Guild Wars Wiki talk:Formatting

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Contents 1 Cutscenes 2 Holiday Events 3 Use of proper characters 4 Move proposal 5 Player Name, player name, Character Name, character name. 6 Capitalization 7 Mission Rewards 8 NPCs & Foes pages 9 PvP Arenas

[edit] Cutscenes

...Once again...GW:EN opens up an ugly situation. All the cutscenes are named...which means that there should be seperate articles for cutscenes now. I took about 20 screenies of "Into the North" (The cutscene where you first enter the Far Shiverpeaks after escaping the Destroyers). I'd be more than willing to take the dialogue and make it into an article, but there is no formatting guide for cutscenes...so how do we document this? Obviously:

Name: yada yada yada

Name2: yada yada

Name3: yada yada yada yada

is a start...but do we put in cropped pics? How do we explain the setting? Do we have a synopsis section? A "What happened before/after this cutscene"? What's everyone else's opinion on how we go about this? Calor - talk 16:59, 22 September 2007 (UTC)

All of them are actually part of a quest, so whether they have a name or not should not affect the way we document them. As for explaining the setting, you can try expanding Storyline of Eye of the North instead. -- ab.er.rant 09:28, 23 September 2007 (UTC)

I'd prefer to document them by name, since they're listed by name rather than by quest in the Scrying Pool. -- Gordon Ecker 09:43, 23 September 2007 (UTC)

Me too, Gordon, because not all of them are in quests, just about 90% of them. I've screenied 2 cutscenes, and documented one in My sandbox Calor - talk 18:56, 26 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Holiday Events

I haven't noticed or seen any formal,informal or really much in the way of coherent organization for the Holiday events, in particular the older ones such as Wintersday and Halloween 2005. I really only notice much since I've been trying to clean up/neaten and fill out more of these sections with the (probably) imminent coming of Halloween and Wintersday not being to far off. Among the formatting concerns would be page naming and organization. Several pages, such as Wintersday comment on having a generic holiday page as well as separate pages for each specific years event. Also these festival events have relevant information in location of the event, quests, npcs (especially collectors), items, mini-games, and so forth. Yukiko 23:54, 5 October 2007 (UTC)

I would like to agree that we keep all events separated for each year. So Wintersday should only be a disambiguation for Wintersday (2005) and Wintersday (2006). poke | talk 13:03, 6 October 2007 (UTC)

I also prefer keeping the events seperated by year with relevant information to that year's event on it, as well as keeping a page for the more generic or unchanging information for that holiday (Such as Wintersday is a competition between Dwayna and Grenth or that the Dragon Festival was started after the assassination of the Emperor of Cantha by Shiro.) to cut down on the amount of duplication most of the event pages will/do have. Yukiko 08:46, 11 October 2007 (UTC)

I'd say the events should have their own page, as they are not identical in content. But the general page should be more than disambiguation; it is also the place to mention any lore. Backsword 09:05, 11 October 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Use of proper characters

Is there any proposed or accepted guideline or policy regarding the correct use of punctuation characters, such as using “quotation marks” instead of "this" or 5–20 (en dash) instead of 5-20 (hyphen)? If not, would it make any sense in this project? For more information on this, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punctuation. --80.145.184.106 19:34, 15 October 2007 (UTC)

No policy on it, and I guess it's because those "correct" characters are alot harder to type. The incorrect ones are common on most keyboards, so it's just easier to use them. I don't think making a policy to use those would be that great, simply because they are harder for the common user to type. We don't claim to make academic texts, so I don't think it matters too much if we use "incorrect" punctuation :) - anja 21:04, 15 October 2007 (UTC)

I would say it won't make any sense. Using dash or hyphen makes no difference to the information we're trying to present. A policy on punctuation rules is just going to be ignored. As a guideline? I'll probably ignore it too ;) -- ab.er.rant 01:10, 16 October 2007 (UTC)

