Wikipedia:Naming conventions (long lists)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

✔ This page documents an English Wikipedia naming convention. It is a generally accepted standard that editors should follow, though it should be treated with common sense and the occasional exception. When editing this page, please ensure that your revision reflects consensus. When in doubt, discuss first on the talk page.

Long lists are split into subsequent pages alphabetically to adhere to the Wikipedia guidelines on article size.

Contents

[edit] Styles - preferences

Several styles are used. As indicated below, the preferred style is List of foos: A, and for ranges: List of foos: W-X-Y-Z, if applied to numbers: List of foos: <number x>-<number y>.

[edit] Alphabetical

Models (see examples below):

  • List of foo: A ← preferred style
  • List of foo A
  • List of foo, A
  • List of foo - A
  • List of foo (A)
  • List of foo:A
  • List of foo starting with A
  • List of A foo

Examples:

List of solo piano pieces by composer: A
List of aircraft manufacturers A
List of United States Navy ships, A
List of Members of the Canadian Senate - A
List of mathematics articles (A) and List of albums (A)
List of saints by name:A
List of record labels starting with A
List of A postal codes of Canada

[edit] By number

Examples

List of symphonies by number 
Navigational template: {{Symphonies by number and name}}:
Symphonies by number and name
No. 0 | No. 1 | No. 2 | No. 3 | No. 4 | No. 5 | No. 6 | No. 7 | No. 8 | No. 9 | No. 10 | No. 11
No. 12 and higher: Haydn, Mozart, Shostakovich, Hovhaness,...
List of symphonies by name - List of composers of symphonies
See also: Sinfonia | Sinfonia concertante | Unfinished symphony | Curse of the Ninth
Example of list subpage: Symphony No. 1
New Hampshire Historical Markers 
Navigational template: (copied on every page of the list, not in template namespace):
NH Historical Markers: Main 1-25 26-50 51-75 76-100 101-125 126-150 151-175 176-200
Example of list subpage: List of New Hampshire Historical Markers: 1-25

[edit] Miscellany

Some of the examples following here might be "problematic" (which is not the same as saying it is known already what would be "ideal solution")

List of compositions of Johann Sebastian Bach 
Contains (roughly) BWV 225-249, and from 519 up. Note that several works not composed by Bach are included in this list and its sublists. Most of the problems experienced with this list are however primarily resulting from it being a hybrid "by genre"/"by number" list.
No navigational template: links connecting the pages are presented differently on every page.
Sublists:
Related (partial) lists: Bach compositions printed during the composer's lifetime, List of Bach cantatas by liturgical function, BWV ("list of lists"),...

[edit] Generic templates

See also Wikipedia:Template messages/Lists#Navigational templates for multi-page lists

[edit] Available templates

Template:A-Z multipage list 
Navigational template: {{A-Z multipage list|<name>|<cat>|<cat sort key>}}:
(example with <name> = Wikipedia:List of foos ; <cat> = Wikipedia templates ; <cat sort key> = Long lists)
Wikipedia:List of foos: A - B - C - D - E - F - G - H - I - J - K - L - M - N - O - P - Q - R - S - T - U - V - W - X - Y - Z
Example of list subpage: Wikipedia:List of foos: A
Template:List of places 
Navigational template: {{List of places|place}} (note: this template has no built-in categorisation)

List of places in foo: A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z

Example of list subpage: List of places in foo: A

[edit] Examples using these templates

List of United Kingdom locations 
Navigational template: {{A-Z multipage list|List of United Kingdom locations|Lists of United Kingdom locations by name|Locations}}:
List of United Kingdom locations: A - B - C - D - E - F - G - H - I - J - K - L - M - N - O - P - Q - R - S - T - U - V - W - X - Y - Z
Example of list subpage: List of United Kingdom locations: A (Note: on that page the navigational template uses a different category sort key, which is the 3rd and last template parameter: {{A-Z multipage list|List of United Kingdom locations|Lists of United Kingdom locations by name|AAAA}}, see Category:Lists of United Kingdom locations by name for the result).

[edit] Migration strategy

Presently there's no obligatory migration strategy to convert all multi-page lists to the preferred style, however:

  • When starting a new multi-page list (or splitting an existing list in several pages), consider if adoption of the preferred style is possible, if not, try to keep as close to it as possible.
  • for existing multi-page lists: if there's no apparent reason against it (e.g. established consensus, other guidelines like wikipedia:naming conventions (pieces of music),...) the list can be migrated, or at least redirects from pages named according to the preferred style can be created.

[edit] See also