Datacron Database:Style Guide

Article Titles

The title for an article should use the most widely used complete form of the name of the article's subject, except when multiple subjects have the same name (and thus disambiguation parentheses are required). If the article subject is known by another less commonly used names please create a redirect to the full name.

• Block capitals should not be used within titles, unless. (Example(s): ARTICLE TITLE)
• Use italics when needed, conforming to Datacron_Database:Style_Guide#italics.
• Do not use articles (a, an, or the) as the first word, unless it is an integral part of the name. (Example(s): Galactic Empire, not The Galactic Empire; The Wheel, however is acceptable)
• Do not use titles as reference for capitalization. They are often written in title case.
• Some article titles should include disambiguation parentheses such as in the case of named Starships, Titles, Events, etc. (Example(s): Devastator (Imperial-class),Red Five (Rebel Alliance))
• Use full name instead of Abbreviations if possible, instead create a redirect to the full name for the abbreviation. (Example(s):Imperial Security Bureau, not ISB)

Technical restrictions of MediaWiki prevent editors naming pages after their specific names:

• The subject name does not begin with a capital letter.
• he subject name includes a /.
• The subject name includes a character that cannot be used in page names, including # < > [ ] | { } _.
• The subject begins with a string that would put the page in the wrong namespace. Such strings might include: Project:, File:, or User:, etc.

In cases of using disambiguation parenthesis' please use DISPLAYTITLE and mark the disambiguation parenthesis' as <small></small>.

Layout

A simple article should contain at least an introduction, references, and short description. The rest can be added when required.

1. Before the introduction
   1. Related article templates
   2. Maintenance Templates
   3. Infoboxes
   4. Images (if no infoboxes).
2. Body
   1. Introduction
   2. Content
   3. Trivia
   4. Gallery
   5. See also
   6. Notes
   7. References
3. After References
   1. Navboxes
   2. Short description
   3. Categories
   4. Stub templates

Sections & Headings

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

Markup

• Use equals signs around a section heading: ==Title== for a primary section, ===Title=== for a subsection, and so on to ======Title======, with no level skipped.
• =Title= is never used.

Wording

• Keep headings short.
• Use sentence case (capitalize only the first letter of the first word and the first letter of any proper nouns).
• Not redundantly refer back to the subject of the article (e.g., Early life, not Smith's early life or His early life).
• Not refer to a higher-level heading, unless doing so is shorter or clearer.
• Not be numbered or lettered as an outline.
• Not be phrased as a question.
• Avoid the use of color or unusual fonts that might cause accessibility problems.

To avoid technical complications:

• Be unique within a page, so that section links lead to the right place.
• Avoid links, especially where only part of a heading is linked.
• Avoid images or icons.
• Avoid templates.
• Avoid citations or footnotes.

Introduction

An introduction summarizes the most essential points of an article, creating interest in the topic.

• The Subject should be concise and defined within the first 250-300 characters.
• Should be limited to a few paragraphs.
• Subject should be mentioned as early as possible in the first sentence and should be bolded.
• Certain information such as trivia should be contained within it's own dedicated section not the introduction.