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Instructions for Editors

Keywords

Last modified: 2007-10-28 by rob raeside
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Rules for filing keywords:
  • ADJECTIVES
          Where a keyword is modified by an adjective, put the adjective after the noun if the noun is more significant.
          If the adjective + noun are a commonly used pair, then it goes as two-word keyword (indian ocean, old glory).
  • BIRDS
          bird (colour)
          bird: <name>
          bird: <stance>
          bird: of paradise
  • BRITISH/AMERICAN SPELLING
          If you have no favourite, check the existing keywords and pick the most used.
  • CANTON
          Refers to a piece of the flag.
  • CONTINENTS
          Don't use continents as keywords, except possibly on the main page of the country.
  • COUNTRY NAMES
          Use country names only on the front page, index page, and any major page about that country.  Remember if you include the country name in all 1000 municipal flag pages, this will list all 1000 pages together on the keywords.  As a rule of thumb, try to restrict the use of country names (or even state, province, department, canton names) to a maximum of 25 uses.  Any long list of subdivisions if better handled as an indexed list on the webpage, not the keyword page.
  • CRESCENTS
          Crescents come in many varieties.
              crescent: points up
              crescent: points to fly
              crescent: points to hoist

              crescents: 45 (az-muss1.gif, Musavat Party)
  • CROSSES
          Crosses are treated somewhat akin to stars. If nothing is indicated, the cross reaches all four sides, and the arms intersect in the centre of the field.
          Crosses generally don't have a default colour.

          cross: saint george <- default colour is red
          cross: formy
          cross: santiago
          cross: saltire
          cross: scandinavian

          If a flag has more than one cross, the number can be specified in a separate keyword:

          crosses: 50
     
  • DIACRITICALS
          Try to avoid accents and diacritics in the keywords - they mess up the alphabetization.
          At all times, keep the first four characters free of diacritics.
          Don't put the same keyword in twice (with and without diacritics) - it looks messy in the keyword pages.
  • DIFFERENCING KEYWORDS
          If there are more than 25 entries with a given keyword, look out for a potential sub-keyword.
          If there are less than 10 entries with a given potential sub-keyword, stay with the main keyword.
  • FIREARMS
         firearm: <type> (rifle, machine gun, etc.)
  • FLAG
         For flags with flags.
         We also have quite a number of keywords containing 'flag'. Several of these would be better without 'flag' in them.
         Many keywords with '<adjective> flag' would be better as '<adjective>'.  An exception to this is 'unidentified flag', *with* flag.
         A number of '<noun> flag' could similarly be improved to '<noun>' (or sometimes <adjective formed from noun>).
  • FLEUR-DE-LIS
         With hyphens and 'i'.
  • HOUSEFLAGS
          Use keyword 'house flag'.
  • LENGTH OF KEYWORDS
          You have a maximum of 200 characters for keywords, so keep each keyword short - but don't abbreviate.
  • MAP
          For flags with maps.
  • MAPLE LEAVES
          Maple leaves seem to be red by default.
          So the keywords seem to be:
          maple leaf (<colour>) if <colour> is non-red, and
          maple leaf if it is red or unknown.
  • MULTICOLOURED OBJECTS
          object: multicoloured
           unless it is
              object: fimbriated
  • NAMES OF ORGANISATIONS
         Be as precise as possible - but beware of diacritics (and remember that everything is converted to lower case).
  • NO KEYWORD
          There must be at least one keyword on every page.
          For pages that should have no keyword, think about why, and put the reason why as keyword.
          Obsolete pages could have the keyword '@'
  • NUMERALS
          Non-leading numerals should be entered as numbers - that should sort nicer.
          Leading numerals should be avoided. If that's impossible, they should be spelled out.
           For numbers greater than 9, use:
         number: ###
  • PAN-isms
          Use a hyphen:
          pan-african
          pan-arab
          pan-american
          pan-slavic
          pan-turkish
          etc.
  • PEOPLE WHO WANT TO BECOME INDEPENDENT
          independentist
  • PERSONAL NAMES
          Family name only
          or
          Family name (first name)
          or
          Name, number (of country) for royals and such

          Some personal names appear within company names. They should be left as they are - same probably goes for cultures without family names, e.g. Iceland.
     
  • PROPOSALS
          proposal
           and remember to give the page a fitting title
  • QUINAS
           The 'quinas', the small blue shields with white dots on, are usually found in fives in Portuguese heraldry.  For the time being, the presence of quinas can be detailed by the keyword 'quinas'.
    If and when we get many of these, we should probably divide between 'quinas' and 'quinas: <number>', where number is different from 5.
  • RAINBOWS
          If there is a rainbow arc, use the keyword 'rainbow'
          If it is a multi-stripe/multi-colour flag, use the keyword 'rainbow flag'
  • RIFLE
          firearm: rifle
  • SAINTS
          saint <this-or-that>
           except:
            -some toponyms ('santa catarina')
            -some French names (often hyphenated)
            -cross types, use 'cross: saint <this-or-that>'
     
  • SEVERAL ELEMENTS
          If there are several elements of a kind, e.g. 50 stars, use:
          stars: 50

          If the arrangement of the elements is special, you can use:
          stars: ring
     
  • SINGULAR/PLURAL
          Use singular. See SEVERAL ELEMENTS for exceptions.
     
  • STARS
          Stars are 5-pointed if nothing else is mentioned.

          star: 4 points (white)
          star (green)  <--- 5 points assumed
          star: 6 points (yellow)
          star: 6 points (yellow)

          If a flag has more than one star, the number can be specified in a separate keyword:

          stars: 50
     
  • UPPER/LOWER
          Keywords with 'upper ...' get sorted by 'upper', but the script deletes 'upper'.
          Use '... (upper)' instead.
          Similar case with 'lower'
     
  • YACHT
          yacht
           for flags showing a yacht
          yacht club
           for flags of such a club
          ensign: yacht
           for a variant national ensign used on yachts