Can Categories be more obvious?

Question

I mean this in two ways, one the already discussed-- making them more obvious on actual profiles...

 

And the other, which Im not sure how to correct or explain...

 

When I go to cleanup profiles sometimes I end up deleting the categories because they dont literally show up in the bio info and I have found the easiest way to edit the bio is to pull up a profile and an edit screen and then delete sections that are unneeded.. but categories dont show up so I fear deleting them if they are in the middle of the bio box, especially.

 

Any pointers, particularly other than reading through the whole bio box with coding?

Comments

FWIW, we are working on some design changes, and making categories more eye-catching is on the to-do list.

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YAY! Cant wait!

Answer 1

Do you mean that they don't show up in the actual profile, and that's what you look at when deciding what sections to delete?

I have two suggestions:
1) When adding categories to profiles, keep them all together, either at the very top or at the very bottom of the profile.
2) When cleaning up profiles (so what you're actually asking about), first, look on the profile page to see what categories are there. Then, in the edit box, add those categories to the top or bottom of the edit box (or if you see them, just move them), then proceed with your cleaning up.

Comments

I try to keep categories at the top myself, but the only problem is that if the profile gets merged into another one, then they will show up below the bio of the destination LNAB.  I wonder if perhaps a separate edit box for categories apart from the bio might help.

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I would LOVE THIS

Answer 2

Please define 'Categories'  it's not in the help index? 

Don't know what this is about at all?  Wish I did, it might be useful.

http://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Category:WikiTree_Help

Comments

Categories are listed here:

http://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Categories

If you go to this profile:

http://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Plantagenet-66

Under the profile manager section you will see: Categories: Plantagenet | Order of the Garter.

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Also, I'm not sure why people keep missing it, but it is in the help index: http://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Using_Categories

Answer 3

Lindsay -  The display position and font used for the hotlink created when you add a category depends on the syntax you use.  Let me give you two examples:

If you type the following,:

[[Category:Coffee Lover|Coffee Lover]]

the category link will show up in small green lettering near where the profile manager name, matches, and other information is located - and yes it gets lost in all of that.  HOWEVER...

If you put a colon both before AND after the word "Category", as I have in the next line:

[[:Category:Coffee Lover|Coffee Lover]]

the category link will show up in the standard font in the body of the Biography section -  still green to show it's a hotlink (clickable), but much easier to read and find.

If you do this, using a colon both before AND after the word "Category" I think you'll find it meets your needs.

- Mike

Comments

Hi Mike,

You'll need to do both. When you use the colon before "Category" it does not place the profile in the category, it only links to it. See http://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Adding_links#Links_to_Categories

Chris

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I don't recommend using the syntax [[Category:Coffee Lover|Coffee Lover]] unless you're very sure that's what you mean to do! What that does is puts the page in the Coffee Lover category, sorted as if it were called Coffee Lover. So, if that syntax were used on every profile in that category, the category page would just have a C section with all the pages listed under it (the alphabetisation would be totally broken).

tl;dr: In a category link, the | doesn't do what you probably think it does (ie. what it does on normal page links). :)

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Absolutely correct as usual, Lianne - as I found out today much to my chagrin.  :: chuckle ::  Thank you for this clarification!

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1. So what would the correct syntax look like?.
2. How does the pipe symbol (the | character) function differently?