WikiIndex:Namespace conventions

Not to be confused with WikiIndex:Naming conventions

WikiIndex:Namespace conventions — the MediaWiki software which this WikiIndex wiki site uses, or is 'powered by', has many built-in 'namespaces'. Many are the standard default namespaces, as used in a similar vein by the plethora of other wiki sites that are powered by MediaWiki. All namespaces also have a corresponding 'Talk:' namespace for 'discussion' articles contained therein.

To see an overview of all current namespaces in use here on WikiIndex, either click on the 'Search' button below the search box (you don't need to enter any text), and then click on 'Advanced'; or, go to Special:PrefixIndex and click on the drop-down box. Here is how we at WikiIndex are . . . or are not using them.

Main namespace

'Main' is the basic default, or 'root' namespace. Articles here on WikiIndex will be shown by their title without any prefix, and similarly, without any prefix as a URL in your browser address bar immediately after the https://WikiIndex.org/. This 'main' namespace will (or should) contain the following:

• All wiki article entries;
• Wiki people pages of those people who prefer to be known by their real names, and have moved their default user page;
• Articles about wiki infrastructure; specifically wiki engines (the software used to 'power' a wiki site) and wiki farms (hosting companies which host a number of different wiki sites);
• Other general articles (which are not actual wikis), but are related to the global wikisphere; such as OptOut, wiki ideas, wiki concepts, wiki terminology, etc;
  • This original idea for this WikiIndex wiki site is sometimes a contested idea (by some); people would like it out of the path of a casual eye, and put into a Project Namespace, we are still working on that one;
• Everything else not mentioned below.

Please see WikiIndex: Naming conventions for guidance on how we correctly name articles here on WikiIndex.

Talk: namespace

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The specific namespace used for discussion about their associated article. Furthermore, each and every additional namespace will also have their own corresponding 'talk' namespace.

WikiIndex: namespace

This is typically known as the 'meta' namespace, or 'project' namespace. 'Meta' pages are about the specific policies, guidance, and workings of this actual WikiIndex wiki, such as WikiIndex:Anti-spam measures.

WikiIndex talk: is its corresponding talk namespace.

User: namespace

Here on WikiIndex, we use the 'User:' namespace somewhat differently to, say Wikipedia. Because the MediaWiki software is hard-mapped to create pages for accounts of registered users directly within this 'User:' namespace, there is a need to manually link automatic signatures to the User: namespace; see the redirect at User:MarkDilley: it now goes to MarkDilley (in the 'Main' namespace), this has a link back to his user talk page, in the correct default namespace for user talk messages.

User talk: namespace

Like the 'User:' namespace above, the 'User talk:' namespace is also hard-mapped by the MediaWiki software to provide specific in-wiki functions which are not available in any other namespace. This means that 'User talk:' is the only namespace where in-wiki notification for new messages (and updates) on user talk pages from others will work; so we do use this namespace for this specific purpose. However, we do also need to create s redirect from the main namespace talk page for each person to the User talk namespace.

Category: namespace

All WikiIndex categories appear in this namespace. [[Category:Cities]] can be placed in an article (at the bottom of the edit box below any prose) to add it to the cities category in the same manner as keywords. 'Category talk:' is its associated talk namespace.

We also use the {{tag}} template to include articles into categories; this is useful when needing to create a wikilink to a category within the textual prose of an article. An example: {{tag|cities}} would also include the article into category:Cities.

Template: namespace

All WikiIndex templates are found in this specific namespace.

File: namespace

All WikiIndex images should be in this namespace. These currently include:

• Uploaded Logos;
• Uploaded People pictures;
  • Uploaded photographs.
  • Uploaded caricatures;
  • Uploaded avatars.

The File: namespace can also support other media files, such as video and audio, along with uploaded documents such as PDF, DOC, XLS, etc.

Help: namespace

• need to think about how this works: Help - is it a hard wired page like Recent changes? Should it be a portal for the 'Help:' namespace?
  • No, it's not. The "Help namespace portal" is Help:Contents
    • If the Help page is not hardwired - then how is the help namespace portal determined? ... Just went to check on a brand new wiki and there is nothing in the Help:Contents space, so it seems to me that it is up to us to figure out, right? MarkDilley
  • MediaWiki:Sidebar determines what pages appear in the navigation box — all links, including Help:Contents are therefore editable by admins and can be added, removed or made to point anywhere. Help: is just a namespace like any other and, unless you've downloaded documentation from a MediaWiki site and posted it there, will be initially empty. --Carlb 11:34, 15 December 2006 (EST)

Proposal: namespace

The 'Proposal:' namespace was primarily (though not always) used during the infancy of WikiIndex to seed ideas and develop policies, guidelines, and general methodology. Now rarely used, this namespace still contains useful information and interesting historical reading on how we have reached the current consensus here on WikiIndex.

MediaWiki: namespace

The MediaWiki namespace is used to control the look and feel of the entire WikiIndex site, including customisations. It is used to display system banner messages, texts describing user actions (such as edit, preview, save, upload, etc), spam and anti-vandalism controls, editing tools, skin and gadget configurations, user account controls, and much more.

Due to the wide-reaching effect of articles in the MediaWiki namespace, this namespace is by default restricted to editing by sysops and above.

External links

• Help: Namespaces — at MediaWiki.org
• Manual: Namespace — at MediaWiki.org
• Help: Namespace — at Wikimedia Meta-Wiki
  • additional namespaces at meta — at Wikimedia Meta-Wiki
• Creating Namespaces — at DokuWiki