I tend to agree, such a guideline would be ignored by most users for many reasons. But, however, correcting those “typos” is merely an automated process that can be handled by a bot, so I see the need to agree on some formatting rules as a guideline for someone who feels able and willing to create a bot for it (or use any existing one) – and for authors who wish to write “correctly”. Also, I noticed some sort of a special character reference tab below the edit boxes on Wikipedia (like on http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Punctuation&action=edit, right below the “Save Page” button). With or without a guideline, this bar might help authors who have trouble with special characters. --132.176.151.122 11:37, 16 October 2007 (UTC)

Am I the only one that finds it ironic that the linked Wikipedia article uses the non-oriented double quote mark " as found on standard keyboards, not the angled pair “”, for most of its text?

Also, at least with the default font on Firefox, the two render exactly the same (both appear non-oriented). They only render differently in the edit box. (Aiiane - talk - contribs) 11:47, 16 October 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Move proposal

We have one non-formatting guideline, Guild Wars Wiki:Assume good faith, and we could have more in the future, however the guidelines link points here. I think that a non-formatting guidelines section should be added to the bottom of this page, Guild Wars Wiki:Guidelines should be moved to Guild Wars Wiki:Guidelines policy and this page should be moved to Guild Wars Wiki:Guidelines. -- Gordon Ecker 07:04, 29 October 2007 (UTC)

Um... why not make the guidelines link point to Category:Guidelines and be done with it? (Or a suitable summary page?) Why should this page, which is specifically about formatting, be named something about guidelines in general? (Aiiane - talk - contribs) 07:32, 29 October 2007 (UTC)

I thought the whole idea was to expand the list to include all our guidelines, not just formatting ones? - anja 08:41, 29 October 2007 (UTC)

Yes, but this page works well to simply sum up formatting on the wiki. It'd be better to leave this page as is and have a separate page that sums up the various overall guidelines - formatting as a whole being somewhat of a "collective guideline" with many sub elements. (Aiiane - talk - contribs) 10:06, 29 October 2007 (UTC)

I'd prefer to keep them together and split off formatting guidelines if the mein guideline page gets cluttered in the future. -- Gordon Ecker 11:02, 29 October 2007 (UTC)

It would be ok to have a Guild Wars Wiki:Guidelines which lists all Guidelines, but I would like to keep this page as it is. If you look at Guild Wars Wiki:Policy you see that the page is rather cluttered and I don't want to have a formatting guide list in the same way :/ poke | talk 11:14, 29 October 2007 (UTC)

I agree with the moves. You can simply add another H2 for non-formatting guidelines below the current one. --Xeeron 15:21, 29 October 2007 (UTC)

Shouldn't this be moved to Guild Wars Wiki:Formatting guidelines instead? -- ab.er.rant 03:00, 30 October 2007 (UTC)

Only if formatting and non-formatting guidelines are separate. -- Gordon Ecker 04:16, 30 October 2007 (UTC)

Is there a particular reason it'd need to be moved to Guild Wars Wiki:Formatting guidelines? After all, it's not like we're moving Guild Wars Wiki:Assume good faith to Guild Wars Wiki:Assume good faith guideline. (Aiiane - talk - contribs) 06:33, 30 October 2007 (UTC)

Ah, now I get it. This is more of a merge proposal rather than a move proposal? I don't see why this needs a move. Guild Wars Wiki:Guidelines is a place to list all the guidelines. This page lists all formatting-related guidelines. -- ab.er.rant 09:27, 30 October 2007 (UTC)

What about keeping this page and Guild Wars Wiki:Guidelines where they are and creating a full list of guidelines at list of guidelines with this page transcluded to prevent desynching? -- Gordon Ecker 09:49, 30 October 2007 (UTC)

That would be acceptable to me - or just linking to this page from the list of guidelines without transclusion - the formatting guidelines are somewhat of a large guideline with multiple sub-elements. (Aiiane - talk - contribs) 10:08, 30 October 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Player Name, player name, Character Name, character name.

