Hammerting:Style guide

This **style guide** has the simple purpose of making the Hammerting Wiki easy to read by establishing a certain format. One way is often as good as another, but if everyone does things the same way, the articles will be easier to read and use, along with being easier to write and edit. Reading the style guide is important to ensure that each user's edits will be consistent with those of other users.

## Article titles

Pages must have appropriate titles. Names, locations, and titles (like a mission) should all be capitalized, **though not the whole title**. Block capitals should not be used in titles (e.g. 'Article titles' instead of 'ARTICLE TITLES'). Try to make the article's topic the subject of the first sentence in the article. For example, write "This style manual is a style guide" instead of "This style guide is known as..." Use boldface (Ctrl+B in the editor) for the first (and only the first) appearance of the title.

**Articles about items, monsters, missions should be titled exactly as the subject's name appears in-game.** If you are in doubt about a name, please check it in-game. If you come across a page with an incorrect title, please move it to the correct title and edit it to make the correct title consistent. If a page's title conflicts with its content, make the content consistent with the title before checking in-game to ensure accuracy.

**Words such as articles and short prepositions in titles should be left un-capitalized**, unless they are intended to be capitalized in *Hammerting*. These include words such as 'a', 'the', and 'of'. For example, the article on *The League of Methis* coalition has the title 'The League of Methis' (the 'The' is capitalized but the 'of' is left un-capitalized).

## Templates

Whenever possible, use templates. Below is a list of available templates for now :

* Places : a good example is Latewind Lumbermill
* Item : a good example is Vendarii Lumber
* Missions: a good example is Southern Whispers

Using them is a bit tricky, but very doable once you know how:
When creating a page, go into the "Source Editor" mode and type

```
{{subst:theNameOfYourTemplate}}
```

Once you've done that, save your changes, and your article is ready to be filled with the relevant informations.

Doing so helps keep homogeneity in the wiki, so thanks in advance for that!
Every template comes with a "stub" warning, that you can easily delete if you think you're done with the article!

## Sections and headings

Separating articles into sections makes them easy to read and navigate. Headings are used to split articles into sections.

### Markup

Use two equal signs (`==`) style markup for headings. Start with `==`, add the heading title, then end with `==`.

This section's heading was created with the markup:

`==Sections and headings==`
This subsection's heading was created with the markup:

`===Markup===`
### Wording

* Regarding capitalization: stick to the in-game model.
* Avoid putting links in headings.
* Make sure that the heading has an appropriate and accurate title, as this is important to help readers navigate the article.
* Keep headings short.

### Lead sections

A lead (introduction) summarizes the most important points of an article, creating interest in the topic. Thus, it should be limited to a few paragraphs. Certain information, such as strategies and trivia, should be in a separate section instead of in the lead. This applies only to articles that are of sufficient length to incorporate a lead.

## Text elements

### Font colours

Coloured font can be used **sparingly**, though not in very bright colours. For example, you can use a dark colour for a warning. Note that light colours will not show up well against the article's white background.

### Invisible comments

Invisible comments are used to communicate with other editors in the article body. To do so, enclose the text which you intend to be read only by editors within `<!--` and `-->`. For example, using `<!-- This is a comment -->` will be hidden in the article.

### Bulleted lists

Bulleted lists can be used in mission walkthroughs and lists. For example, you can use bullets if you're listing what levels to train a certain skill or locations of an item. Do not forget proper punctuation. To add bullets, put an asterisk (\*) before the name. For example:

```
* List name 1
* List name 2
** Sub-list

```

would come out as:

* List name 1
* List name 2
	+ Sub-list

### Numbered lists

All the rules for bulleted lists apply also to numbered lists. Numbered lists can be used for listing steps in a process. To add a numbered list, put a number sign (#) before the list name. For example:

```
# List name 3

```

would come out as:

1. List name 1
2. List name 2
3. List name 3

### Bold and italics

Place *two* apostrophes (''Italicised text'', or CTRL + I) on either side of a selection of text to italicise the selection. Italics are mainly used to *emphasise* certain words, though they should be used sparingly. **Also note that *Hammerting* should always be italicised**. Italics may make longer phrases or sentences difficult to read.

Place **three** apostrophes ('''Boldfaced text''') on either side of a selection of text to boldface the selection. Bold is used as a stronger emphasis than italics, although it should be used extremely sparingly within articles (almost never). **The first appearance of an article's title in the article should always be boldfaced**.

Place ***five*** apostrophes ('''''Boldfaced and italicised text''''') on either side of a selection to use bold and italics in combination on the selection. Bold and italics combined emphasise selections well, but should be used extremely rarely. ***There are no common cases in which bold and italics are used together***.

As you can see, bold works well to emphasise sentences as well as short phrases and single words, while italics are a much weaker emphasis for sentences, but work well on short phrases or single words. Bold and italics are used in combination very rarely. Excessive use of **any** of these text elements will make the entire article difficult to read, so please use them in appropriate situations.

