Woz - 1:15 am on Aug 1, 2007 (gmt 0)

>Help! I need a category makeover!

Um, no, actually you need to define how you are going to generate your categories, then all will fall in place.

Consider building a vehicle. One could assemble a collection of parts and then try and put them together, and one may or may not end up with a usable car. Without any preparation and planning though the odds will be agin you. The engine you bought might be a good one but does it use available fuel? Does it connect to the drive shaft? And so on.

So, with all due respect, the code dump of your categories is somewhat useless until you put into place policies and procedures that will determine how you choose your categories and how you will classify your listings. And, as noted above, letting your users choose your categories will end up with a fair representation of a dog's breakfast.

First, you need to quantify the scope of your directory. Is it all encompassing, or focusing on a small and very tight niche, or somewhere in between? Establishing that first of all will help determine how your subject matter will be classified.

Next you need to consider what type of classifying system you need. In the link I referenced above there is a good overview of differing methods of organising knowledge. The two that are perhaps applicable to a Directory system are Taxonomy and Ontology. How are they different? Taxonomies have a Parent-Child relationship and so are restrictive, whereas Ontologies are open structured, much like a Thesaurus, and so are more flexible. Which one you choose will depend on your subject matter. If it is all encompassing then perhaps an ontology would be appropriate, but a smaller niche might do well with a simple taxonomy, but not always.

But not always, because it also depends on what criteria you are going to apply when classifying listings. Consider the subject matter of Widgets. The oft quoted type of widget know as "fuzzy blue widgets" gives us a very good clue as to the various mays of classifying. Are you going to classify widgets by:-
1) Physical Attributes, such as Fuzzy, Soft, Hard, Prickly, and so on, or
2) Colour, such as Blue, Green, Teal, Puce, and so on.

OR, are Widgets themselves but a subsection of "Things" that might also include Wadgets, Wedgets, Wodgets, Wudgets and their distant cousin Wydgets.

What might have seemed a simple taxonomy for a small niche subject might turn out to need a categorical ontology with multiple category connections for listings when the selection criteria are applied.

For example, Films and Movies. When called Films, they are an art form, falling into both the Visual and Aural arts categories. When called Movies they fall perhaps better into the Visual Entertainment category, but then they are also a business. When you define your classification criteria the applicable categories will usually become much clearer, but not always.

So, you can either try and fix the system you have at present, which brings to mind the concepts of pegs and holes, being both square and round, or, and this would be my suggestion, you can go right back to the beginning and spend some time researching classifying systems, researching your subject matter, and setting up your policies and procedures at which time your categories will fall into place themselves much easier both now and in the future.

Onya
Woz