Article categories are titled sections in which you can place your articles for easier organization and navigation.  You can create as many categories as you would like and it is also possible to arrange categories into sub-categories.  You can also choose not to place an article into a category, or "*not assigned*". The article will not be available to visitors though.

To create a category, go to: "TinyPortal > Articles and Categories".
Then in the TP Admin menu choose the option "Categories".



To create a new category, click on the "ADD CATEGORY" button.
Name your category and you can also choose to place your new category in a parent category, as a sub-category. Once you have selected any options desired, click "[Save]" at the bottom.


 
If you wish to change the name of your article category at a later time, simple view your category listing by going to:"TinyPortal > Articles and Categories" and select the Category that you wish to edit. Change the name of the category you choose, and click "[Save]" at the bottom.

Now you are ready to review the Category Settings.
In the category settings there is a large number of options which allow you to customize the display of the category and the articles in it.



Name: The name of the category. This name should describe the category and its content, since it may be shown as part of the linktree in the site (if this is part of the theme used)
Options: [Text box]

Parent: Use this to assign the category as a sub-category to another category. If the category is not a child of another select "* not assigned *"
Options: [selection list with available categories]

Sort options: This sort option controls how the articles in the category are sorted when displaying the category view in TinyPortal. The sorting can be based on 'date', 'author', 'position' or 'id number' of the articles the category (ascending or descending).
Options: [selection list with available sorting options]

Articles per page: Specify here how many articles are to be shown on a page in the category view. If there are more articles in the category a page tab will appear that allows to scoll to next page.
Options: [entry field]

Short name: The short name will replace the category-id in the page url if used.
Without a value the url will be displayed as: .../index.php?cat=92
if a value is added (eg. "Articles") the url will show as: .../index.php?cat=Articles
Options: [entry field]

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Layout  options
Within the category you can define how you want the articles in the category to be presented to your visitors. You can choose and experiment with a number of pre-defined layouts or even create a full custom layout with HTML coding.



Articles layout for the category: Choose one of the pre-defined layouts available. Experiment what options fits best with the information in your articles.
Options: [Different layout options with radio button]

Layout type: Defines how articles for the category are displayed in the category view.
Options:

• normal articles: All articles in the category are displayed in normal layout, using the introduction text or body text depending on the setting per article.
  
  
• 1st normal + avatars: The first article in the category (page) is displayed in normal layout, using the introduction text or body text depending on the setting of the article. Subsequent articles are shown with the avatar of the author on the left side of the articles.
  
  
• 1st avatar + links: The first article in the category (page) is displayed in a layout showing the avatar of the author on the left side of the article. All other articles on the category page are shown as links.
  
  
• articles + icons: All articles are shown with the assigned illustrative icon of the article on the left side of the articles. See "Articles: using Icons" for details
  
  
• normal + links: The first article in the category (page) is displayed in normal layout, using the introduction text or body text depending on the setting of the article. All other articles on the category page are shown as links.
  
  
• just links: All articles on the category page are shown as links.
  
  
• use custom template: Use an own-defined template. Default code is provided in the block 'custom layout' and can be adapted to your own liking.
  
  
• articles + icons 2: All articles are shown with the assigned illustrative icon of the article on the left side of the articles. See "Articles: using Icons" for details.

Custom layout: In this code block you can completely define your own layout according to your requirements. Some understanding of HTML coding is required though. To activate this code block it is required that you select "Use custom template" option for Layout.
(To reset custom layout, clear all text below and save)
Options:[text block with code]

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Display any child categories? When activating this option, the category page will automatically display links to any child categories for this category.
Options: [No] / [Yes]

Panels: You can choose which panel(s) you want to have displayed for articles in this category. It is possible to control the panel activation per category (with this setting) or per individual article (this is controlled in the article settings). It is usually recommended to start with using the category settings and only make it article specific once you get to know the system better.
Options: [List of Panels with multi-selection boxes]

Membergroups that can see this category: This is an important setting: there is no article level permission: this setting controls which membergroups can actually see the articles in this category. If there is no selection made only administrators will be able to see the articles in this category.
Options: [List of membergroups with selection boxes] and toggle all function

That's all there is to it!

Doc Written By: Xarcell
Last updated 10-Jan-2022 by @rjen