Information:Shortcut
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A shortcut is a specialized type of redirect page that provides an abbreviated Wikilinks to an administrative page or one of its sections, usually from the BattleTechWiki namespace or Help namespace. These shortcuts' abbreviations in all-caps text are commonly used (linked or unlinked) on community pages and talk pages, but should not be used in articles themselves. If there are one or more shortcuts for a page or section, one or more will usually be chosen to be displayed in an information box on the right labelled Shortcut or Shortcuts, as can be seen at the top of this page.
Shortcuts are created for the convenience of editors. It is possible to create a shortcut for any page at all.
Contents
Quick reference[edit]
Lists of available shortcuts can be found using Special:PrefixIndex:
- Namespace related:
How to use a BattleTechWiki shortcut[edit]
A BattleTechWiki shortcut can be entered into the BattleTechWiki search box to quickly bring you to a project page. For example, you can type BTW:R or H:R into the search box and then press the enter key (or click the magnifying glass icon), to get to the BattleTechWiki:Redirect page, instead of having to type in the complete phrase.
Alternatively, you can use a shortcut in the URL in your browser's address bar. For example, you are currently viewing the BattleTechWiki:Shortcut page. The URL for this page is https://www.sarna.net/wiki/BattleTechWiki:Shortcut. You could then get from here to the BattleTechWiki:Redirect page by replacing BattleTechWiki:Shortcut with BTW:R in the address bar, followed by pressing the enter key. (If your browser has relative URL entry, simply prefix the shortcut with ./ instead of having to edit the existing URL.)
Shortcuts are presented in all capital letters; however, the search box is case-insensitive. For example, in the search box, you can type btw:r, instead of BTW:R. However, when using the URL method (or when making links) it is necessary to match the capitalization of the shortcut itself.
Link boxes[edit]
Small link boxes, listing the names of the page's shortcuts, appear at the top of many pages, especially those on policies and guidelines. A shortcut link box can be added to a page, by placing the template {{shortcut|BTW:<x>}} (for project namespace) or {{shortcut|H:<x>}} (for Help pages) at the top of the page's text, while editing. For template redirects, {{Template shortcut}} is used instead.
The point of these template boxes is not to list every single redirect for any given page (that's what Special:WhatLinksHere is for). Instead, they generally should list only the most common and easily remembered redirects.
Guideline pages with shortcuts pointing to them typically use {{guideline|BTW:<x>}} or the {{subcat guideline}} template, such as on this page, instead of the shortcut template {{shortcut}}. Another frequently used template is: {{MoS-guideline|MOS:<x>}}.
To learn more about the different shortcut box templates and their functions, see documentation at {{shortcut}}. Among other things, there are templates for making boxes flow to the left and now, anchors are automatically added, making it much simpler to link to a page section.
Shortcut names[edit]
Shortcut names are almost always in uppercase.
A shortcut is typically named using the following convention:
PREFIX:SUFFIX
In the above form, the prefix is typically one of the prefixes in the following section, and the suffix is an acronym or abbreviation of the redirect target. However quite a lot are simply BTW:BAD.
Shortcuts that do not follow the above naming convention are discouraged, and are typically deleted. Before creating a shortcut, use Special:PrefixIndex to ensure that the same prefix is not being used for different purposes.
How to create a shortcut[edit]
When creating a shortcut, consider that many shortcuts are acronyms or initialisms; others are abbreviations or single but memorable words from a longer page title. Say you want to create the shortcut BTW:SHORT to the existing page BattleTechWiki:Shortcut.
- Create the new page BTW:SHORT, without yet publishing it.
- Place the following in said page:
#REDIRECT [[BattleTechWiki:Shortcut]] {{R from shortcut}}- The resulting shortcut will be BTW:SHORT.
- Place the template
{{shortcut|BTW:SHORT}}below the heading you created the shortcut for. - Publish the shortcut page.
- Finally, check if it works.
If you're creating a shortcut to a category, you need to insert an additional colon (":") at the beginning of the link, as in the following.
#REDIRECT [[:Category:Redirects from shortcuts]]
{{R from shortcut}}The template {{R from shortcut}} must always be included in this kind of redirect. It records that the redirect is a shortcut, and auto-categorizes it into Category:Redirects from shortcuts.
Limitations[edit]
Redirects (including shortcuts) to pages on other projects and special pages won't work—this formerly supported feature was abused and hence it has been disabled. The software will display the redirect page instead of redirecting the user to the target.
Some redirects to other projects and special pages use the template {{soft redirect}}; however, shortcuts that are soft redirects will appear in the pool of pages that are selected by Special:Random. Soft redirects are categorised into Category:Soft redirects.
See also[edit]
- BattleTechWiki:Redirect
- Meta:Meta:Shortcut (m:WM:WM), shortcuts on Meta
- Meta:Special:URLShortener, for creating global shortcuts to WMF project pages
- Category:Redirects from shortcuts