View source for SmashWiki:Manual of Style

{{shortcut|[[SW:MoS]]}}
{{guideline}}
The '''SmashWiki Manual of Style''' is a style guide that aims to make the wiki easy to read, write, and understand.

==Article titles==

*Titles should be singular, not plural.
**Example: '''Item''' instead of '''Items'''
*Titles should be nouns as opposed to verbs. 
**Example: '''Punishment''' instead of '''Punish'''
*If a title is not a proper noun, only the first word should be capitalized. Sometimes there is disagreement over what is a proper noun; this should be discussed on the talk page.
**Example: '''Back throw''' instead of '''Back Throw'''
*Titles should conform to what is most commonly used and understood, [[SW:OFFICIAL|not what is official]]. In other words, terms should be referred to as they make the most sense within the community (e.g. "tilts" as opposed to "[[strong attack]]s").
**Example: '''Tech''' instead of '''Ukemi'''
**Example: '''Glancing blow''' instead of '''phantom hit'''
*General character articles (those that focus on a character as they are outside of the ''Smash Bros.'' series) should be named according to how the character is most commonly known in their originating series. On the other hand, articles about playable characters' appearances in the ''Smash'' series should be named according to how the game names them.
**Example: '''Fox McCloud''' instead of '''Fox'''
**Example: '''Fox (SSBB)''' instead of '''Fox McCloud (SSBB)'''

==Sections/headings==

===Levels===
*Most sections should be level two headings; that is, they are formatted with two equals signs. Subsections should be one level higher than the section it is contained in.

===Wording===
*Like article titles, headings should only be capitalized if they are proper nouns.
**Example: '''List of characters''' instead of '''List Of Characters'''
*Headings should be kept short.

==Text==
*Long stretches of text should be broken into paragraphs. For very long strings of text, consider breaking the paragraphs into subsections.
**Example: See the [[Plot summary of the Subspace  Emissary]].
*Disambiguation pages should be ordered in terms of relevancy (such as playable characters being prioritized over other entities with similar-sounding names/handles. An example: [[Cloud Strife]] being prioritized over [[Cloud9]]).

===Formatting===
*The subject of an article should be highlighted in '''bold text''' in the first sentence of the article. Bold text should generally be avoided otherwise.
*Names of games and other works should generally be displayed in ''italics''.
*Other forms of text decoration (such as underlines) should be avoided.
*Coloured text is discouraged.

==Writing style==
*Style of writing should be semiformal, with no silly remarks or slang.
*Initials and abbreviations should not be used instead of the proper name within articles. A shortened name can be acceptable, however, if the full name was already used in the article or section. For the original ''Super Smash Bros.'', ''SSB'', ''SSB64'', and ''Smash 64'' are all acceptable shortened names. When referring to ''Super Smash for Wii U and Nintendo 3DS'' collectively, ''SSB4'' and ''Smash 4'' are acceptable abbreviations.
**Example: "[[MK]] is the best character in ''[[SSBB]]''" is never proper.
**Example: "{{SSBB|Meta Knight}} is the best character in ''[[Brawl]]''" is proper, if the full title ''Super Smash Bros. Brawl'' was already used in the article.
**Exception: Competitive terms that are commonly used and known by their initials, such as "DI" instead of "directional influence", can have their initials used in articles instead of the full name.
*Language should be gender-neutral, unless referencing a specific character or person.
**All Pokémon should be treated as gender-neutral.
**If referring to a fighter that has both genders as costume choices (such as [[Robin]] or [[Corrin]]), use the gender pronoun that matches the default choice.
*All writing should be done in third person.
**Example: '''the player must''' instead of '''you must'''
**Example: '''The glitch can be done by...''' instead of '''You can do the glitch by...'''
*There is no preference whether to use American or non-American English; therefore, one should not make an edit to a page that consists of only changing such spelling/grammar. However, it is preferred to remain consistent within a section or article.
**Example: The following are all spelled correctly: '''canceled''', '''cancelled''', '''realize''', '''realise''', '''center''', '''centre''', '''color''', '''colour'''
**Example: Putting trailing punctuation inside or outside quotation marks is okay.
**Exception: Double quotes must be used, as single quotes are used for formatting.
**Exception: Technical syntax may require a specific form of "color" or "colour".
*Likewise, when multiple acceptable variants of a word exist (regardless of region), there is no reason to change the word written on a page into another variant of it.
**Example: The following are both spelled correctly: '''Samus{{'}}''', '''Samus's'''
*As the ''Smash Bros.'' series was developed in Japan, all its underlying data is coded in metric units. Therefore, when referring to in-game measurements, always use metric first, followed by an imperial measurement if necessary.
**Example: "Hit Sandbag '''1000 m (3280 ft.)''' or more in Home-Run Contest."
**Exception: If a trophy description is different between NTSC and PAL regions (and the measurement units are not the only difference), use only whatever units are appropriate.
*Unnecessary hyphens should not be used; if a combination of two words is proper without use of a hyphen, or are proper without being connected, a hyphen should not be used.
**Example: Use '''followup''' instead of '''follow-up'''.
**Example: Use '''up tilt''' instead of '''up-tilt'''.
**Example: Use '''bair''' instead of '''b-air'''.
***Note: Some terms such as '''fair''' can be confusing to some readers when shortened like this. If in doubt, use a spelled-out version such as '''forward aerial'''.
*In general, using emphasis should be avoided in articles. In cases where emphasis cannot be avoided, either '''bold text''' or ''italic text'' is acceptable, and should not be intermixed.
*When referring to the individual [[Ice Climbers]], use Popo to refer to the leader Climber, and use Nana to refer to the partner Climber. While technically some [[palette swap]]s have Nana as the leader and Popo as the partner, Popo/Nana is the default leader/partner configuration, and in the competitive community the leader climber is referred to as Popo with the partner being called Nana regardless of costume. Additionally, "Popo" and "Nana" are easier to use and flow better in articles than "leader climber", "partner climber", and the like.

