PinataIsland.info:Style guide

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This is a starting draft of a Style guide for the PinataIsland.info wiki. It contains conventions about formatting and layout for the articles.

At some point, it will probably have a bit more content up top, but for now, we'll use examples to address the various topics.


This Style guide does not cover general wiki markup help, which can be found at Help:Editing. To experiment with wiki markup, try the PinataIsland.info:Sandbox.


General tips

Use the Show preview button to preview your changes before saving them, to make sure that the appearance (wording, links, table rows, ...) is correct. Once you are done with any changes and everything appears correct, use the Save page to save your changes to the wiki.


Consistency

Please try to use similar capitalization and phrasing to the rest of the wiki when entering new information. If you're not sure how something should be entered, look at a related (e.g. another species or plant) article to see wording conventions.


Capitalization

In general, most terms should be typed in lowercase (instead of Mixed Case) within a sentence. Examples of lowercase terms would be the tools (watering can), surfaces (grass, snow), and plants (buttercup, cactus). Pinata species, such as Horstachio, and the names for the Journal and Encyclopedia should be typed in uppercase.

At the start of a sentence (or after a label:), it would be appropriate to capitalize the first letter. "Unique trait: Ball at end of tail."


Wording for plant articles

Here are some example entries from the buttercup and orange tree articles:

  • Eating 1 buttercup seed helps meet the Mousemallow Romance requirements.



  • Eating 1 orange seed helps meet the Flapyak Trick requirements.
  • An orange on a trap helps meet the Flapyak Bait requirement.


Wording for species articles

Here are some example entries from the Parrybo article:





Here are some sample entries for uses:

  • 1 Whirlm in the garden helps meet the Sparrowmint Appear requirements.
  • 2 Whirlms in the garden helps meet the Sparrowmint Visit requirements.
  • 4 Whirlms in the garden helps meet the Fudgehog Visit requirements.
  • Eating 1 Whirlm helps meet the Sparrowmint Romance requirements.
  • Eating 1 Whirlm helps meet the Roario Trick requirements.
  • Eating 2 Whirlms helps meet the Fudgehog Resident requirements.
  • Romancing 2 Whirlms helps meet the Sparrowmint Resident requirements.

Uses are sorted by type, and by number. Start off with "1... 2... 3... in the garden," then "Eating 1... 2... 3...," then "Feeding ... ." Any other uses generally then follow.

Describe requirements as plural ("... Visit requirements"), even if a species only has a single particular requirement. Describe trick requirements in general ("... Trick requirements"), instead of specifying trick 1 or trick 2.


Here are some example entries for happiness tips:


In general, link only the first mention of an item (as how bird of paradise was done), and leave other nearby mentions of it unlinked. Again, if you're not sure of how something should be linked or worded, try checking a similar article in another browser tab or window, and copying the links or wording from there.

When mentioning names of flowers in requirements and uses, omit "flower" or "flowerhead."


Examples

What it looks like What you type

Please sign and date any comments you add to a Talk (discussion) article:

Viva Pinata is great! --FeralKitty 02:09, 13 November 2006 (EST)

  • You can click the Your signature with timestamp button located above the textbox, to insert the correct markup for you.
Viva Pinata is great!  --~~~~

Please separate your Talk page comments from another user's comments with two blank lines. This makes it easier to read separate people's comments:

I like Bunnycombs! --FeralKitty 00:37, 13 November 2006 (EST)


They're ok. --Spartan 00:41, 13 November 2006 (EST)

But... Galagoogoos are best! --Spartan 00:44, 13 November 2006 (EST)

  • It's fine to leave a single blank line between entries if the previous entry is written by the same person.
I like [[Bunnycomb]]s!  --~~~~


They're ok.  --~~~~

But... [[Galagoogoo]]s are best!  --~~~~

Please capitalize species names. All other names (plants, trees, items, colors, etc.) should be lowercase:

Your Moozipan is eating my daisies.

Your [[Moozipan]] is eating my [[Daisy|daisies]].

Please use the following wording for variant information -- Feeding it a item changes its color to color. Example:

Feeding it a turnip changes its color to purple.
Feeding it a water lily seed changes its color to red.
Feeding it a watercress changes its color to green.

  • Please use line breaks (<br />) instead of separate table rows for the variant table.
Feeding it a [[turnip]] changes its color to purple.<br />
Feeding it a [[Water Lily|water lily seed]] changes its color to red.<br />
Feeding it a [[watercress]] changes its color to green.

Please use the following wording for species conflicts -- A species will start fights with a species, if one is nearby. Example:

An Arocknid will start fights with a Reddhott, if one is nearby.

  • Please don't include uses (e.g., Arocknids are eaten by Profitamoles) in the species conflicts section.
An Arocknid will start fights with a [[Reddhott]], if one is nearby.

Please link related items (e.g. apples, apple seeds, and apple trees) to their common article:

Buy 4 apples, 2 apple seeds, and 1 apple tree.

Turn 1 apple into a toffee apple.

  • Tinkered items should be linked to the transformation article so a visitor can easily determine what item to transform.
Buy 4 [[Apple Tree|apples]], 2 [[Apple Tree|apple seeds]], and 1 [[apple tree]].

Turn 1 [[Apple Tree|apple]] into a [[Transformation|toffee apple]].

Please link the first occurrence of a term in a section. Other nearby occurrences should not be linked:

My Buzzlegums killed my Raisant. Are Buzzlegums and Raisants enemies?

My [[Buzzlegum]]s killed my [[Raisant]].  Are Buzzlegums and Raisants enemies?

Please use the following article and category links as appropriate:

Leafos suggested hiring a Watchling.

Costolot's General Store sells seeds to grow:

I bought a fez for my Cinnamonkey.

The Rashberry is a domestic pinata.

Level 20 gardeners can tame a sour Profitamole.

Please ship me 1900 chocolate coins.

  • Seeds don't have a category, since they are included on specific plant articles.
  • The word 'chocolate' can be omitted.
[[Characters|Leafos]] suggested hiring a [[Helper|Watchling]].

[[General Store|Costolot's General Store]] sells seeds to grow:
*[[:Category:Flower|Flowers]],
*[[:Category:Aquatic plants|aquatic plants]],
*[[:Category:Vegetable|vegetables]],
*[[:Category:Bush|bushes]],
*[[:Category:Tree|trees]], and even
*[[:Category:Weed|weeds]].

I bought a [[Accessories|fez]] for my [[Cinnamonkey]].

The [[Rashberry]] is a [[:Category:Domestic|domestic]] pinata.

[[Rank|Level 20 gardeners]] can tame a [[Profitamole|sour Profitamole]].

Please [[Crate|ship]] me 1900 [[currency|chocolate coins]].

Please preceed headings with two blank lines:

Every garden has to start somewhere, and ...


Requirements

Every garden has to start somewhere, and ...


== Requirements ==

Information about how to evolve *this* species into another species, should be placed under the variants table. For example, on the Sparrowmint article, you should see:

Species variants

Species variants for the Sparrowmint
...
== Species variants ==
{| border="1" class="pii_species_variants"
! '''Species [[variant]]s for the Sparrowmint'''
|-
| ...
|}

*Feeding a [[buttercup]] to a Sparrowmint turns it into a [[Candary]].

Information about how to create *this* species from another species, should be placed under the Requirements heading. For example, on the Candary article, you should see:

Requirements

Feeding a buttercup to a Sparrowmint turns it into a Candary.


== Requirements ==

Feeding a [[buttercup]] to a [[Sparrowmint]] turns it into a Candary.