L5r:Manual of Style

This Manual of Style has the simple purpose of making things easy to read by following a consistent format &mdash; it is a style guide. The following rules do not claim to be the last word on style. One way is often as good as another, but if everyone does it the same way, the L5R Wiki will be easier to read and use, not to mention easier to write and edit. In this regard, the following quotation from The Chicago Manual of Style deserves notice:
 * Rules and regulations such as these, in the nature of the case, cannot be endowed with the fixity of rock-ribbed law. They are meant for the average case, and must be applied with a certain degree of elasticity.

In this vein, editors of new and existing articles should strive to have their articles follow these guidelines.

Clear, informative, and unbiased writing is always more important than presentation and formatting. The L5R Wiki does not require writers to follow all or any of these rules, but their efforts will be more appreciated when they do so: the joy of wiki editing is that this does not require perfection.

Article titles
If possible, make the title the subject of the first sentence of the article (as opposed to putting it in the predicate). For example, write "This Manual of Style is a style guide" instead of "This style guide is known as the Manual of Style." In any case, the title should appear as early as possible in the article &mdash; preferably in the first sentence.

The first time the article mentions the title, put it in bold using three apostrophes —  produces article title. For example: "This Manual of Style is a style guide."

As a general rule, do not put links in Also, try not to put other phrases in bold in the first sentence. An exception to this arises when an article has alternative titles, each of which an editor puts in bold; for example, Gisei Toshi: Gisei Toshi -- the City of Sacrifice -- is a myth to all outside the Phoenix, and most within as well. Follow the normal rules for italics in choosing whether to put part or all of the title in italics: Dark Tidings was one of the compiled works of Doji Shizue.
 * 1) the bold reiteration of the title in the article's lead sentence or
 * 2) any section title.

Headings
Use the == (two equal signs) style markup for headings, not the  (triple apostrophes) used to make words appear bold''' in character formatting. Start with "==", add the heading title, then end with "==".


 * Avoid links within headings. Instead repeat the word or phrase in the first sentence and wikify there.
 * Avoid overuse of sub-headings.
 * Avoid "The" in headings; use "Voyage" instead of "The voyage".


 * If at all possible, avoid changing section titles, as other articles may link to a specific section.

Capital letters
Initial capitals and all capitals should not be used for emphasis. For example, "aardvarks, which are Not The Same as anteaters" and "aardvarks, which are NOT THE SAME as anteaters" are both incorrect. Use italics instead ("aardvarks, which are not the same as anteaters") if formatting must be used, but first attempt to make your emphasis clear using the words themselves.

Do not capitalize names of races, such as human, ki-rin, raksasha, kitsu, or oni.

Titles
Titles such as daimyo, sensei, or emperor start with a capital letter when used as a title (followed by a name): "Emperor Toturi III", not "emperor Toturi III". When used generically, they should be in lower case: "Shiba Ujimitsu was champion of the Phoenix Clan during the Clan War." The correct formal name of an office is treated as a proper noun. Hence: "Shiba Ujimitsu was Phoenix Clan Champion," Phoenix Clan Champion being a title in that context.

In the case of two-word offices, such as "clan champion," either both words begin with a capital letter or neither, except, obviously, when it starts a sentence. Again, when using it generically, do not use a capital letter: "There are many clan champions within Rokugan."

A good rule of thumb is to note whether the sentence uses a definite article (the) or an indefinite article (a). If the sentence uses the, use "Clan Champion". If the sentence uses a, go with "clan champion".

Religions, deities, philosophies, doctrines and their adherents
Names of religions, whether as a noun or an adjective, and their followers start with a capital letter.

Deities begin with a capital letter: Amaterasu, Osano-wo, the Fortune of Steel. The same is true when referring to important religious figures, such as Shinsei, by terms such as the Little Teacher. Transcendent ideas in the Platonic sense also begin with a capital letter: Good and Truth. Pronouns referring to deities, or nouns (other than names) referring to any material or abstract representation of any deity, human or otherwise, do not begin with a capital letter.

