CZ:Subpages

Introduction

A full Citizendium article includes a main article page and a group of standard and optional subpages; the technical name for the entire group is a cluster.

Some of the standard subpages, such as the Talk page (a page in a sister MediaWiki namespace, used to discuss the article contents with others who are working on it), and the Metadata, are attached to a main (encyclopedia) page semi-automatically when it is set up to use the article checklist. Other standard and optional subpages can be added by authors or editors as appropriate.

The purpose of subpages is to provide supplementary and background information to allow people to find all different types of information about a topic. In a distinctive way, Citizendium subpage capabilities transcend the linearity of traditional printed encyclopedias and illustrate and operationalize hypertext capabilities.

You might look at the Biology article and its subpages--our "biology cluster"--as an example. The Civil society article also includes many subpages, including Timelines in recently (2008) revised format.

See the instructions on how to set up an article page to use subpages. They are currently a work in progress, so do report any problems to the Talk page here.

Basic guidelines

Note: We are still in the early states of fully implementing the subpages functionality. The subpage functionality has been established, and the basic guideline for subpages are now included in the text {{subpages}} at the top of every article page and subpage, and to create a corresponding "metadata" page. This is enough to turn on the subpage functionality. Authors still need to install the subpage menu on individual subpages by adding the Subpages statement. (See below)

In addition to the Metadata and Approval subpages, which are used internally to Citizendium for management, there are four subpage types which are the "default" user-visible content subpage types for every article. They are:

• Talk
• Related Articles
• Bibliography
• External Links

When articles are approved, a fifth basic type is added to allow a future revision of the article to be worked on alongside the stable, approved, version:

• Draft

A number of articles have yet to fully incorporate subpages into their articles and bibliographic references, and external links remain on a number of main pages, but authors and editors are working on this.

Many other subpage types are available to create. See below.

How the subpage template works

The Subpages template is automatically added to main article pages when those pages are properly created (with metadata, talk and article pages). A special initiative during 2007 added subpage capacilities to all previously created main pages that lacked them.

Activation of individual article subpages must be done manually. It is done by clicking on the appropriate subpage tab on the main page and saving the subpage (with appropriate added text and the Subpages command at the top). This is done by adding the command {{Subpages}} . CZ will then display the standard Subpages menu on that subpage as well as the top page.

For more technical pointers about how the subpage template works, see CZ:Using the Subpages template.

List of subpage types

For various reasons, we will want to keep a canonical list of subpage types, and ask people to create subpages only of the types listed.

We'll also distinguish between default (required) subpages and optional subpages. Links to the default subpages will appear even if they have not yet been created, while links to optional subpages will be created only if they exist.

Default subpages

• Talk: The first tab to the right of Main Page on every subpages menu bar, Talk is a page for authors and editors to discuss the contents and composition of the main page and subpages.
• Related Articles: a list of subtopics, parent topics, and other related topics, augmented by definitions
• Bibliography: a substantial list of the most important published books and articles on the topic; with links to online sources for them, if available
• External Links: a lengthy, categorized, annotated list of Web links about the topic

Optional subpages

You can see a complete list of the currently-supported subpages at Template:Subpage list.

Further bibliographic material

• Works: a list of books, articles, artworks, etc., authored by a person
• Discography: a list of recorded works
• Filmography: a list of films, television shows, etc., directed, performed in, etc.

Summary presentations of information

• Catalogs: one or more pages containing almanac-type information about some aspect of the topic, in tabular form; see, e.g., catalog of religions)
• Timelines: one or more pages giving a timeline about some aspect of the topic; main content may or may not exist on the "Tutorials" page itself

Non-text media

• Gallery: an image gallery
• Audio: a collection of Citizendium-hosted audio recordings related to the topic
• Video: a collection of Citizendium-hosted videos related to the topic
• Code: a collection of code samples related to the topic

Simplified presentations of the topic

• Tutorials: one or more pages that introduce a topic specifically for students; would be focused on more "practical" aspects of the topic, have more examples, and even perhaps some problems at the bottom of the page; some topics may lend themselves to more explicit "how to" type instructions (how to change your oil); main content may or may not exist on the "Tutorials" page itself
• Student Level: a simplified and entertaining version of the encyclopedia article for younger students

Complementary texts

• Addendum: supplementary text, specifically serving as a continuation of the main encyclopedia article
• Signed Articles: one or more possibly "biased" articles written exclusively by real experts, and signed; note that the "Signed" subpage is a list of articles, which are placed on sub-sub-pages

Planned subpage projects

The following projects will not be included in the initial subpage pilot:

• Debate Guide: one or more pages giving a "map of the dialectical landscape," an account of the arguments on all sides of a controversial issue about the topic; if important to read "map", give dates arguments introduced, a timeline
• News Guide: one or more pages summarizing of ongoing stories about the topic (such that a story itself will probably not become its own encyclopedia article!)

How to add subpage types

For the sake of uniformity, we have a list of recognized subpage types, and only subpages on this list can be included in the subpage template. The list on this page should be identical to the list on this "master template": {{subpage list 2}}

The process we use to add subpage types to this list will no doubt develop over time, but we may begin with the following.

• First, settle on a name for the new subpage type--i.e., something that will appear both at the top of the page and in the URL. For example, "Gallery".

• Create a sample.

• Then go to [subpage forum board, will be set up after Council approval] and post a link to the sample and a description of the subpage type, and ask for feedback.

