RuneScape:Style guide

This style guide has the simple purpose of making the RuneScape Wiki easy to read by establishing a certain format. One way is often as good as another, but if everyone does things the same way, the articles will be easier to read and use, along with being easier to write and edit. Reading the style guide is important to ensure that each user's edits will be consistent with those of other users.

Academic style
Wikia is an academic project. As such, common academic style should be used, as this facilitates effective transfer of information. This may sound difficult, it is not. Minimalism is the style of academia, where everything that can be removed without altering the content of a sentence should be removed. Further, the shortest clear way of saying something should be used. Language is therefore dense, many sentences are short and every single word is important. This will quickly become second nature to new editors, but requires some effort at first. The two most common reasons to edit articles are adding new information and editing language. Editing language to become more academic makes up the greatest part of language editing.

Some important features to note about academic style are as follows:


 * The use of "you" is inefficient and is easily avoided. Substituting "you" with "the player" does not improve style.
 * Example: You/the player needs level 40 Defence to wear rune platelegs. → Rune platelegs require level 40 Defence [to be worn].
 * The shorter, the more to the point a sentence is.
 * Example: Sextants cannot be traded from player to player. → Sextants are untradeable.
 * Accurate terminology should be used where possible.
 * Example: 'Terms like "gets" "is" "gives" "shows" should be examined to see if more precise words exist.
 * Academic vocabulary should be used. This is known as "formal language".
 * Example: The price dropped even more later → The price dropped further [insert the time here].
 * Where either a complex or a common word may be used, the common one should be chosen.
 * Example: General Graador is humongously vast in size → General Graador is large.
 * Structure should be as consistent as possible. This makes information easy to find.
 * Example: lists should be presented in bulleted lists, not in paragraph form.
 * SVO form is usually the simplest form of writing English. Subject precedes verb which in turn precedes the gramatical object of a sentence. The active form should be used, where the subject performs the action of the sentence.
 * Example: Passive: Magic damage is readibly dealt to Knights.→ Active: Knights readibly take magic damage.
 * Exception: the terms "Players" or "You" should be omitted, often forcing the sentence to be written in passive.
 * Where multiple items exist, the word "the" should be switched to "a/an" in plural, or simply be omitted.
 * Example: The yew longbow is a two-handed weapon. → Yew Longbows are two-handed weapons.
 * Prepositions (on, by, with, through) need to be used carefully.
 * Example: Through casting high level alchemy, gold is produced. → By high level alchemy, gold is produced.
 * The use of exclamation marks should be kept to a minimum, as facts are presented neutrally.
 * Example: This is extremely rare! → This is extremely rare.
 * The use of extremes should be avoided, as facts are presented neutrally.
 * Example: Abbarent spectres may drop even three herbs →  Abbarent spectres may also drop three herbs
 * Personification should be avoided. Personification is where objects are given human qualities. Words like give, can, come and make all attribute conscious choice.
 * Examples: Opening a casket can also give level 2 clue scrolls → Caskets may also contain level 2 clue scrolls
 * This update came with the release of castle wars → "This update took place at the release of castle wars''

Article titles
Pages must have appropriate titles. Names, locations, and titles (like a quest) should all be capitalised, though not the whole title. Try to make the article's topic the subject of the first sentence in the article. For example, write "This style manual is a style guide" instead of "This style guide is known as..." Use boldface ( in the edit tool bar) for the first (and only the first) appearance of the title.

Articles about items, monsters, quests, and non-player characters should be titled exactly as the subject's name appears in-game. A general rule of thumb for article titles is that most items, monsters, and non-player characters only have the first letter of the first word in their name capitalised, although most quest items, monsters, and non-player characters are exceptions to this rule. An example of regular monsters which are an exception to this rule are Poison Scorpions. Unless the item or monster's name has more than one capital in-game, don't put a capital at the beginning of every word. This is a common mistake which often causes broken links and time being diverted to moving these pages. If you are in doubt about a name, please check it in-game. If you come across a page with an incorrect title, please move it to the correct title and edit it to make the correct title consistent. If a page's title conflicts with its content, make the content consistent with the title before checking in-game to ensure accuracy.

Sections and headings
Separating articles into sections makes them easy to read and navigate. Headings are used to split articles into sections.

Markup
Use two equal signs style markup for headings. Start with, add the heading title, then end with.

This section's heading was created with the markup:

This subsection's heading was created with the markup:

Wording

 * In a heading, capitalise only the first letter of the first word and the first letter of any proper nouns, and leave all of the other letters in lowercase. Quest titles, skills, names, cities, and so on should all have the first letter capitalised. For example, "Fishing equipment", not "Fishing Equipment".
 * Avoid putting links in headings.
 * Make sure that the heading has an appropriate and accurate title, as this is important to help readers navigate the article. For example, do not make a "Monsters" section in an article about an area or dungeon and then include non-player characters in that section. Instead, make an "Inhabitants" section with "Monsters" and "NPCs" as subsections.
 * Keep headings short.

Font colours
Coloured font can be used sparingly, though not in very bright colours. For example, you can use a dark colour for a warning. Note that light colours will not show up well against the article's white background.