Philosophies, doctrines, and other systems of thought do not begin with a capital letter, unless the name derives from a proper noun. For example, bushido, niten, and iaijutsu would all be lowecase, unless they began a sentence.

Calendar items
The names of months, days, and holidays always begin with a capital letter: Month of the Rat, First year of Hantei XXIX.

Seasons start with a capital letter when they go with another noun or when they personify. Here they function as proper nouns: "Winter Solstice"; "Autumn Open House"; "I think Spring is showing her colors"; "Old Man Winter".

However, in the general sense, they do not start with a capital letter: "This summer was very hot."

Institutions
Proper names of specific institutions (for example, Kakita Dueling Academy, Dojo of Bitter Lies, etc.) are proper nouns and require capitalization. However, the words for types of institutions (academy, school, dojo, etc.) do not require capitalization if they do not appear in a proper name.

Italics
Use the  (italic) markup. Example:



which produces:


 * This is italic.

Editors mainly use italics to emphasize certain words. Italics for emphasis should be used sparingly.

They also use them in these other cases:

Titles
Italics are used for the titles of works of literature and art.

Words as words
Use italics when writing about words as words, or letters as letters (to indicate the use-mention distinction). For example:


 * Deuce means two.
 * The term panning is derived from panorama, a word originally coined in 1787.
 * The most common letter in English is e.

Non-English words
The L5R Wiki is a very special case regarding non-english words. As the setting is based heavily on the culture of Japan, so the verbiage used is grounded heavily in the language of Japan. Though most of these words would, by style guides of other English-language works, be italicized, it is not necessary to do so every time a word is used in this particular setting. Words particularly common to this setting, such as daimyo and sensei need not be italicized at all. Less common Rokugani words, such as jigai and kagaku may be italicised the first time they are used in an article, but after that, they should not be italicised every time they appear. Words that are neither Rokugani nor English, such as khadi and maharaja should be treated as less common Rokugani words, for consistency.

Quotations
There is normally no need to put quotations in italics unless the material would otherwise call for italics (emphasis, literary titles, etc.).

Punctuation
In most cases, simply follow the usual rules of English punctuation. A few points where Wikipedia may differ from usual usage follow.

Quotation marks
Use the "double quotes" for most quotations &mdash; they are easier to read on the screen &mdash; and use 'single quotes' for nesting quotations, that is, "quotations 'within' quotations".


 * Note: if a word or phrase appears in an article with single quotes, such as 'abcd', the Searching facility considers the single quotes to be part of the word and will find that word or phrase only if the search string is also within single quotes. (When trying this out with the example mentioned, remember that this article is in the Wikipedia namespace.) Avoiding this complication is an additional reason to use double quotes, for which the difficulty does not arise. It may even be a reason to use double quotes for quotations within quotations.

Use quotation marks or indentations to distinguish quotations from other text. There is normally no need to put quotations in italics unless the material would otherwise call for italics (emphasis, literary titles, etc.).

Look of quotation marks and apostrophes
There are two options when considering the look of the quotation marks themselves:


 * Typographic “ ” ‘ ’
 * Typewriter " '

As there is currently no consensus on which should be preferred, either is acceptable. However, it appears that historically the majority of Wikipedia articles, and those on the internet as a whole, follow the latter style. Because of this, if quotation marks appear in an article title, please ensure that straight glyphs are used. Feel free to make a redirect using curved ones, thogh this is not mandatory.

Never use grave and acute accents or backticks ( ` ´ ) as quotation marks.

Use of punctuation in presence of brackets/parentheses
Punctuation goes where it belongs logically; that is, it goes with the text to which it belongs. A sentence wholly inside brackets will have its punctuation inside the brackets. (As shown here, this applies to all punctuation in the sentence.) If a sentence ends with a clause in brackets, the final punctuation stays outside the brackets (as shown here). This applies to square "[ ]" as well as round "" brackets (parentheses).

