User:Cid Highwind/Canonical article layout

From Memory Alpha, the free Star Trek reference

The following is an example article based on various official policies and guidelines, some discussed additions to those policies and a few personal preferences. I will use this example as a guideline when copyediting, feel free to do the same. I will update this page when necessary, please do not edit this page - comment on my talk page or that of the specific policy instead. -- Cid Highwind

Green text: explanations/comments

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{{...}} Important messages (regarding questionable content, copyright issues, pending deletion, ...) should be put on top of the page. (Memory Alpha:Template)

This guy has nothing to do with this article
Sidebar:	The sidebar should start on top of the page. Include it between any potential {{...}} and the article summary. Canonical content of sidebar should be defined as a Template, unused fields should be deleted. Images in sidebar should be resized to 200px width and have a short description. Don't change the appearance of the sidebar by using additional HTML code.

This page showcases the Canonical article layout of Memory Alpha, including the correct order of standard sections. Short summary/definition of the scope of this article, consisting of one or two sentences, including the article title (bold).

Contents 1 First custom section 2 Last custom section 3 Appendices 3.1 Related topics 3.2 Appearances 3.3 Background 3.4 References 3.5 External links

[edit] First custom section

Longer articles should make use of headers to split the text in various sections. In this case, start the first section directly after the summary. Use headers only if there are at least two sections including standard sections. Templates for a variety of articles exist and should be used.

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Proin condimentum, sapien quis elementum sagittis, lorem quam rhoncus eros, ac tempor wisi mauris non augue. Morbi sollicitudin eros vitae sem mattis egestas. Nulla ac dui vitae tellus tincidunt lobortis. Donec magna nunc, fringilla eu, varius sit amet, congue sed, massa. Cras varius, lectus ut iaculis egestas, est velit sodales tortor, ut iaculis odio sapien in nisl. (TNG: "Shades of Gray")

Try to include references to relevant episodes at the end of each paragraph to help identifying the source of each bit of information.

Use {{bginfo}} to identify non-canon speculation/comments related to the last paragraph. Use this feature sparingly - don't include personal fan fiction and try not to exceed the length of the preceding paragraph.

[edit] Last custom section

After the last custom section, start with appendices.

[edit] Appendices

This section contains important meta-information about the subject. Use any or all of the following subsections in this order:

[edit] Related topics

Alphabetical list of articles with related content. Only list articles that haven't been mentioned in the article text already. (Memory Alpha:Manual of Style)

• Memory Alpha:The perfect article
• Memory Alpha:Guide to layout

[edit] Appearances

Chronological list of episodes the article subject appeared in. Episodes that were mentioned in the article text can and should be omitted. This should be used sparingly.

• TOS: "Spock's Brain"
• VOY: "Endgame"

[edit] Background

Additional non-canon information, especially behind-the-scenes information. Use sparingly and check whether indented italics might be the better format.

[edit] References

Alphabetical list of outside articles on the same topic (books, magazines; not including web pages).

[edit] External links

Alphabetical list of external articles on the same topic (web pages).

• www.lipsum.com

{{stub}} If this article is considered incomplete, include this message at the bottom of the article. (Memory Alpha:Template)