Star Trek Expanded Universe:Style

Style is an important factor in the writing of good articles. Good style makes articles easier to read, comprehend, better organized and easier to edit.

This page provides brief guidelines in styling articles for the Star Trek Expanded Universe Wiki Database (STEU, for short).

If you have not done so already, it's a good idea to consult the Wikipedia Manual of Style, which explains many of the finer details and "how-to" of wiki markup. It's recommended that you be familiar with wiki markup and HTML before editing or creating articles -- but at the same time, don't be afraid to experiment and learn.

Titles
The title of an article should be kept simple. Omit hyphens as a rule, uses of the word "the", apostrophes ( ' ) and other special typographical characters (#, *, _, etc.).
 * Ex.: (use) Constitution class
 * (not) Constitution-class


 * (proper) Battle of Wolf 359
 * (not) The_Battle_of_Wolf_359

Generally, only the first letter of an article title is capitalized, unless pertaining to a character or proper place-name:


 * Warp drive (not Warp Drive)
 * Mirror universe (not Mirror Universe)
 * Jean-Luc Picard (not Jean-luc picard)

''Note: Unless a proper noun (e.g., "Jean-Luc Picard", as above), when redlinking a new article in the text of a pre-existing article, there is no need to capitalize. This is done automatically.''

If there happens to be more than one character or place of the same name, as the title of an article, add an extension to differentiate:
 * Jean-Luc Picard (mirror)
 * First Battle of Chin'toka
 * Second Battle of Chin'toka

Main body
Use paragraphs (separated by hitting "Enter" twice on your keyboard) to separate large chunks of text, or when switching time-frame. This makes the article easier to read.

Content
Remember, this is an encyclopedia. The same rules of content found on Wikipedia apply. Make sure your work reads like an encyclopedia article.
 * NOTE: We are not an advertising service or a scratchpad.

Refrain from inserting POV (point-of-view) references ("I", "me", "you", "we"; talking about yourself or to the readers). Maintain neutrality.

Headlines
Include headlines (such as those on this page) to separate important sections of an article, using two or more = signs on each side of the section title:
 * ==Section Headline==
 * ===Sub-section headline===
 * ====Sub-sub-section headline====

Bullets
Use bullets for lists of characters, ships, etc.:
 * First line
 * Second line
 * Third line

Indent
Indent with : (colon) to provide a "blockquote" effect.
 * Ex.: This is indented.

Indents (with italics) are often used for minor, "real-world" perspective notations on an article or section of an article.
 * In the original TNG premise, Wesley Crusher was supposed to be a girl.

Links
Linking options:
 * Benjamin Sisko
 * (result) Benjamin Sisko
 * The previous captain of the Defiant
 * (result) previous captain of the Defiant
 * Different versions of the Enterprise-D
 * (result) Different versions of the Enterprise-D

In the above case, # links to a section within an article.

It is not necessary to link every noun or reference -- only when more information may be useful to the subject of the article. When linking (or creating a needed article by placing a link), use lower case (ex.: mirror universe ), unless the article title is a proper noun or name which contains capital letters (ex.: James T. Kirk, USS Voyager (NCC-74656) ).

Link to a pre-existing article whenever possible. Search for the article title first to see if it has already been written.

Sidebars
Major characters, ships and other subjects may (and should in many cases) be accompanied by tables called "sidebars", which contain corollary, "at-a-glance" information such as personal or factual statistics. Sidebars are created and generated through the use of templates.

Templates
We have navigational aids known as templates for various articles. They help an article to make a good impression, as well as save time when creating references. See: Star Trek Expanded Universe Wiki:Template.

To make use of a template, insert into the article page approximately where you would like it to appear, substituting the name of the template inside the.
 * Ex.:

Templates may involve complex wiki markup; therefore it's wise to let only experienced wiki editors handle their elements. If however you wish to experiment, click "Edit" and "Show preview" without saving, until you are comfortable with changing the parameters.

Note: Changing parameters of any template will affect every page on which that template is displayed. Use this feature responsibly. Be sure you know what you are doing before you alter the markup.

Categories
Articles in a similar vein can be linked by Categories, such as Category:Federation starships. You may create a category to link articles under a collective heading, such as crew-members of a certain vessel or episodes in a fan-film series. Simply type (at the bottom of the article in the edit field),

with "" being the name of the category by which all articles are grouped.

Introduction
The title of the article should always be included at or near the beginning of an article (in the main body of text), in bold letters:
 * "The USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-D) was a 24th century Federation starship"....

