Wiki Single Word Problem

The wiki LinkPattern does not allow single words to be links. The first problem is that people think this is a problem. (Don't they get it? We like to double things: quotes, hyphens, words, even wiki in WikiWiki.)

LinkPattern suggests one write at least two words which are more specific than a single word, e.g. JavaLanguage instead of Java.

Sometimes the WikiSingleWordProblem results in anomalies like:

The WikiSingleWordProblem is probably the most important (or perhaps the only one) of the WikiNameDisadvantages, though there are WikiNameAdvantages, too.

Workarounds

Append a general category. Example: JbossServer, DelphiLanguage.
Make the name more specific. Example: WhatIsRefactoring or HowToRefactor. Cons: limits the contexts in which it can be used, e.g. "While WhatIsRefactoring my code yesterday..."
Kludge the capitalization. Examples: DelPhi, ReFactoring.
For nouns, prepend an article. Example: TheUsa.
Double the word. Example: RefactoringRefactoring.
CurryingSchonfinkelling instead of Currying

Acronyms offer more alternatives:

Expand. Example: UnitedStatesOfAmerica. Cons: Some acronyms don't mean anything. VHS, for example doesn't have an expanded meaning. [That may not be correct: According to WikiPedia (at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VHS), VHS stands for "Video Home System."--Steve (http://www.progressiveportal.org/steve)] Same for DVD, PHP, C, C++... Really? Surely VHS is Video Home System and DVD is Digital Versatile Disc. Aside: Officially the DVD cartel undefined the acronym, after standing for both Video disc and then Versatile disk. Like BP no longer standing for British Petroleum but just BP.
Use WikiAlphabet substitutions. Example: CeePlusPlus, JayBoss?. Cons: PHP becomes PeeAitchPee?, which is both DisTurbing? and NonDescriptive?. Plus, Cee is still not a WikiWord.

On the other hand, there's always CeeLanguage...

Suggested Technical Fixes

FreeLinks (i.e., allowing WhatIsRefactoring to appear as "Refactoring")
Some subtle changes of the LinkPattern used ('1' stand for uppercase letters, '0' for lowercase; shortest LinkPattern is given):

  \b([A-Z][a-z]+){2,}\b        # '1010' - seems to be the current LinkPattern
  \b([A-Z][a-z]*){2,}[a-z]\b   # '110'  - would allow DoubleCapitalization?; lowercase is still required to make it a link
  \b([A-Z][a-z]*){2,}\b        # '11'   - would allow DoubleCapitalization?
  \b([A-Z][a-z]+)+\b           # '10'   - would allow linking of single words; as long as they start with an UpperCase? letter

The first alternative would allow CPlusPlus to be a link, the second one would allow PHP to be a link as well. The third alternative would pose some serious problems, since we would need to disambiguate words capitalised for syntactic reasons (start of the sentence) from those capitalised for linking purposes. -- AalbertTorsius

Q: Related: Why is double capitalization a problem? (DennisOHara, SwimmingInALake) -- KurtGeorgeGjerde

A: It is not a problem if you do not wish to make the Double Capitalized Word a Link. While some wikis see these as links, this one does not.

Sometimes a word starts with a Greek or Latin particle. Re-Factor comes to mind. If you can identify such words, presto, a new WikiWord (ie, the obvious WikiWord for something like Re-Factor is ReFactor) -JuanPabloNunnezRojas.

ok, I will try ReFactoring and Refactoring and reFactoring and REFACTORING

how'bout ReGlenning? or ReGlenning?? (with a ?)

What about McKinley? SixSingleQuotes.

I seriously think that also wiki pages should be as readable as standard text. That means to get rid of the wiki words when the text is presented for reading.

I suggest that a word ending with _? (wiki_?) are made into a hyperlink and likewise a group of words joined with one underscore and ending in _? (long_wiki_word_?). The link is presented with the joining underscores replaced by spaces and the final _? removed if the target exists and with the usual question mark if it doesn't.

Camel case and wiki words are distracting. (The solution is to use Media Wiki.)

Hans

But that would reduce the chance of a HappyCollision.

Some special markup (underscores?) to force a single word to be wikiwordified? (eg. _Example_)

Contributors: FredrikBreivald, KarlKnechtel

CategoryWikiEditing