This is an information page that describes communal consensus on some aspect of Wikipedia norms and practices. It is intended to clarify the type of article known as an "outline". This is not a Wikipedia policy or guideline; please defer to such in a case of inconsistency with this page.

Shortcut WP:OUTLINE

This page in a nutshell: An outline is a list of topics arranged hierarchically that helps a reader learn about a subject quickly by showing what topics the subject includes, and how the topics relate to each other. Outlines combine the benefits of tables of contents, site maps, and glossaries. They can be stand-alone articles or can be embedded within articles. Stand-alone outlines are linked together hierarchically, with Wikipedia:Contents/Outlines an entry point to this system.

You know how books have a table of contents at the beginning? It lists all the chapters and sections so you can quickly see what the book is about. Wikipedia has something similar called "outlines."

Instead of just using the search box to look for one specific thing, outlines let you explore entire topics from a bird's eye view. It's like looking at a map of a city instead of just finding one address. A subject on Wikipedia may have many articles about it. Its outline helps you see the whole subject and navigate it faster.

Outlines combine the best parts of tables of contents, site maps, and glossaries. They let you navigate subjects easily, focus on the areas you want, and understand topics better because of how they're organized.

How Outlines are Organized

The outlines are organized like trees with branches. The main topic is the trunk, and then it splits into smaller sub-topics which are the branches. You can follow the branches down to lower levels to find very specific details if you want. This is called "drilling down." Outlines support drilling down faster than searches, articles, and even categories.

Outlines vs. Articles

Wikipedia has two main types of articles: prose articles and lists, while outlines are a type of list that presents topics. Prose articles are like long stories with lots of sentences and paragraphs. Outlines are like lists of important words and ideas about a topic.

Outlines are faster to read than articles because they break down the information into smaller pieces. They show you all the main ideas about a subject in one place, organized like a tree with branches.

When to Use Outlines

If you know exactly what you're looking for, searching is best. But if you're not sure and want to explore a topic, outlines are better. They let you browse through all the different parts of a subject without getting lost.

Outlines vs. Categories

Wikipedia also has something called "categories" which groups similar articles together. Categories are good for seeing what other pages are related to the one you're reading. But outlines are better for getting an overview of an entire subject area.

Each category uses a web directory interface to show 2 levels of a subject at a time, which makes it easy to get lost if you are trying to look at the entirety of an extensive subject. Each outline shows all the levels for an entire subject on a single page, making it a lot harder to get lost.

How Outlines Work

Outlines use headings and indented bullet points to show which ideas are most important and how they're connected. The ideas that have their own article are linked so you can click on them.

Outlines are kind of like menus at a restaurant - they help you decide what to learn about next. Instead of full meals (articles), they give you a list of all the dishes (topics) to choose from.

While portals give you little samples of information, outlines are more like maps that show you all the different areas of a subject. But, some outlines also explain what each topic means, so they're like glossaries too.

Where to find outlines

See the top page of Wikipedia's outline system - the main subjects are presented there, and in turn lead to more refined topics. The top page can be accessed from Wikipedia:Contents which has a link on Wikipedia's sidebar in the navigation menu ("Contents" is the second link on the menu, right below "Main page").

You can see a list of most outlines in Wikipedia's alphabetical index.

Outlines should be included under Category:Wikipedia outlines. Those identified as being unfinished are usually listed at Wikipedia:WikiProject Outline of knowledge/open tasks.

Occasionally, an editor will notice that outlines overlap in scope and function with another type of page, and wonder why we have both. In general, it is because outlines are optimized for browsing and for showing a subject's structure. And because readers vary in their learning styles: some readers find outlines more convenient for exploring and for review than other forms of knowledge access and presentation. For more information about redundancy between Wikipedia's info navigation systems, and its benefits, see WP:CLN.

What an outline is

Outlines may be embedded in articles and other page types (See also: MOS:EMBED) or may comprise entire stand-alone articles with their own titles. See #Stand-alone outlines and #Embedded outlines below.

Regardless of where they are located, Wikipedia outlines have two main purposes:

1. to introduce readers to relevant topics and their relations;
2. to help readers navigate a subject across the encyclopedia.

Where an item is placed in an outline's tree structure conveys information about how subtopics are related to each other. Some outlines, such as Outline of the human brain, even provide annotations to provide more information within the outline than links alone provide. Outlines primarily provide readers with greater understanding about a general topic, especially to those who are not completely familiar with the subject. Since the subtopics in outlines are linked, they also serve as part of the encyclopedia's navigation system. In this respect, each outline is a navigation aid for its subject playing a similar role as a table of contents would serve in a paper encyclopedia.

Outlines always have a hierarchical structure which sets them apart from other types of lists such as "Index of", "Glossary of", and "Timeline of" lists. Indexes and glossaries list articles alphabetically, while a timeline is a chronological list of events organized by date. Outlines are also different from portals which provide a collection of excerpts about the subjects without seeking to provide a comprehensive overview of the subject area. Outlines seek to be comprehensive overviews to give the reader the broadest understanding possible of the subject.

