We here at Transformers like things to be uniform and everything so this Manual of Style is here to set things straight.
For information on the most basic writing techniques and styles, which are used here, see Wikipedia's Manual of Style.
Below are some basic Transformers formatting do's and don't's.
All in-universe articles should be structured as follows:
- Main article
- Behind the scenes (notice the capitalization)
- See also
- External links
- Succession box
For more details as to what each section of an article should contain, see the Layout Guide.
There are some rules regarding how articles on Transformers Fanon should be named. Article names should be in singular form, not plural. Read Transformers Fanon Wiki:Naming Articles
Using the #
Do not use the # in a link unless you intend to direct to a section of that article with the title after the # as a section. When linking to articles, particular books and guides with numbers denoting their order, omit the # and simply put the number. Otherwise the software will look for that number as a section title on the page.
== (heading) markup for headings, not the
''' (bold) markup. Example:
===This is a heading===
- This is a heading
If you mark headings this way, a table of contents is automatically generated from the headings in an article. Sections can be automatically numbered for users with that preference set and words within properly marked headings are given greater weight in searches. Headings also help readers by breaking up the text and outlining the article.
- Capitalize the first letter only of the first word and of any proper nouns in a heading, and leave all of the other letters in lower case.
- Avoid links within headings.
- Avoid overuse of sub-headings.
Usage and spelling
Though the readers and editors of Transformers Fanon speak many varieties of English, we prefer standard American English spelling, punctuation, and word usage. This is the variety of English used in the first printings of most primary sources.
If the title of an article differs in different varieties of English, the American title should be the article title, with alternate names being used as redirects (for example, Starsabre redirects to Starsaber).
All in-universe articles should be in past tense. Keeping articles written in past tense provides consistency and flavor. If the article is about a character that is still alive, then the characteristics, and personality and traits sections are to be in the present.
Despite this, do not include phrases like "His ultimate fate is unknown" or "what happened to the ship after that is a mystery". For more, see the tense policy.
Class and ship names
Names of specific spaceships should be:
- Used with the definite article
- "The Atlantis was found on Earth."
- NOT "Atlantis was found on Earth."
Class names are italicized only when a spaceship in the class bears the same name. The definite article may be used, but it is not required.
- When a ship’s class is a modifier, use a hyphen:
- "Quasar Fire-class Bulk Cruiser"
- When it is a noun, do not use a hyphen:
- "Ships of the Victory class were often overlooked"
Do not italicize a class name when:
- Using the class name and type, but without "-class"
- "Venator Battle Cruiser"
- It is being used alone as a noun
- "Most models of the Battlehawk were lightly armored and ran with a small crew."
Quotations should follow this general format:
- If the quote is less than a paragraph long, simply including it in the article's body with "and" will suffice.
- If the quote is at least a paragraph in length, or a dialogue, insert as a block quote:
- "Block quotes are indented with a colon at the beginning of each new paragraph. Each paragraph needs only one colon, not a new colon for each line (word wrap will accomplish this automatically).
- New paragraphs, however, do require their own colon."
Please be sure to provide as much information as possible (for instance: source, page if applicable, and characters speaking if applicable).
Units of measurement
Measurement should be in either US Customary or metric untis.
All articles should be categorized. See our Transformers Fanon Wiki:Categorization page for more infomation.