User:Eep²/Wikinavigation
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Wikinavigation is a proposal to merge several MediaWiki functions into one.
The Wikipedia disambiguation guidelines contradict Wikipedia:Manual of Style (disambiguation pages)#The "See also" section because of how varied the guidelines can be interpreted. Regardless of how you want to sugar-coat the disambiguation (dab) system, it's a half-assed implementation that needs a serious overhaul to be more of a navigation system, since that is how most users seem to treat it (considering all of the compound word links that appear on them). A true disambiguation system would incorporate an indexing and navigation system. Set index articles don't cut it, and Wikipedia's list inclusion guidelines are too restrictive to allow for a proper navigation system (one in which categories and the Special:Prefixindex function fall short, as I've explained before,[1] which include redirects, don't have proper article descriptions that don't include wiki markup, etc--if each article could have an HTML meta description attribute that would at least provide a way to put a brief dab-page-esque description).
Disambiguation pages are what most users encounter most often when searching for a term, and I don't see why such pages need to be as restrictive in content as they are. By providing links to root words, compound words (most of which would be dab pages on their own with still more root/compound words on them), and antonyms, seamless navigation will be possible. As it is now, most articles don't tend to link to their root words (which is even more frustrating when more complicated/technical topics like theoretical physics and computer-related articles do not have this sort of navigation system).
For example, outer space would link to outer and space, plus an {{otheruses}} link to outer space (disambiguation) (which would link to outer (disambiguation) and space (disambiguation) in its "See also" section). Outer would link to out, -er, and inner.
Examples
[edit]Life (album) should have an "otheruses" template on it that links to Life (disambiguation) (and other article titles with "Life" in them should at least link to the general term life or have Life (disambiguation) in the "See also" section).
Conclusion
[edit]This is partly how I envision an integrated "wikipedictionaria" (or something, despite Wikipedia claiming not to be a dictionary even though it's actually more of an encyclopedic dictionary and/or almanac) would work, gradually/seamlessly leading to more detailed and complex meanings/etymologies of a word (or word component) without having to bounce back and forth between wikis and remaining as vague and general on the "outer branches" of the navigation system.