STOWiki:Formatting

Standardized formatting makes many tasks on a wiki easier, especially long lists of repetitive documentation. The guides listed below give instructions on how to format various types of articles.

Please note that these guides are intended to be adhered to at all times, as often and as closely as possible. If, however, the standardized formatting doesn't fit the purpose of a certain article, you may modify it. Also, if you think that a formatting is generally lacking in any respect, question it! You are always invited and encouraged to suggest improvements on the respective talk page.


 * Abilities
 * Injuries
 * Items
 * Food
 * Ship Weapon Types
 * Ship Weapons
 * Missions
 * Foundry Missions
 * NPCs
 * Traits
 * Player character traits
 * Bridge officer traits
 * Walkthroughs

Item articles
It is very important to include all available information on items.


 * 1) Holding the mouse cursor over an item will show a brief tooltip information box, with only a summary of the item's information.
 * 2) Right-clicking an item and selecting "Info" will show detailed information on the item.

The tooltip information must be displayed using the Infobox template. Detailed information must be in the form of normal wiki text below this infobox. A prime example can be found in the Livanian Beet article. As you can see, the tooltip is replicated via the Infobox template, while the detailed information has been reproduced to the left of the tooltip (below it when editing).

Please follow the guidelines set forth above for all inventory items.

Mk I – Mk XII
Any items that come in various levels or ranks (Mk I through Mk XII), only link to the main item, and separate each Mk into its own section, with tooltip next to each one. Example:

Mission articles
Mission articles should be formatted the same way, with the following sections, in order:
 * 1) Mission infobox: See the missioninfo template for details on how this works.
 * 2) Mission Text: The dialog or text displayed before you accept the mission.
 * 3) Objectives: A bulleted list of the displayed objectives for the mission.
 * 4) Details: Step-by-step instructions on how to complete the mission, where to find certain things, and other useful information about the mission.
 * 5) Goal: The exact, verbatim mission goal from the game. Use the missiongoal template for formatting.
 * 6) Rewards: A bulleted list of the rewards given by the mission-giver for completing this mission.

For a good example of what a mission page should look like, visit:.

Playable race articles
Articles about playable races should be formatted the same way. Text can be inspired by in-game descriptions, but not copied directly. Required Traits must be in the form of a bulleted list and placed underneath a heading of the same name.

For a good example what of what a playable race page should look like, visit the Klingon article.

Please note that the headings in race articles may vary, For example, Liberated Borg might not have a "Society" section.

Item InfoBoxes
Like in the game, and as can be seen in the screenshot to the right, each item within the game has a specially formatted information box. This convention must be observed on this wiki as well; all items will have a corresponding info box. Here is what you should do:


 * 1) NEW! Use the NEW Infobox Template! Read the template page for instructions on how to use it. For a working example of how it works, see the  article.

 NOTE:  Do not add the "float = no" parameter when using infobox templates in item description pages. That parameter is reserved for use in articles where several infoboxes are to be listed and grouped together.

Examples
The following article types will have specific frameworks that must be used for new articles of that type:
 * Missions (good example: )
 * NPCs (good examples: Admiral Quinn for a mission giver, Zel for an NPC with store)
 * Space stations (good example: Earth Spacedock)
 * Skills (good example: )

See each example listed above for the best way to format such a page.