For examples of well-developed outlines, see:

• Outline of canoeing and kayaking
• Outline of chess
• Outline of Buddhism
• Outline of cell biology
• Outline of forestry
• Outline of globalization
• Outline of the history of Western civilization
• Outline of Japan
• Outline of lichens
• Outline of motorcycles and motorcycling
• Outline of Taiwan
• Outline of Vatican City

Outlines are hierarchical lists about subjects

"Outline" is short for "hierarchical outline", which is a hierarchically-structured list about the subject of the list.

Outlines present their content as subheadings and list entries: an outline article breaks its subject down into a taxonomy in which the levels are represented by list entry indentation, subheading levels, or both. A list with indented levels without subheadings is still an outline.

Where the subtopics are placed in the taxonomy shows how they relate to the other topics and to the overall subject.

Wikipedia outlines are hybrids

Wikipedia outlines are a hybrid of topic outlines (outlines made of terms) and sentence outlines (outlines made of sentences), and many outlines include elements of each.

Many outlines provide descriptive annotations in their entries, to assist readers in topic identification and selection, to help them at a glance to understand the terms and choose which one to click on to read more about.

An outline provides links to subtopics. When there's an article about a subtopic, the subtopic should be linked. This makes outlines useful navigation aids.

Stand-alone outlines

Outline articles are a type of stand-alone list utilizing a tree structure and graphical elements such as indents to display relationships between concepts and subtopics. It should not be confused with other types of articles such as item lists like List of national parks, alphabetical indexes, glossaries, or timelines. Outline articles are usually named "Outline of x", where "x" is the name of the subject being covered to distinguish them from these other kinds of articles. Just like other articles and other stand-alone lists, outlines are subject to the five pillars of Wikipedia and must comply with the core content policies.

Comparison of Wikipedia's and Britannica's outlines of knowledge

An outline of knowledge is an outline whose scope is everything known by humankind. Outlines of knowledge are typically large, though some are more in-depth than others. Wikipedia's outline of knowledge has been under construction under various names since 2005, combining all outlines on Wikipedia. Its main page is Portal:Contents/Outlines. Universal library classification systems, such as the Dewey Decimal Classification and Library of Congress Classification also serve as kinds of outlines of knowledge. Encyclopaedia Britannica presents its Outline of Knowledge in the Propædia volume.

Britannica's Outline of Knowledge is currently broader and more refined than the English Wikipedia's, covering the spectrum of subjects more evenly. Britannica's original Outline of Knowledge took a large team 8 years to complete, and has 517 pages (including suggested reading lists, which aren't part of the subject classification outline itself). The English Wikipedia has been developing its Outline of Knowledge since 2005, with the bulk of the development being done by a small team of contributors and so far it has grown to about 894 pages. Wikipedia's outline goes into more depth on some subjects, but has many gaps Britannica's does not have.

Embedded outlines

As outlines are a type of list, and we have embedded lists (MOS:EMBED), some of those are embedded outlines.

Any branch of an outline that has multiple sections, is itself an outline. Therefore, most embedded outlines are found in outlines, but embedded outlines can be found in non-outline articles too.

When an embedded outline gets too large for an article, it is time to split it off to its own page.

Examples of embedded outlines

Some examples of outlines embedded in non-outline articles include:

• Clinical study design#Outline of types of designs for clinical studies
• Millipede#Outline of classification
• Ocean development#Outline
• Offshore construction#Outline
• Spanish literature#Outline
• Tourism in India#Outline of Tourism in India

What an outline is not

Not a prose article

An outline is not a mere copy of the lead section of the main subject article followed by an unstructured list of links. Even the lead section should be in outline format, to differentiate the outline at first sight from a regular article. There should be a lead sentence identifying the contents of the page as an outline, optionally followed by the primary entry of the outline (a list item presenting the main subject). The name of the subject is the top of the outline's hierarchy.

Unlike prose articles, outlines are formatted as a series of lists, and the list items may be in the form of a topic term, a sentence, or a topic term and an annotation. Outlines should not be in paragraph format.

Not merely an item list

Outlines are not merely a list of items. Outline of sharks is a guide to topics relating to sharks while List of sharks is a list of shark species. Articles which simply list members of a particular class are not outlines, though outlines may contain lists of things as branches within their hierarchies. For example Outline of James Bond contains a list of James Bond novels, but this list is part of a larger structure which organizes them by author and places them in the wider context of topics about James Bond.

Wikipedia outlines differ from conventional outlines in the following ways...

Problems and opportunities presented by the nature of Wikipedia, the Mediawiki software, and the Wikipedia community have resulted in design features in Wikipedia outlines that differ from traditional outlines. The following sections describe the differences.

Wikipedia outlines use headings as additional level indicators

Conventional outlines use indents to indicate levels in the hierarchy. Wikipedia outlines use indents too, but also employ section headings to represent levels as well. In outline articles, the top few levels are usually represented by section headings, with levels further down consisting of indented list entries.

Wikipedia outlines have limited entry-prefixes

Unlike Wikipedia outlines, conventional outlines often include alpha-numeric prefixes on their entries, like this:

Chess

A. Nature of chess

B. Chess equipment

1. Essential equipment
2. Competition equipment

C. Rules of chess

1. Initial set up

2. Moves

a. How each piece moves

3. End of the game

4. Competition rules

D. Game play

1. Pawn structure

2. Chess tactics Zdroj:https://en.wikipedia.org?pojem=Wikipedia:Outlines
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