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From SCIFIPEDIA
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Introduction
This Style Guide is an attempt to make things easy to read by following a consistent format. There are often multiple ways to write something, but if everyone does things the same way, SCIFIPEDIA will be easier to read and use, and easier to write and edit.
Editors of new and existing articles should try to have their articles follow these guidelines.
Clear, informative, and unbiased writing is always more important than presentation and formatting.
Also, always remember that a Neutral Point of View is the expected writing mode. There are places for partisanship and personalization but SCIFIPEDIA isn't one of those places.
The SCIFIPEDIA STYLE GUIDE is divided into the following subsections:
Article Titles
The standard formatting for a title presentation is NOT all in capital letters (despite what may sometimes appear on commercial packaging). Our preferred formatting is an initial capital letter on the first word only unless the title is also the title of a book or TV series or something where the text format is already established. "Title Format" in standard prose is often capital letters for all the major words. An example would be The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress by Robert A. Heinlein.
If possible, make the title the subject of the first sentence of the article (as opposed to putting it in the predicate). In any case, the title should appear as early as possible in the article — preferably in the first sentence.
The first time the article mentions the title, put it in bold using three apostrophes — '''article title''' produces article title.
As a general rule, do not put links in
- the bold reiteration of the title in the article's lead sentence or
- any section title.
Also, try not to put other phrases in bold in the first sentence. An exception to this arises when an article has alternative titles, each of which an editor puts in bold.
Follow these rules for italics in choosing whether to put part or all of the title in italics:
- Book titles in italics.
- Movie titles in italics.
- TV Series titles in italics.
- Short story titles in double quotes.
- Series episode titles in double quotes.
Categories
Topline Categories
An expectation for all Articles in SCIFIPEDIA is that they will be marked with a category designation (placed at the end of the material in the edit window) to aid in the indexing of the content so that future visitors will be able to locate Articles by interest area without necessarily having to know the exact title of the Article they might be looking for.
Based on years of experience at SCIFI.COM, SCIFIPEDIA has selected fourteen major categories which we think will cover the full range of topics that fit into what we expect to see covered. These "topline" categories are listed in the far left column near the top of every page. We are requesting that any new article be finished with at least one of these categories in it. The categories are: Anime, Art, Audio, Comics, ETs and UFOs, Fandom, Games, Internet, Literature, Movies, Paranormal, Science, TV, Toys.
Depending on what the article is about, more than one of these major categories can apply, so feel free to assign several if necessary. For instance, if you're doing an article about a particular book cover, it could fall into the categories of Art and Literature, and if it happens to be a tie-in novel, then Movies or TV might also be included.
However, in many instances, the Article will more accurately be categorized under a subcategory of one of these main subject areas. If you click on any of the topline categories in the list, one of the first things you will see is a listing of subcategories that fall within the overall subject area and it would be an excellent idea to check this listing and select a subcategory before you begin to post your new Articles. You should feel free to select whichever seems most appropriate. Bear in mind that if you use a subcategory, you do not also need to add the topline category, too. An Article can, of course, fit into more than one category if the content of the Article ranges across subject areas.
Categories should go at the end of the text of the article and are done as follows:
[[Category:Art]]
or
[[Category:Movies]]
etc.
That is: double square brackets opening and closing with the word "Category" followed by a colon and the name of the category, with no space following the colon.
For ease of organization, you can ensure that a name is alphabetized correctly by using this format when necessary:
[[Category:Art|Frazetta, Frank]]
That is, following the category name, a "pipe" (usually the uppercase entry on the "backslash" key of the keyboard), no space, then "Last Name" followed by a comma, followed by "First Name" (and, if necessary, a space, followed by "Middle initial(s)" or "Middle name"), thus: Paul, Frank R.
If the article is a book or movie title and starts with an article ("The" or "A"), this article should be treated in the same way as a "First Name" so that the category listing will be alphabetized on the first "major" word of the title.
We're prepared to entertain discussion on adding to the "topline" categories but we regard this as a useful starting point and suggest that you use them for a while before starting to agitate for change.
Subcategories
Although we're trying to limit the topline categories as noted above, we encourage the use of "subcategories" within each of the topline categories. In the process of creating a batch of sample entries, we've already made up many of them and we expect more to be created.
Although we encourage you to create subcategories, we want to avoid endless proliferation of categories that don't cover much. If you're planning to create a subcategory, make sure an equivalent doesn't already exist and make sure the new category will justify its own existence by providing an umbrella classification for a substantial number of articles.
We'd advise that you first click on the topline category your new article is going to go into to see what already exists. This will help avoid duplication or useless variations. For example, in "Literature" we've created, among others, "Novels," "Novellas," "Novelettes," "Short Stories," "Collections," and "Anthologies," so you don't need to create "Novel" or "Novella," and so on, unless you feel you have a strong justification for them as a separate choice. It would be best to put an idea like this into an appropriate discussion page before simply creating it.
Headings
Use the == (two equal signs) style markup for headings, not the ''' (triple "straight" apostrophes) used to make words appear bold in other formatting instructions. Start with ==, add the heading title, then end with ==.
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 unless you're quoting a title, in which case follow the format used on the book, movie, etc.
- Avoid links within headings. Instead repeat the word or phrase in the first sentence and wikify there.
- Avoid overuse of subheadings.
- Avoid "The" in headings; use "Voyage" instead of "The voyage."
- Avoid repeating the article title in headings.
- If at all possible, avoid changing spelling of section titles, as other articles may link to a specific section.
