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Example: Creating a taxonomy for a collection of cars

This article aims to help you understand the value of taxonomies by applying it to an archive that contains a collection of cars.

 

At the outset we have a FotoWeb archive that contains a collection of pictures of cars from different manufacturers. We will be using custom-made fields for tagging these pictures using labels that we define in the associated taxonomies.

Before you begin, these fields will have to be created using the Metadata Configuration tool: 

Field name Field number (may not be the same in your configuration) Field value(s)
Model year 500 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 and so on
Make 501 A-class, C-class, E-class, A1, A3, A4, A5, A6, A7
Number of doors 502 2, 4-5
Engine 503 4-cylinder, 6-cylinder, 8-sylinder
Paint color 504 White, Black, Blue, Gray, Red, Silver, etc.

Enable taxonomies for the fields

  • Open the FotoWeb site configuration in the Operations Center
  • Select the Site settings tab and choose the Metadata node.
  • Tick the Taxonomy checkbox for all the above fields and type in a plural name for each field. The plural name will be used as the taxonomy's header in the user interface.

Enable taxonomy navigation in the archive

  • Open the archive properties and go to the Metadata tab
  • Enable the Taxonomy navigation checkbox and choose the fields you want to expose in the archive - all five above fields.

Enable car taxonomy on archive.PNG

Create taxonomy content

Now, log in to FotoWeb and access the Car collection archive to create content for the taxonomies. The logged in user must have Manage taxonomy privileges to be able to edit taxonomy content.

The taxonomies show to the left of the thumbnail grid, and all are currently empty.

Click on Add term to start adding terms to the taxonomy

Model years Number of doors Bodystyles Engine Paint colors
2011 2 Convertible 4-cylinder Black
2012 4-5 Coupe 6-cylinder Blue
2013   Wagon 8-cylinder Copper
2014   Sedan   Gray
2015   Hatchback   Red
        Silver
        White

The above taxonomies all have only one level. However, the Make taxonomy is a little different. At the top level, it contains the manufacturer, with model names at the second level, as such:

  • Audi
    • A1
    • A3
    • A4
    • A5
    • A6
    • A7
    • A8
  • Mercedes-Benz
    • A-class
    • C-class
    • E-class
    • S-class
  • BMW
    • 1-series
    • 3-series
    • 5-series
    • 7-series

Since the Make field can only store one value, we will store only model information in that field. Clicking on the manufacturer node (Audi, for example) at the higher level will display the content of all child nodes inside that node (i.e. model names: A1, A3, A4 and so on) even though the term Audi is not written in the files' metadata. In reality, it's the taxonomy that contains the information that Audi is a parent of A1, A2, A3 and so on, even though Audi, BMW and Mercedes don't exist in the actual XMP metadata in the file.

First level:

Car collection - Make and model level 1.PNG

Second level (reachable by clicking > in the navigation):

Car collection - Make and model level 2.PNG

Customizing the Make taxonomy

The values in the taxonomy will also be used when tagging the files in the archive. By default, new entries in a taxonomy will be exposed in metadata editors that incorporate the field in question. Since we don't want users to be able to set Audi, BMW, or Mercedes in the Make field (rather, we want them to set the model: A1, C-class, 3-series), we need to edit the properties of the Audi, Mercedes and BMW nodes:

  • Click on the Pen icon next to the Audi node

Car collection - Edit node properties 1.png

This bring up the taxonomy item editor, where you can set the ACL for the item.

You want to remove the Set permission as shown below to prevent the possibility that users select this node when inputting metadata in a field. Do this for the Audi, BMW and Mercedes nodes, and any other nodes that you add for car makes at this level of the hierarchy.

The nodes will still have the Query permission to allow uses to click on the node and display assets from all the child nodes. For example, when a user click on Audi, FotoWeb displays all Audi models.

Car_collection_-_Edit_node_properties_2.png

Tagging the files in the archive

Now that the taxonomy has been created, it's time to think about tagging the files in the archive.

Before you can do that, you need to create a metadata set that contains the fields you want to expose to users of the archive. The metadata set is also used for controlling how the different fields behave - for example, you can create a metadata set with the same fields you have in the taxonomy and dictate that users may only pick metadata tags from the ones you have predefined in the taxonomy you just made.

Creating a metadata set for the car collection

In the Operations Center, open the FotoWeb site configuration, go to the Archives tab and choose Metadata Sets in the left panel. Then click on Add Metadata Set.

The screenshot below shows a new Region that has been created to accommodate the fields that will be used for adding tags to the assets in the archive.

You can see that the Car info region has been assigned to the Quick Info Zone, which means that it will display in the column to the left of the asset preview on the asset details page.

  • The Edit permission allows editing of the field - this still stipulates that the logged in user has Edit metadata permissions on the archive.
  • Required means that the field has to be filled in. It cannot be left empty.
  • QL Only means that users may only choose from taxonomy values when adding metadata to the field. If this option is not ticked, users can either choose tags from the associated taxonomy, or they can enter their own keywords.

Car collection metadata set.PNG

Assigning the metadata set to the archive

Having created the metadata set, you need to assign it to the Car collection archive:

Go to the Archives tab in the site configuration and edit the properties of the Car collection archive.

Go to the Metadata tab and choose the Car collection metadata set from the drop down list. Then click on OK to save the changes and close the dialog box.

Car collection - Assign metadata set to archive.PNG

Adding metadata from the taxonomy

When users open the Asset Details page (clicking on a thumbnail in the grid) to edit metadata, they can click on the new fields in the editor and choose from the values you defined in the taxonomy. When adding content to the Make field you will see that you're only able to add model names, not the car makes, because the Set permission was disabled for the taxonomy's top level:

 

Car collection - make and model tagging.PNG

The result:

Car collection grid view.PNG

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