Template:RulesIndex The Style Guide is a guide for formatting articles on the Sly Cooper Wiki. Please read through the policy below to familiarize yourself with common practices and rules.
Article layout
In some cases, not all of these sections will be fit or apply to the subject of the article, which is fine.
Character articles
- Lead section - This is not a named section. Is the top of the page and should always contain infoboxes, tags (such as
{{stub}}{{imageneed}} - Biography - The biography of the character. It should be separated into smaller headings by game, events, etc.
- Characteristics - Has no content except for the following subsections. To better remember the order of them, memorize the acronym "PaPA."
- Physical appearance - Clothes, hair/fur color, eye color, accessories and other things that define the character.
- Personality - How the character acts in most situations, as well as odd quirks, like a fear of something or a love for something.
- Abilities - What the character can do that defines them, such as hacking, driving, or being acrobatic.
- Relationships - Has subsections for each character that there is a major relationship
- Appearances - A list of games and other media where the character appears. In chronological order, not necessarily order of release.
- Gallery - If the gallery becomes too large, a sub-page may need to be created, after which
{{see}} - Trivia - No "the sky is blue" trivia. If the trivia can be incorporated into the article, it should be done.
- References - Contains
<references/>if there are references within the article.
Organization
Character articles
Tophats
Tophats are the templates that go at the top of an article. Character articles may or may not require any. If they do, put them above the infobox. If {{Other}}{{Stub}}{{Rewrite}}{{For}}
Infoboxes
All characters' articles require an infobox, regardless of how much information is known about the character themself. The infobox needed to be used is {{Infobox Character}}
Trivia
All trivia of the characters should not be rumors, eg., "This character might make an appearance in the Sly Cooper movie." All trivia should be true, and related to the character and their facts. Glitches relating to characters on the page are a result of game development/game mechanic faults and should not be noted despite their factual existence, as it does not pertain to the character itself whatsoever.
Categories
All characters must be categorized according to what they appear in. Do NOT categorize characters as Category:Characters. Instead, categorize them as Category:Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus characters, Category:Sly 2: Band of Thieves characters, etc. They should also be categorized according to their status; Alive, Deceased, Jailed, etc. They should then be categorized according to their alignment; Heroes, Villains, Interpol, etc.
Power-up articles
Infoboxes
All power-up articles require an infobox, regardless of how much information is known about the power-up. The infobox needed to be used is {{Infobox Powerup}}
Categories
All power-up articles must be categorized according to the power-up user; e.g., Category:Sly Cooper's power-ups, Category:Bentley's power-ups.
Loot Articles
Infoboxes
All loot articles require an infobox, regardless of how much information is known about the loot. The infobox needed to be used is {{Infobox Loot}}
Categories
All loot must be categorized in Category:Loot. Any other appropriate categories must be added to the article.
Video game articles
Infoboxes
All video game articles require an infobox, regardless of how much information is known about that game. The infobox needed to be used is {{Infobox Game}}
Categories
All game must be categorized in Category:Games. Any other appropriate categories must be added to the article.
Book and Comic articles
Infoboxes
All book and comic articles require an infobox, regardless of how much information is known about the book. The infobox needed to be used is {{Infobox Book}}
Categories
All books and comics must be categorized in Category:Books and Comics. Any other appropriate categories must be added to the article.
Film articles
Infoboxes
All film articles require an infobox, regardless of how much information is known about the film. The infobox needed to be used is {{Infobox Film}}
Categories
All films must be categorized in Category:Films. Any other appropriate categories must be added to the article.
Article titles, headings, and sections
Article titles
- Titles are generally nouns or noun phrases (Cooper Clan, not About the Cooper Clan).
- Titles should not begin with "the", "a" or "an" unless the article is part of a proper noun. (Cooper Vault is preferable to The Cooper Vault. However, The Fire Down Below is appropriate, as "The" is part of that mission's name.)
- Article titles should be singular; category titles should be plural. For example, the article Gold Ring (singular) belongs to the category Power-ups (plural). If an article is about a plural subject, prefer calling it a list. (List of Minor Characters rather than Minor Characters.)
- The first letter in an article's title should be capitalized. The rest of the title should be uppercase as well, unless it would be lowercase when written in a normal title.
- These include but aren't limited to: of, and, an, the, by, to, as, in, on, with, at, for, a, from.
- The titles of articles about individual characters should be the name by which the character was most commonly known, with later names preferred to earlier names, and full names preferred to partial names or nicknames. Titles, such as military ranks or titles of nobility, should be omitted. (Neyla instead of Constable Neyla.) Exceptions may be made to this rule when a character is most commonly referred to using that title; for example, Sir Galleth Cooper.
Section headings
- Only the first word of a section heading should be capitalized, unless it is a proper noun. (How to complete instead of How to Complete.)
- Section names should not explicitly refer to the subject of the article, or to higher-level headings, unless doing so is shorter or clearer. For example, Early life is preferable to His early life when His means the subject of the article; headings can be assumed to be about the subject unless otherwise indicated.
- Headings provide an overview in the article's table of contents and should be nested appropriately. The article title is automatically H1, all other headings should be nested inside of it. (
==H2==, followed by===H3===,====H4====and so on.)
Usage
Language
- Though the readers and editors of the Sly Cooper Wiki may speak many varieties of English, standard American English spelling, punctuation, and word usage is preferred.
- Slang and profanity are inappropriate unless they are part of a quote. Even then, it should be carefully gauged whether such a quote is really notable and necessary.
Abbreviations and acronyms
- When using acronyms, write out both the full version and the abbreviation at first occurrence. (One could write Sly 2: Band of Thieves the first time that subject was used in an article, and then use Sly 2 in subsequent references.)
- Avoid abbreviations when they would be confusing to the reader, interrupt the flow, or appear informal or lazy.
Formatting
- Titles of video games and comics are italicized. (Sly Cooper and the Thievius Racoonus, The Adventures of Sly Cooper.)
- Titles of episodes, and jobs are enclosed in double quotes. ("Tide of Terror", "A Rocky Start".)
- Strong emphasis that isn't adequately conveyed by an article's wording may be italicized.
- Bold or capitalized text should not be used to convey emphasis.
- Headings should use the aforementioned header tags, as opposed to bold text.
- Bold text is used when the subject of an article is introduced. (Sly Cooper is the main protagonist of the Sly Cooper series developed by Sucker Punch Productions.) If other alternate titles are also used to introduce the subject, they should be bold as well. (Power-ups, also known as Gadgets...)
- Blank lines should be used primarily to separate sections and paragraphs, and they should not be used to align elements in an article. In the rare event that such alignment is necessary, it can be achieved with the
{{-}}template. No further formatting is necessary to convey line breaks. Members are urged only to maintain one blank line in between each section and paragraph. It is strongly recommended that members refrain from adding line breaks throughout an article, as they are likely to be reverted and removed in order to maintain consistency and proper formatting.
Verb tense
- In-universe articles should be written in past tense.
- Out-of-universe articles should be written in present tense.