What it means for a taxonomy to be hierarchical
We\’ve all done it, had to explain the difference between hierarchical and non-hierarchical taxonomies (categories and tags).
In a recent ticket, #23447, it\’s proposed that the description for the parent dropdown on the hierarchical taxonomy form be rewritten to be more generic. In an age of custom taxonomies, I think we can get behind that.
The current patch suggests changing this:
Categories, unlike tags, can have a hierarchy. You might have a Jazz category, and under that have children categories for Bebop and Big Band. Totally optional.
to this:
You might have a Jazz category, and under that have children categories for Bebop and Big Band. Totally optional.
I think we can do better. We\’d need to succinctly explain \”hierarchy\” without button-holing ourselves into just talking about categories.
As @dd32 aptly points out, we need to avoid using taxonomy labels in any future changes because of the difficulty in working with different languages.
So who has a suggestion? 
Rachel McCollin 7:16 pm on February 17, 2013 Permalink | Log in to Reply
I guess the question is whether the same text appears against hierarchical taxonomies as against categories. This is part of a wider issue around understanding taxonomies and terms:
Category is a taxonomy
Any categories the user adds are terms within that taxonomy.
Can the wording be changed so that if it\’s for a custom taxonomy, it replaces \’categories\’ with the taxonomy name perhaps? And also in that case you would want to omit the comparison to tags as its less relevant.
In terms of using taxonomy labels, would it not be possible to translate the labels using translation functions? I guess it would mean storing the taxonomy name and any text domain used when the taxonomy is registered and then being able to output this? Or am I overcomplicating things?
Drew Jaynes (DrewAPicture) 7:25 pm on February 17, 2013 Permalink | Log in to Reply
The dropdown label is global for all hierarchical taxonomies.
As mentioned in @dd32\’s linked comment, it seems like the problem that arises from using taxonomy labels is the additional labeling that surrounds them that translators can\’t control. We use the labels sparingly in situations where translators can control the context.
Siobhan 7:54 pm on February 17, 2013 Permalink | Log in to Reply
How about:
Also, the rest of that page needs a bit of a rewrite. Here you go:
Just remove this – why is it necessary?
to
to
to
Drew Jaynes (DrewAPicture) 8:07 pm on February 17, 2013 Permalink | Log in to Reply
One thing at a time
Just like code is generally refactored when something isn’t working or is being improved, the same goes for changing strings, contextual or in the help tabs.
I like this because it takes a tack of explaining what will create a hierarchy instead of describing what a hierarchy is. Action vs description