Serial commas
The serial comma (also known as the Oxford comma or Harvard comma) is a comma used immediately before a conjunction in a list of three or more items. The phrase "ham, chips, and eggs" is written with a serial comma, but "ham, chips and eggs" is not. Either is proper, but sometimes omitting the comma can lead to an ambiguous sentence, as in this example: "The author would like to thank her parents, Sinéad O'Connor and President Bush." In such cases, there are three options for avoiding ambiguity:


 * A serial comma can be used to avoid ambiguity.
 * The sentence can be recast to avoid listing the items in an ambiguous manner.
 * The items in the list can be presented using a formatted list.

Colons
Colons should not have spaces before them:
 * He attempted it in two years: 1941 and 1943 (correct)
 * He attempted it in two years : 1941 and 1943 (incorrect)

Spaces after the end of a sentence
There are no guidelines on whether to use one or two spaces after the end of a sentence, but it is not a critical issue as the difference is visible only in the edit box.

Contractions
In general, formal writing is preferred. Therefore, avoid the use of contractions such as don't, can't, won't, would've, they'd, and so on &mdash; unless they occur in a quotation. <!--

Usage

 * Possessives of singular nouns ending in s may be formed with or without an additional s. Either form is generally acceptable within Wikipedia. However, if either form is much more common for a particular word or phrase, follow that form, such as with "Achilles' heel".
 * Abbreviations of Latin terms like "i.e.", "e.g.", or "n.b." should be avoided and English terms such as "that is", "for example", or "note" used instead.
 * If a word or phrase is generally regarded as correct, then prefer it to any other word or phrase that might be regarded as incorrect. For example, "other meaning" should be used instead of "alternate meaning", since alternate only means "alternating" in British English (and also according to the American Heritage Dictionary).
 * Use an unambiguous word or phrase in preference to an ambiguous one. For example, "other meaning" should be used instead of "alternative meaning", since alternative commonly suggests "non-traditional" or "out-of-the-mainstream" to an American-English speaker.

Avoid self-referential pronouns
Wikipedia articles cannot be based on one person's opinions or experiences. Thus, "I" can never be used, except, of course, when it appears in a quotation. For similar reasons, avoid the use of "we" and "one", as in: "We/One should note that some critics have argued in favor of the proposal", as it sounds more personal than encyclopedic.

Nevertheless, it might sometimes be appropriate to use "we" or "one" when referring to an experience that anyone, any reader, would be expected to have, such as general perceptual experiences. For example, although it might be best to write, "When most people open their eyes, they see something", it is still legitimate to write, "When we open our eyes, we see something", and it is certainly better than using the passive voice: "When the eyes are opened, something is seen".

It is also acceptable to use "we" in mathematical derivations; for example: "To normalise the wavefunction we need to find the value of the arbitrary constant A&hellip;"

Avoid the second person
Use of the second person ("you") is generally discouraged. This is to keep an encyclopedic tone, and also to help clarify the sentence. Instead, refer to the subject of the sentence, for example: This does not apply to quoted text, which should be quoted exactly.
 * "When a player moves past "go," that player collects $200."
 * Or, even better: "Players passing 'go' collect $200."
 * Not: "When you move past "go," you collect $200."

