WikiIndex:Naming conventions

Not to be confused with WikiIndex: Namespace conventions

de: WikiIndex: Namenskonventionen, fr: WikiIndex: Conventions Nommage

---

WikiIndex page names for wiki sites

If you want to add a wiki site to WikiIndex, the new page here on WikiIndex should be named according to the following WikiIndex naming conventions:

First of all, do not worry if you get it wrong! We can rename article pages (though not easily categories).

1. We normally name the article page here on WikiIndex the same as the actual wiki site being referenced.
2. We normally do not include the domain, such as '.com' or '.org', or other top-level domain (TLD). Exceptions to this are when two similar wiki sites (or wiki services), with identical primary names, but have differing TLDs. Notable examples here on WikiIndex include: Wikkii.com and Wikkii.Org; GamePedia.org and Gamepedia.com; and Wikidot.com (wiki farm), Wikidot.org (wiki engine), and Wikidot Inc. (wiki company).
3. We normally do not include the word 'wiki' anywhere in the article name (nor at the end), unless the actual name of the wiki specifically includes the word 'wiki'.

Some example names

• Wikitravel
• KayakWiki
• Homestar Runner Fanstuff Wiki
• ReefPedia
• Protocolinfo
• etc.

Multiple language versions

For a series of wikis with separate wiki sites available in individual specific written languages (such as Wikipedia), they should get a separate article page for each language version wiki site here on WikiIndex, as follows.

1. Create one main 'mother' page (similar, though not the same as disambiguation pages found on the English Wikipedia) for an overview of the whole series of wiki sites (which may sometimes include a 'portal' url, e.g. www.Wikipedia.org). Use the {{Multilingual main}} (with the pink border) to generate a simplified overview infobox, and {{Language versions}} (if able to appropriately support the required schema) to create navigational links to all available languages.
2. Then create one individual article page for each separate wiki site for each language version.

The main 'mother' or overview page follows the usual naming conventions, and gets categorised (via the language field in the template: Multilingual main infobox template) as language = Multilingual. The individual wiki site article pages may be named by using the main page name together with the ISO 639 code of the language appended within brackets.

Example, ISO 639 identifier

• JurisPedia — overview 'mother' article, including template: Multilingual main (infobox), template: Language versions (hatnote quick navigation), and template: JurisPedia (article navigation template, usually a footnote);
  • JurisPedia (ar) — Arabic language wiki article, including only template: JurisPedia;
  • JurisPedia (de) — German language wiki article, including only template: JurisPedia;
  • JurisPedia (en) — English language wiki article, including only template: JurisPedia;
  • etc.

To link from the main mother page to the article pages, there is the {{Language versions}}, although this template provides no reverse navigation, or 'breadcrumbs' links.

Longhand English-spelling identifier

An alternative and now preferred method of naming article pages is by using the specific language name in the longhand English example of the wiki site language; category: Wikipedia (and its individual wiki sites) is a significant example of this schema.

Navigation template

Irrespective of which article naming method is used, it is strongly recommended to supplement all wiki articles within the specific series or 'project' with an article 'navigation' template. In its simplest form, an article template will contain a collection of wikilinks to all other wiki articles from the same series, as shown in template: Ardapedia. A more complex article template can also include a detailed prose description of the entire wiki series, as shown in template: Wikipedia.

Internal page names

WikiIndex is using CamelCase or free links (as an article naming schema), or both (as a note, MediaWiki itself is inherently confused on internal page naming). Examples include:

• Community portal – WikiIndex:Community portal
• Current events – WikiIndex:Current events
• Frequently asked questions (aka FAQ) – WikiIndex:Frequently asked questions

For all new article pages here on WikiIndex, please respect the specific naming convention of the actual wiki site name we are referencing.

WikiIndex category names

There was previously a debate over whether to make category names singular or plural, at WikiIndex talk:Community portal#singular versus plural. For example, should we use Category:Languages or Category:Language? It should be noted however, it is generally accepted that a category should contain more than one article on its subject matter, so following on from that logic, pluralised naming of categories is a moot point.

Crucially, here at WikiIndex, we regularly wikilink to a category within the prose of other articles to provide subject information, generally by way of using our {{tag}} template. This means that in order to maintain grammatically correct prose from the 'simplest' of links, categories should be named singular! However, common sense should also prevail – if a singular name for a category just does not 'sound' correct, use the plural.

Other FAQs

Questions about naming are some of the top frequently asked questions (FAQs).