Relative links always inherit the current namespace.

That colon creates a namespace.

Everything inside that page becomes relative to space-exploration: unless you explicitly anchor it at the root with a leading colon.

What namespaces actually do in DokuWiki Namespaces are DokuWiki’s version of folders. A page like:

Code space-exploration:the-geek-history-gateway-to-the-final-frontier means:

space-exploration = folder

the-geek-history-gateway-to-the-final-frontier = page inside that folder

This gives you:

automatic hierarchical organization

automatic breadcrumb navigation

automatic namespace‑relative linking

automatic media organization

automatic namespace‑specific searches

If you want a whole section of your site to behave like a folder, namespaces are great.

🧨 What namespaces break (and why you’re feeling pain) Namespaces also change how links behave:

Any link without a leading colon becomes relative to the current namespace

So Some Page becomes space-exploration:some-page

Even if you didn’t intend it

This is exactly the issue you ran into.

If you don’t want to think about absolute vs. relative links every time you type link, namespaces become annoying fast.

The role of H1 in DokuWiki (and why you should use it)

That is the H1 equivalent.

Using an H1 at the top of each page is recommended because:

DokuWiki uses the first H1 as the page title in the Table of Contents

Search engines expect one clear H1 per page

DokuWiki’s internal navigation looks cleaner

It prevents lower‑level headings from becoming the “accidental title”

Plugins and templates often rely on the first H1

Put your document title at the top like this:

Code

Then continue with H2s for major sections:

Code

This keeps your structure clean, predictable, and SEO‑friendly.

Always one H1 per page

Never skip directly to H2

Use headings consistently so your TOC looks good