Depending on the version of b2evo you are using, I probably have a little improvement pack that takes care of this issue. Quite annoying eh? No clue what it wants other than the obnoxious little message it gives you.

Anyway each time you create a category it has a number that you can see in the address bar, so use that as part of the "unique" cat urlname. Something like "catXX" where XX is the cat number. Note that cXX won't work for some reason, even though that is exactly what *it* gave me when I upgraded my existing blog to the first version with this 'wonderful new feature'.

So yeah catXX ought to be okay.

Somewhere (initially, I guess), I was supposed to enter 2.4.7 as my version number. Sorry, didn't see a prompt or know the protocol.

EdB, I'm not sure what I learned, but I can follow directions! I used 'Scenery' as my category Name: and for URL I used cat5scenery (cat5 'already used'). Knowing that I needed a cat5 to correspond to blog=5 was the answer I needed. Thank you!

Now, where to find the chapter that documents all this setup information?

Is there a place to go where all of this is documented? I am forever turning to the b2evolution document and it says all too frequently "Go to the forum". I can do that (thanks, again) but - what about the next question? Where is all of this stuff documented? I'm hoping it is, but I'm beginning to think maybe it isn't? Can you tell me, or point me in a direction?

Most of everything isn't documented near as I can tell. Unless you count combing through the forums as 'documented' ;)

Best bet is to get more used to the forums than the manual IMHO. That way you'll be spending your time looking for something that might actually be here, has date stamps on the posts to give you an idea if it is probably current or not, and can maybe get an hint of an answer from something related to your query.

Then fire away when you aren't getting satisfaction :)

Oh hey no worries on not having 247 in there, and "cat5 correspond to blog=5" isn't right. The category number is independent of the blog number, so if cat5 is already in use as a cat urlname then maybe you weren't creating category number 5 EVEN if you were creating it for blog number 5.

Did that make sense?

Think of it this way: you can have way more categories than blogs, so sooner or later the category numbers simply won't match the blog numbers. cat urlname needs to be unique for something like category-specific URLs. So if you have a category NAMED "dumb stuff" in 5 different blogs your category-specific URL couldn't have just 'dumb-stuff' in it. Because would that be for blog 7s or blog 32s posts in "dumb stuff" category?

Anyway it's complicated but yeah you're on the right track so it's all good.

I just bumped into how my little "autogenerate cat urlnames" improvement doesn't do it's thing when you edit a category name and leave the cat urlname field blank. Bummer. I should fix that.

Man, this stuff is FUN!

Maybe I am not getting it all, but I'm smelling more of the meat than I was before... speaking of default, why isn't the URL name created automatically, each time, based on (maybe) the blog number and the Category name. Now, I know that there can be many category names, maybe even some the same (for blog=2, blog=5, for example, there might be a category "News". But - the blog number and category name tied together would always be unique. Or am I missing something?

Also - where, and how, do I create a sub-category? I have Scenery, but I'd like sub-cats of water, land, air - how might these be created?

Thanks, EdB - fast and helpful information!

cats are also sub-cats. And sub-cats are also cats. Totally zen eh? The default stuff that can't be changed without editing a file somewhere means when you're writing a post you get a checkbox and a radio button next to each category name. The radio button is for your main category, the checkboxes are for sub-categories. So you could write a post today with "scenery" as the main cat and "water, land" selected as sub-cats. Tomorrow never comes but if it did tomorrow you could post with "water" as the main cat and "scenery" as the sub.

So how they are created is by creating them :)

Oh and let's not forget tags! Everybody gotsta have tags nowadays. So once you pick your blog (maximum high level structuring) and identify a main category (high-level division within the blog scope) and maybe check off a few subcats you can throw in some tags as well. I should figure out a way to randomly tag everything with three to five of let's say ten completely random and totally unrelated words. Professional-sounding words!

I think somewhere in a file there is a way for it to make up cat urlnames but it is commented out. Yabba knows where it is. Yabba knows everything. He told me it after I came up with autogenerating cNN ... (not to be confused with CNN eh?).

Got it - again! And again, Thanks!

I'm not sure about what tags to use or where they come into play - the search? But until I get visitors, I'm probably better off spending time figuring out how to create the images and context I'm looking for.

I'm at http://www.theonlinewriter.com/blog/ and I'm not sure if there is a better way to get started than just - create! So, that's what I'm working on... if you're so inclined to want to visit the site I would be grateful for any structural criticism.

Independent of any visit, thank you VERY much for spot on help! Much appreciated!

I'd add maybe the content widget to the sidebar. That way you'd have 3 posts visible and maybe 20 post titles listed in the sidebar. Basically I figure after seeing 3 posts someone gets the idea so maybe a title will tickle their twizzler eh?

I maybe got a little excited here - I also added the logo, which I had to resize to fit the sidebar. Awesome! And, EdB, I like the list of titles in the sidebar - nice touch. Thank you!

I'm still playing, and still having fun. Your review of the site is much appreciated!