## Grammar and spelling

### Tense

A rule of thumb is to use present tense in all cases. For example, articles for missions, skills, activities, etc. should be written in present tense. An exception to this rule would be events that have occurred in the past, or for in-game content that has been removed.

* **Past tense:** Past events and in-game content that has been removed
* **Future tense:** Future updates and upcoming content that have been confirmed
* **Present tense:** All other cases

### Common grammatical errors

**then** and **than**

Despite their pronunciations being very similar, they are different in meaning.
**Then** is used in one of the three following cases:
1. at that time; at the time in missionion.
"I was living in Cairo then."
2. after that; next; afterward
"She won the first and then the second game."
3. in that case; therefore
"If you do what I tell you, then there's nothing to worry about."
"Well, that's okay, then."
**Than** is used in comparing two elements in a sentence
"He was much smaller than his son."
or in expressions introducing exceptions or contrasts
"He claims not to own anything other than his home."
**its** and **it's**

**Its** is the possessive adjective and possessive pronoun form of the personal pronoun *it*.
"He chose this area for its atmosphere."
On the other hand, **it's** is a contraction (shortcut) for **it is** OR **it has**.
it is - "It's my fault."
it has - "It's been a hot day."
**their**, **there,** and **they're**

**Their** is possessive, referring to an object, or objects, belonging to a certain number of people.
"The ball is their property."
**There** is an adverb, referring to a certain position or area.
"We went on to Paris and stayed there eleven days."
**They're** can also be confused with *their* and *there*. *They're* is a contraction for **they are** and **they were**, depending on how the sentence is constructed.
"The reason that they're going to the store is to buy more milk."
**should of**

The reason people write "should of" when they mean **should have** is because the contraction of **should have** (should've) is pronounced like "should of." Avoid "should of" like the plague. Instead, write "should have."
"Those rookie editors made the mistake of writing 'should of' when they meant 'should have.'"
**amount** and **number**

**Amount** refers to a quantity that can be measured. **Number** refers to a quantity that can be counted.
"Higher skill levels require a greater amount of experience."
"The maximum number of players that log into any world is 2000."
**much** and **many**

As in the above example, **much** refers to a quantity that can be measured. **Many** refers to a quantity that can be counted.
"How much total experience do you have?"
"How many people are in your clan chat?"
**alter** and **altar**

An **altar** is a piece of furniture used in worship. To **alter** is to change something.
**affect** and **effect**

One thing may **affect** (or change) another. The result of an action is its **effect** or **effects**. Also, to **effect** is to produce.
**your** and **you're**

The word **your** is the possessive form of the word *you*.
The word **you're** is a contraction of the words *you are*.

### Point of view

Articles should be written in the third person or objective point of view. Using the word "you" in articles is informal and should be avoided except if it is inside a quotation; try to use "players" or "the player" instead. For guides, "you" can be used, although the command imperative ("Cut some logs and bring them to Lumbridge") is acceptable as well.

### Uploading images

* The preferred formats for images are PNG.
* Images of items should have a transparent background.
* Personal images which are only used on a User page should not be uploaded. Images should be able to be used on main space articles, else they will be deleted.
* Please name your files descriptively to avoid confusion. For example if you are uploading a picture of a weapon, name it *Rune longsword.png* and not just *Sword.png* or *RL.png*.
* **Don't upload images we already have**. We have many users doing this and it is not good to have multiple images of the same item! Before you upload an image, search the wiki if someone has already uploaded a version of it. We don't need `[[File:Fire rune.PNG]]` or `[[File:Fire rune.gif]]` if someone has already uploaded `[[File:Fire Rune.PNG]]`.

### Captions

Complete sentences in captions should always end in a full stop (period). If the caption is not a complete sentence, it generally should not have a full stop at the end. Captions should also not be *italicised*.

## Wiki-linking

* Every time an article is mentioned on the page, you don't have to link to every single one. For example, Dwarves may be mentioned five times. You only have to link to Dwarves once. You can link to articles more than once if the page is very long.
* When a skill is linked to, the name of the skill should be used, not a short form or a different spelling of it. Instead of saying "`this item can be [[Mining|mined]] by...`" you should state "`this item can be obtained through the [[Mining]] skill by ...`."

## Writing articles

Everyone is encouraged to contribute meaningfully to the wiki.

If you have a piece of information or trivia that you would like to add to an article, yet are unsure of its accuracy, leave a note on the talk page of the article so that all editors can discuss it. **Do not engage in edit wars on the article page.**

## Numbers

For numbers, a comma should be used as a thousands separator.

Inspired by https://oldschoolrunescape.fandom.com/wiki/RuneScape:Style\_guide, modified and adapted by User:Dwarftromo