VistApedia:Naming conventions

&laquo;- OpenVistA Wiki: Policies and Guidelines

This page is a list of guidelines on how to name pages.

An article's name should be simple and precise. In general, the name should be what the majority of people refer to the subject as, or else simply the name of the subject. In the case of multiple names, it's expected that redirect pages be created for the alternate names.

The primary purpose of these policies is to simplify the process of choosing a name for a new article. When writing an article on any subject, the names, words, and phrases that you think should be linked to further information should be bracketed, so that they form links to new articles.

Remember that like most of our rules, these conventions are not absolute. However, if there is a doubt about how a page should be named, it's best to follow the convention first.

General conventions

 * Lowercase second and subsequent words. Unless the title of the article is a proper noun, all words except the first should be lowercase, not capitalized. ( Example: Cache overview, not Cache Overview )
 * Links are case-sensitive. Lab package and Lab Package link to different pages, an additional reason to make sure you are using the preferred capitalization.
 * Exception: The first letter of a link may be lowercase - Delphi outline and delphi outline link to the same page. Complicated constructs using pipe links are unnecessary in this case.
 * Use singular nouns. Because the wiki engine will allow you to append suffixes after a link, it's best to use the singular form of all words, unless the subject is generally always in the plural form.  ( Examples: printer driver, not printer drivers, but economics )
 * Use common names. Use the most common name of the subject that does not conflict with the names of other articles.
 * Be precise. Ambiguously-named articles will likely create confusion for readers.  (See also: Disambiguation)
 * Use spelled-out phrases, not acronyms. The only exceptions to this rule would be subjects where the acronym is much more well-known than the original meaning, like NASA or MUMPS.
 * Don't create subpages. Although the wiki engine accepts the slash ("/") character in article titles, refrain from using it to suggest a hierarchy of articles.  A name like Pharmacy/Outpatient would be an example to avoid.
 * Avoid special characters. There are a number of characters that are not accepted by the MediaWiki engine in article titles.  These include the piping character (|), the asterisk (*), the ampersand (&), curly braces ({}) and square braces ([]).

If you have another specific issue that should be added to this list, please bring it up on the talk page.