The Donkey Kong Wiki Manual of Style is the primary factor on how edits should be done on this wiki. All users are advised to read it carefully.
This MoS was based off WoWWiki's Manual of Style. Remove this notice when the article is finished.
Please note that this Manual of Style is currently incomplete, as PegasusMan is editing it to best suit the wiki's tastes.
The Donkey Kong Wiki covers a broad range of topics, so this Manual of Style was created to set things straight. Its job is to act as a guideline for the standard method of editing on this wiki, including editing articles, dealing with media, and more.
These guidelines are a summary of the most important guidelines for this wiki, but a more expansive set of style guidelines can be found on Wikipedia at Wikipedia Manual of Style. A sample article based off these guidelines can be found on Project:Manual of Style/Sample.
Language basics[]
Grammar is the foundation of writing. It is impossible to write excellent sentences without knowing the foundation first. In addition, a wiki's articles must be as clear and concise as possible; thus, its editors must be aware of the grammar standards and follow them to ensure clear communication through their writing.
Capitalization[]
Titles such as lord or king start with a capital letter when used as a title (followed by a name):
Correct: "King K. Rool"Incorrect: "king K. Rool"
When used generically, they should be in lower case:
Correct: "Lord Fredrik is a fearsome lord."Incorrect: "Lord Fredrik is a fearsome Lord."
The correct formal name of an office is treated as a proper noun. Hence, capitalization is necessary:
Correct: "Lord Fredrik is the fearsome Lord of the Snowmads."Incorrect: "Lord Fredrik is the fearsome lord of the Snowmads."
Classes should be capitalized when used as a proper noun, i.e. as a name:
Correct: "Kremling, go be evil." & "That Kremling is quite evil."Incorrect: "kremling, go be evil." & "That kremling is quite evil."
Items, such as Bananas, Barrels, Crates, etc., are considered proper nouns, and thus should be capitalized:
Correct: "This Bonus Stage can be accessed with a Barrel."Incorrect: "This Bonus Stage can be accessed with a barrel."
Bolding[]
The first time the article mentions the title, put it in bold using three apostrophes — '''article title''' produces article title. Avoid other uses of bold in the first sentence, except for alternative titles of an article:
Correct: "The Super Nintendo Entertainment System, commonly abbreviated SNES or Super Nintendo, is a..."Incorrect: "The Super Nintendo Entertainment System, commonly abbreviated SNES or Super Nintendo, is a..."
Italicizing[]
Italics are used for the titles of works, such as games and series. The titles of episodes and other short works are not italicized, but are enclosed in double quotation marks:
Correct: Donkey Kong Country & Donkey Kong seriesIncorrect: "Donkey Kong Country" & "Donkey Kong" series
Correct: "Legend of the Crystal Coconut"Incorrect: Legend of the Crystal Coconut
Underlining[]
Although uncommonly used on pages, underlining is a very powerful tool. Therefore, it should be used sparingly throughout the wiki. Most acceptably, underlining is used to bring attention to a block of text such as a disclaimer, notice, etc. However, underlining an amount of text that is not a disclaimer, notice, or the such, is allowed, given the text being underlined is one that is commonly mistaken.
Headings & sub-headings[]
Capitalization[]
Headings with more than one word should only capitalize the first letter of the first word, unless subsequent words are considered proper nouns:
Correct: "Language basics" & "Golden Banana Hoard"Incorrect: "Language Basics & Golden banana hoard"
Linking[]
A heading that contains a link(s) is extremely distracting. Although allowed, attempts should be made to avoid linking within headings and sub-headings.
Character choice[]
If possible, certain characters such as "&" should be used in place of their spelled-out counterparts.
