View source for Wiki143:Naming conventions (lists)

{{Wikipedia subcat guideline|naming convention|Long lists|WP:NCLL|WP:NCLONGLIST|WP:LONGLIST}}
{{naming conventions}}
Long [[Wikipedia:Stand-alone lists|stand-alone list articles]] are [[Wikipedia:Splitting|split]] into subsequent pages (alphabetically, numerically, or subtopically) to adhere to the [[Wikipedia:Article size|Wikipedia guideline on article size]].
__TOC__
==Basic naming==
A common practice is to entitle list articles as '''List of''' ___ (for example ''List of {{var|Wikipedia naming conventions}}'').  If (as is often the case), the list has multiple columns and so is in layout table form, the name or title ''List of {{var|Xs}}'' is still preferable to ''Table of {{var|Xs}}'' or ''Comparison of {{var|Xs}}'' (though the latter may be appropriate for articles that are actual tables of data comparing numerous features, e.g. [[Comparison of Linux distributions]]).

A ''list of lists'' of {{var|X}} could be at either ''Lists of {{var|X}}'' or at ''List of {{var|X}}'': e.g., [[Lists of books]], [[List of sovereign states]]; the plural form is more prevalent.

The title is not expected to contain a complete description of the [[#Lead and selection criteria|list's subject]].  Many lists are not intended to contain every possible member, but this does not need to be explained in the title itself.  For example, the correct choice is [[List of people from the Isle of Wight]], not ''List of people who were born on or strongly associated with the Isle of Wight and about whom Wikipedia has an article''.  Instead, the detailed criteria for inclusion should be described in the lead, and a reasonably concise title should be chosen for the list.  Best practice is to avoid words like ''[[WP:Notability|notable]]'', ''famous'', ''noted'', ''prominent,'' etc. in the title of a list article. Similarly, avoid titles like ''List of all {{var|Xs}}''. 

* '''People''':  People by nationality are either [[List of Finns]] or [[List of French people]], preferring '''''List of ___ people'''''. United States folk are a special case:  [[List of United States people]] redirects to [[Lists of Americans]] which contains, amongst other things, lists by US state. (Special treatment is necessary because [[American]] is ambiguous.) Note, however, that lists of people organized by individual ''city'' should be at '''''List of people from {{var|[city]}}''''', rather than ''List of {{var|[city]}} people''.  In all relevant lists, ''people'' is far preferred to alternatives such as ''persons'' or ''individuals''. 
* '''Language''':  Poets and authors listed by language are at, for example [[List of German-language poets]] {{crossref|(see [[List of poets]] for the list-of-lists of them)}}.
* '''Fiction and real life''':  [[List of fictional dogs]] is a list of fictional creatures, whereas [[List of individual dogs]] is a list with real-life examples. Note that the lead section of each list explains what criterion or criteria that list's entries meet.

[[WP:Set index articles|Set index articles]] do not need to be titled with ''list of'' unless there is also another article or a disambiguation page using that title.  For example, [[Dodge Charger]] is a list of cars named Dodge Charger, but does not need to be titled ''List of cars named Dodge Charger''.  However, since [[Signal Mountain]] is a disambiguation page, the related set index article is at [[List of peaks named Signal Mountain]].

Three other special lists types have their own naming patterns. Glossaries are usually titled ''Glossary of {{var|X}}'' or ''Glossary of {{var|X}} terms'', though if they contain substantial non-list prose about the nature or history of terminology relating to the topic, as well as a glossary list, a title such as ''{{var|X}} terminology'' may be more appropriate.  Timelines are named in the form ''Timeline of {{var|X}}'' or ''Graphical timeline of {{var|X}}''.  Outlines are named ''Outline of {{var|X}}'' or ''Outline of {{var|X}}s''.

==Long (split) list naming recommendations==
{{shortcut|WP:NCSPLITLIST}}
Several styles have been used. As indicated below, the preferred style is "'''List of <var>foos</var>: A'''" (for numeric divisions "'''List of <var>foos</var>: 1'''") and for ranges "'''List of <var>foos</var>: S–Z'''" (numeric: "'''List of <var>foos</var>: 1–20'''"). [[KISS principle|Complicated]] formats like "List of <var>foos</var>: X, Y, Z" or "List of <var>foos</var>: U–W, Y–Z" for short ranges are discouraged, and are certainly too unwieldy for long ranges. It will be difficult for readers to guess at such names (while "List of <var>foos</var>: A–M" and "List of <var>foos</var>: 1–20" strongly imply "List of <var>foos</var>: N–Z" and "List of <var>foos</var>: 21–40", respectively).

