August:Style guide

This style guide has the simple purpose of making the August Wiki easy to read by establishing a certain format. There are many ways to write a Wiki, but if everyone does things the same way, the articles will be easier to read and use, along with being easier to write and edit. Reading the style guide is important to ensure that each user's edits will be consistent.

Article titles

Pages must have appropriate titles. Names, locations, and titles should all be capitalised, though not the whole title. Block capitals should not be used in titles (e.g. 'Article titles' instead of 'ARTICLE TITLES'). Try to make the article's topic the subject of the first sentence in the article. For example, write "This style manual is a style guide" instead of "This style guide is known as...".

Articles about items, monsters, quests, and non-player characters should be titled exactly as the subject's name appears in-game. A rule of thumb for article titles is that items only have the first letter of the first word in their name capitalized. There is no capitalization convention for monsters or non-player characters. Unless the monster or character's name has more than one capital in-game, do not put a capital at the beginning of every word. This is a common mistake which often causes broken links and time being diverted to moving these pages. If you are in doubt about a name, please check it in-game. If you come across a page with an incorrect title, please reach out to User:Bark or User:Steve.

Words such as articles and short prepositions in titles should be left un-capitalised. These include words such as 'a', 'the', and 'of'. For example, the article on the Tombs of Amascut has the title 'Tombs of Amascut' (the 'of' is left un-capitalised).

Sections and headings

Separating articles into sections makes them easy to read and navigate. Headings are used to split articles into sections.

Markup

Use two equal signs (==) style markup for headings. Start with ==, add the heading title, then end with ==.

This section's heading was created with the markup:

==Sections and headings==

This subsection's heading was created with the markup:

===Markup===

Wording

• In a heading, capitalize only the first letter of the first word and the first letter of any proper nouns, and leave all of the other letters in lower case. Skills, names, and so on should all have the first letter capitalized. For example, "Fishing equipment", not "Fishing Equipment".
• Avoid putting links in headings.
• Make sure that the heading has an appropriate and accurate title, as this is important to help readers navigate the article. For example, do not make a "Monsters" section in an article about an area or dungeon and then include NPCin that section. Instead, make an "Inhabitants" section with "Monsters" and "NPCs" as subsections.
• Keep headings short.

Lead sections

A lead (introduction) summarizes the most important points of an article, creating interest in the topic. Thus, it should be limited to a few paragraphs. Certain information, such as strategies, should be in a separate section instead of in the lead. This applies only to articles that are of sufficient length to incorporate a lead.

Section organisation

An article should generally start with an Infobox when applicable, followed by a lead section. This should then be followed by multiple sections each detailing subjects about the article's topic.

If an article has at least four section headings, a navigable table of contents appears automatically, just after the lead.

Text elements

Font colours

Coloured font can be used sparingly, though not in very bright colours. For example, you can use a dark colour for a warning. Note that certain colours will not show up well against the article's light brown background.

Invisible comments

Invisible comments are used to communicate with other editors in the article body. To do so, enclose the text which you intend to be read only by editors within <!-- and -->. For example, using <!-- This is a comment --> will be hidden in the article.

Bulleted lists

Bulleted lists can be used in quest walkthroughs and lists. For example, you can use bullets if you're listing what levels to train a certain skill or locations of an item. Do not forget proper punctuation. To add bullets, put an asterisk (*) before the name. For example:

* List name 1
* List name 2
** Sub-list

would come out as:

• List name 1
• List name 2
  • Sub-list

Numbered lists

All the rules for bulleted lists apply also to numbered lists. Numbered lists can be used for listing steps in a process. To add a numbered list, put a number sign (#) before the list name. For example:

# List name 1
# List name 2
# List name 3

would come out as:

1. List name 1
2. List name 2
3. List name 3

Bold and italics

Place two apostrophes (''Italicized text'') on either side of a selection of text to italicize the selection. Italics are mainly used to emphasise certain words, though they should be used sparingly. Long stretches of italics are hard for some users to read.

