It would be nice if the ability to tag content became first party.
Other CMSs have it built-in. DevDemon’s option is no longer viable with current versions of EE and it’s highly doubtful they are going to update it. SolSpace offers a nice option, but their constant pullback on offerings makes me no longer confident to continue buying their add-ons for fear it’ll be the next one discontinued.
Hi James,
Yes, you’re right, they do share many similarities. However, categories, IMO, tend to relate more to the structure and are sometimes something we don’t want users to alter. A category might be more broad or encompassing of the content, where a tag can be less permanent and/or granular. Categories might even apply to the navigation structure of a site, where tags would not. Tags often get reviewed/consolidated/curated in a fashion that categories would not. Less permanent. You might have hundreds or even thousands of tags in time, where you likely wouldn’t want that many categories. The current UI alone wouldn’t handle it well IMO.
I also wouldn’t want to have an entry with half a dozen categories or sub-categories assigned to it like I would with tags.
Some examples from my own deployments:
For an online magazine, categories are used to organize broad themes or sections of the magazine. Sub-categories break it down a little further. However, tags are applied regarding the specific content of each article, a mention of a theory or a person that wouldn’t deserve it’s own category. Now if those two topics are ever mentioned in another article they have a relationship without affecting the structure of the site/section.
For a recipe site, categories are employed for encompassing groups. For example Desserts. Then sub-categories break that down to things like cookies, cakes, etc. Tags then allow us to add additional info by tagging primary ingredients in an entry and relating entries that share at least 3 of the same ingredients. This info now exists and can be leveraged without altering the over all organizational structure of the site.
Sorry for the long post, I hope it makes sense. 😊
Agree with Jeremy on this; the category system is not interchangeable with an open-ended ad hoc content tagging system. ExpressionEngine’s reliance on third parties (perhaps now just ‘party’: SolSpace and its Tag add-on) for this useful functionality seems peculiar in what is otherwise such a fully featured product. Consider this a +1 for Jeremy’s request!
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