Fanon vs. Canon
Though "fanon" information is our focus, "canon" is still "canon". Include canon information where appropriate, when dealing with subjects/characters from the shows. Though you may have a story where Captain Kirk was actually a shapeshifting agent of the Dominion, it cannot contradict the canon fact that he was the (human) captain of the Enterprise. If it conflicts with canon, mark it as an alternate reality.

Continuities
Often there are different interpretations or stories dealing with the same people and/or events, in the same time period, and these sources may conflict with one another (for example, see: Klingon-Cardassian Alliance). List these on the same article page, separated under their own ==headlines==, to show the difference.

Ships
Ship names should be in italics. Preceding letters ("USS", "IKV", etc.) are not italicized.
 * Ex: USS Enterprise

At the beginning of a Starfleet ship article, the ship's registry (serial number) (NCC-xxxx) should be included in bold.
 * Ex.: USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-A)

When composing a new article about a ship, if there is more than one ship of the same name, include the registry in the title namespace. This distinguishes each ship and helps to avoid confusion.
 * Ex.: USS Enterprise (NCC-1701)

When composing a new ship article, omit all ' from the title namespace, as these have no bold or italic effect.

Class names
Ship classes should be italicized in the following manner:
 * The Enterprise was a Constitution-class starship.

If referring to a class but not a ship, italicize without the hyphen:
 * Ex.: "The Constitution class was a new achievement in starship design"....

When linking ship names or classes, use | to separate the article title from the text reference.
 * Constellation-class
 * (result) Constellation-class
 * USS Enterprise-E
 * (result) USS Enterprise-E

Canon episodes
Episodes of the show may be used as reference; however we do not link them. If you wish to peruse information about an episode or movie, visit Memory Alpha, which features synopses for official productions. When including an "official" reference:
 * Ex.: Episode - (TNG "Heart of Glory")
 * Ex.: Movie - (Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country)
 * Ex.: Book - (TNG novel: A Time to Be Born)

Copyrighted material / other wikis
Never copy copyrighted material. Period. Our goal is to write original material.

The same goes for material from other wikis, such as Memory Alpha or the Non-Canon Star Trek Wiki (Memory Beta). While we have some articles adapted from these sources, freely available under the GNU Free Documentation License and Creative Commons, their purpose is reference only, and will conceivably be re-written over time, until they no longer resemble the original articles.

Likewise, and once again, "fanon" is our focus, so kindly do not submit articles about episodes, movies, or books. The above-mentioned wikis focus on those areas.

Images
Before uploading an image, always check its file size. Images should generally be of good quality, yet never exceed 50kb or be overly huge. This saves bandwidth and temporary file space on users' computers.

Featuring an image on a page: Use to generate a thumbnail (with caption) of the image, or include it in a sidebar (omitting "thumb"). Instructions for using images in sidebars can be found on the template page for each specific sidebar.

Summary
When saving an edit, please make a brief note in the "Summary" field concerning the nature of the edit. If a minor edit, this is not always necessary, although it is still helpful, so others know what you have done. If it is a major edit, you should always note the change.
 * Ex.: (Minor edit) sp. (This would mean you corrected a misspelling)
 * Ex.: (Major edit) Rewrote article to include new information (This is just an example)

Keep It Simple
Above all, keep the article as neat, clean and simple as possible. Try to avoid excessive use of images, tables, or complicated wiki markup, which might not always turn out as planned (and can make it frustrating for others to edit pages).

Proofread
Always remember to check your spelling and proofread your work for typos, incorrect punctuation, missing capitalization, grammar, etc. Quality should always be the goal. A properly written, properly formatted article shows care, and stands out as the mark of good work.

In Progress
If you start an article but don't have time to complete it, yet have every intention of returning within a reasonable time to do so, you may enter into the markup. This adds a notice that the article is "in progress" and under construction. Use this responsibly. This is not to be used simply to "protect" your work from editing by others. STEU administrators may remove the notice, with or without warning, from articles that remain inactive and incomplete for extended periods, so that others may add to the article.

Review
These guidelines may be expanded, or new guidelines may be added from time to time, so be sure to check back every once in a while and see what's happened. You may learn something new!

Ask questions
There is a saying: "There are no stupid questions." As always, if you have questions or are unsure of how to do something, don't be afraid to ask. We have regular contributors here who are experienced editors, and we're generally a pleasant bunch. Remember, we're all in this together, to make this one of the best quality wikis ever!