EVElopedia:Manual of Style

UNOFFICIAL EVELOPEDIA MANUAL OF STYLE

This is an unofficial style guide for the pages within the EVELOPEDIA website.

At this time, an official guide does not exist. This manual includes a series of suggestions It is based on the official wiki

General Principals

The intention of this guide is to establish a series of common style and format

practices to improve EVElopedia. Since an official style guide does not exist,

this guide will act in its place. However, this guide is only intended to be

considered when writing EVElopedia articles, and following this guide is neither

required nor expected by the CPP staff, YARR volunteers or its author.

Additionally, due to the unofficial nature of this guide, readers should note

that the content may change at any time.

The designs herein are developed around five goals: clarity, consistency,

accessibility, stability, and identification.

Clarity:

All articles should clearly describe and discuss their specific topic.

Supplementary information should be referenced through the use of links.

Consistency:

Within EVElopedia, articles should use common styles, presentations, and

practices to create a familiar experience for the reader.

Accessibility:

All articles should be designed for and appeal to users of all ages,

experience, and play styles. They should allow users to find information

quickly and navigate to additional articles easily.

Stability:

Contributors should avoid unnecessary or constant changes to EVElopedia

articles. Contributors should utilize offline tools or personal resources (like

contributor pages) to write and finalize page edits. Disputed article topics

should reference the dispute and provide the arguments made by all sides.

Identification:

Articles should reference the sources of information and topics whenever

possible. Due to the evolving nature of EVE Online, contributors should also

reference dates and game builds when discussing in-game elements that have

changed.

Overview

Organization

Articles should be organized into discrete sections. Each section should

discuss specific aspect of the article topic. Sections should be arranged and

ordered in manner that best fits the article topic. Some pages work well when

organized around the user experience. Others work better with a systematic

organization (eg. chronological or alphabetical).

When the number of sections is large, articles should include a summary or

preface paragraph at the top of the page. Pages with large quantities of

supplementary or related information should include a list of related links at

the bottom of the page.

Formatting

Formatting should follow the standard formatting options provided by the

EVElopedia markup. Additional or custom formatting should strive to improve

reader comprehension, information accessibility, and organizational consistency.

Style

Article style should reflect the page content and consider the user experience.

Almost always, reader comprehension and information dissemination should take

preference over creative expression.

Grammar

EVElopedia does not prefer one style of English over another (ex. British

English vs. American English). Regardless, content should be written in

grammatically correct English.

Voice

First and foremost, EVElopedia is a reference. Therefore, articles should be

voiced as such. Unless writing in-character or commenting on article content,

authors should avoid writing in the first or second person voice. Authors

should clearly identify when not writing in the expected voice.

Tone

Whenever possible, articles should maintain a neutral tone. Authors should

avoid directly expressing bias or using biased phrases, words, arguments, and

comparisons. This includes loaded words and slang. When discussing opinions

expressed about a subject, the opinion holders should be identified and

referenced (ex. In July 2010, players expressed their dissatisfaction toward

in-game performance in a forum thread). When discussing arguments or contested

subjects, articles should present all sides of the discussion.

Identification

Articles should identify the source of any information not directly attributable

to EVE Online. Information that is relevant to a specific release of EVE Online

should identify the release, release date, as well as identify why the

information is specifically relevant.