History Administrivia / HowIndexingWorks

Or "Everything you ever wanted to know about indexing but were afraid to ask."

You have seen those blue bars that provide next and previous links regarding a certain concept at the bottom of most articles. You are wondering where they come from, or how you could put a page on that conceptual pathway, or remove stuff that doesn't belong there. Here's a step by step guide on how to get a new paged index:

# Find a suitable index to add the page to.
# Add your entry in the alphabetical list (the definite article "the" is ignored for these purposes) onto that page along with a simple description of the page.
# [[MissingStepsPlan ????]] [[invoked]]
# [[MemeticMutation Profit]].

Some wiki pages have been marked as being an index. This is done on the Tools menu on the left side of the page. There is a button labeled "Set Page Type." Setting it from index to one of the other selections un-does it. A page will only act as an index if this mark is set, regardless if it has index markup. After setting the page type to "index" or "[thing]+index", edit it in some way (even a null edit) to help the indexing kick in.

When an index page is saved, the system looks though the page and extracts all the line items (all the lines that start with an asterisk). It goes through those lines and extracts the first link to a wiki page on that line. After this process goes through all the line items, we have a list of page titles in the order given on the index page. This is the index. We save it with the title of the index page and build that blue nav-bar from it and display it when the page is viewed.

The markup of an index page looks something like this:

'''[=[[index]]=]\\
[=* FirstPage, some text.=]\\
[=* PageTwo=]\\
[=* SomeThirdPage=]\\
[=* AnotherPage=]\\
[=[[/index]]=]\\
[=* A paragraph describing something, using a link to YetAnotherPage.=]'''

In the above example, only the pages that are listed between [=[[index]]=] and [=[[/index]]=] are included in the index. So, [=FirstPage, PageTwo, SomeThirdPage and AnotherPage=] would be included on the index. [=YetAnotherPage=] would be excluded because it is mentioned after the index is closed. Pages linked to before the index is open will also be excluded.

That's pretty much how indexing works. You don't need to do anything to the individual pages listed in an index; just add them to the list on the index page properly and the wiki will automagically do the rest. Some trope or work pages may have an index tag like [=<<|Administrivia|>>=] at the bottom. This is an artifact of the old indexing system and can safely be removed.

Be careful when [[Administrivia/HowToMoveAPage moving an index]]. Before changing the old page to a redirect, set the page type to something other than "index" -- "subpage" is often used. Otherwise, the page type will get stuck and the index bars on the bottom of a page will include the old index page title as well as the new one, even when there's nothing on the new one. If you see this problem with an index that's already been moved, break the redirect in the old one, change the page type to "subpage" (even though it will probably claim to be a redirect), and put the redirect back. That will solve it and it won't continue thinking it's anything other than a redirect.

A given page title can be on any number of index pages. They will all show up when the page is displayed.

Also see Administrivia/NeedsAnIndex for when someone doesn't know what index a page belongs in.

For a full list of existing indices, see IndexIndex.

Note that if a page is a redlink on an index, adding the page will not automatically add it to the index. You have to edit the index and resave it to get the index to update.

'''One more note''' -- if you want to set a page as an index and it has regular examples or other WikiWords in them as well as the desired index content, it ''must'' be correctly formatted to prevent all of the other, extraneous links being listed in the index. You can either 1) collect the links to be indexed in a separate section and wrap '''only''' that section in the [=[[index]]=] ... [=[[/index]]=] markup shown above (example: {{Shojo}}), or 2) first divide the examples into genre pages, as is demonstrated on SomethingCompletelyDifferent. If you want to intersperse commentary with the index list, you can have multiple [=[[index]]=] ... [=[[/index]]=] sections in the same page (example: RomanceGame).

