Taxonomy Terms Template

A unique template is needed to create a list of the terms for a given taxonomy. This is different from the list template as that template is a list of content, whereas this is a list of meta data.

Which Template will be rendered?

Hugo uses a set of rules to figure out which template to use when rendering a specific page.

A Taxonomy Terms List will be rendered at /PLURAL/ (e.g. http://spf13.com/topics/) from the following prioritized list:

• /layouts/taxonomy/SINGULAR.terms.html (e.g. /layouts/taxonomy/topic.terms.html)
• /layouts/_default/terms.html

If a file isn’t present, then the next one in the list will be used. This enables you to craft specific layouts when you want to without creating more templates than necessary. For most sites, only the _default file at the end of the list will be needed.

If that neither file is found in either the /layouts or /theme/layouts directory, then Hugo will not render the taxonomy terms pages. It is also common for people to render taxonomy terms lists on other pages such as the homepage or the sidebar (such as a tag cloud) and not have a dedicated page for the terms.

Variables

Taxonomy Terms pages are of the type “node” and have all the node variables and site variables available to use in the templates.

Taxonomy Terms pages will additionally have:

• .Data.Singular The singular name of the taxonomy
• .Data.Plural The plural name of the taxonomy
• .Data.Terms The taxonomy itself
• .Data.Terms.Alphabetical The Terms alphabetized
• .Data.Terms.ByCount The Terms ordered by popularity

The last two can also be reversed: .Data.Terms.Alphabetical.Reverse, .Data.Terms.ByCount.Reverse.

Example terms.html files

List pages are of the type “node” and have all the node variables and site variables available to use in the templates.

This content template is used for spf13.com. It makes use of partial templates. The list of taxonomy templates cannot use a content view as they don’t display the content, but rather information about the content.

This particular template lists all of the Tags used on spf13.com and provides a count for the number of pieces of content tagged with each tag.

.Data.Terms is a map of terms ⇒ [contents]

{{ partial "header.html" . }}
{{ partial "subheader.html" . }}

<section id="main">
  <div>
    <h1 id="title">{{ .Title }}</h1>

    <ul>
    {{ $data := .Data }}
    {{ range $key, $value := .Data.Terms }}
      <li><a href="{{ $data.Plural }}/{{ $key | urlize }}">{{ $key }}</a> {{ len $value }}</li>
    {{ end }}
   </ul>
  </div>
</section>

{{ partial "footer.html" . }}

Another example listing the content for each term (ordered by Date):

{{ partial "header.html" . }}
{{ partial "subheader.html" . }}

<section id="main">
  <div>
    <h1 id="title">{{ .Title }}</h1>

    {{ $data := .Data }}
    {{ range $key,$value := .Data.Terms.ByCount }}
    <h2><a href="{{ $data.Plural }}/{{ $value.Name | urlize }}">{{ $value.Name }}</a> {{ $value.Count }}</h2>
    <ul>
    {{ range $value.Pages.ByDate }}
      <li><a href="{{ .Permalink }}">{{ .Title }}</a></li>
    {{ end }}
    </ul>
    {{ end }}
  </div>
</section>

{{ partial "footer.html" . }}

Ordering

Hugo can order the meta data in two different ways. It can be ordered:

• by the number of contents assigned to that key, or
• alphabetically.

Example terms.html file (alphabetical)

{{ partial "header.html" . }}
{{ partial "subheader.html" . }}

<section id="main">
  <div>
    <h1 id="title">{{ .Title }}</h1>
    <ul>
    {{ $data := .Data }}
    {{ range $key, $value := .Data.Terms.Alphabetical }}
      <li><a href="{{ $data.Plural }}/{{ $value.Name | urlize }}">{{ $value.Name }}</a> {{ $value.Count }}</li>
    {{ end }}
    </ul>
  </div>
</section>
{{ partial "footer.html" . }}

Example terms.html file (ordered by popularity)

{{ partial "header.html" . }}
{{ partial "subheader.html" . }}

<section id="main">
  <div>
    <h1 id="title">{{ .Title }}</h1>
    <ul>
    {{ $data := .Data }}
    {{ range $key, $value := .Data.Terms.ByCount }}
      <li><a href="{{ $data.Plural }}/{{ $value.Name | urlize }}">{{ $value.Name }}</a> {{ $value.Count }}</li>
    {{ end }}
    </ul>
  </div>
</section>

{{ partial "footer.html" . }}