This style guide will serve as a guideline for writing articles and related content on the Deadlock Wiki. It establishes our in-house style, to help editors produce content that follows a consistent, clear, and precise language, layout, and formatting manner. If everyone follows standardized conventions, it will make reading and navigating easier for readers, and editing and coordinating easier for editors. Reading this style guide is important to preserve consistency among edits.
A more expansive set of guidelines can be found on Wikipedia at the Manual of Style.
Articles
Structure
Different pages with different sections will not have the same information, but there is a general structure for every article. The follow sections should always be shown in this order:
- Notice: This includes
{{cleanup}},{{construction}}, and{{outdated}}templates. - Disambiguation:
- Infobox: Corresponding information is displayed here.
- Introduction: This covers a brief overview of the article. It can also include the patch it was introduced in.
- TOC: On most articles, the TOC will automatically appear before the first section.
- Main Page: This covers the main information of the article or goes in further depth.
- Heroes, Items, Units, and Update History have varying section orders, but they should all be consistent.
- Version History: If content has changed over the course of the game, that information is listed here.
- Gallery: The gallery shows images otherwise too bulky to fit into the main article.
- Trivia: This covers tidbits of information not appropriate for the main page, or make references to content outside of the game.
- Navigation: Navigation templates go at the end of the article.
Spelling
American spelling, grammar, and sentence structure is used on the wiki and any templates involved. There is one exception:
- If quoting a source, never alter any part of the quotation, even if it does not use American spelling or contains spelling errors.
Captialization
Capitalization should be reserved for proper names only. All survivors, items, skills, monsters, and locations are always capitalized. The only exception is for quoted content.
Punctuation
Commas
Use commas to structure large numbers.
Grammar
Tense
All sections should follow the same tense.
Vocabulary
Formal use of language is mandatory on all wiki pages.
Third Person
- All articles are written in third person.
- Never use 'you' when referring to the reader.
Formality and neutrality
- Never use contracted forms.
- Never instruct readers in directing information, or presume readers knowledge about specific information. Do not inject point of view or subjective perspectives.
- Strategy sections may take some liberties with recommendations, but should also give reasons for why specific outcomes may or may not work.
Categorization
Every page should have a category, including images.