Help:Style guide

Defer questions of style to Style and How-to Directory.

Article Names

Here are some guidelines for general pages:

• Wikipedia's naming conventions
• Wikipedia's disambiguation page

As a game, Spiral Knights has its own special names, so the Wikipedia guidelines will not always be appropriate.

Grammar

As with any piece of writing, grammar is of utmost importance in order to keep an article consistent, coherent, and concise.

First/Second/Third Person

First - I/We

Second - You/Yourself

Third - They/It

Do not mix up the persons. In order to make an article read naturally, it is proposed that the second person (you) is used unless it conflicts with a proper noun such as "floor" or "Gremlin."

i.e.

Swordmasters are great fighters. You are able to deal lots of damage.

Swordmasters are great fighters. They are able to deal lots of damage.

Singular/Plural

Remember, always keep plural/singular pronouns and nouns consistent. Or the grammars get screwed up by many person.

i.e.

Depth 1 are not the greatest places to find crown.

Depth 1 is not the greatest place to find crowns.

Tense

Tense is always important. There are the basic tenses, such as past, present, and future, but keep in kind there are also the perfect and continuous/progressive tenses. Look below for some examples.

i.e.

I can kiss - present simple (basic)

I had kissed - present perfect (it happened already)

I am kissing - present continuous (it's happening)

I have been kissing past/present continuous (it's been happening for awhile now, and it's still going on)

File Names

Uploaded files should be named clearly and plainly. All images should have the appropriate image tag included in the file description. The preferred image format is PNG. For images created by the Spiral Knights community, please follow the following naming conventions:

• Bomb_Name_blast_radius.png - Used for bomb radius images
• Crafting-Item_Name.png - Used for crafting item icons
• Equipment-Item_Name icon.png - Used for equipment item icons (armor, helmets, shields, weapons)
• Equipment-Item_Name Stats.png- Used for equipment stats (armor, helmets, shields, weapons)
• Item_Name-Equipped.png - Used for equipped items (armor, helmets, shields, weapons)
• Monster-Monster_Name.png - Used for monsters (128x128px)
• Vendor_Name-Mugshot.png - Used for vendors

Templates

Infoboxes

• {{ArmorInfo}} ^(Usage) - For armor including armor, helmets, and shields
• {{Monster}} ^(Usage) - For monsters
• {{TrinketInfo}} ^(Usage) - For trinkets
• {{WeaponInfo}} ^(Usage) - For weapons including bombs, guns, and swords

Table of Contents

• {{TOCright}} ^(Usage) - For moving the TOC to the right
• {{CompactTOC}} ^(Usage) - For an ABC type TOC to replace the standard type. Used for alphabetical lists.

Other

• {{SKLink}} ^(Usage) - For making links visible in tables with dark backgrounds
• {{Star}} ^(Usage) - For showing the star rating graphically

Screenshots and images

• "Item equipped" images represent the item as it appears when worn. The best screenshots can be taken from the character information window. Armor images should include a front and back view.
• Bomb blast radius images are usually taken in a standard reference location, to facilitate comparisons between different bombs.
  • The preferred location is the depth 4 Clockworks Terminal, please see the current radius screenshots for the specific square (to the left of one with a spiral).
  • The image usually shows the white circles that appear before the bomb detonates - this keeps the image from being obscured by complex animations. "Shard" bombs (such as the crystal bomb) have a very small "blast radius", and may be better represented by an image showing the distance that shards travel.

Categories

Whenever fitting, articles should be categorized. See Special:Categories for a list of categories.