Mariopedia:Manual of Style

This is the Manual of Style for Mariopedia. This page gives users an idea of how to write articles so they are consistent with many of the similar articles.

When writing an article

Adding a quote

It's encouraged to have at least one quote in every article. Use the {{Quote}} for one-liners (or {{Quote2}} if you want to avoid the template automatically linking) and {{RQ2}} for conversations between two characters. It's best to write the quotations under each Section.

Verb tense

To determine which tense to use in articles, it is logical to describe events happening in-game in the present tense; even if a game was released decades ago, it still performs the same today as it did on release. Therefore, to simplify:

• Use present tense to describe plot and events as it happens in-game, including gameplay.
• Use past tense to describe flashbacks and events that happen prior to the game's plot.

The same applies to describing real world events. When talking about game development, releases and/or promotions, use a tense appropriate for the time period in which the event occurred eg "The Nintendo 64 was launched in 1996". When describing the product itself, use present tense, e.g.: "Super Mario 64 gives Mario entirely different moves than in Super Mario World and other 2D Mario titles." Exceptions are for unreleased products that use future tense, and unfinished products that use past tense.

Spelling

On other wikis, there edit wars over the territorial spelling of a word (i.e. words spelled differently in between Europe and the United States). It used to be that we're not arrogant and we have no intention on starting a territorial war over something stupid like spelling, and if you had come across a word spelled the way it is in another country (for example if you see "color" spelled as "colour" or vice versa), you would have left it as it is. In other words, the person who inserted the word initially will decide how it's spelled. Mariopedia has decided that the "American English" spelling is the accepted language of the wiki.

Point of view

On most wikis, there is a policy to give a "Neutral Point of View" (NPOV). This is not the case here when writing story sections of specific articles. The point of view MUST reflect how the events unfold from the article's subject's perspective. For everything else, the article must maintain NPOV.

Spoilers

Following our Spoiler Policy, it's encouraged to place the {{Spoiler}} above content regarded as spoilers - this mostly being plot sections - and {{Endspoiler}} below it.

Categorizing

Each article must be categorized, and done so according to which category applies to it. Specific categories should be used whenever applicable. For example, instead of using Category: Items to the ♪ Block article, rather add a more specific category, such as Category:Super Mario Bros. 3 items, which pertains to its in-game appearance.

The idea is to place the game templates in articles related to the game - like the character articles, location articles, respective game-related terms. Other articles like magic, abilities and summons as well as enemies don't have them since they cover the entire series and not specialized. A list of categories can be found here.

History subheadings

The game sections within a series must be listed in chronological order, and the series headings must be listed in chronological order of the character's debut with said series, or standalone game if following after a series. The series heading is not needed if the character only appears in one game of the series, in which case the game becomes the heading. The same rule for debut chronology applies to the subheadings within the respective "Wario appearances," "Yoshi appearances," "Donkey Kong appearances," and "Crossover appearances" headings. Each of the aforementioned "Appearances" headings should come after the "History" section, even if the subject appeared in Mario-related media before the Mario franchise itself. The placement of the respective Wario, Yoshi, and Donkey Kong appearances headings have to be sorted based on chronological debut within the respective franchise. However, "Crossover appearances" should always be the last "Appearances" heading within an article. See the Goomba article as an example on how to handle this.

When creating tables and infoboxes

For table formatting and markup, see Help:Tables

Some game specific articles may contain information that can be compiled into a table or infobox. Each game has a certain color swatch code for its table headers and subheaders. Instead of inputting the hexadecimal code for each color (bgcolor="#000000"), type in the class code for each game (class="seriesA"). The colors that correspond to each class code are listed in MediaWiki:Common.css, and are also provided further below for consultation. It is preferred that class codes are used.

The table below lists only the specific games that are more likely to have this kind of information; for other titles or compilations, refer to their individual navigation templates.

As for the style of a table:

• The main row is given the header color, while the main column is given the subheader color. Both contents are centered. Use ! instead of | before each to automatically center and bold the header and subheader, bypassing the use of three apostrophes (''')
• Wordings are in left-alignment, while numbers or very short terms are centered.
• Remember to use the class codes.

Main series
Game	Super Mario series	SMB
Header	seriesA	SMB1A
Subheader	seriesB	SMB1B

Working with media files

For the policy on media files, seek Mariopedia:Media

Adding images

The general practice would be to start Image placement on the right side by adding "right" in the image coding as in "[[File:Example.jpg|right]]". The next image would then be placed on the left - "[[File.Example.jpg|left]]", forming a sort-of zigzag pattern.

An image without white/transparent backgrounds should be thumbnailed by adding "thumb" in the image coding as in "[[File:Example.jpg|thumb]]". A caption should be added to thumbnailed images, a short description of what the image is by writing the caption at the end of the code as in "[[File.Example.jpg|right|Caption here]]".

Image galleries should be created when a number of images in a section clutter the layout. Image galleries should also be used with a caption to describe each of the images it contains.

{{gallery
|File:Example.png|Caption here
|File:Example.png|Caption here
|File:Example.png|Caption here
}}

On audio files

The {{Listen}} template is used to help readers listen to an audio sample. While we have no specific guideline, template placement should be aligned to "right" or "left" accordingly. Standard practice is to put those templates on the left-hand side. Seek out the Audio help page for more information.

Embedding a video

When embedding a video from video hosting websites such as YouTube, it is encouraged to place them inside boxes. Place a caption and the caption box will be colored according to related header - follow game specific colors as above, or the series color if general. Video alignment follows viewer discretion and suitability. The coding below is an example, with those in double brackets being which parameters editors can customize.

<div class="thumb t((left/right))" style="width:320px; background:((Caption Box Color)); border: 2px solid #A9A9A9;">
<div class="thumbcaption" style="text-align: center;"><font color="((Caption Text Color))">((Caption Title))</font></div>
<youtube width="320" height="240">((11-character YouTube link)</youtube>
</div>