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FamilySearch Wiki talk:Naming Conventions: Difference between revisions
FamilySearch Wiki talk:Naming Conventions (view source)
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This page is for vetting ideas regarding the conventions or best practices we should provide to help contributors create clear, unambiguous, intuitive titles. | This page is for vetting ideas regarding the conventions or best practices we should provide to help contributors create clear, unambiguous, intuitive titles. | ||
== System | = Decisions made = | ||
= System constraints/behavior = | |||
Several constraints of the MediaWiki software that runs this site influence our decisions. They are: | Several constraints of the MediaWiki software that runs this site influence our decisions. They are: | ||
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# If there is a page named "Kings County, New York" and a page named "New York," and the user searches on the terms "New York" all the articles whose titles begin with "New York" are listed first in search results and the articles which begin with "Kings County, New York" is listed later. If the Kings County page is named "New York, Kings County," the search results page will have it mixed in with all the articles that begin with the terms "New York." | # If there is a page named "Kings County, New York" and a page named "New York," and the user searches on the terms "New York" all the articles whose titles begin with "New York" are listed first in search results and the articles which begin with "Kings County, New York" is listed later. If the Kings County page is named "New York, Kings County," the search results page will have it mixed in with all the articles that begin with the terms "New York." | ||
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== Decisions Needed<br> == | == Decisions Needed<br> == | ||
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# When to use historical vs. modern names. In covering information on Utah before it became a state, is it wise to create a new article on "Utah Territory, United States?" This may be less an issue of naming conventions than an issue of when to fork an article in two. Therefore, I will probably make this the subject of a new article.<br> | # When to use historical vs. modern names. In covering information on Utah before it became a state, is it wise to create a new article on "Utah Territory, United States?" This may be less an issue of naming conventions than an issue of when to fork an article in two. Therefore, I will probably make this the subject of a new article.<br> | ||
# The use of upper or lowercase in titles. Exact Match on this MediaWiki search engine is case sensitive. For that reason, Wikipedia organizers have created a naming convention that all words in the title after the first which are not proper nouns must be lowercase. This site, unlike Wikipedia, uses the case-insensitive Search rather than case-sensitive Go or Exact Match as its default for searches. | # The use of upper or lowercase in titles. Exact Match on this MediaWiki search engine is case sensitive. For that reason, Wikipedia organizers have created a naming convention that all words in the title after the first which are not proper nouns must be lowercase. This site, unlike Wikipedia, uses the case-insensitive Search rather than case-sensitive Go or Exact Match as its default for searches. | ||
# The use of special characters, such as commas, colons, parenthesis, and hyphens.<!--{ | # The use of special characters, such as commas, colons, parenthesis, and hyphens.<!--{12079370777032} --> <!--{12079370777033} --> | ||
# Whether to use abbreviations or acronyms, such as "MD" for Maryland, or "Co." for county. | # Whether to use abbreviations or acronyms, such as "MD" for Maryland, or "Co." for county. | ||
# Whether to name a place in ascending order ("Rockville, Montgomery County, Maryland") or descending order "Maryland, Montgomery County, Rockville"). | # Whether to name a place in ascending order ("Rockville, Montgomery County, Maryland") or descending order "Maryland, Montgomery County, Rockville"). | ||
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== Principles<br> == | == Principles<br> == | ||
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# Names must be unique to a place. This is enforced by the wikimedia software. | # Names must be unique to a place. This is enforced by the wikimedia software. | ||
# Names must be human readable. Names show in lots of places on the page. People have to know what they are looking at, and make sense of how the page title relates to the place they are looking for. <!--{ | # Names must be human readable. Names show in lots of places on the page. People have to know what they are looking at, and make sense of how the page title relates to the place they are looking for. <!--{12079370777037} --> | ||
=== Shoulds === | === Shoulds === | ||
