Help:Page titles

This page discusses the titles of wiki pages in general. For specific explanation of the titles of certain types of pages, see the list of links below.

Contents

Frequently asked questions

How do I know the title of a page?

On any WeRelate page, the title of the page occurs in a shaded title bar at the top of the screen, below the menu tabs. For example, on this page you will see a title bar containing the words "Help:Page titles". This is the complete title of the page, which is used when linking to another WeRelate page and when opening a wiki page directly via its url.

Why the two parts, before and after the colon?

The part before the colon categorizes the page by namespace, while the part after the colon identifies the unique page. For example, this page belongs to the Help namespace, while "Page titles" is the page's unique identifier.

What is a namespace?

A namespace is a category of wiki pages, characterized by unity of purpose or content. For example, person pages belong to the Person namespace, while place pages belong to the Place namespace. See below for a list of WeRelate namespaces.

Is there a specific convention for naming new pages?

The page should be located in the correct namespace, so any new page should begin with the format "namespace:". Like "Help:" or "Person:". After that, each type of page is different. Most types, like person and family pages, have pretty strict guidelines for page identification. Other types, like articles and source pages have developing or flexible guidelines. See the list of links below, for specific explanations of the titles of certain types of pages.

Can I include numbers and symbols in page titles?

The title may not contain these symbols: brackets (< >, [ ]); number signs (#); vertical bars (|); question marks (?); plus signs (+); and underscores (_). Titles may not begin with a period (.) or a forward slash (/).

Can I change the title of a page, once it has been created?

You can change the title of a page by renaming the page, but you can't rename a page with a different namespace. You'll have to create a new page in the correct namespace and copy/paste the information from the old page to the new.

General information

Namespace

Here's a list of namespaces, along with brief descriptions of the types of pages they contain:

  • Person: Person pages--pages WeRelate users can make for each of their ancestors
  • Family: Family pages--pages WeRelate users can make for each of their ancestral families
  • Place": Place pages--pages that contain information about geographic places
  • Surname: Surname pages--name pages that contain information about surnames
  • Givenname: Given name pages--name pages that contain information about given names
  • Source: Source pages--pages that contain information about sources of community interest
  • MySource: MySource pages--pages that contain information about sources of personal interest
  • Image: Images--pages for hosting genealogically relevant images
  • User: Profiles--personal pages that contain information about WeRelate users; Personal research pages--personal pages, created by WeRelate users, that contain information about a genealogically relevant topic
  • WeRelate: Project pages--pages of general interest to the entire WeRelate community (like the search pages, research landing pages, and the watercooler); About pages--pages that contain brief explanations of certain WeRelate features
  • MediaWiki::Mediawiki pages are mainly associated with site development and administration
  • Template: Templates--pages that, when linked to, automatically insert a previously created section of text into another page
  • Help: Help pages--pages that contain FAQs, and information about using WeRelate; Tutorials--pages that contain step-by-step directions for many WeRelate operations
  • Category: Category pages--pages that contain links to other pages related to a certain category


Articles do not belong to a namespace. Their page names include only a unique page identifier.

All WeRelate pages have associated talk pages. The namespace for a talk page is the namespace of the page with which it is associated, with a space and the word "talk" added. An example: WeRelate talk:Source page titles.

Titles of specific types of pages

For information on what title to assign a particular type of page, refer to the links below.

Examples

Person page title: Person:Daniel Phillips (1)
Family page title: Family:Daniel Phillips and Ella Grey (1)
Image filename: Image:Wayne L Phillips with hat abt 1965.jpg
Article title: Colorado Research Guide
Place page title: Place:Chicago, Illinois
Surname page title: Surname:Smith
Given name page title: Givenname:John
Source page title: Source:Family History Library Catalog
Profile title: User:Solveig
Personal research page title: User:Dallan/SourceExtractor


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