View source for Wikipedia:Portal/Guidelines/Categorizing

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This page gives guidelines for the proper '''categorization''' of portals under [[:Category:Portals]] and its subcategories. 

==Top level portal categories==

No new top-level portal categories, like [[:Category:Technology portals]], [[:Category:Geography portals]] and other major divisions of [[:Category:Portals]], should be created without broadly-achieved consensus, e.g. as the result of a thorough [[WP:VP|Village pump]] discussion.

==Categories of portals==

When a [[:Category:Portals]] subcategory (or a ''sub''subcategory thereof, etc.) accumulates a significant number of portals, they should be, where reasonable, sorted into subcategories of portals.  E.g., all of the [[association football]] (soccer) portals under [[:Category:Sports and games portals]] have been gathered into a [[:Category:Association football portals]] subdirectory under the original sports and games portal category. This keeps the latter easier to read, navigate and maintain, and such subcategorization also makes it easier to find topical portals and to see how they may related to other portals.

For a subcategory of portals, use as simple and clear a name as possible, and make it plural (e.g. [[:Category:Motorsports portals]], not [[:Category:Car, motorcycle and other power vehicle racing portals]]).

Do not create a subcategory of portals for a topic area with fewer than two portals (or topical portal categories, see below) to be added to it, unless there is a clear convention to do so (e.g. a category for each major subnational division of a country's portal category that already has several such divisions).  For example, do not create a [[:Category:Cycling portals]] container category for nothing but [[Portal:Cycling]], even if you feel there will probably someday be a [[Portal:BMX]] or [[:Category:BMX portal]] that could also go in there; wait until there are multiple cycling portals/portal directories to populate the category, or it will very likely be deleted at [[WP:CFD]].

==Topical portal categories==

For simple portals consisting of a page with sections for editing, no category is needed.  A portal that [[WP:Transclusion|transcludes]] content in from separate subpages can be given its own category to help portal editors manage the components that come together to form the portal.  Such a category is not mandatory, but recommended.

===Naming conventions===

A category for a portal page and its subpages should generally be named in the form <code><nowiki>[[Category:TOPIC NAME portal]]</nowiki></code>, where the portal itself is named <code><nowiki>[[Portal:TOPIC NAME]]</nowiki></code>.  E.g. for [[Portal:English football]] use [[:Category:English football portal]].  Do ''not'' use the format <code><nowiki>[[:Category:Portal:TOPIC NAME]]</nowiki></code>, as this is easily confused with <code><nowiki>[[:Portal:TOPIC NAME]]</nowiki></code>.

=== Proper categorization ===
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For any portal, the portal page (if it does not have its own category) or the portal category should always be categorized under a subcategory of [[:Category:Portals]], and usually under a ''sub''subcategory of that subcategory, often even deeper.  Do not simply add a new portal or portal category to [[:Category:Portals]] unless you cannot figure out where to put it more specifically (other editors at [[Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Portals|WikiProject Portals]] can help you).

A portal category should not be categorized in a content category (a category under [[:Category:Articles]]).

For a portal with its own category, put the portal in that category only, and put ''the category'' in other categories.  E.g. [[Portal:Snooker]] goes in [[:Category:Snooker portal]], which in turn is categorized in [[:Category:Sports and games portals]].  Do ''not'' put both the portal page itself and its category into the same containing category - this leads to a bloated, messy category of portals.

If a portal page is in a content category (i.e. below [[:Category:Articles]]) a [[WP:SORTKEY|sortkey]] should be used to separate the portal page from articles - e.g. Portal:Foo may contain <code><nowiki>[[Category:Foo|ρ]]</nowiki></code>.

=== Portals for geographic locations ===

The top category for portals tied to geographic locations is [[:Category:Geography portals]].  This category is ''very'' hierarchically organized. There are several top-level categories for broadly defined regions of geographic portal organization, such as [[:Category:Asian portals]]. 

Included in this geographic portal hierarchy are more specific portal types that are within - sometimes quite deep within - the top-level geographic portal categories (which are not all arranged the same):

* Countries, states/provinces/regions, cities and towns
* Places of interest (including universities, landmarks, tourism destinations, cathedrals, etc.)
* Government agencies
* Various others.

The structure will generally be at least similar to that of the corresponding non-portal geographical categories. For example, the portal category for [[Portal:Hawaii]] is hierarchically located here:

[[:Category:Portals]]
:[[:Category:Geography portals]]
::[[:Category:Americas portals]]
:::[[:Category:North American portals]]
::::[[:Category:United States portals]]
:::::[[:Category:United States portals by state or territory]]
::::::[[:Category:Hawaii portal]]
:::::::[[Portal:Hawaii]]

=== Portals under construction ===

Portals that are not complete and ready for casual public browsing are categorized in [[:Category:Portals under construction]].  These portals should '''''not''''' also be included in the [[:Category:Portals|Portals]] category or any of its subcategories.

=== Portals needing attention ===

Portals that are complete, but which still (or, due to decline in maintenance, suddenly) need some attention should be placed in the appropriate [[:Category:Portals]] subcategory '''and''' into [[:Category:Portals needing attention]], unless they have fallen into such a state of disrepair that they are of little if any use to readers, in which case they should not be in either location, but be relegated back to [[:Category:Portals under construction]].

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[[Category:Wikipedia portal administration|Categorizing]]