==Spacing==
*Generally, spacing does not matter to readers of an article (the software removes most extra spacing); however it can have a large impact on the readability of the code when one is trying to edit the page. The code should have enough spacing to make the coding clear while not taking up too much room.
**Example: It does not matter whether one uses one space or two spaces between sentences, as both are reduced to one space.
**Example: Leaving a blank space between an article and its categories makes it easier to recognize the two.
**Exception: If there is not at least one blank line between two paragraphs, they will be treated as one single paragraph.
**Exception: More than two consecutive blank lines may leave a proportionally-sized blank space on the page.
**Exception: Complex tables and templates can be very picky at times when it comes to spaces and returns. Be mindful and always preview edits of such pages.

==Images==
*Images should be right-aligned if possible.
*Large images should be displayed as thumbnails, without a specified size.
*If an article has a lot of images, most of the images should be displayed in a gallery. Galleries should be listed under a level two heading (<code>==Gallery==</code>).

===Captions===
*Images that are not part of an infobox should be given a caption relevant to the article.
*Captions should end with a period if and only if they are a complete sentence.
*Captions should generally avoid any formatting, though they may have links.

===Uploading images===
*Avoid uploading duplicate images. If the intent is to replace an existing image, discuss the change first, then upload the new image on top of the old one (if possible).
*Images should be named descriptively. A name such as "00293347.jpg" is not useful and will lead to the image being either moved or deleted.

==Internal links==
*Generally, only link to an article once. If "damage" is mentioned five times on a page, it should only link to <code><nowiki>[[damage]]</nowiki></code> the first time. The exception is if the page is very long, in which case it can be linked again near the start of a later section. If helpful to readers, links may be repeated in infoboxes, tables, images, image captions, and footnotes. 
*Use efficient links, especially for plurals and verb forms.
**There are [[:Category:Shortcut templates|many different templates]] that can be used to allow links to be shortened so they avoid taking up too much space, including: {{t|SSB}}, {{t|SSBM}}, {{t|SSBB}}, {{t|SSB4}}, {{t|s}}, {{t|b}}, {{t|Sm}}, and {{t|t}}.
**Example: <code><nowiki>[[grab]]s</nowiki></code> instead of <code><nowiki>[[grab|grabs]]</nowiki></code>
*Similarly to the above, linking to a redirect that is an abbreviation or a redirect that links to a section of another page is acceptable (and often preferred), unless an abbreviation isn't appropriate in the context.
**Example: Using <code><nowiki>[[SSBB]]</nowiki></code> or <code><nowiki>[[Brawl]]</nowiki></code> is fine in most cases (often table headings and infoboxes), whereas <code><nowiki>[[Super Smash Bros. Brawl]]</nowiki></code> should be used the first time it's mentioned on the page, and <code><nowiki>[[Super Smash Bros. Brawl|Brawl]]</nowiki></code> is never necessary and should be avoided
**Example: Using <code><nowiki>[[PK Thunder#PK Thunder 2|PK Thunder 2]]</nowiki></code> is an unnecessary waste of code compared to <code><nowiki>[[PK Thunder 2]]</nowiki></code>
*The capitalization of the first letter of the link does not matter, but the capitalization of the other letters does. This means that single-word links can be written for whatever capitalization is needed in the sentence, while links of two words or more cannot.
**Example: <code><nowiki>[[shield]]</nowiki></code> and <code><nowiki>[[Shield]]</nowiki></code> are equivalent
**Example: <code><nowiki>[[shield grab]]</nowiki></code> and <code><nowiki>[[Shield grab]]</nowiki></code> are equivalent, but <code><nowiki>[[Shield Grab]]</nowiki></code> is not
*When displaying an image, <code><nowiki>[[Image:]]</nowiki></code> and <code><nowiki>[[File:]]</nowiki></code> have the same function. Like American vs. non-American spellings, both are equally acceptable, and making an edit simply to change this is highly discouraged.

{{helpnav}}