Help:Manual of Style

An article is a content page that covers the knowledge of its subject - be it a character, game, item etc relating to the Rayman series. At RayWiki, we aim to cover as much knowledge about the series as possible, therefore new articles will be needed over time. This manual will give you an idea on the basic requirements that are needed when you create and expand articles.

Required criteria

1. Bold and repeat the title of the article in the first sentence.
2. Give as much detail to the article as possible.
3. Italicise all game titles, and remember to link them as well.
4. Links - link to as many other articles as possible, including multiple occurrences.
5. Try not to use the word 'you' when referring to playing the game. Acceptable alternatives can be the character's name or 'the player must'.
6. Apply Categories to your new article, preferably as many related ones as possible.

Enhancements

The following items are not critically required when making new articles, but will give it a much more professional appearance.

1. Images to illustrate the article; it is recommended that we have at least one for every article.
2. Knowledge/Notice templates (eg. infoboxes).
3. Galleries for displaying a group of images together.
4. Tables for laying statistical information neatly.

How to create or edit an article

• To create an article, click on a red link, which will take you straight to the Editing field. Searching for one that doesn't exist and then clicking 'Create this page' will do the same.
• To edit an article, click the 'edit' tab that is displayed on top of it, third tab from the left.

Languages

Currently, Raywiki is an English wiki with French, German, Hungarian, Italian, Polish and Spanish versions, so when naming a new article, please use the appropriate names for each of the languages (for example, if you speak French and wish to make an article about the Teensies, then you go to the French version and name your article 'Ptizêtres' instead of doing it in the English version). If you speak a language that is not available here and wish for a new version of the wiki to cover this language, feel free to contact us.

Naming an article

Language

The Rayman series is a French-European franchise, and as such we prefer game articles to be titles with the European titles of each game. For example, if you wish to name an article about Rayman Arena, the North American version of Rayman M, then you should use the name Rayman M, and then redirect other international titles. If there is no European title, then a North American one will be used instead.

The name of an article should correspond to the first official English name, for example, an article about the Rabbids should be called by their English name, 'Rabbid', rather than their French name, 'Lapins Crétins'. If there is no English name, then the first official international name should be used, eg. the French name. If there is no official name, then a name that describes the subject may be used until an official name is found. For example, the unnamed pirate who throws bombs at the end of Eraser Plains may be called 'Bomb pirate'.

Articles

Articles such as 'the' are not to be included in titles unless it is a level name.

Common usage

Articles titles should be their most commonly used name, and not necessarily the most complete one. For example, Billy West over William Richard West and Rayman 2 over Rayman 2: The Great Escape.

Disambiguation

If you wish to make an article about something that shares the same name as another, then a few words to describe the second name should be used in brackets. For example, an article called 'the Land of the Livid Dead' would be about the Rayman 3 level, but there is also a level that shares in this name in Rayman: Hoodlum' Revenge, so the article about this second level name should be called 'The Land of the Livid Dead (Rayman: Hoodlums' Revenge)'.

Abbreviations

Try not to abbreviate titles. For example, 'Rayman (GBC)' should be called 'Rayman (Game Boy Color)' instead.

Special characters

Currently, the only special characters that are supported are - (), ! and -. Any others may cause a 404 error.

Step by Step Examples

Bolding

All articles must begin with title of the article being repeated and bolding ('''name''') it for emphasis. If there is a full official name for a character for example, that should be included as well. When referring to a game, this should be italicised with 5 apostrophes ('''''name''''') as well.

'''Carmen the Whale''' is a character from the ''[[Rayman 2: The Great Escape|Rayman 2]]'' games.

Detail

A good article should have as much detail about its subject as possible. What does a character look like, and what games does he appear in? Is he a friend, or a foe? If you know, write it down, but remember that you should also comply to the basic rules.