Note that in bulleted lists, only the first bluelink is indexed; there is no problem having other wikilinks on the line ''so long as'' the page to be indexed is the first bluelink on the line. If you have a redlink bullet point, or a second line of description, you can prevent them from being indexed by wrapping them in the index markup, like so:

[=[[=]index[=]]=]
* Administrivia/PeopleSitOnChairs: blah blah Administrivia/NoRealLifeExamplesPlease
* Administrivia/{{Natter}}: blah blah blah\\
This goes on so long we need a new paragraph, then link to [=[[/index]]=]ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin[=[[index]]=]
* DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu: yah yah, hey hey
* TropeThatDoesNotExistYet: blah blah [=[[/index]]=]DidWeJustHaveTeaWithCthulhu[=[[index]]=] is related somehow.
[=[[/index]]=]

In this example, Administrivia/NoRealLifeExamplesPlease won't be indexed because Administrivia/PeopleSitOnChairs is a valid bluelink, but ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin and DidWeJustHaveTeaWithCthulhu have to be wrapped in the index markup, the first because it's on a new line, the second because TropeThatDoesNotExistYet is a redlink.
----

* Administrivia/PeopleSitOnChairs: blah blah NoRealLifeExamplesPlease

In this example, NoRealLifeExamplesPlease won't be indexed because Administrivia/PeopleSitOnChairs is a valid bluelink, but ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin and DidWeJustHaveTeaWithCthulhu have to be wrapped in the index markup, the first because it's on a new line, the second because TropeThatDoesNotExistYet is a redlink.

* {{Natter}}: blah blah blah\\

Also see NeedsAnIndex for when someone doesn't know what index a page belongs in.

# [[MemeticMutation ????]] [[invoked]]
# [[StepThreeProfit Profit]].

[ Pete Holmes} Is a stand up comedian, the epitome of [ adorkable], [ Large Ham] and [nice guy]tropes. Pete Holmes is a regular on Conan, The Jeselknec Offensive, and is a podcaster with a podcast called " You Made it Weird" which features one on one talks about religion, sex and comedy as well as some live shows. He is seen as an oddball doppleganger of the late John Ritter,renee zellweger and a fat Val Kilmer. His specials include Impregnated with Wonder and Nice Try The Devil as he shows off his self proclaimed " fun dad" personality.

Or "Everything you ever wanted to know about indexing but were afraid to ask."

You have seen those blue bars that provide next and previous links regarding a certain concept at the bottom of most articles. You are wondering where they come from, or how you could put a page on that conceptual pathway, or remove stuff that doesn't belong there. Here's a step by step guide on how to get a new paged index:

# Find a suitable index to add the page to.
# Add your entry in the alphabetical list (the definite article "the" is ignored for these purposes) onto that page along with a simple description of the page.
# [[MemeticMutation ????]] [[invoked]]
# [[StepThreeProfit Profit]].

Some wiki pages have been marked as being an index. This is done on the Tools menu on the left side of the page. There is a button labeled "Set Page Type." Setting it from index to one of the other selections un-does it. A page will only act as an index if this mark is set, regardless if it has index markup. After setting the page type to "index" or "[thing]+index", edit it in some way (even a null edit) to help the indexing kick in.

When an index page is saved, the system looks though the page and extracts all the line items (all the lines that start with an asterisk). It goes through those lines and extracts the first link to a wiki page on that line. After this process goes through all the line items, we have a list of page titles in the order given on the index page. This is the index. We save it with the title of the index page and build that blue nav-bar from it and display it when the page is viewed.

The markup of an index page looks something like this:

'''[=[[index]]=]\\
[=* FirstPage, some text.=]\\
[=* PageTwo=]\\
[=* SomeThirdPage=]\\
[=* AnotherPage=]\\
[=[[/index]]=]\\
[=* A paragraph describing something, using a link to YetAnotherPage.=]'''

In the above example, only the pages that are listed between [=[[index]]=] and [=[[/index]]=] are included in the index. So, [=FirstPage, PageTwo, SomeThirdPage and AnotherPage=] would be included on the index. [=YetAnotherPage=] would be excluded because it is mentioned after the index is closed. Pages linked to before the index is open will also be excluded.

That's pretty much how indexing works. You don't need to do anything to the individual pages listed in an index; just add them to the list on the index page properly and the wiki will automagically do the rest. Some trope or work pages may have an index tag like [=<<|Administrivia|>>=] at the bottom. This is an artifact of the old indexing system and can safely be removed.

Be careful when [[Administrivia/HowToMoveAPage moving an index]]. Before changing the old page to a redirect, set the page type to something other than "index" -- "subpage" is often used. Otherwise, the page type will get stuck and the index bars on the bottom of a page will include the old index page title as well as the new one, even when there's nothing on the new one. If you see this problem with an index that's already been moved, break the redirect in the old one, change the page type to "subpage" (even though it will probably claim to be a redirect), and put the redirect back. That will solve it and it won't continue thinking it's anything other than a redirect.

