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Community PortalChannel Categories and Names
Build


CHANNEL CATEGORIES AND NAMES





The first thing people will see when they join your server is your channel list.
Therefore, it’s important that your channels are clearly named and organized so
that new users can easily find necessary information and readily understand how
they should use each channel without being overwhelmed. To accomplish this, you
should try to have organized channel categories where channels have clear names
and topics, with pinned messages supplementing channel topics as needed.


ORGANIZING CHANNELS

When it comes to the initial order of your channel list, it makes the most sense
to put the most important channels at the top to give users the background
information they need about the server, followed by the channels you expect
users to spend the most time in for easy access. Generally speaking, this means
your rules channel and informational channels about the server as a whole such
as the welcome channel or resources channel will be at the top of your list,
followed by your main chat channels and then your more niche channels at the
bottom.

Your top-most channel is specifically important because this is the channel that
your Vanity URL will point to (if you have one). For this reason, this should
generally be a welcome or rules-related channel. Also note that in order for
your Vanity URL to work at all, you must have at least one channel on your
server that is visible to @everyone with no other roles.

To further simplify your channel list, you can also use channel categories.
Organizing channels into categories creates natural breaks in the channel list,
allowing members to quickly read through it and find the channel they need.
Members can also collapse categories as well, further allowing each user to hone
in on channels that are important to them. Members of your server, especially
new ones, may find it confusing to navigate a long, unbroken list of channels.
Channel categories will further help them find the appropriate channel for any
conversation they want to have or information they need to find.

However, it’s important not to put too many channels into one category, as this
will create another long, unbroken list of channels that becomes difficult to
navigate at a glance. Although there are reasons for including many channels in
one category, keeping the amount to around four or five is ideal. You can also
consider picking two or three of your most important channels and not placing
them in categories at all, which will automatically bring them to the top of the
channel list and prevent them from being collapsed into a category accidentally.

‍


An example of what a server with important channels outside of channel
categories might look like.

One more consideration for channel organization arises if you are utilizing
variable channel lists. Simply put, this is any sort of system that allows
people to change which channels they have access to. For example, if you
implement a verification gate, you’ll need to consider what channels people
should see before and after passing verification. You may also want to implement
self-assignable roles through a Discord bot that allow people to opt in or opt
out of viewing certain channel categories. Keeping the previous organizational
tips in mind and using the View as Role tool will help you see what the server
looks like before and after verification as well as with opt in or opt out
channel roles and help you to organize them in a way that makes sense for your
server.


NAMING CHANNELS

Once your channel list is easy to scroll through, the next step is making sure
your channel and channel category names are easy to understand. Channel names
can be as long as you want, but will be cut off after reaching approximately 25
characters, making them difficult to read. For example, the first channel below
is just right, but the channel after is really extra super duper long and the
full name isn’t displayed in the sidebar.

‍



‍

Channel names should ideally be unique in the server. Although nothing stops you
from having multiple channels with the same name, creating identically named
channels can make it easy to mention the wrong one in a message and confuse the
reader. For example, if you have one category for On Topic channels and another
category for Off Topic channels you could create a #on-topic-general and
#off-topic-general respectively, rather than creating a #general channel in each
category.

These are still kind of a mouthful, though. Another option could be to
incorporate the topic of your server into these channel names. If your server is
about Wumpus’s Grand Adventure, you could name your on-topic channel
#wga-general and then simply name your off-topic general chat channel
#off-topic.

Some people also like to add emojis to their channel names and categories. While
this can be a good way to add some flair to your channel list, having too many
emojis can detract from the names of the channels themselves. Furthermore,
different devices render emojis differently, so what looks good on your own
computer or phone may not look good on someone else’s device. Using emojis
strategically to draw members’ eyes to important channels or using them only in
category names instead of in every channel name may be better long-term.
Similarly, you should also avoid using non-standard characters (e.g., 𝒻𝑜𝓃𝓉𝓈
) when naming channels as this can make channel names difficult to read and
mention.

There are many ways to go about it, but keeping your channel names concise,
unique, and clear will go a long way towards making them easier for your members
to read and understand their purpose at a glance. Some channels, however, may
need additional explanation beyond simply their name and category.


CHANNEL TOPICS AND PINNED MESSAGES

Channel topics and pinned messages are two ways to further explain the purpose
of a channel, how to use it, and what channel-specific rules may apply.


Channel topics appear next to the channel name on the desktop and web Discord
clients and on the members list sidebar on mobile. Long channel topics can be
expanded by clicking or tapping on the topic text and support basic markdown
formatting. However, if you want to mention another channel, role, or user in a
channel topic, you’ll need to type out the raw form of the mention in order for
it to show up in the topic properly. These raw forms are as follows:

‍



‍

You can right click channels, roles, and users with Developer Mode enabled to
copy the ID, and for emojis the ID will be the numbers at the end of the URL
when you open the emoji in your browser. This will allow you to easily reference
other entities as needed without needing to worry about the names of those
channels, roles, or users changing in the future.

