Categories & Tags
Group events so visitors can browse and filter them, and so your calendar reads as an organised programme rather than a flat list.
Eventonomy has two, and they behave differently on purpose:
| Categories | Tags | |
|---|---|---|
| Who creates them | You, in advance | Members, as they go |
| How they are chosen | Picked from your list | Typed freely; a new tag is created the first time it is used |
| Use for | The handful of stable groupings your programme is organised by - Workshops, Talks, Socials | Loose, long-tail detail - beginner, outdoor, family-friendly |
The practical difference: categories are curated, tags are emergent. If you want a fixed set of buckets members must choose from, use categories. If you want to let people describe events in their own words, use tags.
Set Up Categories Before Members Start Submitting
This is the step most easily missed. Until at least one category exists, the category picker is hidden in the event editor, so members submitting events have nothing to choose and everything lands uncategorised. Backfilling later is far more work than spending two minutes now.
- Go to Eventonomy → Categories & Tags.
- Under Categories, type a name in New category name (for example
Workshops) and click Add category. - Repeat for the handful of groupings your programme actually uses.
Keep the list short. A category list nobody can hold in their head stops being a filter and becomes a second search box.
Managing the Lists
The same screen manages both lists. Each row shows the term's name, its URL slug, and how many events currently use it.
- Add - type a name and click Add. A name that is already in use is refused rather than silently duplicated.
- Rename - edit the name in place and click Rename. The change applies everywhere the term is used. The slug (and so the filter URL) stays as it was.
- Delete - asks you to confirm, then removes the term from every event that used it. The events themselves are untouched; they simply lose that label, and keep any other terms they had. Nothing is lost beyond the grouping.
Tags accumulate naturally as members use them, so this screen is also where you tidy them: merge near-duplicates by renaming, and delete one-offs that will never be used again.
Where They Show Up
- Event editor - members tick categories from your list and type tags into a comma-separated field.
- Search & Filter block - the categories appear as one-tap chips ("All", then one per category) that narrow the events shown below.
- Events list - the category is shown on the event card.
- Event page - the category appears as a badge near the title, and a tag the visitor followed shows as a removable pill above the list.
Deciding Between Them
A useful rule: if you would put it in your site navigation, it is a category. Everything else is a tag.
If you are unsure, start with categories only. Tags cost nothing to add later, and an empty tag list is invisible to visitors.