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# Names should show in the search page approximately ranked such that a users intended result is very near the top. A search for 'Washington DC' should show the district article in the first few articles listed. If it shows further down, or on additional pages, users will have a hard time finding it. | # Names should show in the search page approximately ranked such that a users intended result is very near the top. A search for 'Washington DC' should show the district article in the first few articles listed. If it shows further down, or on additional pages, users will have a hard time finding it. | ||
# Name structure should be easy for people to remember. It should be possible for an experienced editor to manually enter a link to an article without having to search the wiki first. | # Name structure should be easy for people to remember. It should be possible for an experienced editor to manually enter a link to an article without having to search the wiki first. | ||
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=== Should Nots === | === Should Nots === | ||
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# Names should not show in the search box if they are not relevant to the search entered. Getting a bunch of search results named 'Not Washington DC' is not going to help you find 'Washington DC'. Additionally, including the entire hierarchy in the name of the page may result in getting lots of detailed articles (county and city level) when looking at a much higher lever (federal) | # Names should not show in the search box if they are not relevant to the search entered. Getting a bunch of search results named 'Not Washington DC' is not going to help you find 'Washington DC'. Additionally, including the entire hierarchy in the name of the page may result in getting lots of detailed articles (county and city level) when looking at a much higher lever (federal) | ||
# Names should not contain abbreviations or acronyms. Shorter names means fewer characters to differentiate names, and may confuse users. | # Names should not contain abbreviations or acronyms. Shorter names means fewer characters to differentiate names, and may confuse users. | ||
# Names should not contain redundant information. Names like 'Utah County, County, Utah State, State' are hard to read, and difficult to type and search for.<br> <!--{ | # Names should not contain redundant information. Names like 'Utah County, County, Utah State, State' are hard to read, and difficult to type and search for.<br> <!--{120793707770310} --> <!--{120793707770311} --> <!--{120793707770312} --> <!--{120793707770313} --> <!--{120793707770314} --> | ||
== Resources == | == Resources == | ||
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=== General === | === General === | ||
[http://category:Wikipedia_naming_conventions/ Category:Wikipedia naming conventions] <br>[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Naming_conventions Wikipedia:Naming conventions] <br>[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Naming_conflict Wikipedia:Naming conflict] <br>[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Naming_conventions_%28technical_restrictions%29 Wikipedia:Naming conventions (technical restrictions)] <!--{ | [http://category:Wikipedia_naming_conventions/ Category:Wikipedia naming conventions] <br>[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Naming_conventions Wikipedia:Naming conventions] <br>[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Naming_conflict Wikipedia:Naming conflict] <br>[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Naming_conventions_%28technical_restrictions%29 Wikipedia:Naming conventions (technical restrictions)] <!--{120793707770315} --> | ||
=== Special rules for templates === | === Special rules for templates === | ||
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=== Special rules for namespaces === | === Special rules for namespaces === | ||
Only a system admin can create a namespace. Namespaces should be created only after much discussion. The name should be a single word.<br><br>Headings:<br>[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Manual_of_Style#Section_headings Wikipedia:Manual of Style - Section headings] <br>[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:Section#Creation_and_numbering_of_sections Help:Section - Creation and numbering of sections] <br><br>Categories:<br>[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Naming_conventions_%28categories%29 Wikipedia:Naming conventions & categories] <br> <!--{ | Only a system admin can create a namespace. Namespaces should be created only after much discussion. The name should be a single word.<br><br>Headings:<br>[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Manual_of_Style#Section_headings Wikipedia:Manual of Style - Section headings] <br>[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:Section#Creation_and_numbering_of_sections Help:Section - Creation and numbering of sections] <br><br>Categories:<br>[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Naming_conventions_%28categories%29 Wikipedia:Naming conventions & categories] <br> <!--{120793707770316} --> <!--{120793707770317} --> <!--{120793707770318} --> <!--{120793707770319} --> <!--{120793707770320} --> <!--{120793707770321} --> <!--{120793707770322} --> <!--{120793707770323} --> | ||
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