What is a WikiWord?

A WikiWord consists of two or more words with initial capitals, run together. WikiWords are topic names. A TWiki topic name always has a fixed format: two or more words with initial capitals, run together. Like the name of the current topic: WikiWord. When you type the name of a topic, you create a link to that topic. You type WebHome and on saving the page this becomes WebHome. It's as easy as that.

When you type a WikiWord, you establish a hyperlink. It's as easy as that.

WikiWord linking is easy to use:

You don't have to know the full path to where the topic is stored - you just type the name
You don't need to write HTML
Without HTML, the topic text is easier to read when editing
Easy linking leads to interesting texts with links placed in context

WikiWords are styled like this because:

It makes Wiki hyperlinks instantly recognizable
It leads to interesting Wiki topics
It avoids the need to fiddle with HTML tags
It avoids over-general topics because at least two words are required

Syntax of a WikiWord

Uppercase letter(s)
Lowercase letter(s)
Uppercase letter(s)
Optional lowercase or uppercase letter(s) or number(s)

Good examples of WikiWords

WikiWord
GoodStyle
VersionFiveDotThree
ReleaseVersion5dot3
AVeryLongWikiTopicNameIsAlsoPossible: wherever an uppercase or lowercase letter is allowed, a group of letters of the same case is allowed
YearTwoThousand

Bad examples of WikiWords:

Web: Name without the uppercase letter(s), lowercase letter(s), uppercase letter(s) sequence
T5Wiki: Name with number before the uppercase, lowercase, uppercase sequence
Md5sumsAfterBurning: Name with number before the uppercase, lowercase, uppercase sequence
Know-How: Name with dashes in between

Variations in linking

When you write the name of a topic, it becomes a link. There are more ways

To write a custom link label, use bracket notation: [[TWikiAccessControl][access control]] - this becomes: access control
To link to a topic in another web, write: Sandbox.WebSearch - this becomes: WebSearch
To show the web name in the link use bracket notation: [[Sandbox.WebHome]] - this becomes: Sandbox.WebHome
To link to a topic on another Wiki site, use: TWiki:Main/WebHome - this becomes: TWiki:Main/WebHome (sites are defined in the InterwikiPlugin)
To link to a part on the same page, write a dash and the name of the header, with spaces replaced by underscores (and ! removed): [[#Good_examples_of_WikiWords]] becomes: #Good_examples_of_WikiWords. You can also link to a part on another page: TWiki.WebHome#Disclaimer becomes: WebHome#Disclaimer.

Hints

Insert WikiWords wherever you can. Rich linking helps to make a Wiki successful.
Be specific. All topics in a web share one name space. For example, instead of FunctionalSpec write BreadSlicerFunctionalSpec because other projects might also have a functional spec topic.
To stop a WikiWord from being turned into a hyperlink, insert an exclamation point immediately before the WikiWord. For example, write !SunOS to get SunOS.
Create topics with singular names. Plural WikiWords are automatically linked to the singular topic, i.e. the link WikiWords links to the topic WikiWord.
Sometimes you have to be creative to find a good WikiName. Examples:
- To create a topic about the the Bread Slicer 1.2 product, use BreadSlicer1dot2 or BreadSlicer1pt2, but not BreadSlicer1.2.
- To create a topic about year 2000, you could go for YearTwoK or YearTwoThousand, but not Year2K or Y2K or Y2000.
Turn acronyms into WikiWords, i.e. take FaqIndex for a "FAQ index" topic.
It is possible to turn off the auto-linking of WikiWords and to rely only on the bracket notation. See NOAUTOLINK setting in TWikiPreferences#Default_Web_Preferences.
When linking to a WebHome topic in another web, the link will be rendered as the name of the web, e.g. Sandbox.WebHome becomes Sandbox.

Related Topics: WikiSyntax, TextFormattingRules

Revision r6 - 2005-03-27 - 13:14:15 - TWikiContributor Edit