Tags and topics
This page is for producers with a growing back catalog who want listeners to find episodes by topic, guest type or theme. Exponential offers two tools: the Keywords datatype in the kernel, and eztags, an extension with a managed tag tree, on installations that have it.
Contents
Keywords or tags
Keywords (ezkeyword) | eztags | |
|---|---|---|
| Where | kernel, kernel/classes/datatypes/ezkeyword/ | the eztags extension, where installed |
| Entry | free text, comma separated | chosen from a tag tree, or added to it |
| Spelling control | none: "e-mail" and "email" are two keywords | one tag, used everywhere |
| Translations of the tag | no | yes, tags have translations |
| Used by | the Video class (Tags) | the NG Video class (Main topic, Tags) on media site installations |
For more than a handful of topics, eztags keeps the catalog consistent; see Tagging content with eztags.
Keywords
Add a Keywords field to the episode class (Building an episode class) and type topics separated by commas. Keep a shared list of the spellings your team uses. A design can list episodes with the same keyword; the site search finds episodes by their keywords when the field is searchable.
eztags
On installations with eztags:
- An administrator creates a tag tree for the show, for example Topics, Formats (interview, panel, solo), Guests' fields (Set it up).
- The episode class gets an eztags field limited to that branch.
- Editors pick tags while editing; new tags can be allowed or not, by permission (Permissions).
- The design shows tag pages that list every episode with a tag (Showing tags on a site).
With Exponential Layouts, tag-based lists can feed a block of a page, so a show's page can carry "More on this topic"
(extension/explayouts_tags_query on installations that have it).
Topics in the feed
A podcast feed item can carry a category element. It comes from the field mapped as Category for the source
(Episode mapping reference). A Keywords field works directly: the feed writes
the keywords as one string (podcastText() in kernel/classes/ezrssexport.php handles eZKeyword). An eztags field
is not one of the types podcastText() handles, so it writes nothing there; map a keyword or text field instead.
This item category is separate from the show's Category in the Apple Podcasts section, which must be one of Apple's categories (Channel fields reference).
Good tagging for a show
- Agree on a small set of topics first; add new ones on purpose, not while typing.
- Tag the format (interview, panel, live) as well as the subject, if listeners ask for it.
- Do not tag guests' names as topics if they have person pages; relate the person instead (Guests and credits).
- Review tags once per season: merge duplicates, remove tags with one episode.
Related pages
- Tagging content with eztags
- Searching
- How a show maps to content
- Free documentation: this page is free to copy, translate and improve under the GNU FDL 1.3.
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