Create a site map using categories

Many Web sites use site maps to make it easier for site visitors to find the pages they need. For a personal web or other small web, a site map can be as simple as a list of hyperlinks to all the web's pages. You can create this kind of site map by using the Table of Contents component.

For a corporate presence web or other large web, a site map typically contains lists of hyperlinks to categories, or other logical groups, organized under logical headings. For example, if you sell appliances, your site map might have columns of hyperlinks for Small Appliances, Large Appliances, and Customer Service. You can create this kind of site map by using categories. Before using this procedure, you should determine the names of the categories you want to use to organize your web.

Create the categories you want on your site map.

You can skip this step if the categories you want to use on your site map have already been added to the list of available categories.

1. In any view except Tasks view, right-click any file, click Properties on the shortcut menu, click the Workgroup tab, and then click Categories.
2. In the New Category box, type the name of a category you want to appear on your site map, and then click Add. Repeat this step for each category you want to appear on the site map.

Categorize the files you want to display in the category lists on your site map.

1. In any view except Tasks view, right-click the files you want to categorize, click Properties on the shortcut menu, and then click the Workgroup tab.
2. In the Available categories list, select the check boxes of the categories you want to group the selected files in. You can select multiple categories, so a single file can appear in multiple categories on your site map.

Verify the list of files in each category on your site map.

1. On the View menu, point to Reports, and then click Categories.

   Note   If your web contains files located in hidden folders, those files will not be included in this report. To include files in hidden folders in your reports, click Web Settings on the Tools menu, click the Advanced tab, and then select the Show documents in hidden directories check box.

2. The Categories report lists all of the files in your web. The Category column shows the categories (if any) into which each file has been grouped.

Tip   To list only the files in a single category, on the Reporting toolbar, click the category in the Report Setting list. To display the Reporting toolbar, point to Toolbars on the View menu, and then click Reporting.

Add the lists of categories to your site map.

1. Create or open a page for the site map:
   • To create a new page for the site map, click New Page .
   • To open an existing page to which to add the site map, click Open , and then browse to the page you want to open.
2. In Page view of your site map, position the insertion point where you want to add the first category list.
3. Type the name of the category (for example, "Customer Service") as a heading for the list of files in that category.

   Tip   To apply a style to the category heading, in the Style box, click the heading or other paragraph style to apply to the name of the category.

4. On the Insert menu, point to Components, and then click Categories.
5. In the Choose categories to list pages by list, select the check box of the appropriate category.
6. In the Sort pages by box, click Document title to sort the list alphabetically by title, or Date last modified to sort the list by file dates.

Repeat these steps for each category list that you want to include on your site map. You can easily arrange the category lists on your site map page by placing them in tables.

Note   Your site map will be updated automatically whenever you add files to, or remove files from, a category.