Abbreviations[]
On articles[]
The following table lists accepted abbreviations for game titles on article pages only. If a certain title is not listed, then it is implied that the title should not be abbreviated. Please note the italicization, even on abbreviations:
| Unabbreviated Title | Accepted Abbreviation(s) |
|---|---|
| Donkey Kong Country | DKC, DKC1 |
| Donkey Kong Land | Land, Land 1, Land I |
| Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest | DKC2 |
| Donkey Kong Land 2 | Land 2, Land II |
| Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble!! | DKC3 |
| Donkey Kong Land III | Land 3, Land III |
| Donkey Kong Country Returns | DKCR |
| Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze | DKC:TF |
| Donkey Kong 64 | DK64 |
| Donkey Kong Jr. | DKJR |
| Donkey Kong 3 | DK3 |
| Donkey Kong '94 | DK94 |
| Diddy Kong Racing | DKR |
| Donkey Konga | Konga, Konga 1 |
| Donkey Konga 2 | Konga 2 |
| Mario vs. Donkey Kong | MvDK, MvDK1 |
| Mario vs. Donkey Kong 2: March of the Minis | MotM, MvDK2, March of the Minis |
| Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Minis March Again! | MMA, MvDK3, Minis March Again |
| Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Mini-Land Mayhem! | MLM, MvDK4, Mini-Land Mayhem |
| DK: King of Swing | King of Swing |
| DK: Jungle Climber | Jungle Climber |
| Donkey Kong Jungle Beat | Jungle Beat |
| Donkey Kong: Barrel Blast | Barrel Blast |
On templates[]
The following table lists accepted abbreviations for template titles only (especially navigation template titles). They can be treated as a sort of code for template titles, and are encouraged to be mixed with one another (i.e. "DKCS" = "Donkey Kong Country Stages"):
| Unabbreviated Title | Accepted Abbreviation(s) |
|---|---|
| Areas | A |
| Bosses | B |
| Brothers Bear | BBear |
| Characters | Char |
| Donkey Kong Country | DKC, DKC1 |
| Donkey Kong Land | DKL, DKL1 |
| Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest | DKC2 |
| Donkey Kong Land 2 | DKL2 |
| Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble!! | DKC3 |
| Donkey Kong Land III | DKL3 |
| Donkey Kong Country Returns | DKCR |
| Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze | DKCTF |
| Donkey Kong 64 | DK64 |
| Donkey Kong Jr. | DKJR |
| Donkey Kong 3 | DK3 |
| Donkey Kong '94 | DK94 |
| Diddy Kong Racing | DKR |
| DK: King of Swing | KoS |
| DK: Jungle Climber | JC |
| Levels | L |
| Stages | S |
Article layouts[]
One of the most important parts of wiki editing is how to structure an article. The structure is a powerful thing: it dictates what information the reader reads and when he or she reads it. It can influence what people contribute, where it goes, and how it might be written. Structure has the power to inform or confuse the same way good or bad writing does. Keep a well structured article, and you're more likely to have a high quality one.
Organize sections in an article in a hierarchical structure like you would an outline. Keep it logical, but feel free to forsake strict logic for readability. Wherever possible, try to have an introduction for each section. Just like the article as a whole, the section should start with an introduction and then have its subsections below it. Try using a shallow structure rather than a deep one. Too many nested sections usually leads to a confusing or unreadable article.
Above all, keep your layout consistent. Don't throw your reader a curve ball too often. The following sections will offer some good advice on keeping your articles clean, consistent, and clear.
Comprehensive table[]
Click here to access the comprehensive table detailing the layout of each type of article on Donkey Kong Wiki. They are sorted by video game console, game, then finally article type.
Lead section[]
Unless an article is very short, it should start with an introductory lead section, before the first subheading. The lead should not be explicitly entitled == Introduction == or any equivalent header. The table of contents, if displayed, appears after the lead section and before the first subheading.
The lead should be capable of standing alone as a concise overview of the article, establishing context, and explaining why the subject is interesting or notable. It should be between one or two paragraphs long, and should be written in a clear and accessible style so that the reader is encouraged to read the rest of the article.
If possible, make the title the subject of the first sentence of the article. For example, write "King Frederick II was [[King of Terra]] during and after the [[Second War]]."
The first time the article mentions the title, put it in bold using three apostrophes — '''article title''' produces article title. Avoid other uses of bold in the first sentence, except for alternative titles of an article; for example:
The blood elves, or sin'dorei, are a race comprised of former high elves...
Follow the normal rules for italics in choosing whether to put part or all of the title in italics. This will mainly apply to the titles of books and games:
The Demon Soul is a novel in the [[War of the Ancients]] trilogy.
Do not put links in the bold reiteration of the title in the article's lead sentence. For example, "The night [[elves]] are an ancient race..." versus "The night elves are an ancient race."
Table of contents[]
A table of contents will automatically appear in articles with a minimum of four headings (unless forced by the below options). By default this will be left-aligned above the first section heading.
- To the force a TOC position (left-aligned):
__TOC__ - To completely remove the TOC from a page:
__NOTOC__
The table of contents can be right-aligned - but only if it is very long (over 15 entries) and an information box is not occupying the top-right corner of the article (rare exceptions exist).
- Right-aligned TOC that floats next to text: {{tocright}}
Section headings[]
Use the == (two equal signs) style markup for main headings, equivalent to <h2>. Do not use a single =. This is because a single = creates an <h1> heading which is already used by the page header and would be bad coding. Also, do not use wikilinks in subject headings. When edited, these sections become confusing in the edit history because of the link code. Consider instead putting the word in the first or second sentence of the section and linking it there.
