WikiTechnicalGlossary

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This page is meant to list and discuss technical wiki terms. The goal is to grow a consistent expert language that can be used to talk about user interface and implementation issues unambiguously. As long as there is no consensus, definitions should be marked (multiple definitions expected).

Contributors (alphabetic): HelmutLeitner, ChrisPurcell, SunirShah

absolute page name: Why not "canonical"? -- ChrisPurcell

[hl] a page name that unambiguously identifies a single wiki page (within one wiki).

branch

[hl] hierarchical part of the page tree, a page and all its subpages and their subpages (descendants).

child page

[hl] synonym to "subpage". In general it's expressive to use family relationsships.

context

[hl] all meta-data that is available when a page is rendered. This includes configuration information, user an IP data

facet

[cp] (1) a page or set of pages linked to by a single word/pattern, the exact page chosen by context: "the ATree facet". [Classification context is used; see WikiContextuality.]
[cp] (2) one of the pages [or set of pages, as (1)] within a facet: "a facet of [the] ATree [facet]".

faceted (tentative; non-essential; tree antonym: leaf)

[cp] (1) a system that uses a facet-based system, esp. based on the Shatter algorithm: "PeriPeri is a faceted wiki"
[cp] (2) a link-pattern identifying a facet with more than one page in: "[the] ATree [page] is faceted". Synonym: Shattered.

flat (namespace or wiki)

a flat wiki is without subpages

leaf page (facet equivalent: unfaceted)

[hl] a page without sub-page(s).

namespace: Proposed synthesis: A namespace is a map from a set of (relative) page names to a set of pages (ChrisPurcell)

[cp] (1) within a faceted system: the set of pages chosen within a given context, out of all the facets in the page-base: "the CategoryBiology namespace"
[hl] (2) a special, abstract form of page-name syntax "namespace:page" that is presented to the user. The way how this is mapped to one or more wiki page-bases is implementation dependent. E. g. a namespace may point to a separate wiki (sister sites, InterWiki), to a facet (PeriPeri), to sub-pages or super-pages.

node page (facet equivalent: faceted)

[hl] a page that has a parent and at least one sub-page.

page-base

[hl] all the page data of a wiki (including revisions, configurations, ...). Typically either implemented using files within a directory tree ("file-system implementation") or tables within a relational database ("database implementation").

page group (facet equivalent: facet)

[hl] a page set consisting of a page and all its sub-pages

page list

[hl] an arbitrary, ordered list of pages. For example, the result of an search operation or all the wiki links extracted from a page.

page set

[hl] an arbitrary selection of pages (implied: from one wiki). "Set" used in a mathematical sense, no duplicates, ordering is unimportant. Example: the resulting list from a full text search.

parent page

[hl] (1) a page that has at least one sub-page.
[hl] (2) a term relative to the "current page". The parent page of the current page. (Non-unique in a faceted system)

primary page (facet equivalent: root page)

[hl] a standard wiki page. Explicitly not a sub-page. Obsolete, we now use "top page" or "top level page".

relative page name

[hl] a partial page name that needs the name of a "current page" to unambiguously identify a single wiki page.

root page (tree equivalent: primary page)

[cp] the page of a facet chosen when no context is given: "[the] ATree [facet]'s root page". Often referred to simply by the name of the facet: "the ATree page"

section

[hl] continuous part of a page. Defining a seperator pattern (like one or two spearator lines, headers, ...) a page can be split into sections.

set-identifier

[cp] a set of terms (esp. WikiNames) used to uniquely identify a facet of a facet, e.g. "the {CategoryBiology, CategoryEcology} facet of ATree". (Alternative syntax: "the CategoryBiology+CategoryEcology:ATree page")

set-specification

[hl] a term or syntax to specify a set of pages sets efficiently (lists, wildcards, search results, logical operations on sets...).

Shatter (non-essential)

[cp] (1) noun: an algorithm for implementing faceted namespaces (PeriPeri:ShatterAlgorithm).
[cp] (2) verb: the act of adding facets to a facet.
[cp] (3) adjective ("Shattered"): see faceted(2)

sibling page

[ss] a page relative to the current page having the same parent page.

sister page

[hl] term relative to a "current page": an identically named page of a sister site.

sister site

[hl] a separate wiki that is connected by an interwiki link and some awareness about the pages that are available there.

sub-page

[hl] (1) a page that has a "/" separator in its name. This usually implies some kind of hierarchical (directory) paradigm. Not a primary page.
[hl] (2) a term relative to the "current page". A page whose parent name is identical to the current page.

sub-wiki

[hl] part of a wiki (usually a branch of the page tree) that can be used as a wiki of its own as much as possible (rc, index, configuration, layout, ...)

top page

[hl] a page without parent page. Many wikis have top pages only.

Is this a suggestion that wikis have jumped the shark and now have a JargonProblem? Or is this really an exploration of technical terms for complex new ideas like FacetWiki and FractalWiki? Wikis aren't this complicated. -- SunirShah

I was looking at it as for FacetWiki and FractalWiki, yes. -- ChrisPurcell

Maybe this is more in BrainstormMode? After elucidating all the terms, you might find a higher pattern to collect the various structured namespace wikis (i.e. Facetwiki and FractalWiki and StrikiWiki) together. (Say maybe on the page, StructuredNamespace? ;) -- SunirShah

Yes, that's the explicit goal. -- HelmutLeitner

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