User talk:Mtew/Sandbox/Disambiguation

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Purpose[edit]

The associated user page is a trial for a game content page naming convention. The problem is that several things in the game can share a name, like a mission and an outpost in GW and each may require a separate description. The idea is that the top level page has the different things as sub-pages. Each different thing becomes a sub-page of the top level page. For example, Whatever/outpost and Whatever/mission would be the outpost and mission descriptions for Whatever.

  • For names with several associated things, the top level page consists of a description of the common context followed by a tab row that selects the variants. The variants transclude the top level page so navigation to the other variants is easy and navigation is consistent.
  • For names with only one associated thing, the page is a redirect to that variant.

Issues[edit]

The top level page will require a specific structure. With a little advanced work, this should not be a problem. Using 'subst:' and a template should make it fairly easy. --Max 2 03:17, 24 July 2009 (UTC)

While this would work, it would be different from the Name (specifics) structure that is used on GW, GWW and wikipedia. That needs to be taken into account. I think your link bars look nice, but they could be done without the subpage system as well. --Xeeron 16:06, 24 July 2009 (UTC)
Doesn't work so well for things that share a name but are unrelated, e.g. gw1:Bone Charm and gw1:Bone Charm (trophy) or gw1:Aegis and gw1:Aegis (shield). Also I continue to think the link bars are ugly. - Tanetris 20:12, 24 July 2009 (UTC)
Xeeron: Thank you. An advantage to the sub-page system is that the basic parser function #titleparts can be used to carve it up into meaningful pieces. You'd have to install a string manipulation extension if you wanted to do that with the parenthesized form.
Tanetris: What exactly do you find so ugly? Please consider that the style can be changed, either in the existing template set, or by adding a different set with the same logical structure. Also, the example is for a set of things that have quite a bit in common and thus could have quite a bit on the common portion of the page, but could be much more of a disambiguation style page for more disparate things. --Max 2 21:59, 24 July 2009 (UTC)
The advantage of having "name (something)" simply is that it is consistent with not only GWW but also other wikis and that it looks like an article. If we would have a very technical system for documentation, yes then it may be a good idea to use subpages wherever it is possible, however on a wiki that is organized in articles and browsed by article names, it is not a good solution and will look wrong.
Also I don't really get how your thing is better than any previous disambiguation system (links on top of the page, or disambig-pages) given that your idea requires a lot of additional code and we won't have a real priority preference for articles then... poke | talk 15:43, 25 July 2009 (UTC)
The main advantage is that with sub-pages the page name can be taken apart and parsed using only the standard ParseFunctions while the parenthesized form requires StringFunctions. It also allows for a hierarchy of disambiguation if needed. As for the code needed on the pages, it is not all that complicated. As for priority, you do not have to worry about it. The order of the links is completely arbitrary. Also, the 'Folder tab' templates are not required, just useful here. Anything more? --Max 2 19:25, 25 July 2009 (UTC)