Astroneer Wiki:Style guide/Update

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

This style guide was created to ensure consistency across every page of the wiki, and has been expanded over the lifetime of the Astroneer Wiki. Modifications may be suggested on the Admin noticeboard, but keep in mind that this style guide merely lists practices that are widely in use. It is not a means to impose extensive policies or even personal preferences.

Regardless, not all pages may follow the style guide entirely. While that may be due to good reason (which should then, in non-obvious cases, be marked, e.g. with a comment), 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 deviations.

General guidelines

 * Be sure to read an article before editing to prevent duplicate information from being added.
 * Keep the topic of the article in mind. Do not add information that has little to do with the actual topic - there are often other pages that already include this information. For example, stating on the Titanium page that it is refined from Titanite is sufficient, whereas saying that Titanite can be found on Glacio or Vesania would be inappropriate information.
 * Proofread the edit before saving it to make sure it fits with the rest of the article's style. Neglecting spelling or grammar, repeating information, writing vaguely, or not following any of the style guide's guidelines may result in the edit being modified or reverted. If assistance is needed with grammar or styling, please state so in the edit summary so other editors can assist.
 * Before saving an edit, the changes should be briefly explained in the edit summary field. This helps other editors understand the intentions and changes made, and may help avoid conflict in misunderstandings or controversial modifications, and facilitates searching for a certain change in the page history.

Langauge

 * Use . This is in keeping with the same language, style, and spelling used in-game.
 * Use standard, formal English and proper grammar and spelling. Do not use contracted forms (such as don't, there's – use do not, there is instead), colloquialisms, or slang.
 * Ensure a neutral, "encyclopedia" tone:
 * Do not include first- or second-person perspectives. Do not address the reader as "you", such as in "You can smelt Titanite into Titanium". Alternatively, use "the player" (e.g. "The player can smelt Titanite into Titanium"). Another option to resort to is the passive voice (e.g. "Titanite can be smelted into Titanium"), but do not overuse it. In that vein, phrases like "It is recommended to ..." should be avoided, because it is unclear who recommends it and why. A preferable alternative would be "Players should ...", although even then, reasons should be provided. Furthermore, refrain from using over-generalizing phrases like "Most players ..." – there are a lot of players with widely varying play styles.
 * Adhere to facts – do not include opinions or personal bias. This refers to, for instance, comments about the usefulness of an item or the best way to progress. Likewise, statements like "This is the worst planet" or "This item has no useful purpose" should not appear unless they are obviously justifiable by game considerations.
 * Never leave visible comments that are not meant for every reader, like things to do, "Help me format this", or "Please verify this". Hide this in or put it in the edit summary.

Capitalization

 * All entity names should be capitalized as in-game (e.g. Titanium, Large Shredder), groups of entities should be lower-cased (e.g. platforms, resources, rovers).
 * Page titles and section headings should be in, as long as that does not interfere with the rules above.
 * Generally, do not capitalize the word the in mid-sentence: "In the Outer Core, ..." instead of "In The Outer Core, ...". Exceptions include proper names (e.g. The Wanderer), which may or may not be capitalized: "When searching for The Wanderer, ..." or "When searching for the Wanderer, ..." are both acceptable.

Formatting guidelines

 * The first instance of an entity name should always be linked. This does not apply to the page title (which should be proper bold instead; see below). Further mentions of the same entity should generally not be linked, though multiple identical links can exist if they occur far from each other and would be helpful to readers. An exampled might be one link in the introductory section along with an identical link in a section, table, or template occurring further down. Duplicate links may be especially helpful on larger pages that would require scrolling to find an entity's first mention.
 * The first instance of a page should be bold. This should usually be in the first sentence of the article. No other instance of the page should be bold. Bold print should usually be avoided for emphasis on other words.
 * Italic text should only be used in certain situations.
 * Emphasis (instead of bold), though be sure not to overuse emphasis since that diminished effect; consider rewriting instead.
 * Titles of . Note that this includes Astroneer.
 * a character, word, or short string of words. When mentioned in conjunction with a whole sentence, double quotation marks may be used for consistency. A closely related use of italics is when introducing or distinguishing terms.
 * Foreign words and phrases that are not common in everyday English.
 * Italics are not to be used for titles of (which are to be enclosed in double quotation marks instead), proper names (such as place names) in other languages, and terms in non-Latin scripts like Japanese.


 * Underlining, s p a c i n g within words, c ol or s within words, ALL CAPS, and small caps styling is to be avoided at all times.
 * The template is a very convenient tool, but it should not be overused. Icon clutter can easily get out of hand. More often than not, a regular link is entirely sufficient.

Coding guidelines

 * The syntax provided by MediaWiki is preferred over, e.g.  instead of   and   instead of  . Nonetheless, in some cases the HTML syntax may be more beneficial for code readability or even necessary to avoid errors, such as in templates.
 * Section titles, lists, and indentations should include spaces for readability, i.e.:
 * instead of
 * and  instead of   and
 * instead of
 * Section titles should be immediately followed by the section text or the following subsection title, without an empty line in between.
 * Section titles should always be preceded by an empty line, unless this interferes with the rule above or creates an empty paragraph.