Looking through the different articles such as the quest articles, and the mission articles there are many ways in the dialogue that show that the players character is the one talking. For example I have seen Player Name, and also Character Name. I am not sure if this wiki has a general formatting rule for this. If we don't I think we should decide on one so that all articles are consistant. --Sktbrd341 15:18, 30 December 2007 (UTC)

Yea, I should've raised this earlier too. I, for one, always change it into either "(character name)" or "<character name>". I always used "character" because that's exactly what/who is speaking - my character. "<player name>" implies that I am speaking. -- ab.er.rant 04:48, 1 January 2008 (UTC)

I usually use <Player Name> because that is what I first saw on this wiki and just started using it. I think it would be good if we can just choose one and incorperate into one of the formatting policies somehow. I think it makes sense to use character name. I think we should do "<character name>" , not really sure if it should be capitalized or not. --Sktbrd341 15:40, 1 January 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Capitalization

← moved to Guild Wars Wiki talk:Formatting/Article names

[edit] Mission Rewards

I have created Mission Exp and Gold reward template boxes (if you start on the first Factions mission Minister Cho's Estate you'll see it in use. I stopped because someone said I should bring it up on here first. Discussion Here. What do you think? here is what they look like.

Experience	Normal Mode	Hard mode
Standard	add	add
Expert	add	add
Master	add	add

Gold	Normal Mode	Hard mode
Standard	add	add
Expert	add	add
Master	add	add

I feel like the exp and gold rewards should be noted on all missions. I also feel that the time requirements template should be changed so that: Where is says "Reward", should say "Time Taken (Minutes)" and where it says "Time Taken (Minutes)" it should say "Normal Mode" View the Template here Mission Reward Template I can change it, I know how. I also know that it will take some effort to fix all of the missions it appears on, but I'm wiling to take care of it, if everyone agrees. -- RavenJWolfe 16:26, 11 March 2008 (UTC)

I think it would be better to not use templates/boxes for this, only normal text (in order to follow the same displaying format as the rest of the page). Or, in case using a box is decided, to merge all the info into just one. Using separated boxes for rewards would just make prophecies mission pages innecesarily large. Ignore that, just checked the mission formatting guideline and my concerns are already solved there. In any case, i think it would be better to just use two box instead of three (normal and hard mode), and merge the info into them.--Fighterdoken 17:04, 11 March 2008 (UTC)

True, merging boxes would be nice, but theres really no way to do that unless there was Let me rephrase-- The only way to do that is to create a double box with NM on top, and HM underneath. Somewhat like they do on the unofficial Wiki, but nicer. [(See here)]

I will work on such a box, and upload link to template when I'm finished. -- RavenJWolfe 17:29, 11 March 2008 (UTC)

Here we are. :) It's Done. Here is an example with info from Minister Cho's Estate added:

Normal Mode	Time Taken (minutes)	Experience	Gold
Standard	>25	1000	100
Expert	<25	1500	150
Master	<20	2000	200
Hard Mode	Time Taken (minutes)	Experience	Gold
Standard	>25	1000	200
Expert	<25	2000	300
Master	<20	3000	500

What do you think of it??? I updated the Minister Cho's Estate page with my new template, that I originally changed. That is the only mission so far that has Rewards displayed in this way. I will not change any others until it is decided so. I would be willing to update all Missions this way. For Tyrian Missions I can create a different template to deal with bonus instead of standard/expert/masters, etc. -- RavenJWolfe 18:24, 11 March 2008 (UTC)

Looks better i think. I would still prefer to have the "rewards" (exp+faction+gold) merged in only one box, but unless someone can actually find a way to fit it without looking too unorganized, i guess this could work.--Fighterdoken 19:38, 11 March 2008 (UTC)

I would prefer the box was the same colour as the quest/mission infoboxes - seeing too many bright colours on one page is a bit much, I think :P. Also, the padding or font on the boxes could be taken down a little, the box shouldn't take up too much space on the page. -- Brains12 \ Talk 19:39, 11 March 2008 (UTC)

