Forum:Surname article creation


 * Let's talk about surnames. We have many pages involving surnames. I have an idea on how we can simplify what we already have.

In many of the surname categories, we have a whole bunch of information. Section headers for variants, orgin, meaning, external links, etc. Thing is, most of these are empty. Of course, we do want to expand and have a lot of history of surnames. And when we do the actual pages in the category gets pushed to the bottom of the page.

A solution brought up multiple times is to have an article separate fro mthe category. Meaning, Smith contains information on the origin, meaning, variants, etc. of the surname, while Category:Smith only lists the articles that are categorized with it.

Take a look at Help:Surname. Perhaps it could be more simple? How about just one method of surname page standardization? Which one? I have an idea for a new one I have been developing:

Template:SurnameArticle provides an infobox, which can link to variants of a surname, to Wikipedia's article on the surname, and, categorize the article with the Surname, and put it into the Category:Surname articles categories. This template is used on articles such as Smith. Use the template, fill in the infobox, and under the infobox goes all the backgroudn info, history, etc. On hte very top of the article, a link to the surname's category. Example: Trump

Template:SurnameArticle is used on surname categories and provides a link to the article describing the surname (see above paragraph) and a brief sentence telling the readers what the page is all about. Just a link, brief description and all the categorized articles. Example: Category:Trump

If we use this method, we can simplify the Help:Surname article, because having one method that uses the solution mentioend in paragraph 2 and beign able to link both pages will be a lot simpler. - AMK152 (talk • contribs) 03:24, 28 July 2008 (UTC)