Style Guide

This article aims to provide a Style Guide for all the wiki articles to follow. It helps editors write and maintain articles with precise and consistent layout and formatting.

New content added to this page should directly address a *persistently recurring* style issue.

## General Guidelines

* All pages must have proper spelling and grammar.
	+ Never use double spaces when writing on any page or subpage.
	+ Do not put spaces on either side of slashes (/ or \).
	+ Do not use slashes on page titles, as it can create a subpage.
	+ No decision has been made on whether the wiki will use a specific variety of English, however, US English for articles are preferred to maintain consistency.
* A computer with a mouse and keyboard is recommend for easier editing of articles.

## Notability

Articles are allowed in the main namespace only if they fit the following criteria. Articles that do not fit the criteria may be deleted or redirected without notice.

1. Articles must contain enough information to warrant a full page. If they do not have enough content, they should be merged with other similar articles.
2. Articles must pertain directly to *TERRA* in some way.

Articles in the "User:" namespace are exempt from the notability guidelines. They can be used for anything, provided they follow the other ***wiki rules***. However, it is still strongly recommended that they are kept clean as to not clog up maintenance categories.

### Capitalization

In-game items should be treated as common nouns and as such *should not* be capitalized, unless they start a new sentence. This includes fictional items. Proper nouns and Headings, however, such as ***Velocity Hub*** or names (mob names included) should always be capitalized.

### Article Titles

Article titles should generally be in the singular form, except in-game features with plural names (e.g. Boots).

Articles should follow a general naming format based on the type.

* Articles about blocks, items, and entities in-game should use the in game name capitalized as it appears in game.
	+ If the article is about multiple things in the game, the title should equally represent all the titles. For example, an article about multiple trophy types would be called ***Trophy***.

## Images

Regarding file names - we haven't yet defined a guideline, and many of the media files have names all over the place. Until we have a guideline, please use best reasoning to name them. If you upload related images of existing images, have a look at the names of similar media files.

When uploading screenshots from the game, make sure to always select "This is in the public domain".

* + If you create images by yourself, we recommand you upload it under "This is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commerical-Share Alike License". If you upload it as "I created this file myself", it will automatically be marked as "public domain".
* Please add an appropriate category to the image.
* Always categorize images under the ***Category:Media*** category.
* When you update an image with a newer version, do not upload it as a complete new file under a new name. Please use the re-upload/update function "Upload a new version of this file" for the existing image.

## Linking

The use of links is a difficult balance between providing readers enough useful links to allow them to "wander through" articles and excessive linking that can distract them from their reading flow.

Underlinking can cause the reader to become frustrated because questions may arise about the article's contents, which can be resolved only by using the search option or other sources for clarification, interrupting and distracting the reader.

Overlinking may distract the reader because links are usually colored differently causing the eye to shift focus constantly. Additionally, if the same word is linked multiple times in the same paragraph it can cause the reader to question if the links are directing them to different articles or not.

The guidelines for linking are:

* No more than 10 percent of the words in an article are contained in links.
* Unless it affects the sentence's wording and readability in a negative way, two links should not be next to each other in the text so that it looks like one link.
* Links for any single term should not be excessively repeated in the same article. Excessive linking is defined as linking the same term multiple times within a portion of text that can fit on a typical viewer's screen. Remember, the purpose of links is to direct the reader to a new spot at the point(s) where the reader is most likely to take a temporary detour due to needing more information.
* Duplicating an important link distant from a previous occurrence in an article may well be appropriate. If an important term appears many times in a long article, but is linked only once at the beginning of the article, it may actually be underlinked. Indeed, readers who jump directly to a subsection of interest must still be able to find a link. But take care in fixing such problems, the distance between duplicate links is an editor's preference; however, if in doubt, duplicate the term further down the article.

Linking to a redirect is preferred over using a piped link except in templates and other pages that are transcluded. When a piped link is unavoidable, it should not point to a redirect. If a redirect can be avoided using a suffix on the link, that is preferred. E.g. Using `[[Creeper|Creepers]]` instead of `[[Creepers]]` is preferred.

### Redirects

Redirects are exempt from the normal notability, but must redirect to an article that fits the notability guidelines. Redirects can be created if they fit one of the following:

* Alternative spelling of the title, such as "*TERRA*" for "*TERRA!*".
	+ Incorrect spelling, typos, and irregular formatting are not allowed.
* Alternative or shortened name, provided the name is common usage, such as "*EVO*" for "*TERRA! Evolved*". Previous in game names are also allowed.
	+ This includes first names or handles for the ***TERRA! Team***, such as "*Hens*" to "*Heavenly*".
* Previous article title, including if the article was moved to another wiki.
	+ An exception is if the previous title was not commonly used.
* Alternative capitalization or form, including changing the title to plural case.

Redirects in the *User* pages may lead anywhere, except to an article that does not exist or another redirect.

## Categories

Categories are useful organization tools to group articles. Please use the correct category when creating a new page.

All pages must belong to one category (and ideally, all media files too). It's fine if a page belongs to several categories.
Some sub-categories should be grouped into over-categories (example: ***Category:Items Media*** is a sub-category of ***Category:Media***).

## Writing

This wiki's purpose is to document *TERRA*. Please refrain from including personal commentary, speculation, and unsourced information on articles. Generally speaking, information does not require sources if they can directly be seen in-game or are otherwise obvious.

Articles in the main namespace should always be written in the third-person perspective and without terms referential to the reader ("you", "your", etc.). Try not to use abbreviations of words either. For instance, sentences like "You shouldn't come close to creepers because they'll explode and kill you." should be written as "A player can be killed by approaching a creeper close enough to cause it to explode."

To emphasize points, *italics* should be used. Links should use ***bold italics*** unless its not possible (e.g. Links on the small text format, or hatnotes).

## Article Layout

For the sake of consistency, all articles of a specific type should follow a general layout.

1. Hatnotes, Headings (i.e. notes that belong at the very top of an article page)
2. Quotes
3. Infoboxes
4. Introduction with a general description
5. Article body
6. Categories