YaleSites Vocabularies

Vocabulary Details

1. Tags  

The Tags vocabulary is a flexible, cross-content classification system. Tags work across all content types, making them ideal for creating connections between content that lives in different sections of your site.

Key features:

• Available on all content types
• Can be exposed as a visitor-visible filter on View Blocks, but are often used as internal hooks to power dynamic content display behind the scenes
• Particularly useful for aggregating related content across content types in a View Block — for example, surfacing a mix of Pages, Posts, and Profiles that share a research theme
• Best practice: develop your Tags vocabulary intentionally before you start applying terms, and apply them consistently

2. Audience

The Audience vocabulary lets you classify content by the people it is intended to serve. Because it is content-type agnostic, you can use it to connect content across your entire site around a shared audience.

Key features:

• Available on all content types
• Can be exposed as a visitor-visible filter on View Blocks
• Useful for sites serving multiple audiences who need different pathways through the same contentContent Type-Specific Vocabularies

3. Post Category

Post Categories are designed specifically for organizing Post content. Use them to help visitors filter and browse news, announcements, or blog posts.

Key features:

• Available on Posts only
• Supports parent/child relationships — for example, a parent term “Research” with child terms “Climate” and “Public Health”
• Visible to site visitors as a selectable filter in Post View Blocks

4. Page Category

Page Categories help you organize and surface standard Page content. They are particularly useful on sites with large numbers of pages that benefit from thematic grouping.

Key features:

• Available on Pages only
• Supports parent/child relationships — for example, a parent term “Program” with child terms “Humanities & Arts” and “Science”
• Visible to site visitors as a selectable filter in Page View BlocksEvent Categories

5. Event Category

Event Categories are the primary taxonomy tool for Event content. Unlike other content type vocabularies, Event Categories is the only editable taxonomy field for Events — other event fields are populated from Yale’s Calendar system.

Key features:

• Available on Events only
• Visible to site visitors as a selectable filter in Event View Blocks
• Supports parent/child relationships

6. Profile Affiliation

Profile Affiliation lets you associate people with the Yale schools, departments, or organizations they are connected to. Multiple affiliation terms can be applied to a single profile.

Key features:

• Available on Profiles only
• Multiple terms can be selected per profile
• Visible to site visitors as a selectable filter in Profile View Blocks
• Supports parent/child relationshipsProfile Affiliation

7. Resource Category

Resource Category is designed to organize the Resource content type — documents, videos, PDFs, and other files. It helps visitors find the right type of resource quickly.

Key features:

• Available on Resources only
• Visible to site visitors as a selectable filter in Resource View Blocks
• Supports parent/child relationships

8. Custom Vocabulary

Custom vocabularies allow you to create classification systems that are tailored to your site’s specific needs and that can span multiple content types. This is the most flexible option and the right choice when no built-in vocabulary fits your use case.

Key features:

• Can be applied to multiple content types simultaneously — for example, a Research Topics vocabulary that connects Pages, Profiles, Events, and Posts
• Fully customizable name and terms
• Created under Settings > Site Settings
• Can be exposed as a visitor-visible filter on View Blocks
• Supports parent/child relationships