• By way of elaborating your proposal, create a home for the subpage type, like CZ:Related Articles. This should be in the CZ: namespace and named using the subpage type name you've chosen. There are four required sections for that home page, which may have various subsections. Here are the sections and what to put in them:

• What are ___? or What are ___ pages? For example, "What are Bibliographies?" and "What are Related Articles pages?" This should be a brief, general description of what someone sees when visiting a subpage of this type.
• Purpose. A broad, even philosophical, explanation of why such a page are useful, both in general and in the context of the Citizendium, i.e., how such pages help the end user with research.
• Heading and format standards or, if there are no prescribed headings, just Format standards. Lists any standards, or recommendations, for what headings the subpage should contain; template types used; display-related information about style, fonts, wording, etc. This may and probably should have two or more subsections.
• Guidelines for editing. This explains to contributors exactly how to go about creating this type of subpage. If there are special instructions about how to fill out a template, they go here. All other types of instructions go here as well. Again, this may and probably should have two or more subsections.

• The Editor-in-Chief will decide whether the subpage type is important or contentious enough to warrant debate before the Editorial Council. If so, a resolution must be created. If not, the Editor-in-Chief will inform the Council and ask the Council whether discussion and vote is requested (by any member). Again, if so, a resolution must be created.

• Once the new subpage type has been adopted, the relevant templates, and this page, must be updated.

Approval of subpages

Provisionally, we will say that individual subpages cannot be approved. Instead, an entire cluster (or infoset) is approved at the same time.

Note that once an article is approved, all new edits to subpages will edit the approved version of the subpages. Such edits must be aimed, therefore, always at improving the article, and editors should pay special attention to such edits. We do not want to forbid or even discourage editing of subpages of approved articles, but we want to apply a higher standard in responding to such edits. In particular, "rough drafts" of new sections, paragraphs, columns, etc., or entire new subpages are discouraged; each saved draft should be presentable to the public.

A plan for The Big Subpagination

Actually switching from the current system to a system with subpages is not a logistically trivial task. Here are the steps remaining for making the transition:

1. Finish designing and testing the subpage template(s).
2. Put it up to a community vote which template design we will use.
3. Get approval from the Editorial Council. (continuing below if this proposal passes)
4. Create process for the Big Subpagination. The basic task that the bot has to accomplish is to convert existing, unsubpaged articles to subpaged articles. This can be done without actually creating any subpages, per se, at all. All that's really required is:
   • Place {{subpages}} on the main article (only if the page really is an article and neither a disambiguation page nor a redirection page).
   • Place {{subpages}} on the talk page; if it exists, copy (and delete) the checklist.
   • Create Template:X/Metadata.
   • Paste X into the pagename field and abc field. Other fields can be left blank. Although if the article was checklisted, paste the data from the checklist in the proper place on that page.
   • Create X/Approval and X/Unused (each with just {{subpages}} on it).
   • However, to accomplish this cleanly, consider: once the subpage template is on the page, if the page is checklisted, then the categories on the article page (including "CZ Live") become redundant--and should be deleted. But since most articles should be checklisted by now, the script needn't attempt to construct metadata out of (very hit-and-miss) category information. Instead, it's like this: subpagify an article only if it is checklisted. If checklisted, then delete both all categories from the article page and the checklist from the talk page. Then Aleksander Stos' script can identify all the checklisted articles--actually, his script should then check for all unsubpaged articles, and might in fact double as a bot that creates the subpage apparatus.
   • The foregoing was started and is now on hiatus; we need to finish, first.
   • I'm inclined to do the above first, and then, if all goes well, we can create a subsection of a certain description (e.g., titled "See also"), auto-create the corresponding subpage and move contents to that subpage. Put {{subpages}} on the new subpage. Do not move if a subpage already exists. Autocompile a list of such pagename conflicts. For Related Articles pages, autocreate the canonical headings and move all links to "Other related topics".
   • Again, if all goes well, then we can expand the checklists (per [1]) using a different bot.
5. The Big Subpagination Part II: revenge of the human beings:
   • Create homepage, process notes, and sign-up sheet for the human-run Big Subpagination.
   • Go through all pages in the namespace. Move (by hand) all pages that should be living on subpages, like the various catalogs, lists, galleries, etc. (Actually, do this before the bots run.)
   • Go through all subpages systematically. Divide work up by Workgroups, then alphabetically. Note that this plan requires that the subpage template makes categories out of all WORKGROUP + SUBPAGE TYPE combinations.
   • For Related Articles pages, move links to appropriate categories, and define words.
   • For Bibliographies, format entries properly and add categories if possible.
   • For External Links, format entries properly and add categories if possible.
6. The Big Relate (trust me, this is cool). Again, divide work up by Workgroups, then alphabetically.
   • Create homepage, process notes, and sign-up sheet for the Big Relate.
   • Part I, create and define: systematically go through all clusters either with or without Related Articles (RA) pages, and create (or improve) all RA pages. A minimally acceptable RA page lists, say, ten topics, all defined, and at least one parent topic.
   • Part II, de-orphan: again systematically go through all RA pages. For each RA page, examine the parent topics. If a parent topic has no RA page (if the small [r] link next to it is still red), then create one (and make sure it is minimally acceptable according to the above definition). Then examine the parent topics of the new RA page; check that they have RA pages; and so forth, until one reaches RA pages that have no parents.
   • Part III, stubify: now, presumably, there is a path "downward" from the "topmost" topics to all CZ articles. The next task is to create stubs, at least, for all articles that have RA pages but no articles.
   • The result is a completely integrated outline of knowledge.
7. Done?

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