Forum:Consistency

Hi. One of the main things im noticing while editing is the lack of consistency within the pages and I am sure it is a problem in all wiki's. I believe that pages should be consistent with one another so that editing and viewing will be a more easier experience.

Capitalization
One of the main inconsistencies that I have seen is capitilization. I believe that the proper format for wiki's is to capitalize only the first letter of the first word when making new pages. If a page has a title consisting of more than one word, the first letter of the first word should be capitalized and any words following should be non-capitalized. This way, links on other pages that do not need capitaliztion will not be capitalized and links will not need to be "name" just to get rid of the capitalization.

Example: Bronze plate mail body instead of Bronze Plate Mail Body.

Using this, links on other pages could be made simply by using bronze plate mail body instead of bronze plate mail body. The link will also not be unnecessarily capitalized.

Also, inside pages, the first mention of the page title inside the content should be bolded with the first letter of the first word capitlized only.

Example: The Bronze plate mail body is the weakest plate mail body in all of RuneScape Classic...

Names and locations should have the first letter of each word capitalized whether it's the page title or within the content of the page.

Linking
The first mention of a key word on a page should be linked and any words previously linked in the article should not be linked again.

Tables
All tables should be made using the class="wikitable".

Content
The content on pages with similar information that fall in same categories should be consistent in wording.

Example:

(For bronze bar) A Bronze bar is a bar that is used in the smithing skill to create bronze armour and weapons. It is created by using copper and tin ore on a furnace...

(For iron bar) An Iron bar is a bar that is used in the smithing skill to create iron armour and weapons. It is created by using iron ore on a furnace...

It doesn't have to be identical because additional information that is exclusive to the specific item should be mentioned in the article making each page different.

Infoboxes
Each item and NPC should have an infobox. Put the infobox plugin at the beginning of your article so that the infobox is not under the text and instead it is beside the text to the right.

Weapons and armour need to have infoboxes for bonuses which should be placed at the end of the article so that it goes under the text.

Naming
Some items are named incorrectly. The large helmets is a series of items that I have come across that are often mis-named. I believe that in-game the large helmets are named "Large (type) helmet" and not "(type) large helmet". Same for medium helmets. Other items that might have naming issues are items that are many words long.

I am also unsure of how rune is spelled in RSC if it is just rune or runite in some cases. Same with adamant where I believe in some cases it is adamantite and some cases it is adamant? These items should be checked in-game.

Thanks.

Discussion
Here's my thoughts.

Capitalization: The first letter of any article is always capital, no matter the in game spelling. If the item, in game, is called Bronze Plate Mail Body, the article should be titled Bronze Plate Mail Body, not lowercase. So basically, the article name should reflect the in game name, unless it's a proper noun (like a quest or area), then every word should start with a capital letter.

Linking: I agree that the links shouldn't be close together, but once you need to scroll a page or so down, it can be re-linked.

Tables: I don't know why it wouldn't be using "wikitable", so I agree.

Content: It shouldn't be identical, maybe similar, but those 2 examples are completely similar. A little change is always good.

Infoboxes: I agree.

Naming: If the name here is different from the in game name, then the article should be moved (with a redirect). -- 01:08, June 22, 2010 (UTC)

Mostly Agree - Here are my thoughts I think much of the focus has been getting any content on the wiki but now that we have more content we can start to make our articles more consistent. Good idea. Cheers, Tollerach (talk) 02:49, June 22, 2010 (UTC)
 * Capitalization: Match the capitalization in RSC (like RSA said), and add a redirect for all lowercase words.
 * Linking: Yes should have only one link for every related article
 * Tables: Yes, wikitable makes sense for most tables, except for tables like Template:Skills and Template:Quests which mimic RSC interfaces.
 * Content: Yes I think similar items should have similar wording for each article
 * Infoboxes: Yes, we just need to get around to making them...
 * Naming: Yes, match all RSC in-game names, move if necessary.

OK sounds good. I suppose I was wrong on the capitalization of multiple worded items and now I agree to reflect the in-game name in terms of capitalization. However, I have noticed that few items in the actual game are inconsistent with capitlization such as the "attack Potion" as it is called in game and not "Attack Potion". Do we fix any capitilization errors in-game?

Also, when creating links on other pages, for example the Bronze Plate Mail Body, would it be proper to do Bronze Plate Mail Body or bronze plate mail body ? Capitalization for an item that is insignificant in the middle of a sentance looks out of place.

- Altherat 00:35, June 23, 2010 (UTC)
 * The first letter in an article title should be capital, regardless of in-game reflection. It would be more proper to do Bronze Plate Mail Body, but it doesn't matter that much. bronze plate mail body is just too long, no point in doing that, might as well make it capital.-- 00:45, June 23, 2010 (UTC)
 * Hm ok and when an item is first mentioned on a page where it is bolded, should it also reflect in-game capitalization? And the item name in the infoboxes?
 * - Altherat 01:50, June 23, 2010 (UTC)
 * - Altherat 01:50, June 23, 2010 (UTC)

Template
Check this out - I tried out some of the ideas for all smithable equipment here: I tried to match the in-game item names and made stubs for all the missing pages. If there are any mistakes feel free to either edit the template or let me know and I will make the changes. I think making more navboxes will let us move around the wiki faster and help us edit. So if anyone has any ideas for more, let us know. Cheers, Tollerach (talk) 05:06, June 23, 2010 (UTC)
 * Template:Equipment
 * User:Tollerach/sandbox (full list)

Closed - Great ideas all around. Hopefully our pages will become more consistent as editors imrpove them. I've added navboxes to many articles and hopefully that will help editors write articles that have a similar style. This discussion hasn't been updated for a while so I will close it. If anyone has any questions, feel free to make a new thread or leave me a message.

Cheers, Tollerach (talk) 22:55, December 7, 2010 (UTC)