Post categories
Group your posts into lanes with their own page and layout, so readers can follow the part of your blog they care about.
Once you have written a few posts, a single long list stops being the friendliest way to read them. Categories let you carve your blog into lanes: monthly singles in one, long letters in another, livestream archives in a third. Each category gets its own page on your website, its own layout, and its own address readers can bookmark.
Categories live on their own page in the dashboard, so you can set them up once and then simply tick the right ones as you write.
Where to find categories
In your dashboard, go to Blog then Categories. You will see every category you have made, each showing:
- Its title
- Its address on your site (the short piece of text after /c/)
- How many posts are in it, and which layout it uses
- A podcast tag, if the category is also set up as a show
Click any category to open and edit it, or use the trash icon on the right to remove one.
Creating a category
- Go to Blog then Categories.
- Click New Category (or Create your first category if this is your first one).
- Fill in the details below.
- Click Save.
You are taken straight to the category so you can keep editing it.
Title
The name of the lane, like "Monthly Singles" or "Letters". This is what readers see at the top of the category page.
URL slug
The short, web-friendly piece of text used in the category's address, shown after /c/. TribeNest fills this in from your title as you type, and you can edit it. Use lowercase letters, numbers, and hyphens only.
Changing the slug moves the page
The slug is part of the category's public address. If you change it after sharing the link, anyone following the old one will not land on the right page. Pick it early and leave it alone where you can.
Description
An optional summary of what the lane is about. It shows on the category page, and it travels with the show details if the category is also a podcast.
Default layout
This decides how posts in the category are laid out on your website. Pick the one that suits the content:
- Grid shows image-forward cards. Good for singles, releases, and photo galleries.
- List shows text-forward rows with a small thumbnail. Good for letters and essays.
- Episodes shows the title, the length, and an inline player. Good for podcasts and livestream replays.
You can change the layout whenever you like. It only affects how the category page looks, never the posts themselves.
Podcast settings
At the bottom of the form there is a collapsed Podcast settings section. Open it only if you want this category to double as a podcast show. Fill in the author, owner email, category, subcategory, language, copyright, and the explicit-content tick, and TribeNest builds a podcast feed for the category.
Once those details are filled in, opening the category shows a Podcast RSS feed panel at the top with the feed link and a Copy button, ready to hand to Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
Setting up a show properly?
If a podcast is what you are really after, use the dedicated Podcasts area instead. It walks you through the same details with Apple's own category list, adds cover art, and checks your show is complete before you submit. See Creating a podcast.
Putting posts in a category
Categories are assigned from the post itself, not from the category page.
- Create or edit a post under Blog then Posts.
- Find the Categories picker on the form.
- Search for and select every category the post belongs to.
- Save the post.
A post can sit in as many categories as you like. Categories that are set up as podcasts appear in the picker with a small microphone icon, so you can tell them apart at a glance.
The picker only appears once you have categories
If you have not made a category yet, the post form simply skips the picker. Make one first and it shows up.
Deleting a category
Click the trash icon next to a category and confirm. The lane disappears, along with its page and its address. The posts inside it are untouched: they stay in your blog, they just lose that grouping.
Ideas for lanes worth having
- Releases for anything you put out, laid out as a grid.
- Letters for long writing, laid out as a list.
- Behind the scenes for studio updates and photos.
- Archive for replays and recordings, laid out as episodes.
Two or three well-chosen lanes beat a dozen thin ones. Start small and add a category when you notice yourself writing the same kind of post again and again.