Applying Categories

When you've got your categories set up, it's time to apply them to an entry. In this section, you'll learn how to do just that. You also learn how to assign secondary categories for use with any entry within your weblog.

Applying a Primary Category

To apply a primary category to an entry, follow these steps:

1.	From the Main Menu, choose the weblog you'd like to add an entry to and click the New Entry link.
2.	The Create New Entry screen appears. Enter the title and body for your entry.
3.	From the Primary Category drop-down menu, select a primary category most suitable for your entry (see Figure 7.15). Figure 7.15. Choosing a suitable category from the drop-down menu. [View full size image]
4.	When you're ready to publish the entry, be sure that Publish is selected in the Post Status drop-down menu.
5.	Click Save. Movable Type will build the entry.

The entry will now be associated with the selected category.

Applying Multiple Categories

As mentioned, you can add multiple categories and associate them with an entry. To do so, follow these steps:

1.	Add an entry using the Create New Entry screen.
2.	From the drop-down menu, select your primary category.
3.	Enter your entry and then set the Post Status to draft. Click Save. Movable Type will save your entry as a draft.
4.	Immediately to the right of the Primary Category drop-down menu is the Assign Multiple Categories link. Click the link.
5.	The Edit Categories dialog box appears, displaying all of your available categories (see Figure 7.16). Figure 7.16. The Edit Categories dialog box, with all of the available categories for your weblog. [View full size image]
6.	Click to select the secondary category you'd like to add. Then, click the arrow to move it to the Secondary Categories box (see Figure 7.17). Figure 7.17. Adding secondary categories to your entry. [View full size image]
7.	Continue adding as many secondary categories as you want.
8.	When you're finished, click the Save button in the dialog box.
9.	Close the dialog box by clicking the Close button. You'll be returned to the entry.

You can now continue to edit your entry. When you publish the entry, it will be associated with the primary and secondary categories you've defined. Again, as with all category features, you must have the proper Movable Type template tags included in order for these features to appear on the actual site.

Plug-ins for Category Management One of the coolest things about Movable Type is that, due to its open-source nature, many people build plug-ins to address issues they'd like to manage that aren't part of the Movable Type software. There are a variety of plug-ins for category management, including plug-ins to make your categories more complex, and even to exclude categories from certain archive lists. You can read more about plug-ins for Movable Type in Hour 22, “Movable Type Plug-Ins.”