National varieties of English
Cultural clashes over grammar, spelling, and capitalisation/capitalization are a common experience on Wikipedia. Remember that millions of people may have been taught to use a different form of English from yours, including different spellings, grammatical constructions, and punctuation. For the English Wikipedia, while a nationally predominant form should be used, there is no preference among the major national varieties of English. However, there is certain etiquette generally accepted on Wikipedia:


 * Proper names should retain their original spellings, for example, United States Department of Defense and Australian Defence Force.
 * Each article should have uniform spelling and not a haphazard mix of different spellings, which can be jarring to the reader. For example, do not use center in one place and centre in another in the same article (except in quotations or for comparison purposes).
 * Articles that focus on a topic specific to a particular English-speaking country should generally conform to the spelling of that country. For example:
 * Article on the American Civil War: American English usage and spelling
 * Article on Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings: British English usage and spelling
 * Article on Uluru (Ayers Rock): Australian English usage and spelling
 * Article on European Union institutions: British, Irish and Maltese English usage and spelling
 * Article on the city of Montreal: Canadian English usage and spelling
 * Article on Taj Mahal: Indian English usage and spelling.
 * If the spelling appears in an article name, you should make a redirect page to accommodate the other variant, as with Artefact and Artifact, or if possible and reasonable, a neutral word might be chosen as with Glasses.
 * Words with multiple spellings: In choosing words or expressions, there may be value in selecting one that does not have multiple spellings, if there are synonyms that are otherwise equally suitable. In extreme cases of conflicting names, a contrived substitute (such as fixed-wing aircraft) is acceptable.
 * If an article is predominantly written in one type of English, aim to conform to that type rather than provoking conflict by changing to another. (Sometimes, this can happen quite innocently, so please do not be too quick to make accusations!)
 * Consult Wikipedia articles such as English plural and American and British English differences.
 * The English texts of treaties that are signed by both the United Kingdom and the United States use British English usage and spelling by convention.
 * If all else fails, consider following the spelling style preferred by the first major contributor (that is, not a stub) to the article.

Finally, in the event of conflicts on this issue, please remember that if the use of your preferred version of English seems like a matter of great national pride to you, the differences are actually relatively minor, when you consider the many users who are not native English speakers at all and yet make a significant contribution to the English language Wikipedia or how small the differences between national varieties is compared with other languages. There are many more productive and enjoyable ways to participate than worrying and fighting about which version of English to use on any particular page.

Currency
When including a price or currency, only include one. This should be the currency that fits best for that article. For example:

The object costs 300USD (160GBP, 280EURO)

This would be incorrect as there is no need to include multiple currencies. Also, the exchange rates will change with time so these figures will be incorrect.

However, if the figures are there in order to show a geographical variation in the amount (such as the cost of an item at release in different countries) then it can be included as such:

The object was released in the USA for $10, in the UK for £10 and in the rest of Europe for €12

Pictures
Articles with a single picture are encouraged to have that picture at the top of the article, right-aligned, but this is not a hard and fast rule. Portraits with the head looking to the right should be left-aligned (looking into the article).

The current image markup language is more or less this:

Captions
Photos and other graphics should have captions unless they are "self-captioning" as in reproductions of album or book covers, or when the graphic is an unambiguous depiction of the subject of the article. For example, in a biography article, a caption is not needed for a portrait of the subject, pictured alone, however most entries use the name of the subject and the birth and death years and an approximation of the date when the image was taken: "John Smith (1812–1895) circa 1880" or "John Smith (1812–1895) on January 12, 1880 in Paris". If the caption is a single sentence or a sentence fragment, it does not get a period at the end. If the caption contains more than one sentence, then each sentence should get a period at the end. Captions should not be italicized unless they are book titles or related material. The caption always starts with a capital letter. Remember the full information concerning the image is contained in the image entry, so people looking for more information can click on the photo to see the full details.

Bulleted items
The following are rules for using lists of bulleted items:
 * When using complete sentences always use punctuation and a period at the end.
 * Incomplete sentences don't need terminal punctuation.
 * Do not mix sentence styles; use all complete sentences, or use all sentence fragments.
 * Each entry begins with a capital letter, even if it is a sentence fragment.

