User:Tony/Sandbox/Guidelines

=Article Construction=

Release Order
Below is a list of material starring Zelda content alongside their standing within the series canon in order of release.

Caption
A caption must be added if the subject of the article is present in more than one game. When used, the caption of the image must be formatted as such:

Image
The image displayed in the infobox must be an artwork coming from the latest game where it was present. 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, and so on).

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:

Ordering
The hierarchic order of the images is as follows:


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

Within each of the previous element, the order of the files themselves is as follows:


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

Video Gallery
Videos must be separated from images in their own subsection within the   section.

=Cameos= Official cameos in and of Zelda material should be documented by iteration of media in their respective pages, Cameos in The Legend of Zelda for instances where non-Zelda media appear, and Cameos of The Legend of Zelda in Nintendo Media and Cameos of The Legend of Zelda in Third-Party Media for instances where Zelda media appear in other media from Nintendo and licensed third-party material respectively. Unlicensed references to the Zelda series may be documented on The Legend of Zelda in Popular Culture instead.

Officially licensed cameos of Zelda material in other media may also be documented on the pages related to the subject that appears.

=Canon Policy= There are specific expectations of what is and isn't considered on Zelda Wiki. Canon refers to a body of materials considered to be an official or genuine part of a fictional universe. It is what can be specifically referenced as factual information within the given universe, and so therefore, canon is often seen as the official, main series as authorized by Nintendo. There are three primary levels of canonicity regarding The Legend of Zelda: canon, ambiguously-canon and non-canon. Additionally, a hierarchical supplementary canon exists for all three tiers, which serves to fill in any missed information in each respective tier.

Canon media largely concern the official Zelda Timeline, as well as official statements from Nintendo. The initial order for the Timeline was established in 2011 with the release of Hyrule Historia, an official encyclopedia written by Shigeru Miyamoto and Eiji Aonuma. Subsequent titles were confirmed to take place within the Timeline via social media, amending the Timeline. All games illustrated on the Timeline are considered part of the main series, which can be considered analogous to the canon. Any games that have been confirmed to either not fall in the main series or not relate to the timeline are non-canon.

Ambiguously-canon media is any iteration in the franchise that has neither been confirmed nor denied to take place within the official Timeline. Provided that a title does not contradict the established canon and/or representatives from Nintendo have made no claim about its relation to the Timeline, its canonicity is considered ambiguous.

Non-canon media is any iteration that contradicts the Timeline or exists separately from the Timeline. Unless otherwise stated, cameos of Zelda subjects in officially-licensed Nintendo media that isn't fundamentally related to The Legend of Zelda are considered non-canon.

Supplementary canon is a concept that is individually applied to all three tiers of canon wherein information offered in official supplementary media (such as manuals, guides, websites, magazines) can be considered canon provided that the information in question does not contradict the canon for that canon tier. For example, supplementary media for ambiguously-canon material can be considered ambiguously-canon as long as it does not contradict the information established in the highest hierarchical source of that ambiguously-canon material. Similarly, supplementary non-canon material only affects the relevant non-canon material and in no way affects either ambiguously-canon or canon material. The hierarchical order for canon among each tier is as follows:

Original material In lieu of material released for American English, material in this hierarchical order may be used from British English if available or from Japanese (if British English is not available).
 * Manuals, official statements from a representative of the development team
 * Strategy guides released by the company who owns the property, trailers, and websites from the development team
 * Strategy guides released by a licensed third-party, any other official material

Due to the long and changing history of the series, certain portions of the established canon have been changed through later works or official statements, forcing the overall series canon to be revised to reflect these details. In these instances, the overall narrative of the series should be documented in harmony with the latest series-wide canon. Each contained canon entry may still document the canon as depicted in its iteration, though it must be accompanied by a note whenever its details no longer match contemporary canon.

Version Differences
The latest version or publication of an iteration in the series is considered to be the canon version of that article of media, even if Nintendo publishes an earlier version of that media at a later date. The manual accompanying the latest version release of a game during that version's initial run is considered to be the latest viable canon material of its kind, even under the condition that the latest version is ported to another console, and the accompanying manual is derived from an earlier version of that game. If the manual for a ported release of that game's latest version is newly-made for that port, any revised information from the newer manual is considered canon instead.

Remakes
A remake of a game is considered superior in terms of canon to a port, even if the port occurred after a remake.

=Linking= Every topic within an article should be linked according to the following:
 * Once in the infobox
 * Once in the lead sentence
 * Once in the body of the article
 * In the section

When linking to another page, one should avoid linking to a redirect or disambiguation page unless the redirect is contextually sound.

=Series Errata= Errors made within the series should be documented on Mistakes in The Legend of Zelda Series. Errors made within official guides may also be documented on the articles of each respective guide.

=Tables= When displaying information in a table, the  and   should not be separated. Instead, the image should be over the centered and bold name. Example:

=Terminology and Nomenclature=

Nomenclature
Nomenclature is the section in which all foreign terms or names of a subject and their meanings are recorded either by the Names or Names Table templates. The etymology behind the American English name of a subject may be placed above either template, though all other languages must have their etymologies placed within the aforementioned templates. Every nomenclature table should be in its own section and with a left alignment. Names derived from a non-Latin alphabet must use the Romanize template and must be accompanied by a transliteration of the given text.

Entries in the meaning column may be translated from the original language, though any stylizations of names which aren't loanwords should be retained as a transliteration of the name in the original language. It is acceptable to omit a period from entries in the meaning field if they are translations of the given text and not an explanation concerning the translation. Explanations must be separated from translations by one line.

Terminology

 * For conditional use of non-English terms, see .

Terminology is the means by which articles on Zelda Wiki are named. Terms are determined by two independent—but complementary—conditions: Both of these conditions respect the canon hierarchy. If a given word does not fit either condition, it is not applicable as terminology. If a term is present in English and a given piece of media has been confirmed to have been localized into a foreign language, the direct comparative instance of a term in English may be considered as a term in that language, even if it does not follow the two aforementioned conditions. If a term is not present in American English but exists in either British English or Japanese (in that order), it may be borrowed from those languages, provided they follow the two established conditions and are marked with the corresponding templates for British English and Japanese respectively where appropriate.
 * 1) If a word is surrounded by differently-colored text in any officially licensed media.
 * 2) If a word is capitalized in any officially licensed media, to indicate a titular sense.

Terminology may occasionally change between multiple instances of a subject. In this case, the general term for the subject is drawn from the latest main-series title to meet the terminology conditions above. Remakes of a game fit within this condition and may supersede a prior main-series title, though ports of a title do not qualify. If no main-series title is available for a term, the canon hierarchy may be followed until an applicable term is reached. If a recurring subject of a term appears but goes unnamed in a given iteration, it is acceptable to borrow from the latest term applying to that subject provided that it is clearly established that it goes unnamed in that iteration's respective section. These instances must be updated to the latest term each time that term changes. However, if a term exists for a subject in a given article of media, regardless of the general term, it is applied in every instance regarding that iteration.

Partial omissions of terms (for instance, when characters say "the Ceremony" in reference to the Wing Ceremony), should not be taken as alternatives or replacements of the whole terms they belong to.

Names of articles should almost always be singular, while the lead sentence therein must be plural if more than one of the subject exists and the subject is not a character or boss.

When used outside of citations, all terminology must be capitalized. Similarly, partial omissions of a term must be capitalized (such as saying  as short for , or   in lieu of  ).