Invisible comments
Invisible comments are used to communicate with other editors in the article body. To do so, enclose the text which you intend to be read only by editors within. For example, using  will be hidden in the article.

Bulleted lists
Bulleted lists can be used in quest walkthroughs and lists. For example, you can use bullets if you're listing what levels to train a certain skill or locations of an item. Do not forget proper punctuation. To add bullets, put an asterisk (*) before the name. For example: would come out as:
 * List name 1
 * List name 2
 * Sub-list
 * List name 1
 * List name 2
 * Sub-list

Numbered lists
All the rules for bulleted lists apply also to numbered lists. Numbered lists can be used for listing steps in a process. To add a numbered list, put a number sign (#) before the list name. For example: would come out as:
 * 1) List name 1
 * 2) List name 2
 * 3) List name 3
 * 1) List name 1
 * 2) List name 2
 * 3) List name 3

Bold and italics
Place two apostrophes ( Italicised text, or in the edit tool bar) on either side of a selection of text to italicise the selection. Italics are mainly used to emphasise certain words, though they should be used sparingly. Also note that the word RuneScape should always be italicised. Italics may make longer phrases or sentences difficult to read.

Place three apostrophes ( Boldfaced text ) on either side of a selection of text to boldface the selection. Bold is used as a stronger emphasis than italics, although it should be used sparingly as well. The first appearance of an article's title in the article should always be boldfaced.

Place five apostrophes ( Boldfaced and italicised text ) on either side of a selection to use bold and italics in combination on the selection. Bold and italics combined emphasise selections well, but should be used extremely rarely. There are no common cases in which bold and italics are used together.

As you can see, bold works well to emphasise sentences as well as short phrases and single words, while italics are a much weaker emphasis for sentences, but work well on short phrases or single words. Bold and italics are used in combination very rarely. Excessive use of any of these text elements will make the entire article difficult to read, so please use them in appropriate situations.

Abbreviations
Try to not use abbreviations. For example, use "battleaxe" instead of "baxe." Some players may not know what these abbreviations mean. And as far as looks goes, it's much more pleasing to the eye to look at "That Dragon Axe will help you to cut the logs faster." than "Tht daxe wil help u 2 cut da logs fastr." It's even worse when you type something in "Leet Speak" also known as "1337 5P34K." This wiki's preferred language is British English, not numbers (translation: 3n6L15H, n07 nUM83r5).

Punctuation
If you are listing multiple things, like different runes, each of them should have a comma at the end. For example, "fire runes, earth runes, and water runes" would be proper, "fire runes, earth runes and water runes" would not be.

If you are compiling a list of drops for a monster in the bestiary pages, try to not use brackets to denote quantities. For example, instead of "nature runes (5,17,35)" it should be "5, 17 or 35 nature runes." The reason is that brackets can be part of the in-game description, and a monster that drops 2 full waterskins would be very confusing if the brackets system was used (e.g. "Waterskin (4) (2)"). The same problem applies to potions.

Usage and spelling

 * The S in RuneScape is capitalised. RuneScape should also be italicised.
 * The G in Jagex need not be capitalised.
 * Jagex is a British company, so British spelling should be used at all times. Common examples include:
 * Armour instead of armor
 * Behaviour instead of behavior
 * Colour instead of color
 * Honour instead of honor
 * Humour instead of humor
 * Capitalise instead of capitalize
 * Analyse instead of analyze
 * Dialogue instead of Dialog
 * Duelling instead of dueling
 * Jewellery instead of jewelry
 * Centre instead of center
 * Grey instead of gray
 * Artefact instead of artifact
 * Storey instead of story (plural: storeys instead of stories) as in first storey, second storey, etc. Not "short storey."
 * Defence instead of defense
 * Tradeable instead of tradable
 * Travelled instead of traveled
 * For directions and compounds, hyphens should be included. For example:
 * South-west instead of southwest
 * North-east instead of northeast
 * Anti-dragon shield instead of Antidragon shield
 * Counter-attack instead of counterattack

See also: American and British English spelling differences and variations.

Tense
A rule of thumb is to use present tense in all cases. For example, articles for quests, skills, minigames, non-player characters, etc. should be written in present tense. An exception to this rule would be events that have occurred in the past, or for in-game content that has been removed. For example, holiday events that have already occurred should be written in past tense. For future updates and upcoming content that have been confirmed by Jagex, use the future tense.


 * Past tense: Past events and in-game content that been removed
 * Future tense: Future updates and upcoming content that have been confirmed
 * Present tense: All other cases

Common grammatical errors
then and than
 * Despite their pronunciations being very similar, they are different in meaning.
 * Then is used in one of the three following cases:
 * 1. at that time; at the time in question.
 * "I was living in Cairo then."
 * 2. after that; next; afterward
 * "She won the first and then the second game."
 * 3. in that case; therefore
 * "If you do what I tell you, then there's nothing to worry about."
 * "Well, that's okay, then."


 * Than is used in either introducing the second element in a sentence
 * "He was much smaller than his son."
 * or in expressions introducing exceptions or contrasts
 * "He claims not to own anything other than his home."

its and it's
 * Its is the possessive adjective and possessive pronoun form of the personal pronoun it.
 * "He chose this area for its atmosphere."


