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= Articles =

FrontPage > ?DebianWikiAdministration > ?DiscussionsStarter > Debian Wiki Conventions Discussion

?TableOfContents(4)

Please sign your comments using @SIG@.

Articles

URL / page naming convention

We should come up with a semi-official convention for page naming. Apparently there are a handful of contributors who have a long term view of what the wiki should look like, but each seems to be working in his/her corner. The result is kind of a mess.

Some page are named using the camel case, like this one (?DebianWikiConventionsDiscussion). Others use an underscore like all the links in this page: ["Portal_Welcome"]. Some page are only a single word, like ["About"].

We should come up with a convention. What is the advantage of using one rather than the other? -- AugustinMa ?DateTime(2007-10-08T10:01:05Z)

  • I think comprehensible page naming is very important. Readers appreciate clear name. So I prefer break up sentences and contract them. I recommended to get a user-friendly apporach. It's necessary to have short name, not a big sentence. Underscore must be used than white space. White spaces are not recommended in the URL.?BR

    For Portals, it's different. It must differciate than articles. I prefer a strict convention clear and condensed with underscore or ":".?BR

  • Example of Page naming for "How to configure ATI driver to active 3D support":

    • Example #1: HowToATI3D

    • Exemple #2 (I think more comprehensive): ["Howto_ATI_3D"]

    • Counter-example: ["How to configure ATI driver to active 3D support"]

    • For link, I recommend some thing like: [:Howto_ATI_3D:How to configure ATI driver to active 3D support]?BR

  • Example of Portal naming for "Portal of how to install and configure your Webcam":

    • Example #1: ["Portal_Webcam"]

    • Example #2 (why not [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:List_of_portals like Wikipedia] ? but not very compatible with Moinmoin): ["Portal:Webcam"]

    • Counter-example #1: PortalWebcam

    • Counter-example #2: PortalHowToWebcam

    • Counter-example #3: Portal_HowTo_Webcam

    • For link, I recommend some thing like: [:Portal_Webcam:Webcams]

    -- SalokineTerata ?DateTime(2007-10-10T21:57:29Z)

Use of CamelCase

This wiki is based on MoinMoin, which makes it easy to use CamelCase to create links and new pages. However, the page ["Portal_Welcome/Discussion"] suggests we use words separated by underscores (like_this instead of ?LikeThis). I don't particularly like ?CamelCasedTitles but it is easier to use them and people will use them regardless of what we decide. This is an important decision to make before we go too far in organizing the wiki. Your comments are welcome here. -- AugustinMa ?DateTime(2007-10-09T04:47:10Z)

As you, I don't like particulary CamelCasedTitled. I prefer naming conventions [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:Page_name like Wikipedia]. -- SalokineTerata ?DateTime(2007-10-10T21:57:29Z)

Translated pages

Another problem are translated pages, there's no convention used (check the FrontPage translations for an example). There's been talk about the lack of proper i18n support in MoinMoin, like the checks for outdated translations that the current Debian website is doing.GuillemJover

  • I find it a bit messy to combine all the languages in one wiki. The ideal would be to have one sub-site for each language, either something like en.wiki.debian.org/ or wiki.debian.org/en/. But this would require more work from the [?DebianWikiAdministrators administrators] to keep the system up to date, etc. I don't know what the second best solution would be, but it's worth discussing. Maybe we could have the language tag (Fr, De...) as part of the page name like this: ?FrSomePageInFrench, ?DeSomePageInGerman, etc. -- AugustinMa ?DateTime(2007-10-09T04:05:04Z) I prefer to finish the name by the translating country. It's easy to find translating pages like:

  • ["Debian"]

  • ["DebianFrench"]

  • ["DebianGerman"]

  • ["DebianRussian"] When using the FindPage, all translations are grouped.

    -- SalokineTerata ?DateTime(2007-10-10T21:57:29Z)

URL for Discussion page convention

Same as above: there is a lack of consistency. Some discussion pages like this one are named using the camel case (?DebianWikiConventionsDiscussion). Other pages use a slash (.../Discussion), like ["FrontPage/Discussion"]. Which standard to use? -- AugustinMa ?DateTime(2007-10-08T10:01:05Z)

Something lile [:/Discussion:Discussion] is easy to use with templates or when you copy and paste contents. Relative path are more flexible. I recommend to integrate this link in the default banner to invite readers for discussion.

  • Example: (!) [:/Discussion:Discussion]

Portal concept

Management understanding reader level

The Portal Welcome is composed in 4 global parts. Each part aggregate other portals by knowledge level. Language using in article must be adapt to reader level. You can differentiate knowledge level like this:

  • Beginner: Someone who don't know any thing about Linux, who don't know what is Debian and can have an overview of what is Windows. Articles must be written in no-technical language. This is a beginner in general concept of informatic.
  • User: Someone using only graphic tools. All computing words must be explain for example with a Wikimedia link. Abbreviations are explained too. So, an article characterized User level is basically based on GUI tools (Graphic User Interface)

  • Advanced user: Someone who understand effectiveness of a shell or want to use Debian as server. Language must be informatic and contained official links or homepages. So, an article characterized Advanced User level is basically based on CLI tools (Command Line Interface).

