Onlargedisambiguation pages, organizing by subject area helps readers find the page they want. Readers should be able to find their targetwith minimal reading, by:
Identifying the relevant section (and then subsection if needed) from headers alone, then
Identifying the topic they want from the entriesin that (sub)section only
without having to descend into irrelevant sections, andwithout having to read anything twice. This page discusses three principles that enable that goal, and suggested headings to use.
E.g., vehicles and engines would fit in "Transportation" and in "Science and technology", so if you use both sections, readers won't know where to look. If overlap can'treasonably be avoided:
Forone or two items that fit in multiple sections: duplicate these entries in each appropriate section.
Forseveral items (or a subsection): put these entries in only one section, and put ahatnote at the top of any other appropriate sections, e.g.:{{for|<topic>|#<Section>}}.
Only combine closely related topics.Biology and medicine is fine;Cosmology and medicine is not.Other uses is the exception.
Avoid having lots of "other uses" entries – but not at the cost of making awkward or overly small sections (see§ Moderate section size).
Entries that are not fully categorized belong in an "Other uses [in topic]" section at theend of the page or section (but before any"See also" section). The space above the first section on the page (or above the first subsection in a section) shouldnot have any entries ("orphans"), except for:
At mostoneprimary topic, if there is one, at the top of the page; and
And these entries should be repeated in the appropriate sections. "Loose" entries at the top of a page or section aren't accounted for in the table of contents, so readers relying on the ToC can easily miss them.
If all the "other" entries in a section can be described by a plural noun, the words "uses in" should be avoided, e.g.,Other people, notOther uses in people;Other media, notOther uses in media.
Put the table of contents before the first heading with{{TOC right}}.[a]
Use the"See also" section for entries whose titles arerelated to, butnot strictly ambiguous with, the page title.
Order sections alphabetically unless there is a clear reason not to. (This is the easiest order to recognize – importance, for example, is usually too subjective.)
Organizing schemesnot based on subject area can be confusing. Avoid organizing entries byetymology,pronunciation, or whether the terms areacronyms or not – these schemes assume knowledge that the reader may not have.
Certain variations on the ambiguous term may be used to sort entrieswithin sections, such as:
Formatting, such as capitalization
Plural vs. singular forms of a term
The presence of"A(n)" or "The" (or their equivalent in another language) at the start of aproper title
but these should notusually be the basis for section divisions, particularly when a subject area scheme can be used instead. For more on sorting within sections, seeMOS:DABORDER.
This scheme, or any part of it, may be used toorganize disambiguation pages. Braces ("{}") suggest alternative terms, which may be split up and recombined in keeping with the principles above. Common pitfalls that may make dab pages harder to navigate aremarked in red.
NOTE! These headings are anexample only; most disambiguation pages will only use a few of these headings. They should be liberally modified, supplemented, and promoted or demoted to different header levels to best suit each particular page. Disambiguation pages are enormously varied, and another scheme may better suit a given page.
Remember to remove visible braces ("{ }") and pipes ("|") before saving a dab page.
[An "organization" is generally accepted to mean any group of people formally organized for a purpose. If "Organizations" is used, and businesses, schools, sports teams, etc. are listed elsewhere, hatnote(s) are needed here.]
[People with the page title aspart of their common name should typically be listed on ananthroponymy page, such asBob (given name), not a disambiguation page, unless there are only a small number of such people.]
[Listgroups of people (such as ethnic groups),namesas such, andtitles shared by several peopleseparately from individuals.]
[Some considermathematics to be a science, some don't. If there are math topics here, it is advisable to include "mathematics" in the parent section title.]
[Caution: This section may have significant overlap with other sections as noted below. If used, handle as described in§ Clearly defined subject areas.]
[Often used for individual vessels (e.g.HMSDreadnought (1906)), withtypes of vehicles (e.g.dreadnought) listed under "Science and technology" instead; if so, note this in a hatnote.]
[Ambiguous entries that do not fit into another section. Entries that fit in another section, but not in any of its subsections, should be placed in an "Other uses in [topic]" subsection there.]
[Entries that aresimilar or related to, butnot ambiguous with, the page title, that might reasonably help readers find what they are looking for; seeMOS:DABSEEALSO. Use judgment; donot include every page title that contains the ambiguous term.]
