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.

Article format and sections
The following sections shall detail how each section on a page should be formated.

Intro
The intro should be short, introducing the gameplay element the page is for, as well as a short summary of uses.

Source
The source section should list the ways to obtain the items, if applicable.

Uses
The uses section should explain how to use the item or gameplay element, with examples if needed for clarity.

Lore
The lore section should be where any lore provided in-game should be placed, such as lore from the Xenobiology Lab's data log.

Trivia
The trivia section is for information about the item that is not found through gameplay, such as real-world connections or previous versions of the item from early access.

Media
The media section should contain gallery tags and images of the item's icon, the item itself, or the gameplay element.

Footer
The footer, or bottom of the page, should be an appropriate template containing links to similar items or elements, such as Template:PowerNav on any page relating to power.

Files

 * For wiki maintenance reasons, all files should be properly categorized in at least one category. and  are two parent categories.
 * GIFs should follow certain guidelines. They should be high frame rate, contain no distractions, and be as short as possible to reduce file sizes.

Naming

 * Image names should follow the capitalization rules of their respective article. For example, Large Rover.png for Large Rover.
 * Icon names should follow the same rules as above, however with Icon placed before the name of the image. Icon Large Rover.png for example.

Templates

 * It is important to read the documentation of a template before changing the parameters of the template on a page. The documentation for the template should be available at the template's base page (e.g. Template:ItemLink for ItemLink), with links to related information if necessary.
 * This applies to Infobox templates in particular, such as Template:Objects, Template:Planet, and Template:Patch, which are the most complex and most used templates on the Astroneer Wiki.
 * Template documentation usually consists of a short intro, a Uses section, and an Examples section. However, sections may be added or removed, depending on the complexity of the template.

Categories

 * Category pages are not articles, and should only contain a couple of short sentences, if needed. If it necessary to add information, create a new article and categorize it with a blank category (such as Power in Category:Power).
 * The blank category is reserved for pages that share the category's name or are in another way very closely related to the category.
 * All pages must be categorized appropriately. This includes articles, files, and categories themselves. should be the base category, and is the only category with no category.

Disambiguations
Disambiguation pages are short pages that link to items that share a similar base term, such as Solid-Fuel Thruster and Hydrazine Thruster both being Thrusters.

Guides
Guides can cover a wide array of different subject, so a single style guide for one guide page may not work for another. Any help styling a guide page may be asked for from the admins.