The style guide exists to ensure all edits on the FarmVille Wiki are consistent. Although one way is often as good as another, keeping the articles consistent means that they will be easier to read and to use.
Article Titles[]
Articles must have appropriate titles. All words major contained within the page title should be capitalized. The only words that should not be capitalized are smaller words, such as "and", "or" and "the". The first word in the title should always be capitalized.
Titles of singular topics should not be pluralised. Therefore, an article about trees should be named tree and an article about neighbors should be named neighbor. Only where the item is pluralised in the game should the article be pluralised (for example, Strawberries.)
The subject of the article should be in bold only in the first occurrence of the word. Any subsequent occurrences are left as plain text.
Sections[]
Where appropriate, articles should be split up into sections. This makes them easier to read and edit. Each section should have a title.
The title of each section should follow the same guidelines as article titles. These are as follows:
- The title should not capitalize all words and should only capitalize titles of items in game
- The first word should be capitalized
- Only titles of plural items should be pluralized
- There should not be links in the title
- The title should be as short as possible
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:
==Sections==
This subsection's heading was created with the markup:
===Markup===
Text[]
Text may be styled to improve the appearance of the article.
Font colour[]
In rare cases, font colour can be used in articles. Dark colours should be used to emphasize certain points. Using bold is a preferred alternative to using colours. Do not use light colours, as the do not show up well on the white background.
Bulleted lists[]
Bullet points can be used to create a list. To use a bullet point, put an asterisk (*) before each point. For example:
*Point 1 *Point 2 *Point 3 **Sub-point 3
Comes out as:
- Point 1
- Point 2
- Point 3
- Sub-point 3
Numbered lists[]
Numbered lists are similar to bulleted lists. They should be used to order items or in step-by-step instructions. To create a number list, put a number sign (#) before each point. For example:
#Point 1 #Point 2 ##Sub-Point 2 #Point 3
Comes out as:
- Point 1
- Point 2
- Sub-Point 2
- Point 3
Bold and italics[]
Put two apostrophes (''italics'') around text to make it italic. Italics should be used to emphasize single word or phrases. It should not be used for long bits of text.
Put three apostrophes ('''bold''') around text to make it bold. Bold should be used to emphasize longer parts of text, or where italics is not enough. The first appearance of an article's title should be in bold. Any subsequent appearances should be left as plain text.
Links[]
A link is places by putting square brackets ([[link]]) around words. This will make a link to the article, using the exact words in the link. A link can also be made with a different word as the link, by putting the title, a | symbol then the word you want to appear in square brackets. For example, [[farmer|player]] appears as player but is linked to the farmer article.
- Links should be added to any articles on a page
- Links should not be made to the same article multiple time. This means that if the word farmer is mentions 5 times, only the first appearance of the word should be linked.
- Plurals can be linked to by placing the s outside the box. For example, [[farmer]]s will link to farmer and will display as farmers.
Writing articles[]
The following should be kept in mind when writing articles.
- Nobody owns the articles. This means that words such as 'I' should be left out.
- Keep bias out of articles. The Wiki should remain neutral and any personal opinions must be kept out. Useful ideas are allowed in articles.
- Do not add any unverifiable facts without sourcing the proof.
Introductory Sentence[]
Every article should start with an introductory sentence, naming the thing this article is about (cp. page name), what kind of thing it is (game function, item type, etc.), where users may find/obtain it and when it has been released. Please make sure to use a determiner ("the", etc.) at the beginning of a sentence. Example: "The FarmVille Wiki is a..." instead of "FarmVille Wiki is a...".
Basic form of an item introductory sentence: "The (page name) is a (type of item) [optional: on FarmVille], that has been released on (date) and is available (way to access/get this item)."
Examples[]
"The Kensington Bench is a decoration that was released on the 3rd of March 2010 and is available by gifting. -OR- The Kensington Bench is a giftable decoration on FarmVille that was released on the 3rd of March 2010."
"The Biplane is a vehicle that was released on June 3rd 2010 and can be purchased for 30,000 coins in the market or obtained as a reward for the Peanut Butter Jelly Co-Op."
"The Farmer's Market is a new feature on FarmVille that was introduced on May 26th 2010, which is available to farmers of Level 15 and above and can be accessed from a Market Stall."
Sizing Conventions[]
To keep consistency across the Wiki, the following sizing conventions should be used:
- Squares are used to determine size
- A hay bale has an area of 1x1 (1 square)
- A plot has an area of 4x4 (16 squares)
- Therefore, a fence has an area of 1x5 (5 squares)