[wp-hackers] hierarchical custom taxonomies vs good & old cats.

[Dion Hulse (dd32)]

On Sat, 18 Dec 2010 14:54:26 +1100, Haluk Karamete  
<halukkaramete at gmail.com> wrote:

<snip>
> The bottom line is...
>
> I see no advantage gain by setting a custom taxonomy hierarchical. I
> already got that with good old cats.

Your examples are very specific, and all the UI's you would like ARE  
possible (just not built into core, as they're such niche items IMO, a  
Plugin can create a taxonomies custom metabox with ease.)

Take this custom taxonomy for example:
Fruits
  - Citrus
    - Lemon
    - Orange
  - Nut
    - Peacan

That organises it into a hierarchical data type, The fruits are stored  
under a parent which all the children relate to.

You can also use something such as:
CountryStates
  - AU
    - NSW
    - QLD
  - US
    - CA
    - GA
  - UK
    - England

Choosing a hierarchical type over something else purely depends on how you  
think about the data, and if the parents have a useful grouping to their  
children.

In the same reasoning, Why would you use Categories over Tags? I mean, You  
can add "Politics, USA" to your tags list! There's no need to add the  
Poilitics and the USA sub-category of it..
But that's not how most people would utilise categories and tags, Most  
would tag their item with single broad topics, and file it under a  
category which drills down to a specific.

Use a flat custom taxonomy for a Broad terms
Use a hierarchical custom taxonomy when you want the ability to drill down  
to items from "Broad -> More Specific -> Specific"


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Dion Hulse / dd32
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