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Help:Style Guide

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This Style Guide is a guide to editing the Eiyuden Chronicle Wiki in accordance with the established style. It describes accepted and established practices at the Eiyuden Chronicle Wiki, which are governed by precedent. Editors are advised to follow these guidelines closely in order to prevent their edits from being reverted.

The goal of this style guide ensure cross-page consistency, a very important attribute of a wiki. Modifications may be suggested, but bear in mind that the style guide merely lists practices that are widely in use. Regardless, not all pages may follow the style guide entirely. While that may be due to good reason, it is often caused by the sheer number of pages, some of which have not been touched in a long time. All editors are encouraged to rectify such issues.

General article style guidelines

  • Use third person when writing about the player. This wiki caters to players of the games but also those who may not have had the opportunity to try the series yet.
  • Write from an impersonal perspective. Do not use personal pronouns such as 'I'. Avoid drawing attention to the author as much as possible.
  • Use American English. As the English language localizations of the Eiyuden Chronicle games use American English, so does the wiki. Do not write articles using other forms of English.
  • Write formally but understandably. Simple sentences work best, as does striking an encyclopedic tone.
  • Remember to capitalize. Not only should proper nouns be reliably capitalized, remember to properly capitalize templates, categories, and uploaded files also in order to ensure the smooth processing of the wiki.
  • Original writing. This wiki should not be a copy-and-paste spot for Kickstarter updates. Quote when necessary but keep articles grounded in original writing.
  • Be creative. Just make sure that your creativity sticks with the contents and facts on the article.
  • Link to articles once per section. To make reading easier, limit the amount of linking to the same articles. For example, if a character's name is mentioned once in the infobox and five times in the article, then link to that character's article once in the infobox and once in the article.
  • Infoboxes are good. When creating or editing an article that doesn't have one, check the infobox template category and add an applicable one to the article if possible.

Naming of pages

  • Article titles should be the full and official name of the subject, following all capitalizations and punctuations as found in the games or other primary sources.
  • Avoid use of the personal article "The" at the beginning of article names unless it is truly the full and official title. (e.g. Waterstead of Quinja, not The Waterstead of Quinja. The Cost of Good Manners, not Cost of Good Manners)
  • Category names should be in plural.

Linking Guidelines

  • Avoid linking to Wikipedia articles for unnecessary information (e.g. "frog" to a Wikipedia article on "frog" as the word is commonly understood) outside Trivia and certain infoboxes.
    • Exceptions: pages that may be of interest and not common knowledge, and phrases referencing real-world subjects.
  • Avoid linking unnecessary punctuation. Words next to a bracket ]] will be included in the link.
Correct: [[Nowa]] is
Correct: [[Nowa]]s
Incorrect: [[Nowa ]]is
Incorrect: [[Nowa|Nowas]]

Article layout

Lead section

Unless an article is very short, it should start with an introductory lead section, before the first subheading. The lead should not be explicitly entitled == Introduction == or any equivalent header. The table of contents, if displayed, appears after the lead section and before the first subheading.

The lead should be capable of standing alone as a concise overview of the article, establishing context, and explaining why the subject is interesting or notable. It should be between one or two paragraphs long, and should be written in a clear and accessible style so that the reader is encouraged to read the rest of the article. Above all, the lead should define the subject of the article. If possible, make the title the subject of the first sentence of the article; for example:

Nowa is the protagonist of Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes.

The first time the article mentions the title, put it in bold using three apostrophes — '''article title''' produces article title. Avoid other uses of bold in the first sentence, except for alternative titles of an article and terms related to the subject.

The lead section should not contain in-game character information or spoilers. It should only ever contain information from public releases, such as Kickstarter updates.

Subheadings

Pages should generally follow the following format. If there is not enough information for a section to be substantial, it should be left out and the information folded into one of the remaining subheaders.

  • Profile A profile section should include information on their design and personality traits with examples given from the games they appear in or other sources, such as Kickstarter updates.
  • History A history is essentially the biography of a character or history of a location, such as we know it. The events of their lives are chronicled here in an in-universe perspective. The history section should begin with a spoiler warning when necessary, using the template {{ECR Spoilers}} for Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising in particular.
  • Gameplay This is where gameplay information will go. This section will not be used much until Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes is close to release.
  • Gallery If an entry has multiple images attributed to them, a gallery can be added under the other sections.
  • Trivia Any substantial trivia that does not fit neatly into any of the above sections should be added here. Each piece of trivia should be bullet pointed.
  • References The games are always implied to be referenced and do not need to be added. However, web articles, such as the Kickstarter updates should be added and credited as sources if used.

Categories

Many infoboxes will automatically add categories to an article. Some, however, will not or sometimes an article does not need an infobox. In that case relevant existing categories should be added to the article manually. If you think a new category is needed, raise the issue on the article's Discussion page.

Uploaded files should also be assigned to their relevant categories in much the same way as new articles.