I'm trying to determine when it makes more sense to use a small number of categories with links that have several custom fields vs using a large number of categories with no custom link fields.
For example, say I was creating a directory of college band competition reviews (I'm not, but this is an analogy).
I would want to be able to group the reviews by: - band type (marching, orchestra, etc.) - conferences/associations (PAC10, Big10, SEC, etc.) - country/state/venue
Now obviously, if I were to create categories for associations/conferences and countries/states/venues I could end up with several thousand categories, and I'm not sure if that makes any sense.
If I only created categories for the band types, but then used custom link fields to specify the association/conference and country/state/venue, what would I be losing (if anything)?
Also, I'm considering setting up a separate category type and link type to collect and display "reviewer profiles". Does this make sense... or when should you use different category/link types vs just creating different templates for different categories?
I appreciate any advice anyone can give since I'd like to get this setup correctly from the beginning. Thanks!
Comments on When to use categories vs custom fields?
Member
Usergroup: Customer
Joined: Dec 12, 2005
Total Topics: 11
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I'm trying to determine when it makes more sense to use a small number of categories with links that have several custom fields vs using a large number of categories with no custom link fields.
For example, say I was creating a directory of college band competition reviews (I'm not, but this is an analogy).
I would want to be able to group the reviews by:
- band type (marching, orchestra, etc.)
- conferences/associations (PAC10, Big10, SEC, etc.)
- country/state/venue
Now obviously, if I were to create categories for associations/conferences and countries/states/venues I could end up with several thousand categories, and I'm not sure if that makes any sense.
If I only created categories for the band types, but then used custom link fields to specify the association/conference and country/state/venue, what would I be losing (if anything)?
Also, I'm considering setting up a separate category type and link type to collect and display "reviewer profiles". Does this make sense... or when should you use different category/link types vs just creating different templates for different categories?
I appreciate any advice anyone can give since I'd like to get this setup correctly from the beginning. Thanks!
developer
Usergroup: Administrator
Joined: Dec 20, 2001
Location: Diamond Springs, California
Total Topics: 61
Total Comments: 7867
I'd do those as fields. Categopries can't be referenced 3 ways at once (without a complicated aliasing scheme) while field search links can.
Whether you prefer different types or different templates is a matter of personal taste I think.