Editing Help:Section (section)

=== Sections vs. separate pages vs. transclusion ===
Advantages of separate pages:
# [[help:what links here|what links here]] feature
# separate edit histories
# some template limits apply ''per page''
# automatic redirect on renaming
# loading ''one'' small page is faster than loading ''one'' large page—but are readers more likely to want to use just one section or to browse many of the sections of the topic? – see advantages of combined pages
# can separately be put in categories (however, see also below) <!-- where below, please? -->
# with [[Semantic MediaWiki]]: have separate annotations

Advantages of one combined page with sections:
# loading ''one combined'' page is ''faster and more convenient'' than loading ''several divided'' ones
# searching within one large page or its wikitext with a local search function is faster and has advantages over searching several pages using the site search engine or a web search engine
# the TOC provides for convenient navigation.
# more likelihood of editorial cohesion of a concept compared to having several definitions likely to be independently edited
# duplication of items relevant to each section, such as navigation templates and infoboxes is avoided

An alternative is [[Help:Template#Composite pages|composing a page of other pages using the template feature]] (creating a [[compound document]] by [[Wikipedia:transclusion|transclusion]]). This allows easy searching within the combined rendered page, but not in the combined wikitext. As a disadvantage, a title for each page has to be provided. For the pre-expand include size limit, this is disadvantageous even compared with one large page: the pre-expand include size is the sum of the pre-expand include sizes of the components plus the sum of sizes of the wikitexts of the components.