Difference between revisions of "Understanding sections, categories and articles"
From Joomla! Documentation
(moved Understanding sections, categories and articles to Understanding categories and articles: Moved page instead of copying to preserve edit history) |
m (Wilsonge moved page Understanding sections, categories and articles to J1.5:Understanding sections, categories and articles: Move to 1.5 namespace) |
||
| (3 intermediate revisions by 2 users not shown) | |||
| Line 1: | Line 1: | ||
| − | + | What are sections, categories, and articles, and what are they used for in Joomla! sites? | |
| + | |||
| + | {{notice|Since Joomla! 2.5 {{JVer|2.5}}, this structure has been superseded by multi-leveled Categories. Read more about them in [[Understanding categories and articles]].}} | ||
| + | |||
| + | ===Articles=== | ||
| + | Let's start with some definitions. In Joomla!, an Article is some written information that you want to display on your site. It normally contains some text and can contain pictures and other types of content. For many Joomla! sites, articles form the majority of the information presented in the website. | ||
| + | |||
| + | It is important to understand that, with Joomla!, the content of the site (for example, Articles) is totally separate from the formatting of the site -- the way it looks on the page. So it is best to think of articles as pure content, independent of the way it might be presented. For example, the same Article might be shown with different fonts, colors, headings, and background, and might be shown in different locations on the page. | ||
| + | |||
| + | ===Sections and Categories=== | ||
| + | Sections and categories in Joomla! provide an optional method for organizing your articles. Here's how it works. A Section contains one or more categories, and each Category can have articles assigned to it. One Article can only be in one Category and Section. | ||
| + | |||
| + | For example, you might have a Section called "Pets", and categories called "Dogs" and "Cats". Articles about dogs would be assigned to the "Dogs" Category, ones about cats to the "Cats" Category. So an Article about dogs would be in the "Pets" Section and the "Dogs" Category. You cannot have one Article that is in both the "Cats" and "Dogs" categories. To work around this, you could either (1) create a new Category called "Cats and Dogs" or (2) create a second Article to put in the second Category. | ||
| + | |||
| + | ===Why Use Sections and Categories?=== | ||
| + | |||
| + | There are two main reasons you might want to organize your Articles in sections and categories. | ||
| + | |||
| + | ====List and Blog Layouts==== | ||
| + | First, there are built-in Menu Item Types in Joomla! that take advantage of this organization. These are the Section Blog, Section List, Category Blog, and Category List. These Menu Item Types (also called "layouts") make it very easy to show articles that belong to sections or categories. As new articles are created and assigned to sections and categories, they will be automatically placed on these pages according to the parameters you set for each page. | ||
| + | |||
| + | For example, say you have a Section Blog layout for the "Pets" section, and say you have it set to order articles starting with the most recent one first. When you add a new Article to the "Pets" Section, it will automatically show on the "Pets" blog page as the first Article. You don't have to do anything other than add the Article and assign it to the "Pets" Section. | ||
| + | |||
| + | ====Organizing Articles in Article Manager==== | ||
| + | If you will have a large number of articles on your site, a second reason to use sections and categories is to simply group the articles so you can find them. For example, in the Article Manager, you can filter articles based on Section or Category. So if you have 200 articles in your site, you can find an Article more easily if you know its Section or Category. | ||
| + | |||
| + | ===Sections and Categories vs. Menu Organization=== | ||
| + | It is important to understand that, just because Joomla! uses a 3-tier organization level for articles (Section → Category → Article), this has nothing to do with the structure of the menus on your site. For example, your site could have one menu level or six menu levels. | ||
| + | |||
| + | ===Other Types of Categories=== | ||
| + | There is also a potential for confusion about categories. Sections are only used for articles. However, categories are also used for other components, including Banners, Contacts, News Feeds, and Weblinks. These categories are completely different from Article categories and are set up in different screens in the back end of Joomla!. So when you see something about categories, it might refer to Article categories or it might refer to categories for these other components. | ||
| + | <noinclude>[[Category:Explanations]]</noinclude> | ||
Revision as of 18:07, 29 April 2013
The "J1.5" namespace is an archived namespace. This page contains information for a Joomla! version which is no longer supported. It exists only as a historical reference, it will not be improved and its content may be incomplete and/or contain broken links.
What are sections, categories, and articles, and what are they used for in Joomla! sites?
Since Joomla! 2.5 
, this structure has been superseded by multi-leveled Categories. Read more about them in Understanding categories and articles.
Articles[edit]
Let's start with some definitions. In Joomla!, an Article is some written information that you want to display on your site. It normally contains some text and can contain pictures and other types of content. For many Joomla! sites, articles form the majority of the information presented in the website.
It is important to understand that, with Joomla!, the content of the site (for example, Articles) is totally separate from the formatting of the site -- the way it looks on the page. So it is best to think of articles as pure content, independent of the way it might be presented. For example, the same Article might be shown with different fonts, colors, headings, and background, and might be shown in different locations on the page.
Sections and Categories[edit]
Sections and categories in Joomla! provide an optional method for organizing your articles. Here's how it works. A Section contains one or more categories, and each Category can have articles assigned to it. One Article can only be in one Category and Section.
For example, you might have a Section called "Pets", and categories called "Dogs" and "Cats". Articles about dogs would be assigned to the "Dogs" Category, ones about cats to the "Cats" Category. So an Article about dogs would be in the "Pets" Section and the "Dogs" Category. You cannot have one Article that is in both the "Cats" and "Dogs" categories. To work around this, you could either (1) create a new Category called "Cats and Dogs" or (2) create a second Article to put in the second Category.
Why Use Sections and Categories?[edit]
There are two main reasons you might want to organize your Articles in sections and categories.
List and Blog Layouts[edit]
First, there are built-in Menu Item Types in Joomla! that take advantage of this organization. These are the Section Blog, Section List, Category Blog, and Category List. These Menu Item Types (also called "layouts") make it very easy to show articles that belong to sections or categories. As new articles are created and assigned to sections and categories, they will be automatically placed on these pages according to the parameters you set for each page.
For example, say you have a Section Blog layout for the "Pets" section, and say you have it set to order articles starting with the most recent one first. When you add a new Article to the "Pets" Section, it will automatically show on the "Pets" blog page as the first Article. You don't have to do anything other than add the Article and assign it to the "Pets" Section.
Organizing Articles in Article Manager[edit]
If you will have a large number of articles on your site, a second reason to use sections and categories is to simply group the articles so you can find them. For example, in the Article Manager, you can filter articles based on Section or Category. So if you have 200 articles in your site, you can find an Article more easily if you know its Section or Category.
Sections and Categories vs. Menu Organization[edit]
It is important to understand that, just because Joomla! uses a 3-tier organization level for articles (Section → Category → Article), this has nothing to do with the structure of the menus on your site. For example, your site could have one menu level or six menu levels.
Other Types of Categories[edit]
There is also a potential for confusion about categories. Sections are only used for articles. However, categories are also used for other components, including Banners, Contacts, News Feeds, and Weblinks. These categories are completely different from Article categories and are set up in different screens in the back end of Joomla!. So when you see something about categories, it might refer to Article categories or it might refer to categories for these other components.