this conversation late, but Deisun’s description fits my feelings about categories EXACTLY. I read the linked article and remain unclear as to how categories would function on my site. I realize I’m probably making it more complicated than it needs to be, but I’m still having trouble conceptualizing it.

One thing that keeps haunting me is that if I move forward with the design of the site without using categories I’ll somehow be shooting myself in the foot. What’s the benefit of using categories over going the template+entries route, for example?

Here’s a more practical question: I’m designing a site for a university department; Would it make sense to use categories in this case?

http://ellislab.com/forums/viewthread/205202/#960540

Categories are a content-organization feature, directly assigned to a channel.  They are not directly assigned to a template.  The only connection between templates and categories is what you create with your EE code.

Okay, I’m starting to get it. The example you gave in the other thread of how categories would function in a weblog really helps. The clouds are clearing 😉

Incredibly fast response by the way… much appreciated 😊

No worries.

The big thing with categories is don’t over think them.  They - natively anyway - are just designed to act as filters to help whittle down an overall list of entries to something smaller.  Creative dev’s have pushed them way past that with add-ons, but at their root they are a simple feature.

Yep, that makes perfect sense now. I was definitely overthinking it. Thanks for helping me past that obstacle!

Glad Mike could help, roadRUNN3R! Let us know if we can help again in the future!