Although channel topics can be quite long, it’s important to remember that
people will not want to read a wall of text about a channel. It is ideal for you
to keep a topic down to one or two sentences long. However, depending on the
purpose of the channel, explaining the proper usage and purpose can be
difficult. If your channel topic starts to become paragraphs long or even hits
the channel topic character limit, it may be better to simplify it and add
“check the channel pins for more details” to the end. Pinned messages are more
obscure than the channel topic when it comes to providing information about a
channel, but have the advantage of giving you more space to explain the
intricacies of the channel, use advanced formatting, and take advantage of link
embeds and attachments.

Regardless of whether you use channel topics, channel pins, or both, including
additional information about a channel beyond the category and name is an
important part of ensuring everyone can understand the purpose of a channel and
how it fits into the server.


CONCLUSION

Remember that your channel list is more than a series of chat rooms. Each one
should serve a purpose in your community and it’s vital that you clearly
communicate what channels are available and how people should use them.
Organizing them into clear categories, using easy to understand names, and
including information in channel topics and/or pins are all ways to achieve this
effective form of communication with your members. The quicker members
understand your channels, the faster they can start participating in your
community and the more likely they’ll be to stick around. Although every
server’s situation is unique, these basic methods will serve as a good
foundation to make your channels easy to understand and use for all of your
members.





August 30, 2023
Contents
Organizing ChannelsNaming ChannelsChannel Topics and Pinned MessagesConclusion



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COMMUNITY RESOURCES


BUILD

Getting Started as a Server Admin & Running Your Server
Setting Up Your Discord Server - How to Get Started
Securing Your Discord Server & Creating a Safe Community
Making a Great Server & Building a Home for Your Community
Community Onboarding: Welcoming New Members
Essential Channels Every Community Server Should Have
Customizing & Branding Your Discord Server
The Discord App Directory
Server Information and Announcement Channels
Basic Channel Setup
Utilizing Role Colors
Channel Categories and Names


ENGAGE

Onboarding New Members & Helping Your Community Find Its Way
Regularly Engaging Your Community
Creating Value with Conversation
Co-Creating with Your Community - Events, Art & Feedback
Turning Your Social Posts into Community Activations
Using Roles to Increase Server Engagement
Hosting Voice Events with Stage & Voice Channels
Getting the Most Out of Stage Channels
Understanding Server Insights


GROW

Welcoming Server Newcomers
Growing and Promoting Your Discord Server
Brand, Optimize and Grow Your Server With Invites
Growing Your Server Community Through Member Referrals
Growing Your Server With Social Media
Growing Your Community Through Server Insights & Analytics
Designing Effective Events to Bring Your Community Together
Growing Your Server Through Community Events
Understanding Event Metrics
Understanding Your Community Through Insights
Bringing Other Communities to Discord
Using Insights to Improve Community Growth and Engagement
Ethical Community Growth
Community Partnerships


MANAGE

The Basics of a Safe, Active Server
Keeping Your Server & Community Safe
Establishing Trust with Social Media Connections and Roles
Identifying and Assigning Server Moderators
Moderation & Community Support to Manage Your Server
Learning More About Your Community


CREATOR PORTAL

BUILD


CHANNEL CATEGORIES AND NAMES




The first thing people will see when they join your server is your channel list.
Therefore, it’s important that your channels are clearly named and organized so
that new users can easily find necessary information and readily understand how
they should use each channel without being overwhelmed. To accomplish this, you
should try to have organized channel categories where channels have clear names
and topics, with pinned messages supplementing channel topics as needed.


ORGANIZING CHANNELS

When it comes to the initial order of your channel list, it makes the most sense
to put the most important channels at the top to give users the background
information they need about the server, followed by the channels you expect
users to spend the most time in for easy access. Generally speaking, this means
your rules channel and informational channels about the server as a whole such
as the welcome channel or resources channel will be at the top of your list,
followed by your main chat channels and then your more niche channels at the
bottom.

Your top-most channel is specifically important because this is the channel that
your Vanity URL will point to (if you have one). For this reason, this should
generally be a welcome or rules-related channel. Also note that in order for
your Vanity URL to work at all, you must have at least one channel on your
server that is visible to @everyone with no other roles.

To further simplify your channel list, you can also use channel categories.
Organizing channels into categories creates natural breaks in the channel list,
allowing members to quickly read through it and find the channel they need.
Members can also collapse categories as well, further allowing each user to hone
in on channels that are important to them. Members of your server, especially
new ones, may find it confusing to navigate a long, unbroken list of channels.
Channel categories will further help them find the appropriate channel for any
conversation they want to have or information they need to find.

