Drupal® 7 Bible

Chapter 11. Managing Taxonomies

IN THIS CHAPTER

• Introducing the Taxonomy Manager

• Creating vocabularies

• Managing terms

We use taxonomies as tools to better organize what otherwise might be chaotic Web sites. Taxonomies give you a way to organize or categorize your content as you or your content managers see fit. Additionally, when used as navigational elements, they give your visitors a means of rapidly accessing specific slices of your content that might otherwise be buried deeply in your Web site.

In other words, you use taxonomies primarily to make it easier for your Web site visitors to find what they are looking for. But to achieve this goal most effectively, you should first understand the different types of taxonomies and their relative strengths and weaknesses.

In this chapter, I introduce taxonomies, some important vocabulary and concepts related to information management, and explore how you create and manage Drupal taxonomies.

Understanding Key Concepts

In this chapter I show you that taxonomies—also called Drupal vocabularies—are not complicated things; however, their flexible nature demands that you think carefully about how to best use them, in advance of deployment. Additionally, as a cautionary word, don't be turned off by the amount of jargon encountered as you wade into the waters of taxonomies, metadata, and information management—the basics are as simple as putting different types of content in different boxes.

Tip

The Drupal 7 Taxonomy Manager has changed significantly ...