Topics & Subtopics

This article is no longer maintained, so its content might be out of date.

Warning: This article is out of date. The SUMO IA does not work like this anymore.

This is a quick reference on how SUMO topics and subtopics work.

Note: Before making any changes to topics and subtopics, please consult Michael Verdi (the IA champion).

Create topics and subtopics

When you create a topic you must give it a name, a slug and a display order. The topic slug must be unique but the name and display order do not.

Warning: Topics that have the same slug will cause an error and no content will be displayed.
  • To create a topic, click the Add topic button in the Topic admin section.

    Add topic

  • You can turn a topic into a subtopic by assigning it a parent.

    Set parent

Topic visibility

You can set whether a topic is visible or not. Topics that are not visible do not show up on product pages or in the sidebar. They are, however, accessible by their URL and they can be assigned to an article.

Topic display order

Visible topics and subtopics are displayed on product pages and the sidebar in numerical order (using their "display order").

If the current product doesn't have any articles in a particular topic or subtopic, that topic or subtopic will not be shown on the product page or in the sidebar. This is not the case for the "Related topics" section (see bug 877768).

The first 5 visible topics (that contain articles) are used as the main topics on the product landing page. A special topic, "Get Community Support" is always shown in the sixth (or last) position of this section.

The next 5 visible topics (that contain articles) are used as additional topics that are displayed, below the main topics, on the product landing page and in the sidebar.

SUMO Topic Admin:
Topic Admin

Firefox Product Page:
Product page topics

Sidebar:
Sidebar topics

Create multiple taxonomies

We can create multiple taxonomies by exploiting topic display order and the fact that we don't show topics that don't contain articles for a given product.
Important: The key to making this work is to ensure that a product's articles don't share topics that are used in another product. This includes articles that redirect to other articles.

For example, currently on stage (6/6/2013), we have a set of topics in use only by Firefox OS. These topics have unique slugs and, for the sake of organization, they have display numbers that are higher than the Desktop main and additional topics.

Additional taxonomy

FxOS Only

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