toplaanduiding

Toplaanduiding is a Dutch term used in information design and taxonomy to refer to the designation at the top level of a hierarchy. It denotes the primary label that identifies the broad category under which subordinate items are grouped. The word is a compound of top and aanduiding (indication or designation) and is not widely standardized in dictionaries, but it appears in contemporary documentation and guidance in IT, content management, and data modeling. In practice, a toplaanduiding serves as a navigational or classificatory label that helps users orient themselves within a structure such as a product taxonomy, metadata schema, or site navigation.

In an e-commerce catalog, for example, Elektronica can be the toplaanduiding for a category tree whose subcategories include Televisies, Audio, Computers, and Draagbare apparaten. In metadata contexts, the toplaanduiding can function as the top-level category field that groups items by topic, such as Natuurkunde or Literatuur. Because terminology varies, some teams prefer the translation “top-level category” or “hoofdindeling” to describe the same concept.

See also: top-level category, taxonomy, metadata field, navigation label.