Place three apostrophes ('''Boldfaced text''') on either side of a selection of text to boldface the selection. Bold is used as a stronger emphasis than italics, although it should be used extremely sparingly within articles, such as for a few critical points, and ideally not a whole sentence. However, the first appearance of an article's title in the article should always be boldfaced.

Place five apostrophes ('''''Boldfaced and italicised text''''') on either side of a selection to use bold and italics in combination on the selection. Bold and italics combined emphasise selections well, but should be used extremely rarely: bold italics represent more emphasis than is normally ever necessary.

Grammar and spelling

Case

All prose, including bold text at the beginning of articles, should conform to standard capitalization in English.

Proper nouns

• Proper nouns are to be capitalized. The following is a non-exhaustive list of proper nouns:

For example: the King Black Dragon is a black dragon; the Kraken is a Slayer boss.

• Common nouns, such as the names of most items and monsters, are to be lower case. If an item name contains a proper noun, the proper noun should be capitalized. For example, helm of Neitiznot

Notes & Exceptions

• When mentioning a skill, it should always be mentioned by its proper name. For example, "Winter can be melted by lighting the brazier, requiring level 10 Firemaking."

Abbreviations

Try not to use abbreviations. For example, use "battleaxe" instead of "baxe". As far as looks go, it's much more pleasing to the eye to look at "Dragon claws result in higher overall damage output than Bandos godsword at Vorkath." than "Dclaws are better DPS than BGS at Vork".

Also try not to use ampersand (&) instead of and.

Punctuation

Punctuation marks like semicolons, brackets, and commas are essential for clarity, structure, and emphasis in writing guides and editing pages. They help organize ideas, prevent misunderstandings, and enhance the professionalism of the text.

Commas

If you are listing multiple things, like different runes, each of them should have a comma at the end. I don't give a shit about the Oxford comma or not, so do whichever you want.

For example, "fire runes, earth runes, and water runes" or "fire runes, earth runes and water runes". Whatever your heart desires.

Brackets

If you are compiling a list of drops for a monster in the bestiary pages, try not to use brackets to denote quantities. For example, instead of "nature runes (5,17,35)" it should be "5, 17 or 35 nature runes".

Semicolons

If you are writing and need to use semicolons, make sure you follow these guidelines:

• Make sure there are two short independent clauses you can link. For example, "User:Steve is hungry; he needs a chicken burger."
• Place a semicolon before conjunctive adverbs (e.g., however, therefore) when they are linked to independent clauses.
• Use semicolons to separate items in a list when the items themselves contain commas. For example, "The Slayer skill involves talking to Slayer masters, the low-tier slayer master; Slayer master#Turael, the mid-tier; Slayer_master#Vanakka, the high-tier Slayer_master#Nieve; and Nixite, the end-game tier master."

Tense

A rule of thumb is to use present tense in all cases. For example, articles for skills, activities, non-player characters, etc. should be written in present tense. An exception to this rule would be events that have occurred in the past, or for in-game content that has been removed. For example, holiday events that have already occurred should be written in past tense. For future updates and upcoming content that have been confirmed by Jagex, use the future tense.

• Past tense: Past events and in-game content that has been removed
• Future tense: Future updates and upcoming content that have been confirmed
• Present tense: All other cases

Common grammatical errors

then and than

Despite their pronunciations being very similar, they are different in meaning.

Then is used in one of the three following cases:

1. at that time; at the time in question.

"I was living in New Zealand then."

2. after that; next; afterward

"She won the first and then the second game."

3. in that case; therefore

"If you do what I tell you, then there's nothing to worry about."

"Well, that's okay, then."

Than is used in comparing two elements in a sentence

"He was much smaller than his son."

or in expressions introducing exceptions or contrasts

"He claims not to own anything other than his home."

its and it's

Its is the possessive adjective and possessive pronoun form of the personal pronoun it.

"He chose this area for its atmosphere."

On the other hand, it's is a contraction (shortcut) for it is OR it has.

it is – "It's my fault."

it has – "It's been a hot day."

their, there, and they're

Their is possessive, referring to an object, or objects, belonging to a certain number of people.

