LIMSWiki:Category guidelines

On LIMSwiki, categories are used to help find pages with similar themes, all in one location. If an editor is interested in all things related to homogenizers, for example, the editor simply can go to Category:Homogenizer to find all the associated pages.

It should be pointed out that while a category is essentially a wiki page listing links to associated wiki pages, its function is different from your typical page. The category's function is primarily as an index of related content and shouldn't be confused with the main article pages. Using homogenizers as an example again, know that there's a difference between the article "Homogenizer" and the category "Category:Homogenizer," just as there's a difference between "Vendor:Homogenizer vendor" and "Category:Homogenizer vendor."

Creating new categories

The following is a step-by-step process of adding a category to LIMSwiki:

1. Consider the title of the category you're going to make. While article titles must be singular (Toy, not Toys), category titles may be plural. Stay singular when you can, however. Always preface the title with "Category:" (without the quotes). For example, if you choose "Toy" as your title, the full title will be "Category:Toy". (NOTE: It's still very important that the normal rule of capitalizing only the first word of the title [beyond the word "Category"] be strictly followed. Thus, we must put "Category:Toy makers" and not "Category:Toy Makers".)

2. Type the name of the category title into the wiki search box and press "Go." Using the previous example, we would type in the following: Category:Toy

3. You'll see a screen that tells you if that category exists or not. If it already exists, then you either don't need to create the category, or you need to consider a different title for what you're categorizing.
Continuing with this example, we'll see the following: Create the page "Category:Toy" on this wiki!

Click on the red-linked text to begin creation of the category.

4. Paste in this code:

{{ombox
| type      = notice
| image     = [[Image:Blue check.svg|40px]]
| text      = Before adding a specific category to LIMSwiki, please review the [[LIMSWiki:Category guidelines]] article. It explains the general guidelines that should be followed when creating a category.<br />
}}

{{cat main|XYZ}}<br />
This category is designated for

Then edit this to your liking. The first set of "ombox" code is designed to include a notice box that links to this article; don't edit it unless you have something to add to the message.
The next line of code "cat main" helps the reader to discover the associated article for the topic, if there is one.
You can find out more about this template code by reading the documentation on Template:Cat main.

Continuing our example, we're making this category to make it easy to find all wiki articles about toy and toys, including vendors who sell them. The main article should then be the article "Toy". Thus the first line we edit becomes:

{{cat main|Toy}}

Then we want to write a very brief description about the purpose of this category. We want it to be very clear why the category exists in the first place. The final product would look like the following:

{{ombox
| type      = notice
| image     = [[Image:Blue check.svg|40px]]
| text      = Before adding a specific category to LIMSwiki, please review the [[LIMSWiki:Category guidelines]] article. It explains the general guidelines that should be followed when creating a category.<br />
}}

{{cat main|Toy}}<br />   
This category is designated for articles about [[Toy|toys]] in general, as well as specific toys vendors offer.

5. Once you're happy with what you see, you can preview it by clicking the "Show preview" button. (Be sure to go to my preferences>Editing and place checkmarks next to "Show preview before edit box," "Show preview on first edit," and "Enable section editing via [edit] links.") This will give you an opportunity to verify it looks as you would like before actually clicking the "Save page" button. In the end, you should see:

The main article for this category is Toy.

This category is designated for articles about toys in general, as well as specific toys vendors offer.

---

And you're done. Any time you want to add a specific toy-related article to the category, you'll paste the following code at the very bottom of that page's code:

<!---Place all category tags here-->
[[Category:Toy]]

Additional tools

All categories with articles attached to them: Special:Categories (Those in red have articles attached, but the official category page hasn't been made yet.)

All categories with no articles attached to them: Special:UnusedCategories

All category pages that haven't been made but are wanted: Special:WantedCategories