Changes: Memory Alpha:Guide to layout

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Manual of Style → Guide to layout

The Memory Alpha Guide to Layout is an in-depth description about how to lay out an article. It is not a guide for wiki markup or a Manual of Style; it is simply a summary of how to write a clean, simple, and well-organized article.

Introductory material

Start your article by strongly emphasizing the subject of your text. This serves to highlight what your article is about, making the subject as clear as possible for the reader's benefit.

If the article is several paragraphs long (or more), it's best to keep the first paragraph as short and succinct as possible, with a clear explanation of what the article is about. However, do not title your introductory text with an "Introduction" or similarly-titled header. Leave the opening paragraph(s) without a header, so that the table of contents is generated after the introductory text.

Structure

Keep your paragraphs relatively short; break up longer ones so that the reader's eye doesn't start to drift and gloss over the article. (Avoid extremely long sentences for the same reason.) By the same token, articles as a whole should also be as short as possible while still covering all relevant information adequately. (This balance is often difficult to achieve!)

Headers are a useful way to divide the content of an article into appropriate parts (see Section). However, do not use an excessive number of headers, because the article will start to look cluttered, the more headers there are. Try to avoid creating one-paragraph sections, for example. (In these cases, perhaps bullet point lists would be more appropriate.)

Appendices

Any or all of the following six sections may be added to the end of an article as a means to provide the reader with resources at which to find further information. To separate this meta-information from the main content, create a section Appendices and add all necessary subsections there.

Note: It is not necessary to italicize the content of these sections!

Appearances

A complete list of episodes/movies in which the article subject appeared, sorted chronologically.

Background information

Further information about the subject, originating from official but non-canon materials such as interviews, technical manuals, encyclopedias, novels, etc. Avoid putting fan speculation here. Also, for character pages, structure the information so that details about the performer who played the character comes first, followed by any other background details regarding the character.

Apocrypha

Writings in different medias (principally in books and comics), the authenticity of which is questionable.

References

If you used an outside resource (for example, a book) to help write your article, it is sometimes useful to cite it so that other readers may consult that resource if they wish to find more information. Use a basic list layout, and include the ISBN number for reference.

Michael Okuda and Denise Okuda; Star Trek Encyclopedia; Pocket Books; ISBN 0-671-53609-5 (3rd edition, paperback, 1999).
Geoffrey Mandel; Star Trek: Star Charts; Pocket Books; ISBN 0-7434-3770-5 (paperback, 2002).

External links

If you know of any external websites that you believe are useful to the reader who is interested in more information on the subject, include them here in list form. Describe external links when possible.

Ex Astris Scientia - Bernd Schneider's website focuses on everything related to starships.

Exceptions

Exceptions to this basic article structure include pages for the episode, novel, comic, and game guides. For these types of articles, copy the style of an existing article and use that.

