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Wikipedia:Hatnotes |
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This page documents an English Wikipedia editing guideline. It is a generally accepted standard that editors should attempt to follow, though it is best treated with common sense and the occasional exception. Any substantive edit to this page should reflect consensus. When in doubt, discuss first on the talk page. |
Hatnotes are short notes placed at the top of an article, normally to provide links to other similarly named articles or disambiguation pages. For more information about methods of disambiguating articles, see Wikipedia:Disambiguation.
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In most cases, hatnotes should be created using a standard disambiguation template (as illustrated below). This permits the form and structure to change uniformly over time. Currently, each note should be italicized and indented, without a bullet before the item. A horizontal dividing line should not be placed under a note, nor after the final item in a list.
Some hatnote disambiguation templates include a summary of the present article's topic; others do not. For instance, in the article Honey, one might use the template {{otheruses4}} to produce:
Alternatively, one might use {{otheruses3}} to produce:
Either of these two styles is acceptable; the choice of style in a given article is based on editors' preference and what is likely to be clearer and easier for the reader. Where an article already has a hatnote in one of these styles, editors should not change to the other style without good reason.
Hatnotes are placed at the very top of the article, before any other items such as images, navigational templates and maintenance templates (like the "cleanup", "unreferenced", and "POV" templates).
Dunwich (pronounced Dun-Itch) is a town in the county of Suffolk in England, the remnant of what was once a prosperous seaport and centre of the wool trade during the early middle ages, with a natural harbour formed by the mouths of the River Blyth...
- This article is about the village in England. For H. P. Lovecraft's fictional town, see Dunwich (Lovecraft).
When two articles share the same title, except that one is disambiguated and the other not, the undisambiguated article should include a hatnote with a link to the other article. It is not necessary to create a separate disambiguation page. {{otheruses4}} may be used for this.
A monolith is a monument or natural feature such as a mountain, consisting of a single massive stone or rock. Erosion usually exposes these formations...
- For other uses, see Monolith (disambiguation).
When a term has a primary meaning and two or more additional meanings, the hatnote on the primary topic page should link to a disambiguation page. {{otheruses}} may be used for this.
In many cases the hatnote also includes a brief description of the subject of the present article, for readers' convenience:
In Greek mythology, the Labyrinth was an elaborate maze-like structure constructed for King Minos of Crete and designed by the legendary artificer Daedalus to hold the Minotaur...
- This article is about the mazelike labyrinth from Greek mythology. For other uses, see Labyrinth (disambiguation).
The template {{otheruses1}} may be used for this.
{{Redirect}} or a related template can be used when an unambiguous article name is redirected to from an ambiguous term:
Johann Sebastian Bach
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Redirected from Bach)
- "Bach" redirects here. For other uses, see Bach (disambiguation).
Johann Sebastian Bach (pronounced [joˈhan/ˈjoːhan zeˈbastjan ˈbax]) (March 21, 1685 O.S. – July 28, 1750 N.S.) was a prolific German composer...
When notes feature a trivial detail or use of a term, or links to overly specific and tendentious material, they are unwarranted.
Investment is a term with several closely-related meanings in finance and economics. It refers to the accumulation of some kind of asset in hopes of getting a future return from it...
- During a siege, to invest a town or fortress means to surround it with a contravallation and a circumvallation.
In this case, there is no direct disambiguation, and the note listed is bound to be uninteresting to most readers. The proper disambiguation simply links to a separate Invest (disambiguation) page.
A previous version of the Aisha article showed:
Aisha or Ayesha (Arabic عائشه `ā'isha = "she who lives") was a wife of the Islamic prophet Muhammad...
- Ayesha is sometimes used as a woman's name. Once popular only among Muslims, it was briefly popular among English-speakers after it appeared in the book She by Rider Haggard.
This is a typical and highly improper misuse of disambiguating hatnotes. Instead, the information belongs in the body of the article, or in the articles about the book, or in a separate article about names, or all three places. Hatnotes are meant to reduce confusion and direct readers to another article they might have been looking for, not for information about the subject of the article itself.
Extraterrestrial life is life that may exist and originate outside the planet Earth. Its existence is currently hypothetical: there is as yet no evidence of extraterrestrial life that has been widely accepted by scientists...
- This article is about the scientific study of extraterrestrial life; for treatment in popular culture, see Extraterrestrial life in popular culture.
Instead of using a hatnote, it is better to summarize Extraterrestrial life in popular culture under a subsection of Extraterrestrial life in conjunction with the {{main}} template. Alternatively, it could be linked to in the See also section.
Tree (set theory)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- For other uses, see Tree (disambiguation).
In set theory, a tree is a partially ordered set (poset) in which there is a single unique minimal element (called the root) and in which the set of elements less than a given element is well ordered...
Here, the problem is that the reader would not have ended up at tree (set theory) if they were interested in other types of trees, as tree does not redirect there.
However, a hatnote may still be appropriate when even a more specific name is still ambiguous. For example, Matt Smith (comics) might still be confused for the comics illustrator Matt Smith (illustrator).
A hatnote may also be appropriate in an unambiguously-named article when an ambiguous term redirects to it, as explained in the "Proper uses" section above.
A previous version of the Hurricane Katrina article contained:
Hurricane Katrina, which made landfall near New Orleans, Louisiana, on August 29, 2005, was one of the most destructive and expensive tropical cyclones to hit the United States...
- If you are trying to locate someone missing in Hurricane Katrina, or register yourself as found, you can use the site www.disastersearch.org [1]
The use of external help links in Wikipedia, though noble, cannot reasonably be maintained. In special cases, a link to an "External links" section with several links may be appropriate, but POV favoritism can be obstructive. In this case, the hatnote was removed entirely.