If the preferred style is not used, [[Wikipedia:Redirect|redirects]] should be created from the preferred-style article names to the actual article names, as readers will come to expect an article to be at the preferred name rather than a variant. 

<em>When ranges are expressed, do so with the <strong>en-dash</strong> (–) character</em>, not a hyphen (-), em-dash (—), minus (−) or other similar character, nor the <code>&amp;ndash;</code> [[HTML character entity]], in the article titles.  Redirects should be created from the hyphenated versions of the article names to the real locations, as not all readers are aware of, or have the keen eyesight to see, the difference and may not be able to easily enter the en-dash character.

The most common methods of splitting a long list into multiple sub-articles are by ranges of letters of the alphabet (or by individual letters for very long lists), by numerical ranges (or individual numbers for very long lists), or by some kind of topical division, such as geography, field, language, etc.

;Models (see examples below):

Preferred:
*List of <var>foos</var>: A–K
*List of <var>foos</var>: 1–9
*List of <var>foos</var>: A
*List of <var>foos</var>: 1
*List of <var>foos</var>: Africa
*List of <var>foos</var>: Physics
*List of <var>foos</var>: Africa and the Middle East
*List of <var>foos</var>: Physics and chemistry
Avoid splitting into separate articles per letter or numeral, unless using larger groupings would still produce overly large articles.

Common and acceptable (variants not shown):
*List of <var>foos</var>, A–K<!--Should remain A–K; "List of foos, A" example implies reversal of word order of "A list of foos", and may confuse people.-->
*List of <var>foos</var> (A–K)
*List of <var>foos</var> – A–K
:''Note: That is an en-dash, not a hyphen; a version of the name with a hyphen should exist as a redirect to the real page.''

Deprecated as ambiguous, hard to read, or longwinded (variants not shown):
*List of A <var>foos</var>
*List of <var>foos</var> A–K
*List of <var>foos</var>:A–K
*List of <var>foos</var> starting with A–K
*List of <var>foos</var>/A–K
:''Note that the [[Wikipedia:Subpages|subpage feature]] is disabled in main namespace.''

;Examples:
*[[List of members of the Senate of Canada (A)]]
*[[List of New Hampshire historical markers (1–25)]]
*[[List of record labels: A–H]]
*[[List of United States Navy ships: A–B]]
*[[Wikipedia:WikiProject Mathematics/List of mathematics articles (A)]] (an internal maintenance list, rather than an article)

===Special cases===
In some situations, the subject matter does not lend itself to such simple nomenclature, and other schemes may be devised on a case-by-case basis. Some examples might even be considered "problematic" (though a supposed "ideal solution" might not be immediately apparent, either).

;Examples:
*The sub-articles of [[List of symphonies by number]] have been merged with [[WP:Disambiguation|disambiguation pages]], as [[Symphony No. 1]], etc. Overly-rigid interpretation of this guideline and [[Wikipedia:Stand-alone lists]] might have resulted in names like [[List of numbered symphonies: 1]], but this obviously would not have been helpful for readers.
*[[List of compositions by Johann Sebastian Bach]] contains a large number of Bach's works, while others of various classes are listed in separate sub-articles, and it even includes several works ''not'' composed by Bach in both the main list and its sub-lists. Most of the problems experienced with this list primarily result from its being a hybrid "by genre" and "by number" list. Possible improvements include consistent inter-page navigation, such as a multi-page table of contents (see examples below) or [[Wikipedia:Navigation template|navboxes]]; using identical links connecting the pages on each page; making related partial lists ([[List of compositions by Johann Sebastian Bach printed during his lifetime]], etc.) readily available from the general lists.
*Fiction and franchises: A large number of TV show articles have sub-articles in the form of multi-page season summary lists, and there are also list articles that are lists of works by a particular author or which form part of a [[media franchise]].  Various other guidelines assert scope over such articles, including [[Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Lists of works]], [[Wikipedia:Naming conventions (television)]], etc.  These guidelines do not always seem to be in perfect agreement, but overall ''de facto''-standard patterns have emerged. For example, TV show season lists are named in the form "<var>Show title</var> (season 1)", although the present guideline would have preferred "<var>Show title</var>: season 1" (the use of colons in the titles of works to indicate a subtitle, as in ''[[Star Trek: The Next Generation]]'', is a likely reason for this variance).  If in doubt, seek input on the matter at [[Wikipedia talk:Naming conventions (lists)]] and/or at the talk pages of relevant [[Wikipedia:WikiProject|WikiProjects]].

