For guidelines specific to the Mass Effect wiki, see the Mass Effect Wiki:Manual of Style.
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This subpage outlines a standard of clean, consistent formatting for wiki articles. The formatting described here is a guideline and can be overridden where circumstances warrant it.
Article layout[]
One of the most important parts of wiki editing is how to structure an article. The structure is a powerful thing: it dictates what information the reader reads and when he or she reads it. It can influence what people contribute, where it goes, and how it might be written. Structure has the power to inform or confuse the same way good or bad writing does. Keep a well structured article, and you're more likely to have a high quality one.
Organize sections in an article in a hierarchical structure like you would an outline. Keep it logical, but feel free to forsake strict logic for readability. Wherever possible, try to have an introduction for each section. Just like the article as a whole, the section should start with an introduction and then have its subsections below it. Try using a shallow structure rather than a deep one. Too many nested sections usually leads to a confusing or unreadable article.
Above all, keep your layout consistent. Don't throw your reader a curve ball too often. The following sections will offer some good advice on keeping your articles clean, consistent, and clear.
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.
If possible, make the title the subject of the first sentence of the article. For example, write "King Frederick II was [[King of Terra]] during and after the [[Second War]]."
- Note: The Mass Effect Wiki uses self-links for bolding the first mention, rather than three apostrophes.
Table of contents[]
A table of contents will automatically appear in articles with a minimum of four headings (unless forced by the below options). By default this will be left-aligned above the first section heading.
- To the force a TOC position (left-aligned):
__TOC__ - To completely remove the TOC from a page:
__NOTOC__
The table of contents can be right-aligned - but only if it is very long (over 15 entries) and an information box is not occupying the top-right corner of the article (rare exceptions exist).
- Right-aligned TOC that floats next to text: {{tocright}}
Section headings[]
Use the == (two equal signs) style markup for main headings, equivalent to <h2>. Do not use a single =. This is because a single = creates an <h1> heading which is already used by the page header and would be bad coding. Also, do not use wikilinks in subject headings. It may cause issues with the functionality to edit a section by right-clicking the heading. Instead, put the word in the first or second sentence of the section and linking it there.
Capitalize the first letter only of the first word and of any proper nouns in a heading and leave all of the other letters in lowercase. Use "Founding and history", not "Founding and History".
- Note: The Mass Effect Wiki generally uses title case in headings for articles as well as sections.
Avoid special characters in headings, such as an ampersand (&), a plus sign (+), curly braces ({}), or square braces ([]). In place of the ampersand, use the word "and" unless the ampersand is part of a formal name.
Always keep headings short and simple. Headings are guidelines to your page's structure and should inform the reader rather than confuse. To keep it short, avoid unnecessary words or redundancy in headings, i.e. avoid a, an, and the, pronouns, repeating the article title, and so on. Also, try to avoid giving identical titles to different sections.
Images[]
Images make an article memorable and pretty. They can speak where words fail. At the same time, misplaced or untidy images can detract from an article. When choosing images, keep in mind placement, size, and the appropriateness of the image to the section. Let images flow with the text instead of break it up.
Images should generally be right-aligned to enhance readability by allowing a smooth flow of text down the left margin. If an infobox is not being used in an article, a right aligned picture in the lead section is encouraged.
When an article has many images, or can be improved by having more, and having inline images be detract from the readability of an articles, the use of a <gallery> section is allowed.
- Note: For more information, see Help:Images and Mass Effect Wiki:Files Guideline.
Tables[]
Tables should use a "class" design when possible, and should include as little "fancy" formatting as possible. Tables can also be made sortable by adding a "sortable" class.
For long tables, it is recommended to create an "alt" class to alternate row colours to enhance readability. The below examples use "toccolours" as a class, but this is only for the purposes of demonstration, and isn't generally recommended.
With row headings, table caption, sortable[]
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Without row headings, with alt rows[]
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The last sections, if they exist, should always be "See also", followed by "References", followed by "External links". In the case of "See also", use bullets to list the internal links. Under the references section should be placed <references/>. Finally, in the external links should be all external links.
Categories[]
Categories should be added to the end of an article. A full list can be found on Special:Categories.
The wiki's categories are organized into a tree which is rooted by Category:Browse. All articles should be accessible starting from Category:Browse, via subcategories. To change the parents of a category, simply edit the category page and add or remove [[Category:SomeCategoryName]] links.
If you want to provide a link to an entire category, you need to add it as [[:Category:SomeCategory]], with a colon before the word "Category". Otherwise you'll place the page in that category instead of creating a link.
Creating new categories[]
If you are creating a new category, the category page itself needs to be created. When creating the page, include a brief description of the purpose of the category, the category template, and add the category itself to any parent categories. For example,
This is an example of a [[Special:Categories|category]] page.
