Megawiki:Style guidelines
From Megawiki
These style guidelines have the simple purpose of making things easy to read by following a consistent format — it is a style guide. The following rules do not claim to be the last word on Megawiki style. One way is often as good as another, but if everyone does it the same way, Megawiki will be easier to read and use, not to mention easier to write and edit.
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Naming
Naming conventions is a list of guidelines on how to appropriately create and name pages.
It is important to note that these are conventions, not rules written in stone. As Megawiki grows and changes, some conventions that once made sense may become outdated, and there may be cases where a particular convention is "obviously" inappropriate. But when in doubt, follow convention.
Generally, article naming should give priority to what the majority of English speakers would most easily recognize, with a reasonable minimum of ambiguity, while at the same time making linking to those articles easy and second nature.
Special characters
The following characters are not allowed in page titles:
# + < > [ ] | { }
The non-printable characters with values 0 through 31, and the "delete" character 127, are also not allowed.
Internal links
The use of links to other Megawiki articles, for example, [[Antenna]], is encouraged. Use the links for all words and terms that are relevant to the article.
The purpose of internal links is to allow readers to easily and conveniently follow their curiosity or research to other articles. These links should be included where it is most likely that a reader would want to follow them elsewhere — for example, in article introductions, the beginnings of new sections, table cells, and image captions. Generally, where it is likely that a reader may wish to read about another topic, the reader should not have to hunt for a link elsewhere in the page.
On the other hand, do not make too many links. An article may be considered overlinked if any of the following is true:
- more than 10% of the words are contained in links;
- it has more links than lines;
- a link is repeated in the same article (although there may be case for duplicating an important link that is distant from the previous occurrence);
- more than 10% of the links are to articles that don't exist
External links
The Megawiki is not a web directory; no page should consist solely of a collection of external links. Megawiki always prefers internal links, even to non-existent articles, over external links. However, adding a certain number of relevant external links is of valuable service to our readers.
How to link
[http://www.linkedpage.com/ Here is a Linked Page]
Would look something like Here is a Linked Page
External links section There are two basic formats for external links. The most common is to add a list of external links at the end of an article. Put here, in list form, any web sites that you have used or recommend for readers of the article. The standard format for these is to have a level 2 header (i.e. == Header ==) named "External links" followed by a bullet list of links.
If an article has a large number of external links, it may be helpful to use subheaders to classify them.
Citations
The second format is for sentences or paragraphs that require specific references. This form of link can be placed in the body of an article at the end of the relevant sentence or paragraph. These links have no description other than an automatically generated number.
For example,
'''Frankton''' was one of the names considered for the state of Franklin. [http://www.next1000.com/family/GRUBB/sullivan.tenn.html]
would render something like
Frankton was one of the names considered for the state of Franklin. [1]
