Guidelines:Articles

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Guidelines:Main
Guidelines

Overview

Article Construction

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

Header
Lead paragraph Infobox
Body
Trivia
Nomenclature
Gallery
See Also
Footer

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.

  • Header — Content within the header of an article is generally reduced to any information that is required to inform readers of the article ahead. Maintenance templates are usually placed here to inform readers that the article is in need of maintenance, and this is also where we inform people of similar articles that they might be looking for if they've stumbled upon an article by accident.
  • Infobox — Infoboxes (templates designed to offer a brief summary of an article's subject, found to the top right of any page) follow immediately after the header. See the Infoboxes section below for more details. For a full list of infoboxes, see here.
  • Lead paragraph — The lead paragraph provides the most basic statements about an article's subject, including what media a subject appears in and what names it bears in them.
  • Body — The body of an article contains the specific information pertaining to all of a subject's appearances within media. The body is usually split into two parts, the main series appearances and the other appearances. All content within the body should follow the "canon order" for presenting information, though sections for remakes may be skipped and their content placed under the section pertaining to their predecessors if they are represented already. The section bearing other appearances, usually named Other Appearances is further separated by ambiguously canon and noncanon, which separately follow the "canon order". For further details, see Article Types below.
  • Trivia — The Trivia section concerns any out-of-game, real-world aspects to a subject. Trivia sections should be used lightly and content in Trivia sections should be scrutinized for potential ways the information can be integrated into the body of an article instead. Each trivia line in this section should be separated by an asterisk bullet (*, which is not followed by a space before the line).
  • Nomenclature — The Nomenclature section deals with the subject of an article's name origin as well as the subject's name in other official language releases. See the terminology guidelines for more information.
  • Gallery — The Gallery section of an article generally contains a comprehensive list of a subject's media in the "canon order". Unlike with the body, ambiguously canon and noncanon media should be placed after the canon material in the canon order with no distinction for their level of canon. See the Image Gallery and Video Gallery sections below for specific details.
  • See Also — The See Also section should contain links to related articles in an alphabetical order. Each item in this section should be separated by a bullet (*, which is followed by a space before the item).
  • Footer — The footer of an article contains any templates necessary to support the article (such as Template:Notes and Template:Ref), as well as any navigational templates that can direct people to other articles that share a commonality between them (such as item navigation templates directing people to other items in the same game, or templates that list all aquatic enemies). Categories should be placed below any relevant templates, following the same "canon order" used in the Gallery section.

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 colloquialisms 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 present tense 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 adjectives and/or adverbs;
    • 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 Bosses in The Legend of Zelda are genderless and treated as such.

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

Infoboxes

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 |320px or |x320px 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.

Examples
Sizing N/A 320px x320px [[...|160px]]<br/>[[...|160px]]
Result

image

image

image

image

image

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: <depiction> from <game>. Captions are not necessary if Template:Media is in use.

Galleries

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 Gallery section. Images that are present in the article are not to be added in the gallery. The gallery is formatted as such: 

<gallery>
File:Image.png|Caption
File:Image 2.png|Caption 2
File:Image 3.png|Caption 3
</gallery>

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 Video Gallery subsection within the Gallery 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.
Header
Lead paragraph Infobox
(Template:Infobox Boss)
Characteristics
  • This section should cover a boss's information such as what dungeon they are located in, what they are weak to, and what attacks and patterns they utilize.
    • This section should not be written as a guide and should only state the facts of the boss.
Trivia
Nomenclature

{{Nomenclature}}

Gallery

<gallery>

</gallery>

See Also
Footer

Character Articles

This article type is supported by the Character boilerplate.
Header
Lead paragraph Infobox
(Template:Infobox Character)
Biography
  • Information on who the character is and where they appear
    • Include information on where they live, what they do, and how Link can interact with them
    • Also include important plot details relating to the character
  • Information on what quests are related to the character
  • If applicable (in games with time-of-day mechanics), the character's daily schedule
Trivia
Nomenclature

{{Nomenclature}}

Gallery

<gallery>

</gallery>

See Also
Footer

Dungeon Articles

This article type is supported by the Dungeon boilerplate.
Header
Lead paragraph Infobox
(Template:Infobox Dungeon)
Entrance to the [Dungeon]
  • Cover where the dungeon is located and how the dungeon can be entered
    • "Dungeon" as used in the header here is interchangeable with any relevant term that a dungeon might have as part of its name (such as "Temple", "Shrine", etc.).
Themes and Navigation
  • Cover the basic themes of a dungeon, what the dungeon's miniboss(es) and boss are, as well as what treasures can be found and where.
    • This section should not be written as a guide and should only cover the facts of each detail.
Enemies
  • Any enemies found within a dungeon should be listed in a Gallery List under this section.
    • Minibosses and bosses should be placed as sub-sections here, with their own Gallery Lists.
Treasure Chests
Trivia
Nomenclature

{{Nomenclature}}

Gallery

<gallery>

</gallery>

See Also
Footer

Enemy Articles

This article type is supported by the Enemy boilerplate.
Header
Lead paragraph Infobox
(Template:Infobox Enemy)
Characteristics
Trivia
Nomenclature

{{Nomenclature}}

Gallery

<gallery>

</gallery>

See Also
Footer

Item Articles

This article type is supported by the Item boilerplate.
Header
Lead paragraph Infobox
(Template:Infobox Item)
Location and Uses
  • Include any information about where an item can be found.
    • For items that appear many times in the same game, you should state by what means they can be found rather than precisely each location.
  • Also include how the item can be used, such as as a weapon, whether it can manipulate the world, or what practical uses it has with relation to other items or characters.
Trivia
Nomenclature

{{Nomenclature}}

Gallery

<gallery>

</gallery>

See Also
Footer

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.

Header
Lead paragraph Infobox
(Template:Infobox Object)
Features and Overview
  • Include any information about where an object can be found
    • For objects that appear many times in the same game, you should state by what means they can be found rather than precisely each location).
  • Also include how the object can be used.
Trivia
Nomenclature

{{Nomenclature}}

Gallery

<gallery>

</gallery>

See Also
Footer

Location Articles

This article type is supported by the Location boilerplate.
Header
Lead paragraph Infobox
(Template:Infobox Location)
Features and Overview
  • Include details of a location such as where the location is in relation to other locations, what importance or role the location has or previously had, what characters can be found at the given location, and what features and treasures can be found in the location.
Enemies
  • Any enemies found within a location should be listed in a Gallery List under this section.
    • Minibosses and bosses should be placed as sub-sections here, with their own Gallery Lists.
Treasure Chests
Trivia
Nomenclature

{{Nomenclature}}

Gallery

<gallery>

</gallery>

See Also
Footer

Song Articles

This article type is supported by the Song boilerplate.
Header
Lead paragraph Infobox
(Template:Infobox Song)
Overview
Trivia
Nomenclature

{{Nomenclature}}

Gallery

<gallery>

</gallery>

See Also
Footer
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