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| Editing | |
|---|---|
| Your first edit (start here) | |
| VisualEditor | Source editor |
| Creating a page | |
| Templates | |
| Categories | |
Categories are a feature of the MediaWiki software which allows pages to be sorted into a hierarchy, or category tree. Each category has a description page located in the Category namespace and this page may in turn be a member of one or more categories.
Using categories
The list of categories to which a page belongs is located at the very bottom of the page. Ideally, all items in this list will be blue. A red category indicates that a description page hasn't been created for it yet and thus that category is not part of the category tree. Click on a category to visit its category description page, which lists all the pages in that category. The base category is Roller Coaster Wiki. From here, any properly categorised page may be found by browsing the category tree. Categories are useful for finding related pages, for example, rides from the same manufacturer, or all templates of a certain type. However, their usefulness is limited for rides or amusement parks which have changed name as only the most recently used name, the article title, will be visible on category pages.
Adding, removing, and editing categories
Some categories are added automatically by templates. They can not be altered directly, though in some cases they may be altered by changing template parameters. The template description page should have a list of automatically-added categories. If a category is visible when viewing an article but not when editing, it is likely that it was added by a template.
VisualEditor
To manage categories, select "Page options" then "Categories". Type the name of the category in the box and hit enter to save it. A dropdown menu lists categories which already exist.
Once entered, clicking on a category name opens a dialogue which allows the name under which the page is sorted to be changed. This can be set for all categories as well, under "Options". These settings are optional and in most cases do not need to be altered.
Source editor
Category links are located at the bottom of the source code. To add a category, add the following on a new line:
[[Category:Category name here]]
To remove a category, simply remove the category link. By default, articles are sorted based on their title. To sort an article according to a different string, type this:
[[Category:Category name here|Sort string here]]
To change how an article is sorted in all categories, add the following on its own line above the category links:
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sort string here}}
HotCat
A JavaScript-based gadget called HotCat is available to registered users which allows categories to be added, removed or renamed without having to use the editor. It may be enabled in your preferences.
Management
Hidden categories
The categories that a page belongs to are normally listed at the bottom of the article. However, a category may be hidden from this list by adding __HIDDENCATEGORY__ to the category description page. It becomes a hidden category. You may choose to see hidden categories in a separate list by checking "Show hidden categories" in the "Appearance" section of yuor preferences.
Hidden categories are typically used for maintenance purposes that would not be of interest to the casual reader. Hidden categories are automatically added to Category:Hidden categories.
Linking to a category
In the VisualEditor, a wikilink to a category page may be added in the usual manner using the full page name (including "Category:"). To create a link to a category in the source editor, use a leading colon before the category name (without this colon, the current page would be added to the category):
[[:Category:Help]]→ Category:Help
To change the link text, write the text inside the link tag after a pipe:
[[:Category:Help|Help category]]→ Help category
Redirect pages that redirect to categories must also use the colon, otherwise, they will be added to the category instead of redirecting.
Tracking categories
Certain issues such as a broken image link or too many expensive parser functions will lead to a tracking category being added by the software. Details on these can be found on the MediaWiki website.
Creating category pages
Categories in MediaWiki are created like any other page, and are contained within the Category: namespace. Category pages that have not been created yet will appear in red. Do not worry about creating category pages, it is okay to leave them as red links, another user will come along and create them. MediaWiki compiles a list of categories which haven't been created yet but are linked to in articles, located at Special:WantedCategories.
Templates make creating category pages easier. A list of these category text templates exists at Help:Categories/category text templates.