Let s work out a convention for articles on computer file formats.

I m not happy about TAR file format . Firstly, many people advocate writing file extensions in lowercase. Secondly, it s a pain to use, since most computing articles will only want to write tar .

I suggest one of:

(this is of course only for those names that require . Pages like PNG and JPEG don t need anything in parentheses)

-- tarquin

(by the way, I ve just noticed on 11:44 Jan 11, 2003 (UTC))

tar (file format) is probably best. Upper vs lower case is a tricky one: some extensions are acronyms which implies upper case, but on the whole, lower case seems better. I think it s more common at any rate.

= Proposal 1 =

by )

I propose the following guidelines:

==Guidelines==

# There should be a family of pages titled . These pages should be ## Redirects, in the case of unambiguity (.png (file extension)→PNG, .bmp (file extension)→Windows bitmap). ## Disambiguation pages, in the case of ambiguity (.doc (file extension), .cas (file extension)). # Main articles will fall into at least three categories: ## Articles about file formats independent of specific programs (PNG, MOD (file format), ZIP (file format)). These should be named as per those examples: all-caps, with a (file format) dab if needed. ## Articles about programs with dedicated formats or extensions (Gzip, tar (file format)). These should be named according to common usage, which will vary between *nix and non-*nix platforms. ##* *nix: see for programs that have achieved wide notability outside the *nix community. ##* Software targeted at non-*nix cultures usually has a brand or trade name: Adventure Game Toolkit, Microsoft Word. Use it. ## Articles about common usage of extensions (Readme, .txt) # Only main articles should be tagged with categories such as as described above.

==Rationale==

# The File extensions category can then serve as a Wikipedia GFDL mirror of dictionaries like [http://www.wotsit.org wotsit.org]. Redirects from e.g. .png may also be created, but not listed in that category, so there are no duplicates. The reason for the (file extension) dab is that otherwise we ll have to make exceptions for .com, .us, and so on. I think it s best to have everything symmetric. # . ## . ## (As of this writing, Gzip has been moved to GNU zip for reasons unknown and un-discussed. I m hoping it moves back soon.) ##* By this logic, tar (file format) should be at tar (Unix). But no moves should happen based on this proposal until and unless it is accepted by a fair number of editors. ##* Use the Frobozz Wuffalo (wuffulator) style of disambiguation if needed — but it really shouldn t be needed. Version differences can be handled ad hoc ; for example, Frobozz Wuffalo 3 or Wuffalo (version 9). ## For example, .txt is a file extension usually associated with plain ASCII text. But there is no file format associated with that extension. Contrariwise, one file format using ASCII text is .csv (file extension)→Comma-separated values. # .

=Counterproposal=