Documentation/Portal pages

Create a landing page that helps users navigate a complex topic space that spans multiple products and technologies. Provide a basic orientation to the topic, and contextualized links to more specific landing pages.

Examples

 * meta:Research:Data
 * How_to_contribute
 * Wikimedia_Apps
 * Main_page

Description
A cross-collection landing page helps users navigate a broad topic or thematic area that spans multiple products and technologies. These pages help users understand and define what information they need when they are unfamiliar with the products or technologies available to them. Cross-collection landing pages are navigation-focused. They guide users to more specific landing pages, and they help bridge the many wikis, static sites, and other repositories that host Wikimedia technical content.

Descriptive title
Because cross-collection landing pages help organize and contextualize other pages, the title of a landing page should be descriptive enough to make sense when viewed directly from a search engine.

Topic introduction
To provide context, a cross-collection landing page should briefly introduce the topic or theme of the page in the first section under the title. For example, a landing page for "How to contribute" should include an introduction section that describes who can contribute, why they might want to, and the general considerations and requirements for contributing.

This section may include a link to a more in-depth topic overview, if one exists.

Link groupings
Format groups of links together in a way that is easy to navigate, such as Template:ContentGrid and Template:Colored box. Avoid organizing links with tables or headings.

Link groupings make it easier to scan and comprehend the content on a page. They create "meaningful, visually distinct content units that make sense in the context of the larger whole." Organize links into groups that are meaningful for your reader. Usually, this means grouping links by user group or task. Avoid general categories like "Other resources".

Links to landing pages
Unlike Documentation/Patterns/Landing_page Landing pages, cross-collection landing pages should generally not link to content pages. One exception to this is if a exists at the same broad, thematic level.

Link to a topic overview
For complex topics, users often need additional explanation to help them begin to navigate the technical landscape. In such cases, cross-collection landing pages may link to a conceptual overview or topic introduction that helps beginners build their mental model of the topic space.

Examples:
 * A cross-collection landing page like meta:Research:Data could link to a conceptual overview that provides a high-level orientation to the Wikimedia open data landscape.

Like all conceptual overviews, a topic overview at the cross-collection level covers the core concepts a user should know to help them build their mental model of the topic space and understand how to proceed in their journey.

One cross-collection landing page per topic
Ideally, cross-collection landing pages should be unique across all content platforms (across all wikis, static sites, other doc repos, etc.). there shouldn't be pages covering the same space on, for example, both meta and wikitech. part of the utility of xc landing pages is they provide user-focused escape hatches to help people navigate more easily between wikis when content that relates to the same user journey is sharded.

Subpages
Cross-collection landing pages should generally not have subpages, since they span multiple content collections and link to more specific landing pages. Those more specific landing pages provide entry to clearly-defined collections of content where subpages are appropriate.

Links to tutorials or how-to pages
Tutorials or how-to pages are specific to a product or technology. They should be linked from Documentation/Patterns/Landing_page Landing pages, but not from cross-collection landing pages.

Related patterns

 * Documentation/Patterns/Landing_page Landing pages for specific products or technologies.
 * Navigation tools at the site level, like menus and search, help users discover information, particularly if they already know what they're looking for. In contrast, there's a need for pages dedicated to not only providing links to useful pages but helping users understand what content they need.