Capitalize the first letter only of the first word and of any proper nouns in a heading and leave all of the other letters in lowercase. Use "Founding and history", not "Founding and History". Note that this is different from most section title rules you'll encounter elsewhere.
Avoid special characters in headings, such as an ampersand (&), a plus sign (+), curly braces ({}), or square braces ([]). In place of the ampersand, use the word "and" unless the ampersand is part of a formal name.
Always keep headings short and simple. Headings are guidelines to your page's structure and should inform the reader rather than confuse. To keep it short, avoid unnecessary words or redundancy in headings, i.e. avoid a, an, and the, pronouns, repeating the article title, and so on. Also, try to avoid giving identical titles to different sections.
Images[]
Caption
Images make an article memorable and pretty. They can speak where words fail. At the same time, misplaced or untidy images can detract from an article. When choosing images, keep in mind placement, size, and the appropriateness of the image to the section. Let images flow with the text instead of break it up.
Large images such as screenshots should use the "thumb" (example:[[Image:CoolImage.png|thumb]]) option which displays large images as thumbnails. Images should generally be right aligned to enhance readability by allowing a smooth flow of text down the left margin - the "thumb" option does this by default. If an infobox is not being used in an article, a right aligned picture in the lead section is encouraged.
For more information, see Help:Images.
Galleries[]
When an article has many images, or can be improved by having more, and having inline images be detract from the readbility of an articles, the use of a <gallery> section is encouraged.
Tables[]
Tables should use a "class" design when possible, and should include as little 'fancy' formatting as possible. Tables can also be made sortable by adding a "sortable" class.
For long tables, it is recommended to create an "alt" class to alternate row colours to enhance readability. The below examples use "toccolours" as a class, but this is only for the purposes of demonstration, and isn't generally recommended.
With row headings, table caption, sortable[]
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Without row headings, with alt rows[]
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[]
Navigation boxes can use or be based off {{Navigation Box}}. Generally they should be placed at the end of an article, above the categories.
Expand with more details and examples.
Article message boxes[]
Add me! You may want to look at Wikipedia:Article message boxes.
[]
The last sections, if they exist, should always be "See also", followed by "References", followed by "External links". In the case of "See also", use bullets to list the internal links. Under the references section should be placed <references/>. Finally, in the external links should be all external links.
Categories[]
Categories should be added to the end of an article - a full list can be found on Special:Categories. They take the form [[Category:Categoryname]].
All articles should be accessible starting from Category:Donkey Kong Wiki, via subcategories.
Disambiguation[]
A disambiguation line is sometimes put at the beginning of an article to link to another article with the same or similar title. The line should be italicized and indented once. Most usually contain the phrase, "Were you looking for X?" For example:
- Were you looking for "[[The Battle of Terrafield]]", an official novel?
The template {{for}} can also be used for this purpose.
Quotations[]
Format a long quote (over four lines) as an italicized block quotation, which will be indented from both margins. Do not enclose the block quote in quotation marks. To format a block quotation, do not use the wiki indentation mark ":" — instead, use the HTML <blockquote> element.
Writing[]
- “I believe the road to hell is paved with adverbs” -- Stephen King
We now come to the meat of an article: the words themselves. When you're editing wikis, you're both academic and artist. You have to be accurate, but you also have to be interesting. Neither one can dominate; you have to skillfully balance both.
Keep your writing concise. Don't use two words where one will do. Keeping your writing simple will make it easy to understand and easy to expand on. Use complete sentences whenever possible. When you write, use grammar as a toolbox: know the rules, but only break them on purpose.
Check your spelling and grammar. Do not use 'u' in place of 'you' or '2' in place of 'to'. Write the way you would for a class paper or a newspaper article.
Keep all of the topics you cover within the scope of the article. What that means is, you don't need to give a detailed history of humans on the page about Winston Churchill. Consider the article's title as your point of origin and write from that perspective. Make use of the wiki's ability to link to more detailed articles or external sources for more information.
Write from an impersonal perspective.' Do not use "I." For example, do not write, "Hellscream was a fervent member of the Horde. He served both the Old and New Horde, As far as I know." Avoid drawing attention to the author (yourself) as much as possible.
Be bold. If you know something is wrong, correct it. If you think you could word something better, write it. If an article has a glaring deficiency, fill it. Even if your first attempt isn't golden, you can fix it later or someone else will come along and fix it for you. Don't be afraid to screw up.
Conclusion[]
Every article can be improved (even this one). Following these guidelines will not ensure a perfect article the first time, but it will give the article a stronger skeleton. It's ultimately your job as an editor to put meat on it.