TechInfoDepot:Hatnote

Hatnotes are short notes placed at the top of an article or section of an article (hence the name "hat"). Hatnotes help readers locate a different article they might be seeking. Readers may have arrived at the article containing the hatnote because they were redirected, because the sought article uses a more specific, disambiguated title, or because the sought article and the article with the hatnote have similar names. Hatnotes provide links to the possibly sought article or to a disambiguation page.

For more information about methods of disambiguating articles, see TechInfoDepot:Disambiguation.

Placement
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). Text-only browsers and screen readers present the page sequentially. If a reader has reached the wrong page, they typically want to know that first.

Format
In most cases, hatnotes should be created using a standard disambiguation template (as illustrated below). This permits the form and structure of hatnotes to be changed uniformly across the encyclopedia as needed.

Current TechInfoDepot style is to italicize and indent each note, 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.

When determining the content of the hatnote, keep in mind that it forms part of the user interface rather than the article content. Two applicable user interface design principles are clarity and conciseness. The hatnote should not overload the user with extraneous information and the content should be imparted quickly and accurately. These design goals are conveyed succinctly in the artistic principle less is more.

Summarize or not?
Some hatnote disambiguation templates include a brief summary of the present article's topic; others do not. For instance, in the article Honey, one might use the template to produce:


 * This article is about the insect-produced fluid. For other uses of the term, see Honey (disambiguation).

Alternatively, one might use to produce:


 * For other uses, see Honey (disambiguation).

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 it to the other style without good reason or broad consensus.

Two articles with similar titles

 * This article is about the village in England. For H. P. Lovecraft's fictional town, see Dunwich (Lovecraft).

Dunwich 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...

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. about may be used for this. In this case the parameterization was.

Linking to a disambiguation page

 * For other uses, see Monolith (disambiguation).

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...

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. other uses 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: 
 * This article is about the maze-like labyrinth from Greek mythology. For other uses, see Labyrinth (disambiguation).

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...

The template about may be used for this. In this case the parameterization was.

Ambiguous term that redirects to an unambiguously named article
redirect, or a related template, can be used when an ambiguous title is redirected to an unambiguous title or a primary topic article:



Johann Sebastian Bach

From TechInfoDepot, the free encyclopedia (Redirected from )


 * "Bach" redirects here. For other uses, see Bach (disambiguation).

Johann Sebastian Bach (March 21, 1685 O.S. – July 28, 1750 N.S.) was a prolific German composer...

Trivial information, dictionary definitions, and slang
When notes feature a trivial detail or use of a term, or links to overly specific and tendentious material, they are unwarranted.


 * During a siege, to invest a town or fortress means to surround it with a contravallation and a circumvallation.

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... 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.

Legitimate information about the topic
A previous version of the Aisha article showed: 
 * 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.

Aisha or Ayesha (Arabic عائشه `ā'isha = "she who lives") was a wife of the Islamic prophet Muhammad...

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.

Linking to articles that are related to the topic
Disambiguation hatnotes are intended to link to separate topics that could be referred to by the same title. They are not intended to link to topics that are simply related to each other, or to a specific aspect of a general topic:


 * ''This article is about the scientific study of extraterrestrial life; for treatment in popular culture, see Extraterrestrial life in popular culture.

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...

Instead of using a disambiguation hatnote in such cases, 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.

This guideline does not discourage the use of disambiguation hatnotes in a situation where separate topics are related, but could nonetheless be referred to by the same title and would thus qualify for disambiguation, such as a book and its film adaptation.

Disambiguating article names that are not ambiguous
 Tree (set theory)

From TechInfoDepot, 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 hatnote can be removed. A reader who is following links within TechInfoDepot would not have ended up at tree (set theory) if one were looking for other types of trees, since 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.

Extraneous links
Each additional link in the hatnote besides the ambiguous or confusable topic(s) makes it more difficult to find the desired target. For example:



WTIX (980 AM) is a radio station broadcasting a Sports radio format.

In this case, the link to New Orleans, Louisiana in the hatnote leads to an article that is not ambiguous with the title. Linking only to the possible other destination (WIST (AM)) makes it easier to find the link.

Non-existent articles
Hatnotes should not contain red links to non-existent articles since hatnotes are intended to help users navigate 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.