How to Name a TWiki Topic

This topic is designed to help you choose a good name for your new TWiki topic/page. It's easy and will make using the TWiki easier for others.

Some simple rules to follow

Read the documentation at TWiki.WikiWords.

  • Don't use generic names that the department may need to use for other purposes (e.g., MiscPlots, ProjectSummary, HelpforR, QuarterlyMeetings)
  • Try to use at least two words except in special cases of very frequently used topics that are sensibly named.
  • Make it meaningful--describe the content of the topic.
  • But keep it short enough to remember.
  • Use singular instead of plural because TWiki automatically links plurals to the singular.
  • Avoid abbreviated words and acronyms unless their meaning is obvious.
  • Remember to use dates for events when appropriate to avoid conflicts later, if the events are non-recurring. NOTE: for recurring events (e.g., meeting minutes), it is best to include all notes for all events into a single topic and use the TOC directive for automatic generation of navigation aids.

Examples

Good

It is assumed that these are generic topics that apply to the whole department. If they were to refer to personalized procedures or meetings these would be bad names.

Bad

  • CE: Short and cryptic; meaningless to the uninformed. However the intended audience may be fine with this.
    • Would be better as ContinuingEducation.
  • EmacsLaTeXTools: The title makes it sound like a topic on tools integrating LaTeX into Emacs, but is actually about MicrosoftWindows versions of emacs, LaTeX, and various *Nix tools.
  • ASAApr07: Acceptable, but technically violates the basic rules and doesn't automatically get linked.
    • Turn the acronym into a word and expand the year (didn't we learn from Y2K?) to get AsaApril2007. BUT consider putting all ASA meeting notes into a single topic to avoid creating so many Twiki topics.
  • BonnieLaFleurCTSAideas: The last word is not capitalized because of the acronym.
    • BonnieLaFleurCtsaIdeas fixes that.
  • September12007: The title makes no mention that it is about the CqiProject AmericanIdiomsSlang. Has been renamed to AmericanIdiomsSlang1Sep2007. BUT why include the date in the topic name?
    • AmericanIdiomEmailSep2007 or ADimeADozen would have been a good choice.
  • CqiProjects: Plural--see "CqiProject" link above.
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Topic revision: r5 - 21 Sep 2008, FrankHarrell
 

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