Wiki Style Guide

Welcome to the **Wiki Style Guide** for Iconoclasts Wiki! Here you'll find guidelines to keep things neat, organized and appealing. Many of these are standard Wiki practice, but this list is somewhat condensed to make it easier for new editors, and contains a few tips specific to the Iconoclasts Wiki.

# Article Naming

* All Articles should be in Title Case. This means first letter of each word capitalized except for minor words (a, the). Remember that Article titles are case sensitive!
* If at all possible, articles should have both the name and spelling of any available official media.
	+ Don't make up names for things unless they are never named anywhere official.
	+ If something has no official name, attempt to pick the most widely used or accepted terminology currently in use by players and fans.
* Names should usually be in their root word form. For example, use Deflect instead of "Deflecting". Feel free to make redirects from variations of the word to the main article.

# Ordering

Every article should start with the following in this order:

1. Any relevant Categories (One per line)
2. The main thumbnail image
3. Quote(s) (one per line)
4. The opening paragraph, just a short overview of the subject.

After this, the article can begin with its first =Heading=, unless the article is too short to justify breaking it into sections, in which case this will be the end of the article.

# Text Styling

* The first instance of an article's name being written in the first paragraph should be in bold by placing it inside double [ ] brackets.

# Images

* Every article should, if possible, have a main thumbnail image at the top of the article just under the Categories. The only exception is articles that cannot be visualized in any way.
* An article's main thumbnail should be only of the subject itself. Have as few background details as possible so as to make it obvious what part of the image is the subject of the article. For individual sprites, a transparent background or at least a solid background would be preferable. Save images with more context surrounding the subject, such as larger screenshots or other artwork, for later in the article.
* Keep thumbnails just below the =Header= that they relate to.
* Articles should only contain official art about any given subject, no fan-art.
* If there are too many images used to showcase a subject compared to the amount of text in the article, consider adding a =Gallery= heading at the bottom followed by a <gallery> after it. Be reasonable about how many images to use for one subject, go for quality over quantity.
* Multiple different images of a single category should look uniform so that they will look orderly when placed next to each other. For example, notice how all the sprites on Category:Enemies are the same size and all have black backgrounds, and all the Category:Tweaks look identical.

# Quotes

* Any article may have **up to 2 quotes**. These should be at the top of an article, after any categories and the main thumbnail image.
* Quotes are not required for all articles. If there is nothing significant to quote about the subject, just leave them out. (For example, we don't need quotes for every single Tweak.)
* Quality over quantity. If there is nothing particularly profound to quote about a given subject, leave quotes out. If an article is very short, don't make the article 50% quotes, just use one or none.
* Use the following template for quotes:
	+ *<blockquote>''"Quote text here." -[[Credit]]''</blockquote>*
* The quote's credit should be an article link. It should be rare that a quote originates from something that does not have a wiki article.
* Anything possible inside a quote should be linked to its appropriate page. Do NOT alter a quote to make the article title match. To link to an article whose title does not exactly match the quote, use *[[Article Title|link text]]*
* Quotes should be selected based on the following criteria, in this order:
	+ For **Characters In-Universe**
		1. A profound phrase that the subject character says that well defines who the subject character is or role within the story
		2. A profound phrase that any OTHER character says about the subject character that well defines who the subject character is or their role within the story
		3. A memorable line from the subject character or about the subject character, such as a meme-worthy line most players will remember
	+ For **Non-Characters In-Universe** such as Enemies, Locations, and Items
		1. A profound statement that any character says about the subject of the article
		2. A line from any official media (Such as the manual, in-game menu descriptions, quotes from Konjak) that is not already contained later in the article.
	+ For **Out-Of-Universe In-Game Things**, such as Game Mechanics, Abilities, Menus, and Achievements
		1. A line from any official media (Such as the manual, in-game menu descriptions, quotes from Konjak) that is not already contained later in the article.
	+ For **Real-World Topics** such as Speedrunning, Physical Releases, or Konjak himself
		1. A line from any official media (Such as the manual, in-game menu descriptions, quotes from Konjak) that is not already contained later in the article.
		2. A line from a 3rd-party source such as a website or news article that is written by the publisher (ie not written by a user such as a forum post)

# Categories

* Articles that would otherwise contain a long list of things should direct to a category instead. For example, Enemies should redirect to Category:Enemies, and the content should be placed there instead.
* Part of a category article should specifically define what articles belong in that category and what do not.
* MediaWiki will list all members of a category at the bottom of the category page in alphabetical order. It is not required to list each member in the category article itself, but it can be beneficial to list the members above in a more logical and/or appealing way than MediaWiki does automatically. For example, chronologically or in a WikiTable containing images or extra information.
* It may make sense to combine multiple members of a category into one article for sake of efficiency. However each member should still have its own page with a category membership, which can be redirected to their shared article. For example, Alistair and Hannibal are both characters, and both are members of Category:Characters. But they both redirect to one shared article, Alistair and Hannibal, which is not also member of Category:Characters. If this is not done correctly, "Alistair and Hannibal" shows up in the category as one single character, even though they are each separate characters.

# References to Him

* The Starworm is never to be mentioned by name outside of his article (or this one). Link instead to He, Him, or His, all of which redirect to His article.
* Similarly, Birdman should never be specifically mentioned. Whenever possible, refer to Him (the Starworm) instead as their identities are ambiguous throughout most of the game. If you must link to the ACTUAL final boss and not the Starworm, link to ??? instead.
* He, Him, and His should always be capitalized when used to reference the Starworm, keeping consistent with the game text which does the same.

# Spoilers

This wiki is rife with spoilers. Spoilers do not need to be marked. However there are some kindnesses to do readers:

* Try not to spoil key plot points in the opening of an article, such as in a quote, the first thumbnail image, or in text before the first headline.
* Spoilers do not belong on the front page, however some categories may require links to secret things for the sake of completion. For example, all bosses are listed in the Bosses section, even secret ones. These should be listed with no other context, so readers won't know anything about them other than that they exist.