WikiIndex:Naming conventions

Not to be confused with WikiIndex:Namespace conventions

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

WikiIndex page names for wiki pages

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

First of all, don't worry if you get it wrong! We can rename pages (not easily categories).

• We normally name the page here on WikiIndex the same as the actual wiki being referenced.
• 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 wikis, with identical primary names, but have differing TLDs; such as Wikkii.com and Wikkii.Org.
• We normally do not include the word 'wiki' 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

However, you will notice that our own wiki has its own internal naming conventions confusion. WikiIndex and Wiki Index. Cheers!

Multiple language versions

Wiki sites with separate wikis written in individual specific languages should get a separate page for each language version here on WikiIndex, as follows. Create one main 'mother' page for an overview of the whole thing (which may sometimes include a 'portal' url), use the template:MultilingualMain to generate a simplified overview infobox, and template:Language versions to create navigational links to all available languages; and then one sub-page to that for each language version. The main page follows the usual naming conventions and gets categorised (via the MultilingualMain template) as language = Multilingual, the sub-pages are named by using the main page name together with the ISO 639 code of the language appended within brackets.

Example

• JurisPedia — overview mother article, including template:MultilingualMain, template:Language versions, and template:JurisPedia (article template)
  • 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 sub-pages, there is the template language versions, although this template provides no reverse navigation, or 'breadcrumbs' links.

An alternative method of naming pages is by using their specific common name in their mother language, as listed in category:Wikipedia.

Irrespective of which article naming method is used, it is strongly recommended to supplement all wiki articles within the specific series with an article 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 description of the entire wiki series, as shown in template:Wikipedia.

Internal page names

Currently we are using CamelCase or free links, or both (as a note, MediaWiki 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:FrequentlyAskedQuestions

For all new article pages, please respect the specific naming convention of the actual wiki we are referencing.

WikiIndex category names

There has previously been 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).