Categories
<!-- = Old Style Guide =
 * References to specific game objects and mechanics should always be capitalized.
 * The first occurrence in a text of references to specific game objects and mechanics with existing pages on the Wiki should always be hyperlinked to its respective pages. Subsequent references can be ignored, but if the text in question is very long and contains multiple sections, this rule may be re-applied to each consecutive section.
 * Follow the formatting in use for titles, sections, image galleries, etc. Consult similar pages' source code before starting a new one.
 * All pages should fit into a category tree. Again, consult similar pages for available categories and decide where best your page belongs.
 * Try to structure the content of your text into concise themes and distribute them through easy to read page sections, instead of dumping every detail about the subject into one huge description.
 * Illustrate pages with relevant images. A single example can be sufficient for most cases, while in other instances a gallery might be more appropriate. Be moderate with their use as they can have a big impact on page rendering times, but be generous whenever they can illuminate unique references to game objects or explanations of game mechanics. They should not replace verbal descriptions, but descriptions alone should not be presumed sufficient.
 * If you are about to make extensive modifications to an existing page, specially if you're unsure of every fact at your disposal, submitting a request for review to its original author (or as an open community request on its discussion page), is not only cordial, it ensures the page results in a better synergy of contributions. Authorship here is not to be construed as a measure of propriety but as a measure of coherence and quality. Feuding over semantics is to be avoided, but efforts to coalesce different author's idiosyncrasies into a unified text and smoothing over the patchwork of multiple contributions is in every reader's best interest. Inviting collaboration is a better alternative to insulated editing.
 * If when modifying a page you change the name or terminology used on the page, be sure to check what pages link to that article and update them with the new terminology or name.
 * If a page already exists under a different name but has other commonly used names, create a redirect page using #REDIRECT Page to redirect to.
 * If you come across an issue that requires immediate admin attention, post the issue on the Admin Noticeboard. That is the quickest way to get an issue to an admin's attention.

Translating Pages

 * Before translating any pages on the Astroneer wiki, be sure to read through the official Gamepedia translation guidelines.
 * (To be continued)

Front Page Editing

 * The front page is divided into four main sections. To suggest changes to any of these sections, you can use the discussion page for the front page sandbox. Alternatively, you can directly edit the sandbox sections by accessing them through the links at the bottom of the sandbox itself.
 * If something on the front page needs immediate attention, leave a message on the Admin Noticeboard.

Notice templates
Whenever you encounter page issues that you cannot resolve promptly, you may refer those changes to other editors through the use of these tags:


 * Tag pages with if facts stated within it contradict your own game experience or seem outlandish in origin, but can't offer yourself conclusive evidenceits it's claims. Pages tagged like this will show up in Category:Citation_needed. You can optionally open discussion on that page to elaborate on your thoughts and recruit volunteers for in-game testing.
 * Tag pages with when they are partially completed or in need of expansion. Pages tagged like this will show up in Category:Stubs.
 * Tag pages with if it's lacking in content, confusing, or badly formatted. Pages tagged like this will show up in Category:Cleanup.
 * Tag pages with as game development and official classifications introduce changes to game lore. Pages tagged like this will show up in Category:Pages to be moved for admin evaluation. If you're not sure a page should be moved, consider starting a discussion page to gather the thoughts of other community members.
 * Tag pages with if they prove redundant. Pages tagged like this will show up in Category:Pages to be merged for admin evaluation.
 * Tag pages with if they become obsolete or irrelevant. Pages tagged like this will show up in Category:Candidates for deletion for admin evaluation. If you're not sure a page should be deleted, consider starting a discussion page to gather the thoughts of other community members.
 * Tag image pages with if they need to be replaced with an improved image. Pages tagged like this will show up in Category:Images needing improvement.

Questions to ask yourself before starting an edit
Below are some questions you should ask your self before making any modifications to a page. Asking these questions before making an edit will help ensure a better quality of edits for all.

Questions to ask yourself before editing a page

 * Is this edit going to help anyone in any way? If the answer is no, you probably shouldn't make the edit.
 * Is this edit going to be based on facts or my opinion? If it's an opinion, you should consider starting a discussion page to gather the opinion of others.
 * Does this edit contain content that isn't released yet (ie: Experimental content, content from a dev stream, etc.)? If the answer is yes, you shouldn't add the content until it's implemented into a released version.
 * Has this edit been made before, but removed for one reason or another? If the answer is yes, you should take the reasoning for its removal under consideration before making it again.

Questions to ask yourself before creating a page

 * Does the page I'm about to create already exist under a different name? If the answer is yes, you shouldn't create the page, but you should consider: Creating a redirect page, or if the old name is outdated, use the move template to request it to be moved to a better name.
 * Does the subject of the page already exist under a different page that has multiple subjects within it? If the answer is yes, you should probably not create the page. However, if you believe it should have its own page, consider starting a discussion on the page where the subject currently is to ask the opinion of others.
 * Is this page based on unreleased content (ie: Experimental content, content from a dev stream, etc.)? If the answer is yes, you probably shouldn't create the page until it's implemented into a released version, however, if it's in a version to be released, the page can be created.
 * Has this page been deleted before? If the answer is yes, you should take the reasoning for its removal under consideration before creating it again.

Full Page Templates
Below is a list of full-page templates that can be used in creating certain types of new pages. They can easily be copied over to a new page and filled in or generally followed according to the page type. When copying over, remove all and  tags, they are for demonstration only.-->