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FrontPage RecentChanges AboutWikiFeatures WikiNode The NearLink is a way to link to a page on another wiki, without having to name the other wiki, or provide a URL to it.
Sometimes you want to refer to a wiki entry on another wiki. There are two main ways people refer to pages on other wiki these days (2003-10-31):
http://wikifeatures.wiki.taoriver.net/moin.cgi/NearLinkWikiFeatures:NearLinkThe InterLink is clearly a lot easier to use than the full URL. But there is still a greater level of ease that can be reached: The NearLink.
The NearLink makes it so you don’t have to even name the wiki hosting the page! You just write the name of the page, and if a neighboring wiki has the page, it links to it. So I write, “MassUseOfWiki,” and even though this wiki doesn’t have that page, a neighbor does, and the link points to the neighbor’s page. The neighboring wiki is called the “near wiki,” and the link to the page on the neighboring wiki is called a “NearLink.”
How does it work? The wiki that you’re linking from has a list, called the “NearMap.” The list names all of the “near wiki.” When you make a link, some decision making happens:
If the link names a page on the wiki you’re writing on, it just links to that. That’s a normal WikiLink. But if it names a page that doesn’t exist on the wiki, but it does name a page on a near wiki, then it links to the near wiki’s version of the page. So if I use the phrase “MassUseOfWiki,” and there’s no page with that name, but the near wiki “WikiFutures” has that page, then the link points to WikiFutures’ version of the page. If none of the wiki have a page with that name, then the page is up for authoring. The link shows up in red, or maybe a little question mark appears next to it, and if someone clicks it, they’re asked to make a new page.
The end result: You can link to pages on near wiki, without actually having to name them. Sure, you have to name the wiki once in the NearMap list, but after that, you can link to their pages with impunity.
What if, in step 2, more than one near wiki hosts the page? In that case, the first wiki in the NearMap list gets the link. Maybe I’m writing about “CommunityWiki,” and a whole lot of near wiki have pages called “CommunityWiki”. Whichever wiki comes first in the NearMap list gets the link.
Let’s have an example to tie this all together. You’re on CommunityWiki:CommunityWiki (one of the only wiki to date (2003-10-31) that implement NearLinks), and you name a page on Meatball- “SoftSecurity.” Now, CommunityWiki doesn’t have a page named SoftSecurity. But Meatball does. And Meatball is on the CommunityWiki CommunityWiki:NearMap. So the link points to Meatball’s version of the page.
Now say, later, someone actually writes a SoftSecurity page on CommunityWiki. What then? At that point, the link points to CommunityWiki’s own version of the page.
But what if, instead, before someone write’s SoftSecurity on CommunityWiki, someone deletes the page on Meatball? In that case, the link is one of those links that ask the user to write a definition. Someone clicks on the link, and they’re given a “will you write this page?” response.
As WikiFutures:WikiFragmentation occurs, this sort of technology will become more and more important.
| status | wiki engines | |
| Implemented | OddMuse, PeriPeri | |
| Developing | - | |
| Intend to Develop | - | |
| Considering | MoinMoin (by IRC, ThomasWaldmann) | |
| Rejected | - | |
When talking about NearLinks, it is useful to differentiate:
| page/link type | refers to pages located at | |
| local | the same wiki | |
| external | a remote wiki | |
| near | present on the NearMap, either local or external | |
| far | (not near?) | |
For notes about the NearMap, please consult the OddMuse notes.
It is not easy to know where a link points to. OddMuse has underlined NearLinks green, to indicate that they go somewhere else, but it remains difficult to know exactly where links point. Likely, mouseovers or other indication techniques will be used to solve this problem.
“If you have a lot of possible targets for a NearLink, how do you know which one is linked?” This is a frequent worry about NearLink.
Generally, if there are that many targets, you shouldn’t be relying on NearLink. Use an InterLink instead.
How do you make a local page when a near page exists? Clicking on the link will take you to a near page.
OddMuse has CommunityWiki:NewPage, a page that it uses to create overlap pages.
Recently (2003-10-31), Alex has made it so that any NearLinks you use are listed at the bottom of the page. So, in the main article, if you click a NearLink, it takes you to a near wiki. But if you click on the link at the bottom of the page, you’re asked to make a new version of the page. The new version of the page will shadow the NearLink- that is, the NearLink won’t be a NearLink anymore, it’ll just be a regular WikiLink.
This is still a little ugly, but it works a lot better than hoping people find the NewPage page.
Perhaps somebody- maybe you- know of a better way to solve the problem?
If you create a page on a wiki higher up on the NearMap, links to the old page may suddenly bump up to point to the new page. It may be the case that the new page suggests something entirely different than what was originally intended..!
One way to get around this is to resolve the link when it is created, and then never update it, unless the link is repointed by hand with an InterLink.