Identity
This is perhaps one area where Wikipedians' flexibility and plurality are an asset, and where one would not wish all pages to look exactly alike. Wikipedia's neutral point of view and no original research policies always take precedence. However, here are some non-binding guidelines that may help:
 * Where known, use terminology that subjects use for themselves (self identification). This can mean calling an individual the term they use, or calling a group the term most widely used by that group. This includes referring to transgender individuals according to the name and pronoun they use to identify themselves.
 * Use specific terminology: People from Ethiopia (a country in Africa) should be described as Ethiopian, not African.
 * However, a more general name will often prove to be more neutral or more accurate. For example, a List of African-American composers is acceptable, though a List of composers of African descent may be more useful.
 * If possible, terms used to describe people should be given in such a way that they qualify other nouns. Thus, black people, not blacks; gay people, not gays; and so forth.
 * Do not assume that any one term is the most inclusive or accurate.
 * The term Arab refers to people and things of ethnic Arab origin. The term Arabic refers to the Arabic language or writing system (and related concepts). For example: Not all Arab people write or converse in Arabic, but nearly all are familiar with Arabic numerals.

Wikilinking
Make only links relevant to the context. It is not useful and can be very distracting to mark all possible words as hyperlinks. Links should add to the user's experience; they should not detract from it by making the article harder to read. A high density of links can draw attention away from the high-value links that you would like your readers to follow up. Redundant links clutter up the page and make future maintenance harder. A link is the equivalent of a footnote in a print medium. Imagine if every second word in an encyclopedia article were followed by '(see:)'. Hence, the links should not be so numerous as to make the article harder to read.

Not every year listed in an article needs to be wikilinked. Ask yourself: will clicking on the year bring any useful information to the reader?

Do, however, wikilink years, using the As of XXXX form, when they refer to information that was current at the time of writing; this allows other editors to ensure that articles are kept up to date as time passes. Dates including a month and day should also be linked, in order for user preferences on date formatting to work properly.

Check links after they are wikified to make sure they direct to the correct concept; many dictionary words lead to disambiguation pages and not to complete articles on a concept.

When all else fails
If this page does not specify which usage is preferred, use other resources, such as The Chicago Manual of Style (from the University of Chicago Press) or Fowler's Modern English Usage (3rd edition) (from the Oxford University Press). Also, please feel free to carry on a discussion on Wikipedia talk:Manual of Style, especially for substantive changes.

Even simpler is to look at an article that you like and open it for editing to see how the writers and editors have put it together. You can then close the window without saving changes if you like, but look around while you are there. Almost every article can be improved.

Keep markup simple
Use the simplest markup to display information in a useful and comprehensible way. Markup may appear differently in different browsers. Use HTML and CSS markup sparingly and only with good reason. Minimizing markup in entries allows easier editing.

In particular, do not use the CSS  or   properties because they break rendering on some browsers when large fonts are used.

Formatting issues
Formatting issues such as font size, blank space and color are issues for the Wikipedia site-wide style sheet and should not be dealt with in articles except in special cases. If you absolutely must specify a font size, use a relative size i.e. ; not an absolute size, for example,.

Using color alone to convey information should not be done, but if necessary, try to choose colors that are unambiguous when viewed by a person with color blindness. In general, this means that red and green should not both be used. Viewing the page with Vischeck (http://www.vischeck.com/vischeck/vischeckURL.php) can help with deciding if the colors should be altered. It is acceptable to use color as an aid, but the information should still be equally accessible without it.

Make comments invisible
Avoid highlighting that the article is incomplete and in need of further work.

Similarly, there is little benefit to the reader in seeing headings and tables without content.

If you want to communicate with other potential editors, make comments invisible to the ordinary article reader. To do so, enclose the text which you intend to be read only by editors within  and.

For example, the following:

is displayed as:


 * hello world

So the comment can be seen when viewing the HTML or wiki source.

Legibility
Consider the legibility of what you are writing. Make your entry easy to read on a screen. Make judicious use of devices such as bulleted lists and bolding. More on this has been written by Jakob Nielsen in How Users Read on the Web.