  • Developer/Contributor: Who want to contribute to Debian project. Language is technical and defined. Reader must know himself how to search more informations. Source code and programming languages are get onto.

Knowledge level indicator of article

?Anchor(level) All articles attached to a portal must indicate its knowledge level at its top. Normally, You have just to take the same level of attached portal. This indicator is symbolized by star items:

  • {o} {o} {o} Beginner

  • {*} {o} {o} User

  • {*} {*} {o} Advanced user

  • {*} {*} {*} Developer/Contributor

Ready to paste:

 {o} {o} {o} ''Beginner''
 {*} {o} {o} ''User''
 {*} {*} {o} ''Advanced user''
 {*} {*} {*} ''Developer/Contributor''

As suggesting Franklin, articles can't be always classified in this point of view. To go in his way, I recommend to use these indicators only for Portals pages.

Each parts of portals must be guide the readers. By example, Portal_Shells is classified Advanced user, but at first, this portal must explain what is a shell and the basic howto. Next, real' howto can be presented. Other example, Portal_Developer (classified Developer/Contributor) must present official references, debian.mentors, your first package howto ...etc and all of what you want when you would like to become a new developer.

Maybe we can rename this four levels as Beginner, User, Administrator and Developer ? -- SalokineTerata ?DateTime(2007-10-10T21:57:29Z)

A portal contain only links ... and just that. It's like a switching system. Links must be written and translated without to show wiki syntax.

  • Example: [:ThisIsCorrectLink:This is a good link for an example]

  • Counterexample: ?ThisIsCorrectLink - This is not a good presentation of this link.

If your link point to article written in other language that your native language, indicate it at the end of the link.

  • Example: [:DebFrWifi:Installation and configuration of Wifi card] (in french)

An helpful description, understandable et concise.

  • Example: Don't refer to X System when it's not needed
  • Exemple: Not Debian word anywhere. We know that we will talk about Debian on this Wiki. We are not going to speak about Redhat.

Is it the official portal of Wiki Debian ?

Yes and No !

This set of page comes from user's initiative as you. Portals can be considered as official because there are on Debian Wiki. On other hand, the official page assembled information of the Wiki is the ["FrontPage"]. In brief, it's not the most important question. The real question is: Is this portal answer to my needs ? If you reply No ... you can contribute to improve it. If you reply Yes, speak well of it.

Portal concept must be more stable, more hold and more translated. Next, maybe we can update the frontpages ?

Advices for all pages

Articles don't have real imposition in their forms. Just some informations are strongly recommended.

  • A knowledge level indicator (see section Knowledge level indicator of article)

  • A path named Fil d'Arianne: The path broswed to come on current article. ["FrontPage"] > Portal Welcome ?BR ["FrontPage"] > ["Portal_Welcome"] > A Page ?BR ["FrontPage"] > [:Portal_Welcome:...] > ["A_Page"] > Discussion

    • {i} note: In this example, the name of pages will be:

       "FrontPage"
       "Portal Welcome"
       "A_Page"
       "A_Page/Discussion"
  • A link to Discussion. Just the link, the page will be created if needed.
  • If this page have some translations, you must indicate them, it's very important. You can, if you are capable, synchronize your version. English version is the swivel page. If someone do an update in a translated page, he must synchronizes it with english version or to notify this update in the english discussion page.

Supplementary recommendations about portals

Portal ["Portal_Introduction"] play a part of template. Use it to create a new portal easily.

Besides preceding recommendations, portal pages must be named like:Portal + _ + Title of portal.

  • Example, the french portal talking about hardware is named Portail_Materiel

  • Example, the english portal related to softwares is named Portal_Software

They must contain:

  • The same banner like using on ["Portal_Introduction"]
  • A short portal description starting an icon which is symbolized it. This icon must be relevant and to assert perfectly the portal.
  • A list of links pointing to articles or sub-portals.
  • All portals must be attached like a tree.

Supplementary recommendations about articles

  • Try to write your article in accessible language for user the less expert. In article tagged Beginner level, this recommendation in obligatory.

  • Try to give two method: a GUI version for User level and a CLI version for Advanced User level.

Warning

If you find redundant articles, please, insert this flag at the top of the page:

Redundant : This article contain redundant information.?BR Please, merge it with ["Name_of_the_other_article"].

  • Ready to paste:

{{{||<tablestyle="width:65%;margin-left:35%;padding-left:30pt" style="border:1pt solid #b48;border-left:5pt solid #d4a">Redundant : This article contain redundant information.?BR Please, merge it with ["Name_of_the_other_article"].|| }}}

If you find an article without enough information, please, insert this flag at the top of the page:

Not enough content : This article have not enough content.?BR Please, improve it or merge it in an article having the same goal.

  • Ready to paste:

{{{||<tablestyle="width:65%;margin-left:35%;padding-left:30pt" style="border:1pt solid #b48;border-left:5pt solid #d4a">Not enough content : This article have not enough content.?BR Please, improve it or merge it in an article having the same goal.|| }}}

Portals are good tools to identify redundant articles. If you find its, finish link with this simley X-( X-(

  • Example:
    • [:DebianIntroduction:Introduction of Debian], [:Debian Introduction:Another introduction of Debian] X-(

-- SalokineTerata ?DateTime(2007-10-10T21:57:29Z)