Easy way to categorize
Hi,
I have a sidebar with multiple categories (i.e., lots) which are taxonomy parent terms and many children terms under them and many of their children terms under them. When a user writes something and the node needs to get tagged so that it will be in the categories, is there an easy way I can do this without having to manually do it myself as an administrator? What I mean is that users can’t be trusted to tag their own content because they simply don’t want to do it, misspell terms, and/or enter terms that aren’t relevant. So that leaves site administrators to do all the work, right? What is the best way (i.e., most efficient/effective) to categorize many nodes in many different categories? Moreover, is there a way I can add CCK fields in Create Content that are taxonomy terms but will automatically go into their respective vocabularies as soon as the user submits the content? I know this request is long, but if anyone can help, I’d appreciate it. Thanks.
Some thoughts
Check out Content Taxonomy module which provides a CCK field for referencing taxonomy terms. I'm not 100% convinced this is your solution, though. Every website is a balancing act between what's ideal and what's practical. Drupal's taxonomy system is great, but it's easy to overdo it. In the end, the Create Content forms have to be practical to use, and you only need enough taxonomies, terms and CCK fields to present content in a way that's easy to navigate.
How important is that complex sidebar? Is there another way for visitors to easily navigate to content without the need for so many taxonomies and terms? Check out the many taxonomy-related modules and, if you haven't already, have a close look at Views, which allows you to filter and present content any number of ways without having to rely so much on taxonomy.
If your users can't be trusted to categorise correctly, make each taxonomy 'Required', avoid using Tags, and have trustworthy moderators whose job is re-categorise posts. You could even use modules like Modr8 or Workflow to set up a more formal submission system. Good luck!