Battlefield Wiki:Manual of Style

The preceding Standard Formatting policy is archived here

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.

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:
 * The Hand Grenade is a small, light-weight, timed explosive device

The first time the article mentions the title, put it in bold:
 * The Hand Grenade is a small, light-weight, timed explosive device.

Avoid other uses of bold in the first sentence, except for alternative titles of an article; for example:
 * The S20K, in reality known as the Saiga 20K, is a...

Italics are used for the titles of works, such games.

So an example of all of these might be:


 * Battlefield: Bad Company 2 (also known as Bad Company 2 or BF:BC2) is a direct sequel to Battlefield: Bad Company and is the eighth game in the Battlefield series.

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. The below options are only available in source mode editing:


 * To the force a table of contents to appear, type:   (contents will appear where this line is typed)
 * To completely remove the table of contents from a page, type:  

Section Headings
Use level 2 headings for main headings. Do not use a level 1 heading as this creates a heading the same size as the page title. For subsequent, sub-headings, use progressively larger level headings, first 3, then 4

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, as this complicates the 'jump to' function in the contents.

Images and Videos
Images and videos make an article memorable and good looking. They can speak where words fail. At the same time, misplaced or untidy images or videos can detract from an article. When choosing images or videos, keep in mind placement, size, and appropriateness. Let images and videos flow with the text instead of break it up.

All images, except for those in an infobox, should use the thumbnail option.

When an article has too many images, or can be improved by having more, and having inline images would detract from the readbility of the article, the use of a gallery section is encouraged. Galleries are typically placed at the end of each sub-heading. If an entire article only relates to one item in one game, you may consider a level-2 headed gallery at the end of the article instead.

Videos may be placed in text, as thumbnails, but may also be placed in video galleries. Due to the size of video galleries, these should only be placed at the end of an article, not within sub-sections.

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. "Alt" class is discouraged.

See also, references, external links, and navigational tables
The last sections, if they exist, should always be "See also" (for internal links) followed by "External links" (for intenet links). Use bullets to list links

Categories
Categories should be added to the end of an article. They take the form  .

Quotations
Quotations are discouraged.

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.

As normally, only capitalise the start of sentences and then proper nouns thereafter. Ranks start with a capital letter when used as a title (followed by a name):
 * Sergeant Redford not sergeant Redford

When used generically, they should be in lower case:
 * Redford is a sergeant.

We tend not to use periods/full stops on abbreviations, e.g. USA is preferred to U.S.A., and US is preferred to U.S..

Formatting
Game details should be added under level 2 headings (==). Infoboxes should be used where applicable.

Trivia can be included as a separate level 2 heading. Trivia should be bullet pointed (*)

All pages should be categorised and use bottom-page templates where applicable

Pages should only be linked to on each article at the first mention. Thereafter they should not be linked to. For example:
 * ...featured in Battlefield: Bad Company 2. In Battlefield: Bad Company 2...

Writing
We now come to the meat of an article: the words themselves. When you are editing wikis, you must be both academic and artistic. You have to be accurate, but you also have to be interesting. Neither one can dominate; you must 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.


 * 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. Per Forum:English dialect, American English is preferred.


 * 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 a 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". Completely avoid drawing attention to the author (yourself). Do not use the impersonal "you," either, which refers to the reader or player. When writing tips, say "the player should" instead of "you should."


 * Be bold. If you know something is wrong, correct it. If you think you could word something better, do 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.


 * Maintain article neutrality. Avoid pointless adjectives that insert personal bias into an article and do not definitively say that something such as a weapon is relatively good or bad unless it can be statistically proven.


 * Don't make up words. English is the world's most comprehensive language, there is bound to be a word to describe the writer's needs. Remember, no wikian is Shakespeare. If stuck, use the Wiktionary.