User:Misfire42:na/Manual_of_Style

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This page is intended to become a comprehensive guide to how pages should look and what should be on them.

Basics

To edit a page, press the edit button at the top of the page while logged in. You can also edit a specific section by clicking edit next to a section heading. When you edit, please add only facts. Never add false information, and only add opinions in the opinion sections. Don't directly copy and paste information, and always cite your sources even if you didn't copy and paste. Use correct grammar and spelling. American spelling is standard, but don't go out of your way to change it.

Formatting

To create a heading, use double equals signs on both sides of the heading, like this: ==Title== More equals signs creates a smaller heading. The ===Formatting=== heading is below the ==Editing Basics== heading.

To italicize text, use a two apostrophes on each side of the text to bedformatteg. To bold, use three. To bold and italicize, use five. For example: ''italicized'' '''bolded''' '''''bolded and italicized'''''.

To link to another page on the wiki, use double brackets around the page title, not the url. [[Main Page]] produces Main Page. If you're linking to a page that's within a namespace, like Tank:T29 or Talk:Main Page, include that in a link. To link to a page while displaying different text, add a vertical line after the page name and before the desired display text. [[Main Page|This is a link to the Main Page]] produces This is a link to the Main Page.

To link to a page outside the wiki, use single brackets around the full url. [https://worldoftanks.com] produces [1]. Display text can be added to external links the same was as it is added to internal links.

The Mediawiki wiki has more detailed information about wiki formatting.

Tank tiers should always be written with roman numerals, for example, tier II, not tier 2. Tiers should not be capitalized. Saying that the MS-1 is a tier I tank is correct, saying that it is a Tier I tank is not. The exception is when a tier is on its own outside, such as in the sidebar, and of course at the beginnings of sentences. Battle tiers should be referred to with the term battle tier and arabic numerals to avoid confusion (battle tier 2, not battle tier II).

Talk Pages

Talk pages are used to communicate with other users, either to discuss an article on its talk page or directly at the user's talk page. To post a new comment, please create a new section with a descriptive title. This can be done by manually creating a new heading or by pressing the + button at the top of the page.

To reply to someone else's comment, edit the same talk page that the comment was left on (not the other user's talk page) and use a colon at the beginning of your sentence to indent it. For example,

:This formatting will create an indented line.

This line is indented.

Always sign your comments by adding four tildes (~~~~). This automatically adds your name, links to your user and user talk pages, and a timestamp.

Don't edit anyone else's comments.

On bolding - Bold the first use of the page name with the text command, three apostrophes on either side of the page name.

On caps - Sentence case. Period. Page names and category names are not proper nouns and do not need to be capped when used in an article or other content. Most category names are already erroneously in title case, when adding a new category continue to use title case for the sake of consistency. Links to pages do not need to be capped if they wouldn't already be capped.

On links - Only link the first use of a word and only if that word is a specific entity or class (another tank, a nation, a weapon not on that tank). Not to a set of modules, Guns, Turrets, etc. damage in a sentence about ramming was the worst I saw, the guns module page has nothing to do with ramming. Also, if you do link something don't put a comma behind it "Maus," just because it's a link. Proper grammar applies, being a link doesn't change that. Exception to linking repeats. If the title panel is discussing the the next tank in the tree it is ok to also link it at the end of the panel in the "the x leads to the y" part.

(Copied from one of Jiri's forum posts. Looks fine, except I think links should be capitalized. They usually are, since they're titles (to articles). - Misfire)

Vehicle page format

WoT, WoWP, Xbox, and Blitz

Vehicle pages for WoT, WoWP, WoT Xbox, and WoT Blitz are created using the Template:TankData, Template:PlaneData, Template:XboxTankData, and Template:BlitzTankData. The templates automatically create a description, sidebar, and statistics in addition to providing formatting for the other sections. Information for those sections should be placed after the equals sign indicating the beginning of each section.

Header

The beginning of the header is the vehicle's in-game description, which is added by the template. After that, there should be a short paragraph (a few sentences) describing a vehicle's availability and the basics of its performance. It is only intended to be an introduction, so keep it short.

Modules and Compatible Accessories

The module list, tech tree, compatible equipment, and compatible consumables are added by the template and do not need to be manually added or edited.

Gallery

The gallery contains images of the vehicle in-game. It can have views of the vehicle in the hangar or garage (from the front left, front right, rear left, and rear right) and pictures of the vehicle in action.