Hatnotes should not be used for articles that do not exist since the notes are intended to point the user to another article they may have intended to find. The exception is if one intends to create the linked article immediately. In that case, consider creating the new article first, before saving the addition of the hatnote.
The following list of available hatnote templates is transcluded from {{Otheruses templates}}.
To discuss these templates as a whole, please see Wikipedia talk:Disambiguation If you wish to discuss general wordings, rather than the wording or formatting of this specific template, don't post here, or else what you say will probably go unnoticed.
For a summary page on how to use these templates, see Wikipedia:Otheruses templates (example usage).
{{Dablink|TEXT}}:
{{Selfref|TEXT}}:{{About}} is the main template for giving other uses; it redirects to {{otheruses4}}.
{{otheruses4|USE1}} (disambiguous):
{{otheruses4|USE1|USE2}}:
{{otheruses4|USE1|USE2|PAGE2}}:
{{About||USE2|PAGE2|USE3|PAGE3|USE4|PAGE4|USE5|PAGE5}} (alias and empty first param):{{otheruses4|USE1|USE2|PAGE2|USE3|PAGE3|USE4|PAGE4|USE5|PAGE5}} (fully specified):There are also variations of {{about}}. These serve the same purpose, and are marginally easier to use for each individual purpose, but overall, it is complicated to have so many different templates; it could be argued that the time saved using them is lost as other editors have to familiarise themselves with them.
All of these templates are special cases of {{about}}.
{{otheruses}}:
Note: {{about}} will produce the same result.
{{otheruses1|USE}}:
Note: {{about|USE}} will produce the same result.
{{otheruses2|PAGE}}:
Note: this simply adds "(disambiguation)" to what you input as PAGE.
{{otheruses3|PAGE}}:
Note: {{about|||PAGE}} will produce the same result - note the two empty parameters.
{{otheruses5}}:
Note: this is for when there is both a singular and plural disambiguation page; it only works when the plural is formed simply by adding "s" at the end.
{{otheruses6|PAGE1|PAGE2}}:Note: this is for when there are two disambiguation pages, such as noun and adjective, or singular and irregular plural. There are only two parameters and at least one is required.
Note: this cannot be recreated with {{about}} - only with {{dablink}} or {{for}}.
Note: {{about|USE||PAGE}} will produce the same result - note the empty parameter.
{{[[Template:Otheruses-section}}:
Note: This template is precisely the same as {{Otheruses4}}, except it says "section" instead of "article" or "page", and indents only as far as {{Main}} and other section quasi-hatnotes.
{{for}} (and {{for2}}) can be used instead of {{about}} to not include the first part - "This article is about USE". However, this can also simply be achieved with an empty first parameter in {{about}}.
For example, {{For|OTHER TOPIC|PAGE}} becomes {{About||OTHER TOPIC|PAGE}}.
{{for3}} is somewhat different, appending the word the in its mention of the second parameter, then generates a link using either the second or (if present) the third parameter as a parenthetical. {{the}} is simply a rendering of {{for3}} without bothering with the optional first argument.
{{For}} (disambiguous):
{{For|OTHER TOPIC}} (disambiguous):
{{For|OTHER TOPIC|PAGE}}:
{{For|OTHER TOPIC|PAGE1|PAGE2}}:
{{For2|OTHER TOPIC|CUSTOM TEXT}}:
{{For3||DIFFERENT MEANING|}}:
{{For3|OTHER TOPIC|DIFFERENT MEANING}}:
{{For3|OTHER TOPIC|DIFFERENT MEANING|CUSTOM PARENTHETICAL}}:
{{The|DIFFERENT MEANING}}:
{{The|DIFFERENT MEANING|CUSTOM PARENTHETICAL}}:
{{See also|OTHER TOPIC}}:This can be used when OTHER TOPIC is related to that of the current article, and already contains a self-explanatory parenthetical.
{{otherpersons}} (disambiguous):
{{otherpersons|USE}} (disambiguous):
{{otherpersons|USE|PAGE}}:
{{otherpeople2|PAGE}}:
{{otherpeople3|USE1|USE2}}:
{{otherpeople4|USE1|USE2|PAGE}}:
{{otherhurricaneuses}} (disambiguous):
{{otherhurricaneuses|DISAMBIG}}:
{{otherhurricaneuses|DISAMBIG|THIS}}:
{{otherhurricaneuses3|USE1|USE2|MAIN}}:
{{otherusesof}} (disambiguous):
{{otherusesof|TOPIC}}:
{{otherusesof|TOPIC|PAGE}}:
{{Redirect|REDIRECT}} (disambiguous):
{{Redirect|REDIRECT||PAGE}}:
{{Redirect|REDIRECT|USE|PAGE}}:
{{Redirect2|REDIRECT1|REDIRECT2}} (disambiguous):
{{Redirect2|REDIRECT1|REDIRECT2|USE|PAGE}}:
{{Redirect3|REDIRECT|TEXT}}:
{{Redirect4|REDIRECT1|REDIRECT2}} (disambiguous):
{{Redirect5|REDIRECT|USE1|PAGE1|USE2|PAGE2}}:
{{Redirect5|REDIRECT|USE1|PAGE1||PAGE2}}:
{{Redirect6|REDIRECT|USE1|PAGE1||}}:
{{Redirect8|REDIRECT1|REDIRECT2}}:
{{Distinguish|PAGE}}:
{{Distinguish2|TEXT}}:
Do not use subst: with these templates, as that will prevent:
Please do not edit these templates unless you know what you are doing
These templates may be used in thousands of articles, and changing the syntax could therefore break thousands of articles. If you wish to edit a disambiguation template first ask yourself:
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