Wiki Life: What do you put in the See Also section? Should every article have one?

  • Article

This is part of the UX Guidelines section, Links and Accessibility.

Here are the different link guidelines:

  • Article table of contents
    • This is the "In this article" section under the introduction section.
    • See Page Layout above for detailed instructions on how to create this section.
  • 'Return to Top' links
    • These links exist at the bottom of every section (above the horizontal rule) and link back up to the very top of the article (and not just the TOC).
  • In-line links
    • In the introduction section, include an embedded link (when possible) to the parent topic.
  • <Product Name> Wiki Pages section
    • Pull it into a Portal page if >10 links.
  • See Also section
    • This is a link list at the bottom that links to domain parent articles (and related articles) in TechNet Wiki.
  • Other Resources section
    • These are the external links, including links to Microsoft and TechNet sites that are non-Wiki.
  • References section
    • Use this section if you pulled source material and ideas from other sites, blogs, or forums. Make sure you have permission from authors to use their material.
  • TechNet Resources section
    • This list is specific to TechNet resources found on the topic. 

  

Today's article is about See Also. The last one in this series of Navigational Guidelines was about Inline Links: Wiki Life: What are in-line links?

 

The See Also section is supposed to be links just to articles in TechNet Wiki. This is exactly the way that Wikipedia works.

Yes, I think every article should have one of these sections! Ideally, every technology should have a portal. See the Portal of TechNet Wiki Portals to make sure your technology has a portal!

So then at the very least, each article should use the See Also section to link back to the portal about that technology!

This helps connect the articles together! Along with the inline links, this is what makes a good experience as you navigate around on TechNet Wiki.

For example, last week I was searching on Wikipedia for info about super heroes. I soon had dozens of tabs open for me to read more about more heroes! As I found inline links and See Also links, I ended up wanting to read more about more heroes and terms later on (after I finished the current article). That's the way TechNet Wiki works too, if we help put the links in and connect the articles together.

If you have external links (that go outside TechNet Wiki), please use a References or Other Resources section instead.

  

And as a hint, it's a great way to increase the quality of your articles in the TechNet Guru competition!

 

 

What do you think? Do you use See Also links? What do you put in your See Also sections? Do you think every article should have one?

 

 

Jump on in. The Wiki is warm!

   - Ninja Ed