{{category}}
[[Category:Browse]]
[[Category:Help]]
Using sort keys[]
By default, the first character of the page title determines under which letter it will be sorted on a category page. With a sort key, a page can be sorted by a different name than its title.
The syntax is the same as for piping a link, with the difference that the sort key is not outwardly visible.
- Example: Categorizing the page Mass Effect Legendary Edition as [[Category:Games|Legendary Edition]] puts the page in the "Games" category, where it is sorted under "L" (as if it was called just "Legendary Edition").
- Example: [[Category:Combat|*{{PAGENAME}}]] causes a page to be sorted as if its page title began with an asterisk, bumping it higher up on the sorting list. This may be done for example to separate template pages out of mainspace articles in a given category listing.
Disambiguation[]
A disambiguation line is sometimes put at the beginning of an article to link to another article with the same or similar title. The line should be italicized and indented once. The template {{for}} can be used for this purpose.
- Note: For up to four disambiguation links, the Mass Effect Wiki uses the template {{DisambigMsg}}.
Templates[]
Wikis use templates to avoid the tedium making dozens (or hundreds!) of changes to standardized markup and text.
- See also: Mass Effect Wiki:Templates
Redirects[]
Redirects are usually created when a page is moved (i.e. renamed): the original page is given a redirect. This is accomplished automatically by replacing the old page with one which just contains the text
#REDIRECT [[NewPageName]]
For example, the Argus Rifle page redirects to the M-55 Argus article.
It is also entirely possible to manually create such pages using the #REDIRECT directive. This can be useful since such pages will show up in searches and can provide sensible aliases (e.g. Shepard redirects to Commander Shepard). This also provides a convenient way to naturally add links to wiki pages without needing to resort to [[actual link|visible text]]. However, please refrain from creating large numbers of redirects which are not likely to be needed.
Also note also that the wiki automatically understands markup like [[turian]]s, rendering the whole thing as "turians".
Grammar[]
Grammar is a writer's toolbox. You can't build good sentences without knowing how to use your tools. Since a wiki article must be as clear as possible for all the people reading it, editors must keep close to correct grammar standards to ensure clear communication.
Capitalization[]
Titles such as lord or king start with a capital letter when used as a title (followed by a name): "Councilor Valern", not "councilor Valern". When used generically, they should be in lower case: "Udina is a headstrong ambassador." The correct formal name of an office is treated as a proper noun. Hence: "Anduin is the current King of Stormwind."
Classes should only be capitalized when used as a proper noun, i.e. as someone's name. ("Go be evil, Warlock" versus "That warlock is quite evil.")
- Note: Proper capitalization of Mass Effect entities is one of the wiki's greatest "pitfalls" and most important spelling rules. See the Manual of Style for specifics.
Titles of works[]
Italics are used for the titles of works, such as books and films. The titles of articles, chapters, and other short works are not italicized but are enclosed in double quotation marks.
For example, italicize [[The Last Guardian]] and [[World of Warcraft]], and use quotes for "[[Arathor and the Troll Wars]]".
- Note: Videogame titles are not italicized on the Mass Effect Wiki.
Writing[]
I believe the road to hell is paved with adverbs, and I will shout it from the rooftops.
—Stephen King, On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft
We now come to the meat of an article: the words themselves. When you're editing wikis, you're both academic and artist. You have to be accurate, but you also have to be interesting. Neither one can dominate; you have to skillfully balance both.
Keep your writing concise. Don't use two words where one will do. Keep your writing simple to make it easy to understand and expand on. Use complete sentences. When you write, use grammar as a toolbox – know the rules, but only break them on purpose.
Check your spelling and grammar. Do not use "u" in place of "you" or "2" in place of "to." Write the way you would for a class paper or a newspaper article.
Keep all of the topics you cover within the scope of the article. What that means is, you don't need to give a detailed history of humans on the page about Donnel Udina. Consider the article's title as your point of origin and write from that perspective. Make use of the wiki's ability to link to more detailed articles or external sources for more information.
Write from an impersonal perspective. Do not use "I." For example, do not write, "Hellscream was a fervent member of the Horde. He served both the Old and New Horde, as far as I know." Avoid drawing attention to the author (yourself) as much as possible.
Be bold. If you know something is wrong, correct it. If you think you could word something better, write it. If an article has a glaring deficiency, fill it. Even if your first attempt isn't golden, you can fix it later or someone else will come along and fix it for you. Don't be afraid to screw up.
Conclusion[]
Every article can be improved (even this one). Following these guidelines will not ensure a perfect article the first time, but it will give the article a stronger skeleton. It's ultimately your job as an editor to put meat on it.