"The ball is their property."

There is an adverb, referring to a certain position or area.

"We went on to Paris and stayed there eleven days."

They're can also be confused with their and there. They're is a contraction for they are and they were, depending on how the sentence is constructed.

"The reason that they're going to the store is to buy more milk."

should of

The reason people write "should of" when they mean should have is because the contraction of should have (should've) is pronounced like "should of". Avoid "should of" like the plague. Instead, write "should have".

"Those rookie editors made the mistake of writing 'should of' when they meant 'should have'".

amount and number

Amount refers to a quantity that can be measured. Number refers to a quantity that can be counted.

"Higher skill levels require a greater amount of experience."

"The maximum number of players that log into any world is 2000."

much and many

As in the above example, much refers to a quantity that can be measured. Many refers to a quantity that can be counted.

"How much total experience do you have?"

"How many people are in your clan chat?"

alter and altar

An altar is a piece of furniture used in worship. To alter is to change something.

affect and effect

One thing may affect (or change) another. The result of an action is its effect or effects. Also, to effect is to produce.

your and you're

The word your is the possessive form of the word you.

The word you're is a contraction of the words you are.

duel and dual

You would have a duel against another person.

You would dual-wield two swords, or have a dual personality, meaning you have two sides to you.

a part and apart

The term a part is to signify a piece or portion of something larger.

"The left skull half is a part of the skull sceptre."

The term apart is to signify separation or independence of two or more subjects.

3rd age should be used when referring to the items.

Images

Some general guidelines which should be followed are listed below.

• Right-alignment is preferred to left- or center-alignment. However, center-alignment can be used for some images.
• If there are too many images in a given article, consider making a gallery with a level two heading.
• Specifying the size of a thumbnail image is not recommended.

Uploading images

• The preferred formats for images are PNG.
• Images of items should have a transparent background.
• Personal images which are only used on a User page should not be uploaded. Images should be able to be used on main space articles, else they will be deleted.
• Please name your files descriptively to avoid confusion. For example if you are uploading a picture of a weapon, name it Rune longsword.png and not just Sword.png or RL.png.
• Don't upload images we already have. We have many users doing this and it is not good to have multiple images of the same item! Before you upload an image, search the wiki if someone has already uploaded a version of it. We don't need [[File:Fire rune.PNG]] or [[File:Fire rune.gif]] if someone has already uploaded [[File:Fire Rune.PNG]].

Captions

Complete sentences in captions should always end in a full stop (period). If the caption is not a complete sentence, it generally should not have a full stop at the end. Captions should also not be italicised.

Links

Internal links

• You don't have to link every single mention within an article. For example, Slayer may be mentioned five times. You only have to link to Slayer once. You can link to articles more than once if the page is very long.
• When a skill is linked to, the name of the skill should be used, not a short form or a different spelling of it. Instead of saying "this item can be [[Mining|mined]] by..." you should state "this item can be obtained through the [[Mining]] skill by ...".
• Piped link formats for simple plurals are generally unnecessary. For example, use [[lobster]]s instead of [[lobster|lobsters]].
• On the other hand, use [[wolf|wolves]] instead of [[wolf]]s when appropriate. Don't be afraid to use a piped link when necessary, particularly if avoiding them contorts the language unnecessarily or introduces spelling or grammatical errors into the article. Piped links have legitimate uses in an article.
• When including wiki-links in an article, there is no need to use underscores or initial capitalization, since the software produces them automatically. For example, [[fire_rune]] and [[Fire rune]] work the same as [[fire rune]].
• Do not place the last letters of a plural outside of a link that already has alternate text. For example, [[cow|cows]] should be used instead of [[cow]]s.

External links

Do not link to external sites.

Writing articles

Everyone is encouraged to contribute meaningfully to the wiki.

Ownership and bias

• Keep personal bias out of articles. Even if "Mining is for noobs" or "Smithing is awesome", we do not need to hear it in the articles.