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
- → Events
But why use categories instead of tags for a level-three category?
- Access: For example, if I want to restrict access to the topics based on those who have RSVPed for the event (the 20xx-Events)
- Visibility: categories do have more visibility such as adding description, image, and choosing layout
- Settings: there are a bunch of settings that can be used with categories but not with tags
- 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. 
