Tagging guidelines

Why do we need tags?

Tags serve multiple purposes.

Tags have a one-to-many organization (i.e. one example can have several tags), while the gallery structure requires that examples are placed in only one location. This means tags provide a secondary layer of organization and make the gallery of examples more flexible and more user-friendly.

They allow for better discoverability, search, and browse functionality. They are helpful for users struggling to write a search query for what they're looking for.

Hidden tags provide additional functionality for maintainers and contributors.

How to tag?

Place the tag directive at the bottom of each page and add the tags underneath, e.g.:

.. tags::
   topic: tagging, purpose: reference

What gets a tag?

Every gallery example should be tagged with:

• 1+ content tags

• structural, domain, or internal tag(s) if helpful

Tags can repeat existing forms of organization (e.g. an example is in the Animation folder and also gets an animation tag).

Tags are helpful to denote particularly good "byproduct" examples. E.g. the explicit purpose of a gallery example might be to demonstrate a colormap, but it's also a good demonstration of a legend. Tag legend to indicate that, rather than changing the title or the scope of the example.

Tag Categories

• Tag Glossary
  • API tags: what content from the API reference is in the example?
  • Structural tags: what format is the example? What context can we provide?
  • Domain tags: what discipline(s) might seek this example consistently?
  • Internal tags: what information is helpful for maintainers or contributors?

See Tag Glossary for a complete list

Proposing new tags

1. Review existing tag list, looking out for similar entries (i.e. axes and axis).

2. If a relevant tag or subcategory does not yet exist, propose it. Each tag is two parts: subcategory: tag. Tags should be one or two words.

3. New tags should be be added when they are relevant to existing gallery entries too. Avoid tags that will link to only a single gallery entry.

4. Tags can recreate other forms of organization.

Tagging organization aims to work for 80-90% of cases. Some examples fall outside of the tagging structure. Niche or specific examples shouldn't be given standalone tags that won't apply to other examples.