The Chuck Wiki: Manual of Style is the style manual for Chuck Wiki, which explains the format to be adopted for writing, titles, articles, and linking. This page is a especially useful for first time editors of Chuck Wiki as it will allow them to appreciate the various contextual features of this specific wiki.
Please keep in mind, however, that respect for your fellow users is paramount here. Don't be negative about the efforts of others, simply do your best to improve them where possible. Note: This is not a comprehensive guide to wiki editing. For more information on editing the wiki, visit the FAQ.
Grammar, Spelling, and Text Flow
- Good spelling is essential to a quality wiki article. When editing, look out for spelling mistakes made by other contributors, and feel free to correct them. Similarly, if you are unsure of how to spell a word, it is worth using the internet to determine the correct spelling before posting your edit. Proper English is used at all times, informal language terms are inappropriate - think of Chuck Wiki as an encyclopedia and write articles accordingly.
- As Chuck is a US television program, Chuck Wiki uses American English in all its articles. Other localized forms such as British English, Australian English etc. are discouraged. If you spot a localized spelling feel free to correct it. That said, do try and avoid aggressively informal additions, such as over use of contractions; for instance, "he is" is preferable to "he's" and "they will" is preferable to "they'll" in all cases.
- Grammar and flow are also very important in articles. When inserting text in the middle of a paragraph, modifying a sentence or adding content; ensure it fits with the flow and tense of the article and does not overtly seem to have been written by a different contributor than the rest of the page. This is especially important in major articles such as Chuck Bartowski.
Page names
- Title Case should be used in all page names and section division. In title case, the first word, as well as all major words are capitalized. Minor words are lower cased, for example: The Intersect Computer and Variations. This is to ensure a uniform nature to all articles.
- All Character, actor pages will be stored by first name and NOT in biographical format; i.e "Sarah Walker" not "Walker, Sarah"
- Episode names - This wiki is in the process of eliminating the episode number prefix as a means of identifying episodes. Episode titles should be spelled out, with no abbreviations, and italicized in article. Title case should be used.
Linking
- Linking to a character page on this wiki is done standard form: [[Sarah Walker]], unless you are are linking from an episode page. When linking from a character page use [[Sarah Walker|Sarah]] which is seen on the page as Sarah). This way the flow of the page is not interrupted.
Linking to an episode page can be done:
- You can link to the episode by using [[Chuck Versus the Ring: Part 2]] which shows on the page as Chuck Versus the Ring: Part 2
Images
- Pictures used on character pages should ideally be a screen cap or picture of the actor from the episode they appeared in, and not just be a picture of the actor or actress.
This is how...
- If you feel that an article picture is of poor quality, simply upload a new image to that file name instead of creating a brand new file. This will stop the rise in unused images on this wiki.
- Do not overuse images where they may be unnecessary. Stub articles, for instance, only require one image. For longer articles, it may be preferable to use multiple images to illustrate the information explained in the text. However, again, do not be overzealous, and do please consider the purpose of each image. Images should never be 'stacked' and should alternate left/right on a given page.
- Naming images is important. Try to use a descriptive, but short filename when uploading; and only upload relevant and high quality images to the wiki.
- When sizing images for an article, consider the article's purpose. 200 pixels will be more than adequate for a page focused on a small object, or a minor article or stub, for example, but locations, characters and actors will require a larger size. You can input this by entering the size in the source code view on the article editor. Simply replace "XXXpx" with a suitable number. 250px is probably as big as any image needs to be in this wiki.
- With the series now being long over, in order to 'pep up' the site, Gallery pages, linked to the base page, have been created for significant characters, and for individual episodes. The format is '(base page)/Gallery', to keep the materials together.
New Article
When creating a new article for this wiki - and thank you for contributing - there are certain things you should include to make your article the best it can be.
- Link from - An article which doesn't contain any links is known here as a "Dead link" page. This means that after reading it the reader has nowhere to go. so include links to relative article in yours, e.g. if you are discussing a particular character, link to the character that paragraph mentions.
- Links to - Articles that have nothing linking to them are called "Orphaned pages". An article that doesn't get linked to is less likely to be read. To solve this issue, create links in RELATED articles, e.g. if your page is about a gadget seen in an episode, then perhaps the episode page can link to your article.
- Neutral Voice - All articles should maintain a neutral voice and be as factual as possible in this fictional setting. Articles should read like encyclopedia articles, not fan magazines.
- Graphics - All article should contain at least one image (see above). If there is more than one, they should be evenly balanced. Image stacking is unsightly and is avoided on this wiki.