Forum:Category entries - alphabetizing authors and ordering books

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Preferred technique for putting articles in the correct alphabetical order within categories

In order to make the authors and titles alphabetize in the correct way in the categories, you can specify a sort order each time you add it to a category (as described below) or you can enter the command

{{DEFAULTSORT:placement}}

where placement is the text that describes where it should go alphabetically.

Examples:

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shakespeare, Williampla}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wrinkle in Time, A}}

For articles that are the key entry for a category, it's still best to use the one-time technique described below. They should appear first for that category, but not for all others. As an example, the article on the short story genre should appear first in the short story category, but not in the genre category.

-- CocoaZen 16:26, November 5, 2011 (UTC)

To adjust the order on a "one-time" basis

Category entries for authors

Please adjust the category tags for authors, so they'll be alphabetized by last name on the category page. You can do that in one of two ways:

1. if you prefer to type in the category, like [[category:playwright|Shakespeare, William]]
2. or click on the two-way arrows on the button for the category (in the "add category" section at the bottom of the page) and enter the correct alphabetization, in this case, "Shakespeare, William"

Category entries for titles

Please adjust the category tags for titles, so they'll be alphabetized correctly on the category page. Articles (a, an and the) should not be used at the beginning of the title in the alphabetical listing. You can do that in one of two ways:

1. if you prefer to type in the category, like [[category:play|Crucible, The]]
2. or click on the two-way arrows on the button for the category (in the "add category" section at the bottom of the page) and enter the correct alphabetization, in this case, "Crucible, The"

Category entries for key articles

Some articles are the central one for a category. It is the convention on this wiki to make those articles sort to the beginning of the category. Do this by preceding the category entry with an asterisk (*).

1. if you prefer to type in the category, like [[category:characters|*Character]]
2. or click on the two-way arrows on the button for the category (in the "add category" section at the bottom of the page) and enter the correct alphabetization, in this case, "*Character"