Pros and Cons

Pros and cons should be kept brief. They should quickly convey the vehicle's most significant strengths and weaknesses without adding unnecessary information. Because of this, pros and cons that have little to no direct effect on gameplay, such as ammo cost or high ammo capacity, should be avoided. Anything that is just decent should be left out; being decent is neither a pro or a con and is implied unless stated otherwise. Vehicles' capabilities should also be considered in relation to their direct peers, meaning that a light tank being fragile is assumed because it is a light tank and should not be mentioned unless it is unusually weak. They should be specific: don't just say a tank's mobility is good, say it has excellent acceleration and a high top speed. They should be short and say no more than necessary to describe an advantage or disadvantage. More detailed information should be left to the performance section.

Performance

The performance section is a detailed writeup of the vehicle's playstyle, strengths, weaknesses, and any other relevant information. While opinions are allowed and even necessary in this section, editors should still attempt to present an unbiased analysis of a vehicle's capabilities. Don’t outright state that the vehicle is good or bad. Instead, focus on what it does well, what it does poorly, and why. It should also note what sorts of strategies and playstyles work well and for what reasons and present recommendations for how to use the vehicle effectively. Direct comparisons to another vehicle should only be used when they are both relevant and necessary.

Early Research

This section is a short guide on what players should research first when they buy a stock vehicle. It should consist of the recommended research order for the vehicle's modules with notes explaining the reasoning behind the choices. If there are no modules to research, as in the case of premium vehicles and most tier X vehicles, the section should be a short note explaining that.

Suggested Equipment

Not to be confused with compatible equipment, this section contains equipment recommendations for the vehicle. It should rarely contain more than four equipment items, and three is often enough. When necessary, text can be added beneath the equipment icons by adding |Equipment_Builds| on a new line before the desired text.

Historical Info

This section contains an article on the historical background of the vehicle. That can include its development history, its service record, differences between the historical and in-game vehicles, and any other relevant information. Images can also be used in this section to illustrate. Historical information should be sourced if possible in the Sources and Historical Links section.

Historical Gallery

The historical gallery has images of the vehicle in real life. These may be of the tank's exterior or interior, details on the tank, the tank in use, blueprints, or anything else that is relevant. It is not necessary to copy images from the Historical Info section here.

Sources and External Links

This section contains any sources used to create the page and links to them if possible. It can also be used to add links for further reading.

WoWS and WoTG

World of Warships and World of Tanks: Generals are currently locked due to the fact that very little information about the games is available that is not protected by an NDA.

Other pages

Images

Naming

Images with fixed naming schemes: Tank Icons: Nation-Shortname.png (example: USA-M2_med.png), Contour Icons: Contour-Nation-Shortname.png (example: Contour-USA-M2_med.png), Tank Renders: Wot_Tankname_render.jpg (example: Wot_VK_1602_Leopard_render.jpg), Tank Research Trees: TR-Nation-Tankname.jpg (example: TR-USA-M2_Medium_Tank.jpg), Tank Screenshots: Tankname_front_left.jpg, Tankname_front_right.jpg, Tankname_rear_left.jpg, Tankname_rear_right.jpg Map Loading Screens: Mapname_screen.jpg (example: El_Hallouf_screen.jpg), Minimaps: Mapname.jpg (example: El_Hallouf.jpg), All of the above images (except contours) are expected to be in exactly that format by various templates or automatically generated pages. Use a different format, stuff breaks, so don't unless you are prepared to rename all respective images and related templates to your new format and to face my displeasure about having to change my code.

Please also use the indicated categories, although nothing depends on you doing that.

Format explanation: Nation: One of USA, UK, Germany, France, USSR, and China. Shortname: The non-localized id string used by the game client. Unlike the localized name, it never changes and thus is the preferred name to use. Tankname: The most recent official English localization of that tank's name (the "userString") as distributed to the EU server. These sometimes change, requiring renaming of the images. Same name as used for tank pages, i.e. always identical to Misfire42:na/Manual_of_Style within the context of tank pages. Mapname: The most recent official English localization of that map's name (the "userString"). In the unlikely case of the localization changing the images would need to be renamed. black text: This part of the file name must not be changed. Other images: Other images do not follow a strict naming scheme so far, but if tank specific images are used it is recommended to prefix them with the tank name (and of course categorize them correctly) and for images taken from the client it is usually recommended to keep the original name to facilitate finding updated versions.

(This is directly copied from Snib's forum post. I know it's not correct anymore, but it's a start. - Misfire)

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