'''Carmen the Whale''' is a character from the ''[[Rayman 2: The Great Escape|Rayman 2]]'' games. In every version, Carmen's first appearance was on the Main Menu, making her the first main character to appear in the game, even before [[Rayman]]. Carmen's home is in the ocean, though she occasionally makes trips to [[Whale Bay]]. Carmen has been witnessed having a taste for the thorny roots common in [[the Sanctuary of Rock and Lava]]. Carmen the whale's main job in life is to survey the depths of the ocean, depositing air bubbles to help any stray plants and animals, and in this case also Rayman. [[Piranha]]s are very fond of her air bubbles, since they suffer from heartburn.

Italicising

All titles within the article, be it the name of a game or a television show, must be italicised using 2 apostrophes (''title'').

'''Raywiki''' is a wiki about the [[Rayman (series)|''Rayman'' series]]. It covers as many of the ''Rayman'' games as possible, such as ''[[Rayman 1|Rayman]],'' ''[[Rayman 2: The Great Escape]]'', ''[[Rayman 3: Hoodlum Havoc]]'', as well as the ''[[Rayman Raving Rabbids]]'' series. It also covers spin-offs such as ''[[Rayman: The Animated Series]]''.

Links

It is important to link to lots of other articles in each article, as it helps a user to navigate in the Wiki. If the name shows up again, a link needs to be added too, unless it is in a section title.

'''Raywiki''' is a wiki about the ''[[Rayman]] series''. It aims to cover as many of the ''Rayman'' games as possible, as well as its characters, such as [[Ly]] the Fairy, [[Globox]], [[Betilla]] the Fairy, [[the Magician]], [[Mr Dark]] and many more. It aims to describe the characters as accurately as possible, and also sets them into categories. [[Ly]] the Fairy and [[Betilla]] the Fairy are both [[Fairy|fairies]], so they would both be placed in the [[Category:Fairies|Fairies category]].

Not using the word 'you'

When referring to, say, playing a certain part of a game, using the word 'you' is not encouraged on this wiki. Instead, either a character's name or 'the player' should be used instead, as it will make the article read more professionally.

Rayman is now in the Pirate strongehold, and the player has to find a switch to deactivate the electric bars.

Assigning a Category

Categories help to keep the wiki organised, and helps a user to find similar subjects, so it's important to assign at least one category to an article. If the article is about Rayman, then it should be in the Characters category, while an article about Yellow Lums should be placed in the Items category. Category links always go at the bottom of the article when editing.

[[Category:Characters]]

[[Category:Characters from Rayman 3]]

[[Category:Enemies]]

[[Category:Enemies from Rayman 3]]

Sections

Naming a section within an article will depend on what the article is about, so here's a guideline to what's most appropriate for each subject type.

Games

==Plot==

==Gameplay==

==Characters==

==Levels==

==Power-ups==

Characters

==Character description==

===Appearance===

===Physical or Abilities===

===Personality===

==Biography or Videogame appearances==

Levels (ie Rayman 2 and Rayman 3)

==Original version==

===Phase 1===

==Other console version==

===Phase 1 or Differences===

Trivia

Trivia is a series of facts that relate to the subject, but it is usually preferred to incorporate this information in the article body.

References

Certain pieces of information should be backed up by using a reference. It is done by adding the content of the reference next to the information inside <ref> tags:

It also showed medieval-themed stages as well as a rhythm-based map of [[Land of the Livid Dead (Rayman Origins)|the Land of the Livid Dead]] from ''[[Rayman Origins]]'' featuring remixed music.'<ref>Wii News at IGN, ''Wii U Details Revealed By Leaked Rayman Trailer'', http://ie.wii.ign.com/articles/122/1223893p1.html</ref>

Then, a « References» section must be added to the end of the article with the following code:

<references />

The format of references is the following:

• For web pages: Name of site, Title of page or section, Address
• For other sources: Name of book, magazine, game, etc., section

Other points to consider

• Proper spelling and grammar is incredibly important when writing articles.
• Never insert nonsense into an article. That includes fake and unconfirmed Rayman titles.
• Certain pieces of information should be backed up by using a citation.
• Don't just copy from Wikipedia, we can usually tell and most of the time their edits are rubbish.