Difference between revisions of "Help:Naming your page"

Latest revision as of 16:27, 14 May 2017

The first step before creating a page would be to clearly think about the title and the content of a page which would needed in the wiki.

Deciding on an article title

Article titles are mostly based on how reliable English-language sources refer to the article's subject^[1]. When it comes to policies, actors and terminology, try the following tools:

• Check how European insitutions refer to what you want to write about^[2].
• Search the web for exact matches^[3].
• There is often more than one appropriate title for an article. In that case, reach out to the support channel on slack!

A good wiki article title should be:

• Recognisable – The title is a name or description of the subject that someone familiar with, although not necessarily an expert in -e.g. a delegate, the subject area will recognise.
• Natural – The title is one that readers are likely to look or search for and that editors would naturally use to link to the article from other articles. Such a title usually conveys what the subject is actually called in English.
• Precise – The title unambiguously identifies the article's subject and distinguishes it from other subjects.
• Concise – The title is no longer than necessary to identify the article's subject and distinguish it from other subjects.
• Consistent – The title is consistent with the pattern of similar articles' titles, e.g. articles in the same content category.

If you end up with an article not corresponding with its title, consider renaming it.

Article title format

Use sentence case

The initial letter of a title is almost always capitalised by default; otherwise, words are not capitalized unless they would be so in running text.

Use the singular form

Article titles are generally singular in form, e.g. Smart grid, not Smart grids. Exceptions include nouns that are always in a plural form in English (e.g. scissors or trousers) and the names of classes of objects (e.g. Non-governmental organisations).

Avoid abbreviations

Abbreviations and acronyms are often ambiguous and thus should be avoided. Exception to the rule is the EU. It is also unnecessary to include an acronym in addition to the name in a title.

Avoid definite and indefinite articles

Do not place definite or indefinite articles (the, a, and an) at the beginning of titles unless they are part of a proper name (e.g. A European Strategy for low emission mobility) or otherwise change the meaning.

Use nouns

Nouns and noun phrases are normally preferred over titles using other parts of speech; such a title can be the subject of the first sentence.

Do not enclose titles in quotes

Is there any page title in quotes at the Commission's website? No.

Do not create subsidiary articles

Do not use titles suggesting that one article forms part of another: even if an article is considered subsidiary to another (as where summary style is used), it should be named independently. For example, an article on transport in Azerbaijan should not be given a name like "Azerbaijan/Transport" or "Azerbaijan (transport)", use Transport in Azerbaijan.

References

1. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Article_titles#Deciding_on_an_article_title
2. ↑ English version of the European Commission's website.
3. ↑ On Google, use double quotations, e.g. "beaches of Alonissos"