Certain sections have categories, including (but (not?) limited to?): Tutorials, Code Catacombs, and Categorized Questions and Answers. Wouldn't it be cool if they all shared a common set of categories? If they did, then an enhanced synergy among these sections becomes an intriguing possibility.

Update
Take a look at the categories which currently exist in those three sections:

Code CatQA Tut
AudioArrays CGI Programming
CGI ProgrammingCGI ProgrammingDatabases
Chatterbox ClientsData FormattingFiles and Directories
CryptographyData StructuresFunctions, Subroutines, and Variables
E-MailDatabase ProgrammingGetting Started
FTPDates and TimesMiscellaneous
FunDebuggingNetwork Programming
GUI ProgrammingDirectoriesObject Oriented Perl
HTMLFilesPerl Idioms
MiscellaneousGUI ProgrammingPerlMonks
NetworkingHashes Regular Expressions
NT AdminHTTP and FTP ClientsSpecific CPAN Modules
PerlMonksInput and OutputTips, Performance, and Troubleshooting
Text ProcessingMail and NewsWriting, Installing, and Using Modules
UtilityMath
WebNetwork Programming
Win32Numbers
Object-Oriented Programming
Programs And Processes
References
Regular Expressions
Sorting
Strings
Subroutines
Testing

There's something about this discrepancy that I find inelegant. Wouldn't it be nice if we could sync up the set of categories in each section, and keep them in sync going forward?

Update2:
I'm thinking it would be nice to have a category-centric view which cuts across the sections — or rather, ties them together. For example, if someone is interested in CGI Programming, they know where to go for tutorials, for FAQs, and for code samples/solutions.

I guess, when you come right down to it, the sections, as they're presented, are table-centric, which is to say, low level, but not necessarily natural from a user's perspective. Imagine a site doc with an index with entries like so:

Fortunately, what I'm proposing doesn't involve any site code changes. Just some coordinated efforts among the Pedagogues (for Tutorials), Janitors (for Code), and QandAEditors.

We're building the house of the future together.
  • Comment on Uniform set of categories for all sections that have them?

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Re: Uniform set of categories for all sections that have them?
by zentara (Cardinal) on Mar 20, 2006 at 12:36 UTC
    I agree with you. There is often a fine line between a snippet and a CUFP, and many other catagories overlap so that you may not find what you are looking for, in the category you would expect the author to put it in.

    But instead of reorganizing the categories, I think a better SuperSearch is what is needed. It says on the SuperSearch page that more improvements will be made? I don't know what they use, but it would be sweet if they used Swish( or something similar ) to index all keywords.

    I'm not really a human, but I play one on earth. flash japh
[reply]
Re: Uniform set of categories for all sections that have them?
by rinceWind (Monsignor) on Mar 20, 2006 at 16:34 UTC

    I think I get what you mean. A simple hyperlink could be generated between identically named categories.

    For example, CGI Programming would contain a link Categorised Q&A, and the page QandASection: CGI programming would contain a link Code Catacombs, displayed fairly promenantly.

    Tutorials would need integrating in a similar fashion, because the section doesn't currently have a node for each category.

    --

    Oh Lord, won’t you burn me a Knoppix CD ?
    My friends all rate Windows, I must disagree.
    Your powers of persuasion will set them all free,
    So oh Lord, won’t you burn me a Knoppix CD ?
    (Missquoting Janis Joplin)

[reply]
      Tutorials would need integrating in a similar fashion, because the section doesn't currently have a node for each category.

      Well, yes, actually it does. (See my example in the root node.) Modern Tutorials is a nested structure, i.e. a tree.

      It's rather unfortunate that the sections are implemented so differently, and appear so differently to the user. One possible side-effect of this proposed approach is that people might become increasingly aware of the difference in look-and-feel between the sections.

      We're building the house of the future together.
[reply]
Re: Uniform set of categories for all sections that have them?
by demerphq (Chancellor) on Mar 20, 2006 at 10:36 UTC

    Im not sure I follow what you mean here....

    ---
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