Fixed padding. The reason I used those colors is because Hard mode is red, and Normal mode is gold. (Icons above your party list/ and on your maps) I'm not sure what Fighterdoken means by merged into only one box. In a table arrangement, you have to have a group of variables on top, (Time, Exp, Gold) and a group of variables on the side, (Standard, Expert, Master.) Yet we have three groups of variables. (Time, Exp, Gold) - (Standard, Expert, Master) - (Normal Mode, Hard Mode). There is no other way to display this, but this way. As for the colors I felt it coordinated well, because when you think of Hard Mode you think red, and when you think Normal, you think gold. Right? Look at your Maps people!! If the colors end up being contested by everyone then they can be changed, otherwise I really think this works well. It is not too bright in my opinion. Thanks for everyones input on this subject. I felt that the rewards section on our Missions should be a bit more informative and I'm trying to make that happen. Thanks! -- RavenJWolfe 20:27, 11 March 2008 (UTC)

Ok, How are the colors now... ? Well I made them lighter and still gold and red, but no one likes that so...blue I guess. Even though it doesn't look good to me.

These were the original colors, just in-case people want to know.

Normal Mode
Hard Mode

-- RavenJWolfe 21:14, 11 March 2008 (UTC)

Fighterdoken, what "mission formatting guideline" I can't find anything if the sort. Link?? -- RavenJWolfe 21:33, 11 March 2008 (UTC)

GWW:MISSIONS. Calor 21:36, 11 March 2008 (UTC)

Great! Thanks! -- RavenJWolfe 21:46, 11 March 2008 (UTC)

Thanks for mentioning this on a mission formatting page where my watchlists can pick it up. It was originally decided not to list the XP, gold and skill point rewards for the missions because they were identical across all (or almost all the exception is Chahbek Village) of the missions of a campaign. I don't especially see the point of listing that information when it is identical for every mission - especially in the Prophecies missions where the bonus isn't timed and there are only two tiers of reward and no gold given.

I'm not going to stop you if you're dead keen to make the change. The box definitely should be the mission info box colour. If you're listing the rewards, please extend the box to include the skill point reward (do you get a skill point in Hard mode?). Does the box work for Prophecies missions? - currently none of them sport any reward box and if you're including the rewards on each page it will need to be included on prophecies missions too. --Aspectacle 22:32, 11 March 2008 (UTC)

Thanks for the constructive input, I didn't realize that. I'll probably leave it the way it is, but If I work out a good system for displaying it all, including Prophecies, then I'll let you know again. Thanks! I'm going to leave my template on wiki so I can modify it later. -- RavenJWolfe 23:14, 11 March 2008 (UTC)

[edit] NPCs & Foes pages

Some NPCs & Foes pages has attributes listed, but at the moment it looks kinda messy in my opinion. Can we have a policy about the formating of attributes for those pages? --MageMontu 19:24, 17 June 2008 (UTC)

Guild Wars Wiki:Formatting/NPCs#Skills. -- ab.er.rant 10:10, 18 June 2008 (UTC)

Do you mean I have to suggest it there? --MageMontu 10:29, 18 June 2008 (UTC)

No, he means it's already there. Look closer. Calor 15:36, 18 June 2008 (UTC)

[edit] PvP Arenas

None of the pvp arenas fall under any other location category. Should there be a separate formatting guideline for them? Most of the pvp maps right now all have a layout section and a "map mechanics" or "Objectives" section. ~Shard (talk) 08:52, 22 June 2008 (UTC)

well, technically, they are missions and 'ought' to follow that formating. But noone has really bothered with them, and mission formatring is not adjusted to suit them. They're pretty much in the state they were first set up when the wiki was new, so if someone would take upon themself to straighten them out, that'd be great. Backsword 13:52, 22 June 2008 (UTC)

I've never written a formatting guide before and would appreciate help if I decided to do it. Maybe I'll just cut+paste from mission formatting guideline and change what pvp arenas need/don't need. ~Shard (talk) 08:38, 5 July 2008 (UTC)

Or you can work on some of the pages first and then build a template that's based on how you did the pages and go from there. -- ab.er.rant 01:09, 7 July 2008 (UTC)