Editing/Links and Namespaces

Links are an important part of the wiki. They help users find more information. This guide will lay out all that you need to know about links and namespaces.

Namespaces[]

A namespace is a group of pages of a certain type. In a page's name and URL, the namespace is a prefix separated from the rest of the page's name by a colon. In the following URL, the namespace name is highlighted.

boombeach.wikia.com/wiki/User_blog:King_Dragonhoff/Editing/Links_and_Namespaces

There are several important namespaces on the wiki. Visit Special:AllPages is view a list of all the pages on the wiki sortable by namespace. Below is a list of the major namespaces and their characteristics.

(Main)[]

Pages in the main namespace do not have the namespace name before their page name.
- Example: Rifleman is in the main namespace.
By default, they can be found as results when searching the wiki through the search bar.

Base[]

Pages in the Base namespace work similarly to pages in the main namespace.
The Base namespace houses Blackguard Base pages
By default, they can be found as results when searching the wiki through the search bar.

Template[]

Pages in the Template namespace are often transcluded to multiple other pages.
- Example: Placing {{Delete}} on a page adds the "Delete" template to it.
The namespace can be omitted when transcluding a template page.
- Example: {{Delete}} is equivalent to {{Template:Delete}}

Mediawiki[]

This namespace contains the wiki's Javascript, CSS, and settings files.
Pages in this namespace can only be edited by Administrators.

Special[]

This namespace contains pages that provide reports, special information, and other special tools.
These pages are usually uncreatable and fully or almost fully uneditable.
A list of valid Special pages can be found at Special:SpecialPages.

User[]

This namespace contains user profile pages.
Subpages of a user's page are often used as personal pages by that user.

User_blog[]

This namespace contain blogs written by users.
The page names follow this syntax: User_blog:[Author's Username]/[Blog Post Title]

File[]

This namespace contains the wiki's images and videos.

Category[]

Pages can be placed in categories.
The category namespace contains category pages that link to the pages in the corresponding category.

Link Types[]

External Links[]

Links that go to external sites (not on Wikia) are created with single brackets or no brackets at all. External links will have a small blue icon to the right of them.

Examples[]

	Source	Result
No brackets	http://www.google.com	http://www.google.com
With brackets	[http://www.google.com]	[1]
Changing visible text
Display text other than the URL	[http://www.google.com Go to Google]	Go to Google

Wiki Links[]

Links that go to pages on this wiki are made with double brackets. The namespace must be included in the link, but the full URL is not needed. If the page that the link leads to does not exist, the link will be bright blue and clicking it will lead to the editor to create that page.

Examples[]

	Source	Result
Main namespace page	[[Rifleman]]	Rifleman
Template namespace page	[[Template: Construction]]	Template: Construction
Changing visible text
Display text other than the page name	[[Obstacles\|Trees and Rocks]]	Trees and Rocks
Easily pluralize	[[Cannon]]s	Cannons
The pipe trick automatically removes the namespace.	[[Template: Construction\|]]	Construction

Categories[]

Categories can be added to pages through code, but people unaware of this may think they are adding a link to a category page. Make sure you use colons correctly as shown below.

Examples[]

	Source	Result
Adding a category to a page	[[Category:Troops]]	(This will add the page to the Troops category. No link or text will be created.)
Adding a link to a category	[[:Category:Troops]]	Category:Troops
Changing visible text
Display text other than the page name	[[:Category:Troops\|Army]]	Army
The pipe trick automatically removes the namespace.	[[:Category:Troops\|]]	Troops

Files[]

Files work similarly to categories. Without the leading colon, a file link is used to display the actual file on the page. To learn the Wikitext used to display and adjust images, visit the image guide.

Examples[]

	Source	Result
Adding a file to a page	[[File:Build.png]]
Adding a link to a file page	[[:File:Build.png]]	File:Build.png
Changing visible text
Display text other than the page name	[[:File:Build.png\|Hammer image]]	Hammer image
The pipe trick automatically removes the namespace.	[[:File:Build.png\|]]	Build.png

Section Links[]

Section links not only go to a specific page, but they automatically scroll the page to a specific section. The displayed text is changed in the same way as regular wiki links.

Examples[]

	Source	Result
Go to the trivia section on the Rifleman page	[[Rifleman#Trivia]]	Rifleman#Trivia
Jump to a section on the same page	[[#Namespaces]]	#Namespaces

Special Links[]

The destination of special links change depending on who is logged in. They effectively place the username of the user viewing the page into the link. The displayed text is changed in the same way as regular wiki links.

Examples[]

	Source	Result
Go to the user's user page	[[Special:Mypage]]	Special:Mypage
Go to a subpage of the user's user page	[[Special:Mypage/autofill]]	Special:Mypage/autofill

Special Links List[]

Redirects[]

Redirects are pages that send the user to a different page when they try to go to the redirect page. These are useful for helping people find what they are looking for. For instance, someone may search for "Map". The "Map" is the same thing as the Archipelago, so Map redirects to Archipelago.

Redirects are important for three reasons:

Clarity: If a user clicks a link that says "Resource Boats", and they are sent to the Native Islander page, and it does not say, "redirected from Resource Boats", they would get confused. Our goal is to make the wiki as easy to read and navigate as possible. That is why [[Resource Boats]] is better than [[Native Islander#Resource Boats|Resource Boats]].
In case of future moves: Let's say we decide to make a new Resource Boats page, and take all of that info off of the Native Islander page. If a page has [[Resource Boats]], we can simply change that redirect page's destination, and all [[Resource Boats]] links across the site will go to the new correct place. Any page that has [[Native Islander#Resource Boats|Resource Boats]] will have to be found and edited individually. That is why there should be a redirect that is used for every individual topic.
Search: Redirects like HQ do not really make much sense to use as links besides making link-making easier, but if a user searches for "HQ", that redirect will cause its destination to be the first search result. Redirects are used in this way to help users find the correct page even if they use an abbreviation or do not know the full/correct name.

For a full list of redirects, visit Special:Allpages; the page names that are italicized in the main namespace list are redirect pages.

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