Project:Categories

In MediaWiki, a category is a group of related pages. This page documents how categories are used on MediaWiki.org.

Categories are organized into a hierarchy, or tree, with one category at the top. Each page on MediaWiki.org should belong to one or more relevant categories. To learn how to add categories to a page and how to manage the category tree, see Help:Categories.

Browse categories

 * Special:CategoryTree – Explore the category tree.
 * Special:Categories – List all categories.

Tasks

 * Add categories to uncategorized pages.
 * Create category pages for wanted categories. (Categories ending in a language code must be translated from the English version, not created manually.)
 * Add descriptions to category pages.
 * Help translate category pages.

Languages
Each language on MediaWiki.org has a separate category tree that mirrors the structure of the English-language category tree. For example, you can browse French-language pages using Category:Top_level/fr. In order for a category to appear in a language's category tree, the category page must be translated into that language. For example, in order for Category:Help/fr to appear in the category tree, Category:Help must have a French translation.

Top level

 * Languages – top-level category for MediaWiki.org
 * Top level – top-level category for English-language content

MediaWiki.org site

 * MediaWiki.org website – pages about organizing and managing MediaWiki.org
 * Maintenance – pages related to maintenance tasks on MediaWiki.org
 * MediaWiki.org users – users and groups related to MediaWiki.org
 * MediaWiki.org WikiProjects – projects to improve pages on MediaWiki.org
 * Modules – Lua modules used on MediaWiki.org
 * Templates – templates used on MediaWiki.org

Documentation for MediaWiki users

 * Help – pages in the Help namespace

Documentation for MediaWiki developers and administrators

 * MediaWiki development – developer documentation for MediaWiki
 * MediaWiki technical documentation – also a subcategory of Manual
 * Development guidelines – development policies, guidelines, and code conventions
 * Extensions – pages related to MediaWiki extensions
 * MediaWiki Releases – release notes and pages related to the MediaWiki version lifecycle
 * Manual – administrator and developer documentation for MediaWiki
 * MediaWiki components – documentation for the components or parts that make up MediaWiki
 * Installation – pages about how to install MediaWiki
 * MediaWiki configuration – pages about configuring a MediaWiki instance
 * MediaWiki administration – pages about administering a MediaWiki instance
 * Localisation – pages about customizing MediaWiki for a language or locale
 * MediaWiki for site admins – documentation for MediaWiki site administrators
 * MediaWiki Introduction – pages to read when getting started with MediaWiki

Community

 * Events – events related to MediaWiki and the Wikimedia technical community
 * MediaWiki Communication – communication channels and best practices
 * Specialized groups – working groups and committees
 * MediaWiki References – MediaWiki consulting and hosting services, testimonials, and sites using MediaWiki
 * Wikimedia Foundation – pages about Wikimedia Foundation teams and technical activities
 * WMDE Engineering – pages about the Wikimedia Deutschland Engineering team

History
I'm going to try a reorganisation of the category tree... please pitch in with suggestions here, or just go ahead and be bold... --HappyDog 00:23, 6 April 2007 (UTC)


 * Top level
 * MediaWiki.org website - root level can contain info about/relating to the site
 * Maintenance - Contains items that need some work.
 * Policy - Site policy, or discussions about it.
 * Images - Image categorisation, primarily license-based at the moment.
 * MediaWiki for users
 * MediaWiki for site admins
 * Upgrading
 * Help
 * Extensions

Non-english pages should be categorised identically to their English version, but with the corresponding language code added as a sub-page, e.g. for the French version of an English page categorised as. Each category page should include the template, so all the alternative language versions are picked up, and the top level for each language should be placed in Category:Languages (the actual top level for non-English pages).

The old category root was at Category:Fundamental, which is now empty (all content is now under Category:Top level, and any categories that are not used in the new structure have been deleted).

Proposal
At the moment we have several disconnected category trees with no real root category. The root cat for english pages is Category:Top level, for all others root cat is Category:Languages.

There should be an addional tree, that combines "cats by language" and "cats by function": Regards a x p de  Hello!  10:54, 21 April 2011 (UTC)
 * 1) Rename all cats without "/xx" extension to "category/en"
 * 2) Duplicate the old tree without extension and collect all "category/xx" in "category", e.g. Category:Languages becomes new Category:Top level.


 * Well, that "cats by function" concept is already matched by the "Languages" box. Through it, the category trees are virtually connected at each corresponding node. Note that this virtual connection is direct: from each node you can visit its exact correspondence in another tree with a single click, whereas two clicks would be required to traverse an intermediate "cats by function". The "Languages" box also directly connects corresponding leafs (irrespective of namespace), with the same user interface. Hamilton Abreu 00:51, 24 April 2011 (UTC)


 * But "languages" only connects on top level an not "top level" itself, just "top level/en" which is a redirect ... the main reason for categories is that they will work, even if the languages box is broken for some unknown reason. E.g. someone translates a page but does not know how to add it correctly ... plus the categories are all readable and easily to identify but the suffix, non latin charsets is not so easy to read ... a x p de  Hello!  00:01, 26 April 2011 (UTC)


 * You're presenting a costly solution to inexistent problems. Where I believe you have a point, is in that we should categorise Category:Top level under Category:Languages, and rephrase the description of Category:Languages to make it the top level removing the "non-English" emphasis.
 * Rather than channelling energy to solve inexistent problems, we should perhaps direct it to the real ones: for example, pages being categorised under the wrong language category. Consider Manual:AdminSettings.php/ru (you should pause a few seconds on this page and consider that the "Languages" box still works perfectly in such instances, but the page is in the wrong category). Are you able to automatically detect and fix these cases? That would be useful. Hamilton Abreu 17:43, 27 April 2011 (UTC)