Ghost intentionally chose not to implement a separate “categories” system and instead uses only tags for content organization. The main reasons behind this decision are:
- Simplicity and Flexibility: Having a single, unified tagging system keeps the interface and management simple for users. Tags are more flexible, allowing any number of tags to be applied to a post, rather than forcing content to live within a strict hierarchy. This avoids the complexity and confusion that can come from maintaining two taxonomies (categories and tags) that essentially serve overlapping purposes.
- Avoiding Unnecessary Complexity: Many users coming from platforms like WordPress found the dual system of categories (hierarchical) and tags (flat) to be confusing and redundant in practice. Ghost’s philosophy is that a single, powerful system is better for most publishing needs.
- Primary Tag as “Category”: Ghost lets you pick a primary tag for each post, so you can use this as your “category” if you want a main topic, while also using secondary tags for cross-topic organization.
- Theme and Navigation Control: Since tags provide feeds and pages automatically, and most themes allow you to feature or highlight specific tags, you can achieve the same navigational structure as with traditional categories—without rigid hierarchies.
- Developer Intent: There is no plan to add categories, as the tag system is seen as sufficient and more adaptable to modern needs.
As a result, Ghost’s content organization is designed to be less rigid, more streamlined, and easier for both writers and readers to use.
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