Capital Letters
Initial capitals and all capitals should not be used for emphasis. For example, "aardvarks, which are Not The Same as anteaters" and "aardvarks, which are NOT THE SAME as anteaters" are both incorrect. Use italics instead ("aardvarks, which are not the same as anteaters").
Calendar items
The names of months and days always begin with a capital letter: June, Monday.
Italics
Use the '' (italic) markup. This is two single "straight" quotes, not a double quote mark. Example:
''This is italic.''
which produces:
Editors mainly use italics to emphasize certain words. Italics for emphasis should be used sparingly.
They also use them in these other cases:
Titles
Italics are used for the titles of works of literature and art, as noted above.
Quotations
There is normally no need to put quotations in italics unless the material would otherwise call for italics (emphasis, use of non-English words, etc.).
Punctuation
In most cases, simply follow the usual rules of English punctuation. A few points where SCIFIPEDIA may differ from usual usage follow.
Quotation marks
With quotation marks, we use the "double quotes" for most quotations—they are easier to read on the screen—and use 'single quotes' for nesting quotations, that is, "quotations 'within' quotations."
- Note: if a word or phrase appears in an article with single quotes, such as 'abcd,' the search facility considers the single quotes to be part of the word and will find that word or phrase only if the search string is also within single quotes.
Longer quotations may be better rendered in an indented style by starting the first line with a colon or by using <blockquote> </blockquote> notation, which indents both left and right margins. Indented quotations do not need to be marked by quotation marks. Double quotation marks belong at the beginning of each paragraph in a quotation of multiple paragraphs not using indented style, but at the end of only the last paragraph.
Use quotation marks or indentations to distinguish quotations from other text.
Contractions
In general, formal writing is preferred. Please avoid the use of contractions—such as don't, can't, won't, would've, they'd, and so on—unless they occur in a quotation.
Acronyms and Abbreviations
Do not assume that your reader is familiar with the acronym or abbreviation you are using. The standard writing style is to spell out the acronym or abbreviation on the first reference (wikilinked if appropriate) and then show the acronym or abbreviation after it. This signals to readers to look out for it later in the text and makes it easy for them to refer back to it.
Sections
Simple Tabulation
Any line that starts with a blank space becomes a fixed font width and can be used for simple tabulation.
A line that starts with a blank space with nothing else on it forms a blank line.
Usage and Spelling
Usage
- Possessives of singular nouns ending in s may be formed with or without an additional s. Either form is generally acceptable within SCIFIPEDIA. However, if either form is much more common for a particular word or phrase, follow that form, such as with "Achilles' heel" and "Jesus' tears."
- Abbreviations of Latin terms like "i.e.," "e.g.," or "n.b." should be avoided, and English terms such as "that is," "for example," or "note" used instead.
Avoid self-referential pronouns
SCIFIPEDIA articles must not be based on one person's opinions or experiences. Thus, "I" can never be used except, of course, when it appears in a quotation. For similar reasons, avoid the use of "we" and "one."
Avoid the second person
Use of the second person ("you") is discouraged. This is to keep an encyclopedic tone and also to help clarify the sentence. Instead, refer to the subject of the sentence, for example:
- "When a player moves past 'go,' that player collects $200."
- Or: "Players passing 'go' collect $200."
- Not: "When you move past 'go,' you collect $200."
This does not apply to quoted text, which should be quoted exactly.
Wiki Linking
Make only links relevant to the context.
Check links after they are wikified to make sure they direct to the correct concept; many dictionary words lead to disambiguation pages and not to complete articles on a concept.
Misc. Notes
When all else fails
Look at an article that you like and open it for editing to see how the writers and editors have put it together. You can then close the window without saving changes if you like, but look around while you are there. Almost every article can be improved.
Keep markup simple
Use the simplest markup to display information in a useful and comprehensible way. Markup may appear differently in different browsers. Use HTML and CSS markup sparingly and only with good reason. Minimizing markup in entries allows easier editing.
In particular, do not use the CSS float or line-height properties because they break rendering on some browsers when large fonts are used.
Legibility
Consider the legibility of what you are writing. Make your entry easy to read on a screen. Make judicious use of devices such as bulleted lists and bolding.
External Links
Links to articles outside of SCIFIPEDIA appear as internal footnotes and can appear in a list at the bottom of the article. They should not appear as their native URLs, but should be formatted to describe the website and the topic. Thus: [www.websiteaddress Subject], that is opening and closing square bracket, with the URL followed by a space, followed by the subject under discussion that will be covered in the externally linked website.
For External Links relating to media properties, we've developed a ranking order for how multiple entries should be listed and it is as follows:
- Official sites for titled project
- Official sites for creative participants (actors, producers, writers) in the titled project
- Reference sites (IMDB, etc.). Please note here that we don't choose to include links to other online encyclopedias, like Wikipedia. Since we're covering a subset of the material they cover, we could be seen, in a sense, as being in competition with them and we don't wish to send contributors and visitors away from SCIFIPEDIA. Their reputation and location are well-known and their material can easily be found. It is our view that external links to Wikipedia don't serve the same purpose as links to dedicated-subject wikis which would more appropriately be referenced here when they exist.
- Fan sites for the project.
- Fan sites for the participants.
- Fan fiction sites.
Please note that we do not allow site banners or images to accompany links listings. If you wish to post site banners, you should contact our advertising department but we do not include advertising within the body of the Article content area.
2008, SCI FI. All rights reserved.
