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?
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.
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.
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?
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.
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 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.
@gassim, I looked at your site and it seems that you haven’t yet implemented the third level of sub-categories, and I’ve been thinking to implement it on one of my sites as well.
Is there a reason you haven’t implemented them yet?
Basically, instead of maintaining multiple forums, I was thinking to combine them and some of the first-level categories would just be what I would have had on a separate forum. E.g., The Jim Kleiber Show (my podcast), emōkō (my martial art for emotional combat), and more.
I’m at the “Don’t build too many restaurants, otherwise they’ll all be dead and empty, better to have one restaurant with different mini-restaurants inside with common infrastructure powering them.”
I’m curious what you all think of this modified analogy and justification for three levels of categories.
I was relectant to ask for the activation of the hidden setting only to test it out. It was not a necessity but more of a idea to test for specific groups within the community, so with the feedback I received above, it wasn’t prioritized.
If I do, I’ll definitely take @Bas’s and the other’s insights into consideration. I agree that it’s not a good idea to get people to have to navigate too many pages in order to get to their final destination; however, if it’s a specific topic/course or event that would need to be in its own ‘category’ (and not a tag) then I think it might still be a good idea.
On the other hand, I’m curious to test this option first and see if it works for our use-case: Custom Homepage for Groups
I don’t want to use the third-level subcategories for ‘new members’ who are still learning about the community and trying to find their way around, but let’s say the third level sub-categories are for “people in the restaurant” who desire specific dishes and would want to make use of that space with their own unique interior design…etc
Sounds interesting! Yes, I agree that having to manage multiple forums for the same groups of people wouldn’t be a good idea as much as having first-level categories where these people can explore and connect.
I think both analogies are interesting and come with wisdom but it feels that they’re addressing two different scenarios. You could still apply the concept not to ‘put too many rooms in your mini-restaurants’!
I still believe that generally, I can agree that not having too many navigation/thinking options for community members to get engaged is important, but at the same time, I think that there can be use-cases where three levels of categories is actually justified.
The too many rooms options makes sense to me IF people only navigate a forum through the categories page. When I come here to Meta, I rarely use the categories page. If the topics filter option were better on the main topics page, I would even more rarely go to individual category pages.
The benefit I see of the all-topics feed here on Discourse is that people don’t have to navigate the forum through a Yahoo-like directory approach, but can have both Yahoo and Google (and dare I say Facebook Newsfeed) approach to navigating.
But mayb the mere appearance of many categories overwhelms people? Or maybe we’re just curious creatures and want to click on all those category buttons on the left?
I’m not sure yet what to do, just glad to have a space to reflect and dialogue publicly on it.
