MaterialWiki:Disambiguation

Disambiguation in MaterialWiki is the process of resolving conflicts in article titles that occur when a single term can be associated with more than one topic, making that term likely to be the natural choice of title for more than one article. In other words, disambiguations are paths leading to the different article pages that could use essentially the same term as their title.

For example, the word concrete can refer to several different things, including: concrete block, poured in place concrete, and precast concrete. Since only one MaterialWiki page can have the generic name concrete, unambiguous article titles must be used for each of these topics: concrete block, poured in place concrete, and precast concrete.

There must then be a way to direct the reader to the correct specific article when an ambiguous term is referenced by linking, browsing or searching; this is what is known as disambiguation.

Disambiguation pages

Each of these pages in MaterialWiki comprises a list (or multiple lists, for multiple senses of the term in question) of similarly-titled links.

• Link to the primary topic (if there is one):

A school is an institution for learning.

• Start each list with a short introductory sentence fragment with the title in bold, and ending with a colon. For example:

Concrete may refer to:

• Try to start each entry in the list with a link to the target page.
• Each bulleted entry should, in almost every case, have exactly one navigable (blue) link; including more than one link can confuse the reader.
• Do not pipe the name of the links to the articles being listed.
• Only include related subject articles if the term in question is actually described on the target article. (For example, the concrete disambiguation page legitimately has an entry for concrete block.)

Include the template {{disambig}} at the bottom as an indicator of the page's status. Following the template, include any of the standard categories as appropriate.

For a prime example of an actual disambiguation page, see concrete.

What not to include

Dictionary definitions

A disambiguation page is not a list of dictionary definitions. A short description of the common general meaning of a word can be appropriate for helping the reader determine context.

Duplicate topics

Disambiguation should not be confused with the merging of duplicate articles (articles with different titles, but regarding the very same topic, for example "gas turbine" and "combustion turbine", or "restroom" and "washroom"). These are handled with redirects.

Preparation

Before constructing a new disambiguation page, determine a specific topic name for any and all existing pages, and a generic name for the disambiguation page. Move any page with a conflicting title (i.e. the same exact title) to its more specific name. Use the What links here list for the moved page to update all of the pages that link to that page (more likely than not, a link in MaetrialWiki will point to your new disambiguation page unnecessarily, and this should be resolved on a case-by-case basis).

Page naming conventions

A disambiguation page is usually named after the generic topic (e.g. "Term ABC"). "Term ABC (disambiguation)" is not the mandatory name for a disambiguation page, and is only used when there is a primary topic for the title "Term ABC". It is acceptable, on the other hand, to create a page at "Term ABC (disambiguation)" that redirects to the disambiguation page at "Term ABC". This type of redirect can be used to indicate deliberate links to the disambiguation page.

There should be just one disambiguation page for all cases (upper- or lower-case), variant punctuation and tonal marks.

For example, "Term abc", "Term Abc", "Term Ábç", "Term A-B-C", and "Term A.B.C." should all redirect to one page.

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the website: [{{{url}}} {{{url}}}].