Gienga:Linking

From Gienga

[edit] Wikilinks

A wikilink or internal link links a page to another page within the same project.

• [[a]] gives a.
• [[a|b]] gives b (link to a, labeled b).
• [[a]]b gives ab, just like [[a|ab]] does: ab.
• [[a|b]]c gives bc, just like [[a|bc]] does: bc.
• a[[b]] gives ab.
• [[a]]<nowiki>b</nowiki> gives ab.
• [[a]]''b'' gives ab.
• ''[[a]]''b gives ab.
• [[a|b]]c<nowiki>d</nowiki> gives bcd.
• [[a]][[b]] gives ab (two links, but looking equal to the single link ab), even if the links are underlined (a b and a b look the same only if links are not underlined).

Links with parameters (the link name) are said to be "piped" because of the pipe symbol used ( | ).

MediaWiki automatically checks if the target of a wikilink exists ("existence detection"). If the page doesn't exist, the link leads to the editing screen, and it is assigned the class "new". Such wikilinks are nicknamed "red links" because they are colored red in the default stylesheet on a default installation of MediaWiki. Red links are useful in determining the current status of the page (created or not created), create incoming links to a future page, facilitates and incites page creation.

Note that the image, category, and interlanguage syntax are the same as the wikilink syntax. Attempting to link normally will place the image on the page, add the page to the category and create an interlanguage link at the edge of the page. This can be prevented by prefixing a colon, which escapes the specific syntax. For example, [[:Category:Help]], [[:fr:Help:Link]], and [[:Image:Mediawiki.png]].

[edit] Linking Guidelines

Only make links that are relevant to the context.

• Provide links that aid navigation and understanding.
• Avoid obvious, redundant, and useless links.
• Put focus on links that encourage writing of more learning guides.

It is counterproductive to hyperlink all possible words. This practice is known as "overlinking".

A high density of links can draw attention away from the high-value links that readers would benefit from following. (Example: Lucy went to the store.) Redundant links clutter up the page and make future maintenance harder.