Wiki structure and naming conventions

Please follow and contribute to the discussion in the forum.

Probably a lot of people come from the forum and therefore are not familiar with the wiki idea. That's why it's mentioned here.

DaleDe 13:03, 23 January 2012 (EST) The page contains a mix of recommendations for conventions and restructure ideas for the wiki. As a proposal it probably should have been on the restructure talk page but as it has been already generated it will be addressed here. Note, the page name is confusing so I renamed it. Note that I have preceded my comments with four ~ which causes the wiki software to note my name and the time of my comments. Please use this convention while we are discussing this.

To keep everything clear and structured you could follow these recommendations for creating pages under this subject. Contribute in the forum for ideas about to do that.

DaleDe 13:03, 23 January 2012 (EST) To keep everything clear this wiki already has a structure. There needs to be a comprehensive understanding before attempts to just arbitrarily change it are made.

The wiki idea

Working with a wiki is all about linking pages! The wiki idea is: Writing a text, you have an idea of another page. First of all you then create a link to that page that does not exist. Then someone (probably you) later clicks on this link, creates the page, fills it with content. There, he creates other wiki page links, and so on. Everyone can alter, contribute, correct. It's a matter of trust, fun and sharing (so to speak with Ward Cunninghham).

How do I create a page?

DaleDe 13:03, 23 January 2012 (EST) this of course is already mention in the Help:Contents page however there are some good points below.

1. Create an account - you can contribute anonymously, but hey, we like to look into a real face ;)
2. Think about a good title --DaleDe 13:03, 23 January 2012 (EST) This is a good idea that the author needs to follow.
   • the title of a wiki page can only applied once, and then cannot be altered once created (only moved and linked to a new one, because this would break the chain of linked pages) --DaleDe 13:03, 23 January 2012 (EST) This is true but there can be shortcuts for alternate names for the subject.
   • titles should be simple and impressive --DaleDe 13:03, 23 January 2012 (EST) There is no reason a name needs to be impressive. Clear and simple is the goal. The names are best if they are predictable by the user, something they might guess and type in the search field. Complicated names are unlikely to be guessed.
   • avoid too simple titles like "coolreader" (might exist already) - "EReader software Coolreader" might be a better choice for a central starting point --DaleDe 13:03, 23 January 2012 (EST) If coolreader already exists then you might decide it is better to just add your ideas to the existing article. There is often no reason to create a new page just for the purpose of making it your own. Anyone can edit it as seen here so contributions speak for themselves and the wiki idea is not to author a book with your name on it. While we are talking about coolreader as a name there is some rules you need to know. If you use coolreader for a name it is likely that you are talking about an existing program. If it is an existing program then you should not ever rename it to something else. This only causes confusion. The program name is Cool Reader. Note the space and capitalization. coolreader and Cool Reader at not the same. To a human they may look the same but to a computer they are completely different and searching for one will not find the other. This wiki is case and space sensitive with the exception of the first letter which is generally shown capitalized but can be searched either way. Note that the SDK is called CoolReader which is yet another spelling but again: Don't confuse things by making up your own spelling.
   • avoid too complicated and special titles "coolreader for the Pocketbook 902 model xyz firmware 123" (this is something for the forum) --DaleDe 13:03, 23 January 2012 (EST) This is good advice unless you intend to have a very specialized page and intend to maintain additional pages the firmware changes. It is best to keep the title specific but as general as possible so that future changes can be made with having to rename the title. This about the future when naming a page. Note that Pocketbook should be PocketBook as that is the name the manufacturer uses for their product.
3. Think about the title again -DaleDe 13:03, 23 January 2012 (EST) think about how the user will find the page and how a reference to the page will be made.
4. Edit the page and enter [[Well choosen page title|What should appear in the text]] --DaleDe 13:03, 23 January 2012 (EST) of course you should look at what you type and let the spelling checker tell you that choosen is not a word, it should be chosen. Most of the time you should try and reference the actual name of the page instead of hiding the page name in a different description. Of course the usage will dictate if an different description is needed.
5. Save the page --DaleDe 13:03, 23 January 2012 (EST) this is one way to build a new page by referencing it first but is not the most common. The Help page shows several ways to make a new page.
6. Click on the Link (it's red), the page opens, be sure to have the mediawiki syntax in mind, write and save the newly created page. --DaleDe 13:03, 23 January 2012 (EST) when writing a page think about the rest of the wiki. The page will likely be relevant to other pages in the wiki and links to those pages will aid the user is traversing the wiki itself. It is better to reference a term than redefine it every time it is used. There are wiki help pages for syntax.

You're done. --13:03, 23 January 2012 (EST) It is likely that you will want to revisit it as things change. Don't hesitate to build a page with all the facts you know and then revisit it as you research more facts. Often a new item in the industry will be missing lots of important data when it is first announced. It is more important to provide a preliminary page with references than to wait until everything is known. Note that, if you are describing a new hardware eBook Reader then you should use the template we provide for the page.

A proposal for the structure and naming of pages

The title of the wikipage is unique, but you can easily change the title apearance at the page with the syntax: [[Well choosen page title|What should appear in the text]].

So here's the first idea of the page structure. Prefixing the pages might resolve the problems of duplicate pages (when e.g. people created pages with the same name) and or other context (e.g. there might be Coolreader for Windows, Mac or Linux, but we want "EReader program Coolreader").

E-Book reader software (this page )

All linked program wiki pages are prefixed with "EReader program"

• Software
  • EReader Program Software 1
  • EReader Program Software 2
  • ...
  • EReader Program Coolreader
  • EReader Program fbreader

DaleDe 13:03, 23 January 2012 (EST) prefixing every page in this wiki is not a good idea. The whole wiki is about eBook readers and software and technology. There is no need to make the user type prefixes for every page they want to reference. However, don't make the page name too generic. Don't make a page called firmware when you really wanted PocketBook firmware. This wiki uses categories to help group items together for the user.

All linked firmware wiki pages are prefixed with "EReader firmware"

• Firmware
  • Firmware Manufactor 1
  • Firmware Manufactor 2
  • ...
  • Firmware Pocketbook
  • Firmware Kindle
  • ...

DaleDe 13:03, 23 January 2012 (EST) It is better to use Kindle firmware rather than firmware Kindle. Grouping by product is the preferred way to organize this wiki. And of course PocketBook should not be called Pocketbook and Manufacturer should be spelled correctly, particularly in titles!

All linked SDK wiki pages are prefixed with "EReader SDK"

• Service Development Kits
  • SDK Manufactor 1
  • SDK Manufactor 2 * ...
  • SDK Pocketbook
  • SDK Kindle
  • ...

DaleDe 13:03, 23 January 2012 (EST)Again no. This sort of thing is best handled with categories.

The following Software Pages (here Coolreader) then itself should link to subpages like:

EReader software Coolreader page

All linked wiki pages for programs are postfixed with "for manufactor xyz"

• Coolreader for Manufactor 1
• Coolreader for Manufactor 2
• ...
• Coolreader for Pocketbook
• Coolreader for Kindle
• ...

DaleDe 13:03, 23 January 2012 (EST) If Cool Reader behaves differently in the various flavors then a page difference might be useful but this is not typical so it should not be done this way in this wiki.

Languages

DaleDe (talk) 15:03, 7 December 2019 (EST) This wiki supports multiple languages. The Policy for this is MobileRead:Language policy. For Help see Help:Wiki Translation.