StrategyWiki:Guide/Layout: Difference between revisions
From StrategyWiki, the video game walkthrough and strategy guide wiki
→Text: Document spacing policy I was told about on my talk page but could not find in the site guide; hopefully it fits here.
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(→Text: Document spacing policy I was told about on my talk page but could not find in the site guide; hopefully it fits here.) |
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A well–laid-out article will flow properly, with no awkward whitespace (blank areas), and equally no "piling up" of items such as images and boxes. In some cases – especially when the article contains a lot of content – this is hard to achieve, but by sticking to a few simple rules, it should all work fine. However, before an article can be written, you have to [[StrategyWiki:Guide/Table of contents|make sure to put it in the right place]]. | A well–laid-out article will flow properly, with no awkward whitespace (blank areas), and equally no "piling up" of items such as images and boxes. In some cases – especially when the article contains a lot of content – this is hard to achieve, but by sticking to a few simple rules, it should all work fine. However, before an article can be written, you have to [[StrategyWiki:Guide/Table of contents|make sure to put it in the right place]]. | ||
If you have any questions or suggestions regarding layout, bring them up on [ | If you have any questions or suggestions regarding layout, bring them up on [[StrategyWiki:Discord|Discord]]. | ||
== Text == | == Text == | ||
The text will form the main part of the article, and so it is important that it is laid-out properly. In this respect, good authorship comes into play, with well-written guides being more interesting and engaging to read, and thus being more useful. If you aren't too competent with words, however, don't worry. Just try your best, lay out the article properly, and put <nowiki>{{cleanup}}</nowiki> at the top of the article to signify that it needs cleaning up. | |||
One of the key points of laying out text well is the effective use of paragraphs. Separate each idea out, and put them in different paragraphs by splitting them with a double-line-break (i.e. press enter twice after the first paragraph, then write the second). Note that a single line-break won't work: it ''has'' to be a double one. Note also that the splitting of paragraphs doesn't just work for text: other items separated by a double-line-break will also become separate paragraphs, which is sometimes less than desirable, and something to look out for. | One of the key points of laying out text well is the effective use of paragraphs. Separate each idea out, and put them in different paragraphs by splitting them with a double-line-break (i.e. press enter twice after the first paragraph, then write the second). Note that a single line-break won't work: it ''has'' to be a double one. Note also that the splitting of paragraphs doesn't just work for text: other items separated by a double-line-break will also become separate paragraphs, which is sometimes less than desirable, and something to look out for. | ||
Also, though it does not affect the layout seen by readers, for consistency across the wiki, please use one space between sentences, not two. | |||
=== Drivel === | |||
A further thing to watch out for when writing the text of a guide is drivel. This is extraneous and redundant text which just bores the reader and doesn't help the guide in any way. Examples of drivel would be: | A further thing to watch out for when writing the text of a guide is drivel. This is extraneous and redundant text which just bores the reader and doesn't help the guide in any way. Examples of drivel would be: | ||
* '''Contributor lists''': the history does this | * '''Contributor lists''': the page history does this | ||
* '''Editing guides''': we have a perfectly good [[Help:Contents|help and guidelines]] section | * '''Editing guides''': we have a perfectly good [[Help:Contents|help and guidelines]] section | ||
* '''"What this is/is not"''': again, we have a good guidelines section, and all content relevant to a game should be included in its guide | * '''"What this is/is not"''': again, we have a good guidelines section, and all content relevant to a game should be included in its guide | ||
* '''Overly poetic descriptions/purple prose''': let the game focus on being artistic, the focus of the guide is to help the player | |||
* '''Criticism of the game''': guides are not reviews and should remain neutral on the quality of the game | |||
* '''History lessons''': guides are about the game, not the real world | |||
<!--* '''Comparisons to other games''': they are useless for people who don't know the other game and irrelevant for everyone.--> | |||
=== Headings === | === Headings === | ||
Another important part of writing good article text is splitting it up into useful headings. These allow the user to quickly navigate to places in the document using the table of contents automatically generated by MediaWiki, and also provide separation between sections. | Another important part of writing good article text is splitting it up into useful headings. These allow the user to quickly navigate to places in the document using the table of contents automatically generated by MediaWiki, and also provide separation between sections. | ||
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== Images == | == Images == | ||
When including images in a guide, you must always make sure they are presented properly. After [[StrategyWiki:Images|uploading them properly]], they should be included in the page with (usually) the following wikimarkup: <nowiki>[[File:image_name.png|thumb|left|Image caption goes here.]]</nowiki> (note that Image: works, but since it takes 1 extra character we prefer File:). Note that the caption is a complete sentence, including a period at the end. The caption should convey the meaning of the image, or describe what's happening in a succinct manner. | When including images in a guide, you must always make sure they are presented properly. After [[StrategyWiki:Images|uploading them properly]], they should be included in the page with (usually) the following wikimarkup: <nowiki>[[File:image_name.png|thumb|left|Image caption goes here.]]</nowiki> (note that Image: works, but since it takes 1 extra character we prefer File:). Note that the caption is a complete sentence, including a period at the end. The caption should convey the meaning of the image, or describe what's happening in a succinct manner. | ||
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If many images are required for one section of a guide, a <nowiki><gallery></nowiki> tag is more appropriate than many floating thumbnails. This should be (most likely) placed at the bottom of the section, but any other placement between paragraphs is acceptable. It uses the following syntax: | If many images are required for one section of a guide, a <nowiki><gallery></nowiki> tag is more appropriate than many floating thumbnails. This should be (most likely) placed at the bottom of the section, but any other placement between paragraphs is acceptable. It uses the following syntax: | ||
<pre><gallery> | <pre><gallery> | ||
File: | File:image name.png|Image caption goes here. | ||
File: | File:image name2.png|Second image caption goes here. | ||
File: | File:image name3.png|Third image caption goes here. | ||
</gallery></pre> | </gallery></pre> | ||
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