| Remember that topics and categories represent a sort of grid for content categorization. Topics have associated icons and are listed in the News module. Categories are usually thought of as a sort of subtopic, although every topic on your site shares the same list of categories. You should select topics that represent the main areas of categorization that your users will expect, based on your site's subject. Categories should represent a further breakdown. Sometimes the difference between the two isn't all that obvious. Here are some examples: Music sites might use topics like Lyrics, New Releases, and Concerts. That's because your users will probably want to focus on news stories that cover one or more of these topics, so by making these topics (rather than categories), you'll be able to associate icons with them and present an organized list of all concerts, for example, by using the Topics module. Categories, then, might break down music genres: Rock, Country, Folk, and so forth. A site on politics might include topics for Rumors, Announcements, News, and so forth. Again, these are major subject areas that will attract readers' interest. By using the Topics module, a user could quickly find the latest Rumors. Categories might break things down by Candidate, Party, State, City, and so forth. A site on computer games would probably include topics like New Releases, Tips, Rumors, and Demos. Once again, these are the major interest areas for users; categories could help define genres like Sports, Fighting, Role-Playing, and Action.
Always try to make your topics things that users might want to see a complete list of, and use categories to break them down into organized pieces.  | Sidebar . FAQWhy does PHP-Nuke come with only a"PHP-Nuke"topic icon? Because that's all PHP-Nuke's author wanted to include. He specifically asks, in fact, that you not use the similar-looking icons that he uses on www.phpnuke.org; you'll need to come up with your own graphics to use as topic icons. Can I use an ICO file as a topic icon? No. Topic icons have to be in one of the three common Web formats for all users to be able to see them. Those three formats are JPG, PNG, and GIF. Other graphic formats, like ICO, BMP, and so forth, may work for some users, but they may not work for all users. Also, other formats tend to create larger files than the three Web-friendly formats, meaning that your topic icons will take unusually long to download to your users' computers. |
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