View source for Coral Island Wiki:Manual of Style

The '''Manual of Style''' is the set of guidelines for producing exemplary articles with consistency, professionalism, and organization on Coral Island Wiki. All articles are subjected to the Manual of Style; articles not up to the standards will be revised to meet such standards.

== Section Order ==
# Tabs
# Notices
# Hatnotes
# Infobox
# Introduction or general description
# Article content (which may have specific page layout guidelines)
# Trivia
# Gallery
# Notes
# See Also
# Changelist

== Language ==
The typical language of Coral Island Wiki is [[wikipedia:American English|American English]]. Usage of non-American English requires the use of [[#Italics|italics]].

=== Formality ===
As a professional database, formality is a necessity. Grammar does not have to be proficient, but it has to be understandable. Words and acronyms must be spelled out completely, unless otherwise noted. Slang and non-official abbreviation must be avoided.

Contractions must be written formally.
:''Incorrect'': <span class="mos-incorrect">don't, won't, it's</span>
:''Correct'': <span class="mos-correct">do not, will not, it is</span>

The use of icons in paragraphs must be avoided. It is not searchable or skimmable, and may take away from actual content.

==== Unbiased writing ====
Coral Island Wiki is an unbiased source, providing factual information by being impartial, or "equal/fair," towards the subject rather than being biased by stating opinions, or "favoring one side," that can be argumentative. When an information becomes biased, it directs the reader to "join that side" instead of allowing them to make their own judgment.

:''Incorrect'': <span class="mosincorrect">[[Rafael]] is the best to befriend, because he can upgrade your tools and has the best smile.</span> (biased and argumentative, because it is ''insisting'' the reader to befriend Rafael by stating he is "the best"; other readers may disagree)
:''Correct'': <span class="moscorrect">Befriending Rafael gives the player the option to improve their tools.</span> (unbiased, because it allows the reader ''to make their own judgment'' if they should befriend Rafael; there is nothing to agree or disagree on as it is clearly only stating facts)

=== Point of view ===
There are three types of point of view:
*'''First-person''' &mdash; uses pronouns that describe the writer/narrator (I, me, we, etc.)
*'''Second-person''' &mdash; uses pronouns that describe the reader (you, your, etc.)
*'''Third-person''' &mdash; uses pronouns that describe the subject (he, she, it, they, etc.)
The point of view of Coral Island Wiki is third-person. Third-person writing allows for more flexibility, credibility, and objectivity. First-person and second-person should be avoided as it becomes narrative, directive, or opinionated (biased). As a professional wiki, information should be factual and unbiased (not favoring one or more sides) and should not narrate the writer or reader nor direct the reader to "take action." Avoid the use of second person or rephrase the sentence to use the passive voice if needed.

:''Incorrect'': <span class="mos-incorrect">I travel to the [[Beach]].</span> (First person)
:''Incorrect'': <span class="mos-incorrect">You travel to the Beach.</span> (Second person)
:''Correct'': <span class="mos-correct">The player travels to the Beach.</span> (Third person)

Quotes and dialogue are exempt from the third person point-of-view rule, as these must be written as given.

== Article titles, sections, and headings ==
Following the convention used in the game, article titles must be written in sentence case.
* Use sentence case for article titles and section headings, unless the in-game title is not in sentence case.
* Character pages must use the name that is shown during dialogue.
** Their full name may be included in the infobox and in their introduction.
** If the character is not shown in-game, use the name as described in available text or dialogue.
* Titles should be in singular form; introduction may be plural if desired.
** Exception are:
*** Item names
*** Location names
*** Organization names
* Use parenthesis to distinguish articles with the same name but different purposes.
* Do not use "A," "An," or "The," as the first word of an article title or section heading, unless it is inseparable or part of the in-game title.
* Do not use links or references in section headings.

== Article content ==
* Bold the first use of the page title in the article, which is typically in the first sentence.
** Do not include links within this bolded portion.
* Do not use icons in the paragraph of an article. (Please see [[#Formality|formality]].)
** Exceptions:
*** Currency
* The usage of most [[mw:Help:Magic words|magic words]] in articles is disallowed, with the exception of the following:
** Behavioral Switches
*** {{F|<nowiki>__TOC__</nowiki>}} &mdash; shows the table of contents at the position of its usage
*** {{F|<nowiki>__NOTOC__</nowiki>}} &mdash; hides the table of contents
** Technical Metadata Variables
*** {{F|<nowiki>{{DISPLAYTITLE:</nowiki>((text to display as the page's title))<nowiki>}}</nowiki>}} &mdash; commonly handled by infobox.
** Page Name Variables, only to be used with {{F|subst:}} to avoid issues on transclusion, should be used inside {{F|<nowiki>{{subst:#titleparts:</nowiki>((magic word))<nowiki>}}</nowiki>}} to avoid HTML entities being left on the article.
*** {{F|<nowiki>{{subst:PAGENAME}}</nowiki>}} &mdash; full page name without namespace <!-- (e.g., {{F|Module:Documentation/config}} → {{F|Documentation/config}}) -->
*** {{F|<nowiki>{{subst:FULLPAGENAME}}</nowiki>}} &mdash; full page name with namespace <!-- (e.g., {{F|Module:Documentation/config}} → {{F|Module:Documentation/config}}) -->
*** {{F|<nowiki>{{subst:BASEPAGENAME}}</nowiki>}} &mdash; full page name without the lowest subpage <!-- (e.g., {{F|Xiao/Voice-Overs/Chinese}} → {{F|Xiao/Voice-Overs}}) -->
*** {{F|<nowiki>{{subst:SUBPAGENAME}}</nowiki>}} &mdash; lowest subpage's name <!-- (e.g., {{F|Xiao/Voice-Overs/Chinese}} → {{F|Chinese}}) -->
*** {{F|<nowiki>{{subst:ROOTPAGENAME}}</nowiki>}} &mdash; root page's name <!-- (e.g., {{F|Aaliyah/Gallery}} → {{F|Aaliya}}) -->

== Grammar and spelling == 
* Use the {{w|American and British English spelling differences|American spelling}} of words.
* Use the {{w|serial comma}} (also known as the Oxford comma).
* Use "neutral" (straight) quotation marks ({{color|new|nobold=1|" "}} and {{color|new|nobold=1|' '}}, not {{color|old|nobold=1|“ ”}} and {{color|old|nobold=1|‘ ’}}) and apostrophes ({{color|new|nobold=1|'}}, not {{color|old|nobold=1|’}}).
* Use double quotation marks for quotations. When nesting quotations, use single quotations. For example: {{color|new|nobold=1|Paimon exclaimed: "What do you mean 'hehe'!?"}}
* Place commas and periods {{w|Quotation marks in English#American style|within}} the quotation marks. ({{color|new|nobold=1|"Like this,"}} not {{color|old|nobold=1|"like this".}}) This does not apply to other punctuation.
== Deviations from in-game text == 
Grammar and spelling errors should not be corrected, but rather marked using the {{t|sic}} template. The wiki will be updated once the error is also fixed in-game.