Diablo Wiki:Manual of Style

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'''This MoS was based off WoWWiki's Manual of Style. Remove this notice when the article is finished.'''

This Manual of Style outlines a standard of clean, consistent formatting for articles on this wiki. The formatting described here is a guideline and can be overridden where circumstances warrant it. These guidelines will never be unerringly perfect for every situation. However, please try your best to keep to the advice outlined in this article so others may use your edits as an example when creating and editing their own articles.

These guidelines are a summary of the most important guidelines for this wiki, but a more expansive set of style guidelines can be found on Wikipedia at Wikipedia Manual of Style. A sample article based off these guidelines can be found on Diablo wiki:Manual of Style/Sample.

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 section should essentially be a summary of the entire article. 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 "Diablo, the Lord of Terror is one of the three Prime Evils and one of the major characters in each game in the Diablo series ."

The first time the article mentions the title, put it in bold using three apostrophes —  produces article title. Avoid other uses of bold in the first sentence, except for alternative titles of an article; for example:

The Necromancers, or the Keepers of the Balance, are a group of powerful magic users that...

Follow the normal rules for italics in choosing whether to put part or all of the title in italics. This will mainly apply to the titles of books and games:

The Path of Shadow is a novel in  The Sin War  trilogy.

Do not put links in the bold reiteration of the title in the article's lead sentence. For example, " Flameblight the Goatman  is a powerful enemy..." versus "Flameblight the Goatman is a powerful enemy."

The wiki's format has an "italicized first time" approach&mdash;for instance, Diablo III will be written as Diablo III the first time in an article. All subsequent mentions are without italics.

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):
 * To completely remove the TOC from a page:

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. Do not use a single . This is because a single   creates an   heading which is already used by the page header (page title) and would be bad coding. Also, do not use wikilinks in section headings. When edited, these sections become confusing in the edit history because of the link code. Consider instead putting 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". But "In the Sin War" is allowed.

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.

Large images such as screenshots should use the "thumb" (example: ) option which displays large images as thumbnails. Images should generally be right aligned to enhance readability by allowing a smooth flow of text down the left margin - the "thumb" option does this by default. If an infobox is not being used in an article, a right aligned picture in the lead section is encouraged.

Fan images are allowed to be uploaded, but should not be used in articles, and are best reserved to forums, user pages, etc. Exceptions include fan-art that has been appropriated by Blizzard (e.g. used in article posts/promotions) but where possible, it is best to use an in-house image.

When uploading an image, give it a name that pertains to the image itself - this helps navigation. Also categorize it in an appropriate category/categories, as listed at Category: Images. For more information on the uploading process, see Help:Images.

Galleries
When an article has many images, or can be improved by having more, and having inline images be detract from the readbility of an articles, the use of a  section is encouraged.

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.

Appearances list
When listing appearances for an individual/group, they are listed both chronologically, and in the order of the type of media that was introduced to the Diablo series. For instance, Deckard Cain appears in Diablo I, Diablo II, and Diablo III, so these three games are listed first in his appearances list, in that order of release. Next are his RPG entries, and so forth. The list of media inclusions are as follows:


 * Games (beginning with Diablo)
 * Tabletop RPGs (beginning with Dungeons and Dragons: Diablo II Edition)
 * Novels (beginning with Demonsbane)
 * Comics (beginning with Tales of Sanctuary)
 * Sourcebooks (beginning with Deckard Cain's Journal)
 * Short stories (beginning with Hatred and Discipline)
 * Movies (beginning with Diablo III: Wrath)

Navigation boxes
Navigation boxes can use or be based off Navigation Box. Generally they should be placed at the end of an article, above the categories.

Expand with more details and examples.

Article message boxes
''Add me! You may want to look at Wikipedia:Article message boxes.''

See also, references, external links, and navigational tables
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. 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. They take the form. Note that this is quite a different method from othe wikis. What we're using there is a link template.

All articles should be accessible starting from Category:Browse, via subcategories.

Disambiguation
A disambiguation line, commonly called a mini-disambig, 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. Most usually contain the phrase, "Were you looking for X?" For example:


 * Were you looking for " Diablo", the Prime Evil? 

The template for can also be used for this purpose.

Quotations
Format a long quote (over four lines) as an italicized block quotation, which will be indented from both margins. Do not enclose the block quote in quotation marks. To format a block quotation, do not use the wiki indentation mark " " — instead, use the HTML  element.

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): "Prince Albrecht", not "prince Albrecht". When used generically, they should be in lower case: "Lachdanan was a powerful knight." The correct formal name of an office is treated as a proper noun. Hence: "Lord Hakkan was the former Emperor of Eastern Kingdoms."

Class and Skill names should be capitalized wherever they are used. ("Necromancer, go be evil" and "That Necromancer is quite evil.")

Titles of works
Italics are used for the titles of works, such as books and games. The titles of articles, chapters, and other short works are not italicized but are enclosed in double quotation marks.

For example, italicize  The Sin War  and  World of Warcraft , and use quotes for " Book of the Blind " etc.

Skills
This is an example layout to use for each skill:
 * See Hurricane for a finished example.

Class:

Skill Tree:

Required Level:

Prerequisites: Previous Skill → Previous Skill → Current Skill

Effect: (Brief description of skill in italics)

[Double gap between lines]

Damage Type: (Physical, Magical, Fire, Lightning, Cold, Poison, as well as any auras a minion might have, like Fire Golem has Holy Fire Aura, which would go here too)

(Any additional stat information is listed here. For example, Mana Cost, Duration, Radius. If a skill's stat changes with each skill level-up, then only the minimum is shown like this:  (Minimum: +20%).

(Double gap between lines)

(Skill Name) Receives Synergies From:
 * (Skill Name)
 * (Skill Name)
 * (Skill Name)

(Make sure to put this on every skill page)

(Double gap between lines)

(Here is a description of the skill directly from the manual)

(Below it is where any additional information is added that you feel is necessary).

(Insert appropriate template at bottom of page)

(Note: make sure to add links description and stats!)

(Images are also a good idea to add)

Writing

 * “I believe the road to hell is paved with adverbs” -- Stephen King

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. Keeping your writing simple will make it easy to understand and easy to expand on. Use complete sentences whenever possible. 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 Winston Churchill. 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.