modwiki:Style guide

From modwiki

For basic "getting started" help on making/editing pages visit Wikipedia:How to edit a page. For basic english guidelines and such, read Wikipedia:Manual of Style; it's pretty extensive so only pay attention to the most basic parts.

This page describes the manual of style for this particular wiki which every editor should follow. Never let these guidelines stop you from editing a page for fear of making a mistake as there will be other editors that can correct any problems. However, please also be aware that time spent correcting is best spent adding new information.

Contents 1 Writing Style 2 Standards 3 Usage styles 4 Categorization guidelines 5 When to use the minor edit checkbox 6 Talk page guidelines

Writing Style

Recently a bunch of articles, particularly in the coding section has been tagged with Attention|Objectivity. Here follows a brief explaination of what this means:

The idea is that when people read the wiki pages it will not be apparent that it is the work of many people collaborating, it should read as manuals or instructions usually do. You should refer to yourself as "we", for example. This is called an "Objective" writing approach, as opposed to the "Subjective" approach used on these pages, where the author refers to himself as "I", etc, and often signing his name as well.

Standards

• Please use "Doom 3" and not "Doom3", "DOOM3", "DooM3", "Doom³" etc. Likewise the other games should be referred to as "Quake 4", "Prey" and "ETQW" (or the full title, "Enemy Territory: Quake Wars").
• Likewise please always use "Doom 3 engine" and not "Doom3 engine", "Doom 3-engine" or any other weird permutations.
• The new naming scheme for id engines are "id Tech 4, id Tech 5" etc, please do nor refer to "Doom 3 engine"or "Quake 4 engine" etc unless it's about something specific to this game, and even then you probably should just refer to the game name.
• A wiki is a wiki and not a Wiki.
• Use capital only in proper nouns and first character of sentence and never use allcaps (except for in abbreviations, like file format extensions).
• File formats start with "." followed by the extension in all caps, like ".TGA" and ".DDS". Please link to the appropriate article page the first time it appears in your text, for instance: .[[TGA (file format)|TGA]] to make a link to .TGA's file format page.
• Forward slashes everywhere please, it'll reduce confusion and the risk for errors (since Doom 3 sometimes has "names" with slashes, like materials etc. where reversing them in one place will cause everything to not work).
• When naming new pages, use the first part for the specific name, and if necessary, () for the category not the other way around. Never use colons to indicate category. The only times you would use ()'s when naming a page are:

1. When there is a risk that another page with different content could be given the same name.
2. When the page is part of a "set", like file formats, declarations, folders, etc. Usually this is because of the above, since there's both an AF decl and an AF folder for example.

• Always use the proper game-specific templates when a text is not appliable to all Doom 3 engine variants.

Usage styles

• Please, please, please write an edit summary when you do something on an article page! To do this simply add some descriptive text to the little box called "Summary" beneath the big edit field.
  For User or Talk pages this is optional but for article pages you should always write one! The reason for this is not only to make it simpler on editors looking through the Special:Recentchanges page, but also so that people can check the particular page's edit history and see where some specific information was added/changed for example without having to do diff comparisons which can span dozens of page versions.
• Edit summary for NEW pages should be "new" or "new from (source)" if you copied it from somewhere.
• Add links only the first time something linkworthy appears in a page (like file formats, folders, decls, script events, cvars, etc.).
• Colons in a page name has special significance in the mediawiki software, do not use them unless you know what you are doing (Class names for the annotated API can have ::'s, no problems).
• To avoid confusion, try not to use the term "shaders" when you can specify if you mean "materials", "fragment programs", "vertex programs" or "sound shaders".
• Avoid giving your opinion. A wiki is a collection of facts, not an editorial piece on how one way is better than the other. If there is contention on an issue, you should state both sides of the argument and let the reader decide. Opinions can be discussed on the articles own Talk page (discussion tab on top).
• If there is an existing page, link to it instead of reproducing information already available. If you're unclear on whether a particular page already exists you can use Special:Allpages or the search engine.
• Please avoid linking pages on the wiki as external links, like if you want to link to Mapping, you don't do [http://wiki.doom3reference.com/wiki/Mapping], but simply [[Mapping]]. If you are unsure if you are seeing an internal or external page, look at the adress bar, if it starts with "http://www.modwiki.net/w/index.php?" or "http://www.modwiki.net/wiki/", then it is internal.
• Don't use studlycaps in headers, use "Doom 3 games and other things" instead of "Doom 3 Games and Other Things" or whatever style you might prefer (Yes, this is actually in the wikipedia manual of style, but I guess everyone didn't read it :).
• For "important" words like parameters, keywords, cvars or similar you have already linked to (remember, only link the first appearance, let's keep things tidy), use bold italic text like this (wikicode: '''''like this''''').

Categorization guidelines

• Categories go at the bottom of a page and almost all pages should have at least one category. Apart from direct links the categories are the only way to navigate the wiki and as such, they are IMPORTANT!
• Categories now auto-tree, so only include the lowest order (most precise) category.
• Read modwiki:Categories for the category tree. This page is not automatically updated so if you make a new category you MUST add it there or other editors will not be aware of it.
• New categories should be in gerund (modding, or mapping) tense if they are a verb or plural (Tutorials) if they are nouns.
• "Hub" or "list" pages should not be in the category of them items it lists, rather the one above it, so Script events (Quake 4) is categoriezed "Scripting" and not "Script events", while all pages with actual script events on them are categorized "Script events"

When to use the minor edit checkbox

When you change a page that tells people that they should read the page again unless you mark it as a minor edit, in which case it should only be of interest to those who are editing pages like you.

• Do NOT use minor edits when you're modifying actual content, however small the modification might be. Examples:
  • When you add/remove information regarding modding, like detailing alternative methods, expand an existing solution or even just adding a small editing tip. Added or changed *CONTENT* (however small) is *NOT* minor!
  • Add/Replace/Remove links to existing articles and/or external sites.
  • Rewording for clarification. If you're clarifying something that means modders used to have doubts about the original text and should read the new version.

• Use minor edits only when page's modding content doesn't change. Examples:
  • Correcting typos or grammar.
  • Standardization edits like changing an existing "DOOM3" mention to "Doom 3" instead or "TGA" to ".TGA". Please note that as stated above, linking unlinked linkworthy text is not minor.

Talk page guidelines

• When adding a new topic to a talk page, please type something in the headline box, (or your post will look like a part of the previous post) and always sign your post with the signature button! (Second one from the right on the edit toolbar, or just type --~~~~) This lets people know who wrote it and when.
• When replying to an existing topic, indent your posts using colons. (To do so, add one more ':' at the start of each line compared to the previous post.) Multiple lines in your post can use the same amount of indentation. (The same number of ':' signs before each line.)