Guidelines:Articles

Overview

Article Construction
Articles generally follow a basic and recurring order, which can be summarized via the following diagram:

Not all sections in the diagram are applicable and occasionally other sections must be placed at any point in the diagram in order to convey information unique to an article. However, this order should be followed unless otherwise necessary. Specific articles types are covered in the Article Types section below.

Article Style
Articles are to use a formal, professional, and enyclopedic writing style.
 * Avoid informal or conversational language (writing the way you talk). Do not use s or contractions (e.g. it's, can't, doesn't).
 * When appropriate, Zelda Wiki maintains an in-universe writing style for game content. For example, editors are to refer to "Link" or "the hero" rather than "you" or "the player." Articles on Glitches are exempt from this rule due to their nature.
 * In that same vein, articles should not read like game strategy guides or walkthroughs. This is also indicated by use of the pronoun "you."
 * Unless the subject matter demands otherwise, only the should be used.
 * Article text should maintain a neutral point of view and should not reflect the author's personal views or offer subjective judgments on the content described.
 * Well-written articles avoid the use of styles or elements associated with literary fiction. For example, editors should avoid:
 * superfluous s and/or s;
 * exaggeration, charged language and/or dramatization;
 * unnecessary repetition of content already covered in other articles;
 * using conversational and/or casual undertones, including that of storytelling and narratives.
 * When referring to recently released games, terms such as "new" or "latest" should be avoided, as these are temporary statements subject to change. Also, this practice rarely imparts valuable information. In the case of soon-to-be released information, this practice is acceptable as such information will change in the future. In this case, however, when the information is released, the terminology should be changed to reflect permanence.
 * When referring to a being without a confirmed or reasonably obvious gender, editors must use gender-neutral pronouns (e.g. "it" or "they" rather than "he" or "she"). Most NaN Bossess in are genderless and treated as such.

If an article ever matches with any of these points, you may mark the article with the  template.

Image
The image displayed in the infobox must generally be an artwork coming from the latest main-series iteration where it was present, or in order of elimination from the latest appearance in ambiguously canon titles to non-canon titles. If no artwork is present for the given game, the hierarchic order is to be followed the same way as in galleries (Artworks, Renders, Models, Sprites, Screenshots, Concept Artworks). If applicable, you may use the Media template to store multiple files so that they can be viewed in the infobox. See Template:Media's guidelines here for more information.

Sizing
The image section of the infobox should not exceed 320 pixels. This can be managed by adding either  or   to images which are wider or taller, respectively. If an image is even in both width and height, it is usually acceptable to simply add the former. An image that is smaller than either 320px wide or 320px tall should also retain this scaled property on the principle that it may be replaced by a wider or taller revision at a later time.

In the event that the image section requires multiple images, the sum of their height and/or width should not exceed 320 pixels. See example below.

The only exception to this rule are games. On those pages, the height may exceed 320 pixels as it should display both the logo and the box artwork of the game. Though it may still not exceed 320 pixels in width.

Caption
A caption must be added if the subject of the article is present in more than one article of media (games, manga, etc.). When used, the caption of the image must be formatted as such:. Captions are not necessary if Template:Media is in use.

Ordering of Files within Galleries
The hierarchic order of the images is as follows:


 * 1) Canon
 * 2) Ambiguously Canon
 * 3) Non-Canon

Media from remakes of a given title are to be placed after all files of the original title. Within each of the previous elements, the order of the files themselves is as follows:


 * 1) Artworks
 * 2) Renders
 * 3) Models
 * 4) Sprites
 * 5) Screenshots
 * 6) Concept Artworks

Image Gallery
Image galleries on an article is included in its own  section. Images that are present in the article are not to be added in the gallery. The gallery is formatted as such:

Images do not need to be present within galleries if they can be found within Template:Media. See Template:Media's Guidelines for more details.

Video Gallery
Videos must be separated from images in their own  subsection within the   section. Embedded YouTube videos must be added with the Youtube template. These videos are typically size 200.

Article Types
The following diagrams display the general layout of an article of a particular type. Because each piece of media is unique, you should consult each game's respective guideline for how to tailor its sections accordingly.

Boss Articles

 * This article type is supported by the Boss boilerplate.

Character Articles

 * This article type is supported by the Character boilerplate.

Dungeon Articles

 * This article type is supported by the Dungeon boilerplate.

Enemy Articles

 * This article type is supported by the Enemy boilerplate.

Item Articles

 * This article type is supported by the Item boilerplate.

Object Articles

 * This article type is supported by the Object boilerplate.

In the event that objects overlap with items (such as in name), the object details generally should be present on the item page and no page for the object should be made even if the items are different in function or purpose. In this case, it should be specified where and when a subject is an object instead of an item.

Location Articles

 * This article type is supported by the Location boilerplate.

Song Articles

 * This article type is supported by the Song boilerplate.