A given page title can be on any number of index pages. They will all show up when the page is displayed.

Also see NeedsAnIndex for when someone doesn't know what index a page belongs in.

For a full list of existing indices, see IndexIndex.

Note that if a page is a redlink on an index, adding the page will not automatically add it to the index. You have to edit the index and resave it to get the index to update.

'''One more note''' -- if you want to set a page as an index and it has regular examples or other WikiWords in them as well as the desired index content, it ''must'' be correctly formatted to prevent all of the other, extraneous links being listed in the index. You can either 1) collect the links to be indexed in a separate section and wrap '''only''' that section in the [=[[index]]=] ... [=[[/index]]=] markup shown above (example: {{Shojo}}), or 2) first divide the examples into genre pages, as is demonstrated on SomethingCompletelyDifferent. If you want to intersperse commentary with the index list, you can have multiple [=[[index]]=] ... [=[[/index]]=] sections in the same page (example: RomanceGame).

Note that in bulleted lists, only the first bluelink is indexed; there is no problem having other wikilinks on the line ''so long as'' the page to be indexed is the first bluelink on the line. If you have a redlink bullet point, or a second line of description, you can prevent them from being indexed by wrapping them in the index markup, like so:

[=[[=]index[=]]=]
* Administrivia/PeopleSitOnChairs: blah blah NoRealLifeExamplesPlease
* {{Natter}}: blah blah blah\\
This goes on so long we need a new paragraph, then link to [=[[/index]]=]ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin[=[[index]]=]
* DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu: yah yah, hey hey
* TropeThatDoesNotExistYet: blah blah [=[[/index]]=]DidWeJustHaveTeaWithCthulhu[=[[index]]=] is related somehow.
[=[[/index]]=]

In this example, NoRealLifeExamplesPlease won't be indexed because Administrivia/PeopleSitOnChairs is a valid bluelink, but ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin and DidWeJustHaveTeaWithCthulhu have to be wrapped in the index markup, the first because it's on a new line, the second because TropeThatDoesNotExistYet is a redlink.
----

[=** SomeThirdPage=]\\
[=** AnotherPage=]\\

[=[[index]]=]

* PeopleSitOnChairs: blah blah NoRealLifeExamplesPlease

In this example, NoRealLifeExamplesPlease won't be indexed because PeopleSitOnChairs is a valid bluelink, but ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin and DidWeJustHaveTeaWithCthulhu have to be wrapped in the index markup, the first because it's on a new line, the second because TropeThatDoesNotExistYet is a redlink.

Be careful when [[HowToMoveAPage moving an index]]. Before changing the old page to a redirect, set the page type to something other than "index" -- "subpage" is often used. Otherwise, the page type will get stuck and the index bars on the bottom of a page will include the old index page title as well as the new one, even when there's nothing on the new one. If you see this problem with an index that's already been moved, break the redirect in the old one, change the page type to "subpage" (even though it will probably claim to be a redirect), and put the redirect back. That will solve it and it won't continue thinking it's anything other than a redirect.

Some wiki pages have been marked as being an index. This is done on the Tools menu on the left side of the page. There is a button labeled "Set Page Type." Setting it from index to one of the other selections un-does it. A page will only act as an index if this mark is set, regardless if it has index markup.

One complication: if the page has a punctuated title ("ptitle": the page name in the URL will be something like "Ptitlexxxxxxxxxxxx"), the index listing must be {{Pot Hole}}d to the ptitle (for example: to put [[ChekhovsGun Chekhov's Gun]] on an index, you must put the code [=[[{{Ptitlexn9xzsjd5fif}} Chekhov's Gun]]=]). Just listing a redirect (like [=ChekhovsGun=]), or potholing to a redirect, will not work.

This goes on so long we need a new paragraph, then link to [=[[index]]=]ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin[=[[/index]]=]

This goes on so long we need a new paragraph, then link to ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin

* {{Natter}}: blah blah blah

** [=[[/index]]=] Stuff you don't want indexed on this line: ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin[=[[index]]=]