 * On the other hand, it's is a contraction (shortcut) for it is OR it has.
 * it is - "It's my fault."
 * it has - "It's been a hot day."

their and there
 * Their is possessive, referring to an object, or objects, belonging to a certain number of people.
 * "The ball is their property."


 * There is an adverb, referring to a certain position or area.
 * "We went on to Paris and stayed there eleven days."


 * they're can also be confused with their and there. They're is a contraction for they are and they were, depending on how the sentence is constructed.

should of
 * The reason people write "should of" when they mean should have is because the contraction of should have (should've) is pronounced like "should of". Avoid "should of" like the plague. Instead, write 'should have'.
 * "Those rookie editors made the mistake of writing "should of" when they meant 'should have'."

a herb and an herb
 * A herb is the correct term due to British accents pronouncing the "h" at the start of herb. American accents clip the "h", which means that an herb would be correct.
 * "Guam is a herb that can be farmed"

References and citations
References or footnotes are notes which appear after a section of text and are linked with a specific part of the text. They are used for long explanations which cannot be worked into the paragraph naturally and for citations. Non-citation references should only be used sparingly, however references used as citations can be used as often as necessary. Detailed usage and syntax instructions can be found on the main article.

Images
Some general guidelines which should be followed are listed below.


 * The first image should be right-aligned. For other images in the article, right-alignment is preferred to left- or centre-alignment. However, centre-alignment can be used for some images in the quest pages, such as the reward picture.
 * If there are too many images in a given article, consider making a gallery with a level two heading.
 * Use captions to explain the relevance of the image to the article.
 * Make large images a thumbnail.
 * Specifying the size of a thumbnail image is not recommended.
 * When possible, please use images that are formed from screen captures of the RuneScape user client interface, or otherwise note the source of that image. Content which can not be verified or substantiated by other users may be subject to deletion.

Uploading images

 * The preferred formats for images are PNG.
 * Images of items should have a transparent background.
 * Personal images which are only used on a User pages should not be uploaded. Images should be able to be used on main space articles, else they will be deleted.
 * Please name your files descriptively to avoid confusion. For example if you are uploading a picture of a weapon, name it Rune longsword.PNG and not just Sword.PNG or RL.PNG.
 * Don't upload images we already have. We have many users doing this and it is not good to have multiple images of the same item! Before you upload an image, search the wiki if someone has already uploaded a version of it. We don't need  or   if someone has already uploaded.

Captions
Complete sentences in captions should always end in a full stop (period). If the caption is not a complete sentence, it generally should not have a full stop at the end. Captions should also not be italicised.

Wiki-linking

 * Every time an article is mentioned on the page, you don't have to link to every single one. For example, lobster may be mentioned five times. You only have to link to lobster once. You can link to articles more than once if the page is very long.
 * When a skill is linked to, the name of the skill should be used, not a short form or a different spelling of it. Instead of saying " " you should state " ."
 * Piped link formats for simple plurals are generally unnecessary. For example, use  instead of.
 * On the other hand, use  instead of   when appropriate.  Don't be afraid to use a piped link when necessary, particularly if avoiding them contorts the language unnecessarily or introduces spelling or grammatical errors into the article.  Piped links have legitimate uses in an article.
 * When including wiki-links in an article, there is no need to use capitalisation or underscores, since the software produces them automatically.
 * Do not use place the last letters of a plural outside of a link that already has alternate text. For example,  should be used instead of.

Writing articles
Everyone is encouraged to contribute meaningfully to the wiki.

Ownership and bias

 * Keep personal bias out of articles. Even if "Mining is for noobs" or "Smithing is awesome", we do not need to hear it in the articles.
 * Nobody owns articles. This is a wiki, after all. This means words like "I," "we," or "me" should not be included in articles.
 * Do not include specific usernames of players or groups of players (clans) in articles.
 * Do not try and claim "facts" such as "player x was the first to complete this task" without any verifiable proof.

Facts and trivia
If you have a piece of information or trivia that you would like to add to an article, yet are unsure of its accuracy, leave a note on the talk page of the article so that all editors can discuss it. Do not engage in edit wars on the article page.

Drop logs
Drop logs do not belong in articles. If you want to record drop logs, make a subpage on your user page.

Numbers
For numbers, a comma should be used as a thousands separator. Jagex uses a comma in the Statistics screen (see the Assist System and Skills Interface update on 12 November 2007) as well as in the Game Guide - Farming - Seeds.

Floor numbering
Jagex uses the British convention for floor numbering in the Game Guide: Ground floor is the American 1st floor, 1st floor is the American 2nd floor, etc. Template:Floor is available to be placed at the top of articles which reference building floors.

Dates
Use the day before month format (dd/mm/yyyy - 1 May 2008) rather than the month before day format (mm/dd, yyyy - May 1, 2008). Note that no commas are used in the day before month format. Jagex (British) and most of the world uses the day before month format.


 * See Wikipedia:Manual of Style (dates and numbers) as well as Calendar date.