A key characteristic of Wiki is the automatic generation of hyperlinks. This is made possible by the identification of each page in a wiki with a WikiName. Wherever a WikiName is used it creates a link to the corresponding page. If the corresponding page does not yet exist, it is created the first time the link is followed. This is indicated by a question mark at the end of the WikiName.

General WikiName Scheme

In order for this system to work, a scheme is required that differentiates WikiName/s from other text. This rule is sometimes called StudlyCaps. There are two ways of stating the rule:

1. a WikiName is capitalised word containing more than one capital letter, so that eligible capitalises to Eligible which StudlyCaps to ELigible or EligiBle or one of the other 125 variants; or
2. a WikiName is a phrase that has been capitalised and then concatenated, so that Zope Zen becomes ZopeZen.

When different participants generate WikiName/s for a single topic, we would like them to choose the same WikiName. However, the first description is ambigous --- there are many ways to perform the conversion. If you have to use the first, because you only have a single word, then see FalseCapitalisation for suggestions. Fortunately, the second description is unambigous. Sometimes it is worth adding a word (particularly the definite article).

WikiName Details

There are some further details for controlling WikiName/s.

Square Bracket Wiki Name

Any text can be made into a WikiName by placing it between square brackets, e.g. square bracket wiki name. See square bracket wiki name for reasons why this is generally a bad idea.

FalseCapitalisation for WikiName/s

Occasionally you wish to create a WikiName from a single word. The problem here is the lack of words to concatenate. One solution is to introduce FalseCapitalisation/s inside the word, e.g., Zope becomes ZoPe.

Escaping a WikiName

A word can be protected from being treated as a WikiName by prefixing it with an exclamation. Notice that this WikiName is unrecognised. This is true whether the corresponding page exists or not.

Pluralising a WikiName

Often you wish to use a WikiName in plural without having to make a separate page. To do this, interceed a non-alphanumeric character, e.g., WikiName/s, WikiName's, or WikiName-s. Another method is to place the WikiName within square brackets, e.g., WikiNames.

Prefixing a WikiName

Sometimes you wish to prefix a WikiName without having to make a separate page. For example, you might want to use a term like pre-WikiName. To do this, interceed a hyphen.

subtopics: FalseCapitalisation ScrewDriver StudlyCaps square bracket wiki name