==Generic templates==
;[[Template:Compact TOC]] : Navigational template: ''See template documentation for syntax.''  {{tl|Compact TOC}} can be used in several different ways for creating custom tables of contents for split list articles, including ranges and one-page-per-letter setups. The template supports many additional features, including sections for numeric and symbol entries, configurability of layout, and links for standard (References, etc.) or custom sections.

:{{tlx|Compact TOC|name&#61;[[List of foos]]|center&#61;yes|side&#61;yes|n&#61;<nowiki>[[</nowiki>List of <var>foos</var>: N–Z#N|N<nowiki>]]</nowiki>|o&#61;<nowiki>[[</nowiki>List of <var>foos</var>: N–Z#O|O<nowiki>]]</nowiki>|...|z&#61;<nowiki>[[</nowiki>List of <var>foos</var>: N–Z#Z|Z<nowiki>]]</nowiki>}}

:Example showing every letter, with links directly to sub-article sections:
{{Compact TOC|name=[[List of foos]]|center=yes|side=yes|n=[[List of foos: N–Z#N|N]]|o=[[List of foos: N–Z#O|O]]|p=[[List of foos: N–Z#P|P]]|q=[[List of foos: N–Z#Q|Q]]|r=[[List of foos: N–Z#R|R]]|s=[[List of foos: N–Z#S|S]]|t=[[List of foos: N–Z#T|T]]|u=[[List of foos: N–Z#U|U]]|v=[[List of foos: N–Z#V|V]]|w=[[List of foos: N–Z#W|W]]|x=[[List of foos: N–Z#X|X]]|y=[[List of foos: N–Z#Y|Y]]|z=[[List of foos: N–Z#Z|Z]]}}

:{{tlx|Compact TOC|center&#61;yes|side&#61;yes|n&#61;<nowiki>[[</nowiki>List of <var>foos</var>: N–Z|&amp;nbsp;N–Z <small>(next page)</small><nowiki>]]</nowiki>|o&#61;|p&#61;|...|z&#61;}}

:Example showing each letter for this sub-article, and a range for the next one, with a link to that next article's top:
{{Compact TOC|center=yes|side=yes|n=[[List of foos: N–Z|&nbsp;N–Z <small>(next page)</small>]]|o=|p=|q=|r=|s=|t=|u=|v=|w=|x=|y=|z=}}
:Examples of list subpages: [[List of foos: A]], [[List of foos: N–Z]], [[List of foos: North America]], or whatever is desired

;[[Template:A-Z multipage list]] : ''Navigational template'': {{tlx|A-Z multipage list|<var>name</var>}}:
:Example with <code><var>name</var> = List of <var>foos</var>; <var>cat</var> = <var>Foos</var>; <var>cat sort key</var> = <var>Foos</var>, List of</code>:
{{A-Z multipage list|List of foos}}

:Example of list subpage: [[List of foos: A]]
:Note: this template has built-in categorization; in the actual rendered example here, the categorization features were omitted to prevent this guideline page from being improperly categorized.

==Migration strategy==
There is no obligatory migration strategy to convert all multi-page lists to the preferred style. However:
* When starting a new multi-page list (or splitting an existing list into several pages), consider if adoption of the preferred style is possible; if not, try to keep as close to it as possible, and create redirects from the names expected by this guideline to the actual page names.
* For ''existing'' multi-page lists: if there's no apparent reason against it &ndash; such as established ''[[Wikipedia:consensus|consensus]]'' at the article's talk page, recommendations of other, topic-specific guidelines like [[Wikipedia:Naming conventions (music)]], etc. &ndash; the list should be migrated.  Please note that this often entails a great deal more than simply moving the pages, as the table of contents/navigation templates will have to be updated, many links may refer to the original names of pages, and utility templates (e.g. {{tl|Cuegloss}}) may depend upon the original names.

==See also==
*[[Wikipedia:Splitting]]
*{{section link|Wikipedia:Article size#Lists, tables and summaries}}
*[[Special:LongPages]]
*[[Wikipedia:Article titles]]
*[[Wikipedia:Template index/Lists]]
*[[Wikipedia:Template index/Compact tables of contents]]
*[[Wikipedia:Complete list]]

[[Category:Wikipedia lists]]