However, it’s important not to put too many channels into one category, as this
will create another long, unbroken list of channels that becomes difficult to
navigate at a glance. Although there are reasons for including many channels in
one category, keeping the amount to around four or five is ideal. You can also
consider picking two or three of your most important channels and not placing
them in categories at all, which will automatically bring them to the top of the
channel list and prevent them from being collapsed into a category accidentally.

‍


An example of what a server with important channels outside of channel
categories might look like.

One more consideration for channel organization arises if you are utilizing
variable channel lists. Simply put, this is any sort of system that allows
people to change which channels they have access to. For example, if you
implement a verification gate, you’ll need to consider what channels people
should see before and after passing verification. You may also want to implement
self-assignable roles through a Discord bot that allow people to opt in or opt
out of viewing certain channel categories. Keeping the previous organizational
tips in mind and using the View as Role tool will help you see what the server
looks like before and after verification as well as with opt in or opt out
channel roles and help you to organize them in a way that makes sense for your
server.


NAMING CHANNELS

Once your channel list is easy to scroll through, the next step is making sure
your channel and channel category names are easy to understand. Channel names
can be as long as you want, but will be cut off after reaching approximately 25
characters, making them difficult to read. For example, the first channel below
is just right, but the channel after is really extra super duper long and the
full name isn’t displayed in the sidebar.

‍



‍

Channel names should ideally be unique in the server. Although nothing stops you
from having multiple channels with the same name, creating identically named
channels can make it easy to mention the wrong one in a message and confuse the
reader. For example, if you have one category for On Topic channels and another
category for Off Topic channels you could create a #on-topic-general and
#off-topic-general respectively, rather than creating a #general channel in each
category.

These are still kind of a mouthful, though. Another option could be to
incorporate the topic of your server into these channel names. If your server is
about Wumpus’s Grand Adventure, you could name your on-topic channel
#wga-general and then simply name your off-topic general chat channel
#off-topic.

Some people also like to add emojis to their channel names and categories. While
this can be a good way to add some flair to your channel list, having too many
emojis can detract from the names of the channels themselves. Furthermore,
different devices render emojis differently, so what looks good on your own
computer or phone may not look good on someone else’s device. Using emojis
strategically to draw members’ eyes to important channels or using them only in
category names instead of in every channel name may be better long-term.
Similarly, you should also avoid using non-standard characters (e.g., 𝒻𝑜𝓃𝓉𝓈
) when naming channels as this can make channel names difficult to read and
mention.

There are many ways to go about it, but keeping your channel names concise,
unique, and clear will go a long way towards making them easier for your members
to read and understand their purpose at a glance. Some channels, however, may
need additional explanation beyond simply their name and category.


CHANNEL TOPICS AND PINNED MESSAGES

Channel topics and pinned messages are two ways to further explain the purpose
of a channel, how to use it, and what channel-specific rules may apply.


Channel topics appear next to the channel name on the desktop and web Discord
clients and on the members list sidebar on mobile. Long channel topics can be
expanded by clicking or tapping on the topic text and support basic markdown
formatting. However, if you want to mention another channel, role, or user in a
channel topic, you’ll need to type out the raw form of the mention in order for
it to show up in the topic properly. These raw forms are as follows:

‍



‍

You can right click channels, roles, and users with Developer Mode enabled to
copy the ID, and for emojis the ID will be the numbers at the end of the URL
when you open the emoji in your browser. This will allow you to easily reference
other entities as needed without needing to worry about the names of those
channels, roles, or users changing in the future.

Although channel topics can be quite long, it’s important to remember that
people will not want to read a wall of text about a channel. It is ideal for you
to keep a topic down to one or two sentences long. However, depending on the
purpose of the channel, explaining the proper usage and purpose can be
difficult. If your channel topic starts to become paragraphs long or even hits
the channel topic character limit, it may be better to simplify it and add
“check the channel pins for more details” to the end. Pinned messages are more
obscure than the channel topic when it comes to providing information about a
channel, but have the advantage of giving you more space to explain the
intricacies of the channel, use advanced formatting, and take advantage of link
embeds and attachments.

Regardless of whether you use channel topics, channel pins, or both, including
additional information about a channel beyond the category and name is an
important part of ensuring everyone can understand the purpose of a channel and
how it fits into the server.


CONCLUSION

Remember that your channel list is more than a series of chat rooms. Each one
should serve a purpose in your community and it’s vital that you clearly
communicate what channels are available and how people should use them.
Organizing them into clear categories, using easy to understand names, and
including information in channel topics and/or pins are all ways to achieve this
effective form of communication with your members. The quicker members
understand your channels, the faster they can start participating in your
community and the more likely they’ll be to stick around. Although every
server’s situation is unique, these basic methods will serve as a good
foundation to make your channels easy to understand and use for all of your
members.

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