Template:Distinguish/doc
This is a documentation subpage for Template:Distinguish. It contains usage information, categories and other content that is not part of the original template page. |
This template is used on approximately 58,000 pages, so changes to it will be widely noticed. Please test any changes in the template's /sandbox or /testcases subpages, or in your own user subpage. Please consider discussing changes on the talk page before implementing them. |
This template uses Lua: |
This template renders a hatnote intended to inform the reader of the existence of one or more articles whose title(s) bears a strong resemblance to the current article. This template is used in the cases where the distinction between the titles is so obvious that the reader needs no further explanation. For cases where an explanation is required, use {{For}} and {{About}}.
Usage
{{Distinguish|Foo}}
→
{{Distinguish|Foo|Bar|Gaz}}
→
{{Distinguish|text = custom [[text]], and [[foo]], a common example term}}
→
When to use
This hatnote is generally used when readers have misspelled their desired title, and the error would be apparent by simply displaying the alternative term without further explanation. For example, consider a reader looking for the punctuation mark who instead ends up at coma:
Coma →
Readers are presumed to recognize that they actually wanted comma by merely looking at the spelling, and this case generally requires no further explanation.
However, {{distinguish}}
is not suitable when the difference is not readily apparent without additional details. Consider a reader looking for a game they believe is named Reversi:
Reversi →
In the above hatnote, it is not generally apparent how the suggested Reversis is different from Reversi, which is also a game.
Reversi →
Using {{about}}
instead of {{distinguish}}
, the differences in the suggested article is explained upfront without requiring the reader to click through and differentiate the terms on their own.
{{Distinguish}}
should only be used when the ambiguity exists for a portion of the readership that is sufficient to warrant a hatnote. Care should be taken to avoid trivial uses.
This hatnote can also be used to distinguish from multiple articles:
TemplateData
TemplateData for Distinguish
Redirects
- {{Confused}}
- {{Confuse}}
- {{Misspelling}}