We use categories to group similar posts so that it is easy to sort them. It allows your visitors to read blog posts that fall under a particular subject. It is quite helpful if you want your blog or website to be well-managed. WordPress allows creating and naming of categories as per your wish. You can assign a blog post any category(s). If you set it to be in your permalink, then it impacts the full link of your posts as well.
There are a couple of pages in the admin dashboard from where categories can be created and managed. You can do it right from the post editor/compose window or you can do the same thing from the dedicated settings page accessible from the admin dashboard. This article is dedicated to showing you how you can create a category, name it as per your wish, give it a slug and edit and delete the same if necessary.
Creating Categories in WordPress from the admin settings
- Log into your admin dashboard.
- Click on Posts > Categories.
In the admin page that opens you can enter:
- Name: The name under which you want to group posts.
- Slug: How it appears in the permalinks of the archive page as well as the post permalink (if it uses the slug).
- Parent: Use a previously created category on the top-level over the one that you are creating.
- Description: You can describe it but it is not necessary unless your theme explicitly uses it.
That’s all there is about creating categories. After you are satisfied, you can click on the Add New Category button to go ahead.
From the Post Compose or Editing Page
Categories can also be quickly added when you are typing in a blog post. All you need is to use the dedicated meta box on the side. You will find it under the heading Categories and you can click on the Add New Category link to create it swiftly.
When you click on it, a text box appears without refreshing the page. There you enter the name and you can also choose the parent if is required. From this area, it seems that you cannot enter the slug as well as the description. But you can modify those values later. If you do not see the meta box, click on Screen Options (found on the top-right) and make sure the Categories check box is chosen.
Editing (Modifying) and Removing (Deleting) Categories
The method to manage categories and rename or remove them is quite simple.
- Visit your WordPress admin dashboard.
- Navigate to Posts> Categories.
You will be redirected to a page which lists all the categories that you have created. Hover over the rows and click on the Edit or Quick Edit link to make changes.
Using the Quick Edit option, you can rename it and change the slug without refreshing the page. In the Edit page, you can change everything—rename, replace slug, choose parent and enter a description. Don’t forget to hit the Update or Update Category button.
To delete a category, you just hover over one in the Posts > Categories page and click the Delete link that shows.
You can also use the checkboxes to select more than one, use the Bulk Actions drop down, select the Delete option and click on Apply to go through the deletion process. You will have to confirm your action.