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
+{{help ma nav}}{{mos nav}}
-'''&laquo;- [[Memory Alpha: Help]]'''
+The Memory Alpha '''Guide to Layout''' is an in-depth description about how to lay out an article. It is not a guide for [[Help:Editing|wiki markup]] or a [[Memory Alpha:Manual of Style|Manual of Style]]; it is simply a summary of how to write a clean, simple, and well-organized article.
-The Memory Alpha '''Guide to Layout''' is an in-depth description about how to lay out an article.  It is not a guide for [[Memory Alpha:How to edit a page|wiki markup]] or a [[Memory Alpha:Manual of Style|Manual of Style]]; it is simply a summary of how to write a clean, simple, and well-organized article.
 ==Introductory material==
-Start your article by [[Memory Alpha:Follow highlighting conventions|strongly emphasizing]] the subject of your text.  This serves to highlight what your article is about, making the subject as clear as possible for the reader's benefit.
+Start your article by [[Memory Alpha:Follow highlighting conventions|strongly emphasizing]] the subject of your text. This serves to highlight what your article is about, making the subject as clear as possible for the reader's benefit.
-If the article is several paragraphs long (or more), it's best to keep the first article as short and succinct as possible, with a clear explanation of what the article is about.  However, do ''not'' title your introductory text with an "Introduction" or similarly-titled header.  Leave the opening paragraph(s) without a header, so that the table of contents is generated after the introductory text.
+If the article is several paragraphs long (or more), it's best to keep the first paragraph as short and succinct as possible, with a clear explanation of what the article is about. However, do ''not'' title your introductory text with an "Introduction" or similarly-titled header. Leave the opening paragraph(s) without a header, so that the table of contents is generated after the introductory text.
 ==Structure==
-Keep your paragraphs relatively short; break up longer ones so that the reader's eye doesn't start to drift and gloss over the article.  By the same token, articles as a whole should also be as short as possible while still covering all relevant information adequately.  (This balance is often difficult to achieve!)
+Keep your paragraphs relatively short; break up longer ones so that the reader's eye doesn't start to drift and gloss over the article. (Avoid extremely long sentences for the same reason.) By the same token, articles as a whole should also be as short as possible while still covering all relevant information adequately. (This balance is often difficult to achieve!)
-Headers are a useful way to divide the content of an article into appropriate parts.  (See [[Memory Alpha:Section|Section]])  However, do not use an excessive number of headers, because the article will start to look cluttered, the more headers there are.  Try to avoid creating one-paragraph sections, for example.  (In these cases, perhaps bullet point lists would be more appropriate.)
+Headers are a useful way to divide the content of an article into appropriate parts (see [[Help:Section|Section]]). However, do not use an excessive number of headers, because the article will start to look cluttered, the more headers there are. Try to avoid creating one-paragraph sections, for example. (In these cases, perhaps bullet point lists would be more appropriate.)
 ==Appendices==
-Any or all of the following five sections may be added to the end of an article as a means to provide the reader with resources at which to find further information. To separate this ''meta''-information from the main content, create a section ''Appendices'' and add all necessary subsections there.
+Any or all of the following six sections may be added to the end of an article as a means to provide the reader with resources at which to find further information. To separate this ''meta''-information from the main content, create a section ''Appendices'' and add all necessary subsections there.
-''Note: It is not necessary to italicize the whole content of these sections!''
+''Note: It is not necessary to italicize the content of these sections!''
-===Related topics===
-This section is for articles that are related to the current one.  (See [[Memory Alpha:Manual of Style|Manual of Style]])
 ===Appearances===
-A list of episodes/movies in which the article subject appeared. List only those episodes that aren't already referenced inline in the article text, but yield important additional information about the subject.
+A complete list of episodes/movies in which the article subject appeared, sorted chronologically.
-===Background===
+===Background information===
-Further information about the subject, originating from official but non-canon materials such as interviews, technical manuals, encyclopedias, novels, etc.. Avoid putting fan speculation here.
+Further information about the subject, originating from official but non-canon materials such as interviews, technical manuals, encyclopedias, novels, etc. Avoid putting fan speculation here. Also, for character pages, structure the information so that details about the performer who played the character comes first, followed by any other background details regarding the character.
+===Apocrypha===
+Writings in different medias (principally in books and comics), the authenticity of which is questionable.
 ===References===
-If you used an outside resource (for example, a book) to help write your article, it's sometimes useful to cite it so that other readers may consult that resource if they wish to find more information.  Use a basic list layout, and include the ISBN number for reference.
+If you used an outside resource (for example, a book) to help write your article, it is sometimes useful to cite it so that other readers may consult that resource if they wish to find more information. Use a basic list layout, and include the ISBN number for reference.
 * [[Michael Okuda]] and [[Denise Okuda]]; <cite>[[Star Trek Encyclopedia]]</cite>; Pocket Books; ISBN 0-671-53609-5 (3rd edition, paperback, 1999).
-* Geoffrey Mandel; <cite>[[Star Trek Star Charts]]</cite>; Pocket Books; ISBN 0-7434-3770-5 (paperback, 2002).
+* Geoffrey Mandel; <cite>[[Star Trek: Star Charts]]</cite>; Pocket Books; ISBN 0-7434-3770-5 (paperback, 2002).
+===Related topics===
+This section is for articles that are related to the current one (see [[Memory Alpha:Manual of Style|Manual of Style]]).
 ===External links===
-If you know of any external websites that you believe are useful to the reader who is interested in more information on the subject, include them here in list form.  [[Memory Alpha:Describe external links|Describe external links]] when possible.
+If you know of any external websites that you believe are useful to the reader who is interested in more information on the subject, include them here in list form. [[Memory Alpha:External links|Describe external links]] when possible.
-* [http://www.ex-astris-scientia.org/ Ex Astris Scientia] - Bernd Schneider's website focuses on everything related to starships.
+* {{eas}} - Bernd Schneider's website focuses on everything related to starships.
 ==Exceptions==
-Exceptions to this basic article structure include pages for the episode guides.  For these types of articles, use the templates that are already provided.
+Exceptions to this basic article structure include pages for the episode, novel, comic, and game guides. For these types of articles, copy the style of an existing article and use that.
-'''See also:''' [[Memory Alpha:Templates|Templates]]
 [[de:Memory Alpha:Layout-Handbuch]]
 [[nl:Memory Alpha:Gids voor Layout]]
+[[ja:Memory_Alpha:レイアウトガイド]]
+[[Category:Memory Alpha guidelines|Guide to layout]]