Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Lists: Difference between revisions
Content deleted Content added
MartinHarper (talk | contribs) |
MartinHarper (talk | contribs) m See also: wikipedia:list, Wikipedia:Manual of Style (lists of links) |
||
| Line 1: | Line 1: | ||
See also: [[wikipedia:list]], [[Wikipedia:Manual of Style (lists of links)]] |
|||
There are two types of lists in Wikipedea: |
|||
== Naming conventions == |
|||
* '''Stand-alone lists''' - Stand-alone lists have their own address in Wikipedea and can be searched with the search engine box. Examples include: |
|||
**lists of articles on a particular subject |
|||
A list of Xs is simply at [[list of Xs]], as opposed to [[Xs]], [[famous Xs]], [[listing of important Xs]], [[list of noted Xs]], [[list of all Xs]]. |
|||
**lists of people - The format of lists, in particular lists of people, is under discussion. Please see [[Wikipedia talk:Manual of Style (lists)|Talk]] for details. |
|||
**lists of events |
|||
A list of lists of X could be at [[lists of X]] or [[list of X]]: e.g., [[lists of people]], [[list of countries]]. |
|||
**list of objects |
|||
* '''Imbedded lists''' - Imbedded lists occur within articles. The most common ones are: |
|||
People are either [[list of Finns]] or [[list of French people]], depending on whether there's an appropriate word like "Finn". USA folk are a special case, at [[list of people from the United States]], due to possible ambiguity of "American". |
|||
**"See also lists" - lists of links to related articles |
|||
**"Compare lists" - lists of links to contra-related articles |
|||
Poets listed by language are at, for example [List of German language poets]] - see [[list of poets]]. |
|||
| ⚫ | |||
**"Web hyperlinks" - lists of links to web addresses other than Wikipedea |
|||
Fictional creatures at [[list of fictional dogs]], etc., with real-life examples at [[list of historical dogs]] ([[list of dogs]] is ambiguous, do you mean [[List of dog breeds]], currently living dogs, etc.). However, for dragons and other fictional species, you can stick to the simple [[list of dragons]]. |
|||
**"References" - lists of academic journal articles or books |
|||
:Most articles will not require all these imbedded lists appended to them. It is quite common to combine the list of Web links and the list of book and journal articles and call it "external links", "external sources", "other references", or "other sources". It is also common to combine the "see also list", "compare list", and "list of lists" into one "See Also List" |
|||
If the list is part of a longer article, the page will use a regular article named, e.g., [[Prime Minister of the United Kingdom]]. |
|||
== Intro == |
|||
for complete lists: |
|||
''This is a complete list of Xs'' |
|||
for partial/selected lists: |
|||
''This is a selected list of Xs. Xs listed here should be (selection criteria), and ideally have a Wikipedia article.'' |
|||
== Selection criteria == |
|||
If a complete list is feasible in 32K, and could be useful, go for a complete list. Otherwise, you need to make sure section editing is enabled or you may want to build a selected list. |
|||
===Lists of people=== |
|||
There is a general [[List of people by name]] which ideally would include people with Wikipedia articles on them. |
|||
Selected lists of people should be selected for importance/notability ''in that category'' and should have Wikipedia articles. For example, [[list of Christians]] doesn't include your neighbour, because she's not notable for her Christianity, she doesn't have a Wikipedia article, and she may never have. However, it might well include [[Jesus]]. ''See also'' the [[Wikipedia:Criteria for Inclusion of Biographies]]. |
|||
[[List of Elbonians]] would include persons who are famous in any category and who belong to Elbonia. The criteria for identifying as an Elbonian may not depend on the official citizenship laws of that country - the person could be related to the place by birth, domicile, parents, or by his personal admission, consider himself an Elbonian at heart. |
|||
The list of famous persons would include those who are known to a large number of people and is not based on the extent of their popularity. Neither is the list viewed from the context of the present. Their fame could be brief, what matters is that they were well-known during the peak of their popularity. |
|||
'''Questions to ask yourself:''' |
|||
* If this person/thing/etc., wasn't an X, would it reduce their fame or significance? |
|||
* Would I expect to see this person on a list of X? |
|||
* Is this person a canonical example of some facet of X? |
|||
===Lists of lists=== |
|||
On lists of lists, series of inexistant "List of ..." are usually not included. That is, all the links in a "lists of lists" should be active (blue, not red). |
|||
| ⚫ | |||
== See also == |
|||
Link to higher order lists where appropriate: [[lists of people]], [[list of countries]], etc. [[list of Indian language poets]] should link to both [[list of Indians]] and [[list of poets]]. |
|||
When the list includes a short introduction and a longer list, it may be advisible to include the "see also" after the introduction, but before the list. |
|||
Sample formatting:<br> |
|||
<nowiki>See also: [[list of Indians]], [[list of poets]]</nowiki> |
|||
== Links to list pages == |
|||
Often it's nice to have links to list pages on listed articles, but this is debated, e.g., [[Jesus]] might link to [[list of Christians]], but [[NPV]] not necessarily to [[List of marketing topics]] and all other business and economics topic lists. |
|||
== Categories == |
|||
Software support for lists (called "categories") is allegedly coming soon, so you might want to hold off on lists and things till that gets online. Or you might want to work hard to prepare for its coming. The feature is likely to replace [[List of mathematical topics]], but not necessarily more structured or more formatted lists, e.g. [[List of mathematicians]]- |
|||
Revision as of 18:37, 25 October 2003
See also: wikipedia:list, Wikipedia:Manual of Style (lists of links)
There are two types of lists in Wikipedea:
- Stand-alone lists - Stand-alone lists have their own address in Wikipedea and can be searched with the search engine box. Examples include:
- lists of articles on a particular subject
- lists of people - The format of lists, in particular lists of people, is under discussion. Please see Talk for details.
- lists of events
- list of objects
- Imbedded lists - Imbedded lists occur within articles. The most common ones are:
- "See also lists" - lists of links to related articles
- "Compare lists" - lists of links to contra-related articles
- "List of related lists" - lists of lists of related articles. See Wikipedia:Manual of Style (lists of links)
- "Web hyperlinks" - lists of links to web addresses other than Wikipedea
- "References" - lists of academic journal articles or books
- Most articles will not require all these imbedded lists appended to them. It is quite common to combine the list of Web links and the list of book and journal articles and call it "external links", "external sources", "other references", or "other sources". It is also common to combine the "see also list", "compare list", and "list of lists" into one "See Also List"