Streamlining forum organization with third level sub-categories

UX
1

Hi!

I’m pretty sure it’s not possible to create a sub-category for a sub-category (please correct me if I’m wrong), but I thought about creating this topic post to double check as well as get an idea if other people have needed this as well.

It might not seem like a good idea to have a third level sub-category because of the number of levels members will need to navigate to get there; however, at the same time, it might not be a good idea to have many sub-categories in one parent category especially if you’d like to keep the parent category “usable”.

For example, say we have the following:

  • → Development
    • → App Development
    • → Android app development

But say we thought about adding third sub-level categories:
For example, say we have the following:

Category Sub Category Third Level Category use
Development Contains main Dev. topics such as general software feature discussions as well as roadmaps…etc and announcements that include all subcategories
App Development Contains topics are specifically to web app development
Using the API Contains guides and topics specifically to the API
Community Apps a category dedicated for members building apps (requires approval , one topic thread per app)
Core Apps a category dedicated for the core web apps
Android app development Contains topics that are specifically for android
Main Android app Contains topics that are specifically for the main (official) android app
Android SDK Contains topics specifically for the android SDK

Well, a good argument would be to use tags within the sub-category, which is fine, but let’s try another use case which is needed specifically because categories offer features that tags don’t (more than just navigation):

  • → Connect
    • → 2024-Event
    • → 2023-Event
    • → 2022-Event
    • → [Language] Community
    • → [Language] Community
    • → …[Language] Community*3
    • → Marketplace
    • → Forum Feedback

Instead I could organize it as:

  • → Connect
    • → Events
      • → 2024-Event
      • → 2023-Event
      • → 2022-Event
    • → Communities [Language, Language, Language…]
      • → [Language] Community
      • → …[Language] Community*3
    • → Marketplace
    • → Forum Feedback
But why use categories instead of tags for a level-three category?
  1. Access: For example, if I want to restrict access to the topics based on those who have RSVPed for the event (the 20xx-Events)
  2. Visibility: categories do have more visibility such as adding description, image, and choosing layout
  3. Settings: there are a bunch of settings that can be used with categories but not with tags
  4. Less clutter: to have a level-three sub category will help keep main sub-categories visible.

These are some idea, but I’d love to hear from you. What do you think of level three sub-categories? Do you have other use-cases that this might be helpful? Or do you think that even if this was “technically” possible, it might not be a good idea for a forum (from a UX perspective)?

Thank you in advance for sharing your thoughts and experience. :pray:

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2

You can enable 3 levels of categories with the hidden site setting max_category_nesting

8 Likes
3

Good to know!! Thanks!

Knowing that this is now ‘technically’ possible, I’m even more curious to whether I should or shouldn’t. I hope to hear from others what they think about nesting categories beyond 2nd level.

Thanks!

4

And then you have multiplatform development that is suitable in more than one categories. At that moment your deep category structure breaks.

That isn’t streamlining. That is totally opposite situation :smirk:

1 Like
5

Maybe, but in that case, I could add a ‘multiplatform dev.’ subcategory.

Regarding the topics/content itself I was trying to provide an example for three level categories. Do you have an example of what would be suitable for a three-level category? :grin:

Thanks!

6

How many top-level categories do you have in mind for your forum?

Do you envision only 2 top-level categories, one for dev-related stuff, and the other for community-related discussions?

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7

Hi @Canapin

Thank you for your interest and for joining the discussion. Although, I don’t want to ‘personalize’, I’m happy to share what’s our current implementation like. Our forum already has 10 public top-level categories (https://community.dhis2.org/categories.json)

This is not possible because the topics are diverse and use-cases are vast. We need to separate the different topics into different categories/tags so we can track as well as keep it a well-managed knowledge base.

1 Like
8

I would strongly recommend to start with as little categories and organisation as you can stomach.
Your users will spend a lot less time thinking about a topic’s taxonomy than you would like, that is life as a community manager. This book is an absolute classic for a reason: Don't Make Me Think - Wikipedia

I think that generally they are not needed and in most cases are harmful to a community. They are only unlocked with a hidden site setting for a reason.

I’ve always been enamoured by Jeff’s analogy from 2014:

I often describe Discourse as an interesting dinner party.
Think of categories as rooms, topics as tables, replies as conversations. Your goal, as the dinner party organizer, is to found your own successful restaurant

Don’t put too many rooms in your restaurant, it makes the place feel dead and empty.

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