About Taxonomies

Taxonomies are a type of metadata used to classify topics or elements.

A taxonomy is a hierarchical classification system that contains one or more taxonomy terms that you define. When you apply these terms to documents or elements, you can make information easier to find, both for authors and for end users. You can also use them when you process output to facilitate features like dynamic publishing portals.

You can add taxonomy terms to the <metadata> section of a topic or map as either <category> or <keyword> elements, depending on how your system is configured. This adds those classifications to the entire topic or map. You can also add taxonomy terms within the body of a topic or map as <keywords> to classify specific elements.

When used as a metadata category, a taxonomy term contains two components: a Human Readable category name and a Vocabulary Term Value. The two may be but need not be the same. For example some output applications may require a taxonomy term format that does not identify the actual term to the reader.

You can use the Taxonomy Terms view to manage taxonomies and apply taxonomy terms to multiple documents. (You cannot use this view to add keywords to elements.) You can also use buttons in the CMS toolbar to add terms to the document that you are editing.