P.MysteryUniverse Wiki:Manual of Style

This is the manual of style for. While this wiki is free for anyone and everyone to contribute to and edit, it still has certain formalities when it comes to writing on articles, formatting and the like, in order to keep it consistent and adequate.

General Article Style

 * Article titles and headers use title case (e.g. "Manual of Style", but not "Manual Of Style" or "Manual of style"). When you're unsure about what words should or shouldn't be capitalized, you can always use a converter.
 * Articles don't start with headers.
 * The beginning of an article should have the name or another acceptable sentence/word bolded.
 * Do not copy and paste information (e.g. Ability effect summaries, move descriptions, etc.) from other sites such as Bulbapedia. How something works in PMU tends to differ from the main series' and PMD games. Please confirm info you want to put onto the wiki. These sites can still be referenced for things such as what Ability a Pokémon may have, names, and other generally consistent things about the series.
 * Write articles formally with clean grammar.
 * Slang is a no-go.
 * No use of the symbols &, @, or # for shortening what words could be used in place.
 * Contractions (when used appropriately) and proper acronyms are fine. For example, "HP" vs. "Heath Points", given that it's stylized as "HP" in-game, or "PMU" rather than "Pokémon Mystery Universe".
 * "Pokémon" and "Poké" should be used just as so. Do not shorten to "PKMN", "PK", "Mon", etc. An 'e' with the accent (é) should always be included.
 * Acronyms for dungeons are only used in articles when mentioning it at the beginning of the dungeon page and in the master list of dungeons on the Dungeons page itself.
 * While most values are void of decimals in-game, please use commas when necessary for readability. The only exception to this rule is the sell price column on Items/Valuable Items.
 * Pokémon recruit rates (and generally all numbers) should only use a decimal point if the rate/number isn't whole (e.g. "4.5%" but not "5.0%").
 * While third-person perspective is wikiversally preferred, the use of "you" (e.g. "You obtain an Engraved Tablet" vs. "The player obtains an Engraved Tablet") is not strictly forbidden, especially on community articles or pages such as this one. However, a lot of pages shouldn't use it. There's no need to address the reader on the description/usage for items or Abilities, for example.
 * Article text should use American English spelling for words that would otherwise be different in the British English (e.g. "color" or "apologize" vs. "colour" or "apologise").
 * Text in quotation marks and parenthesis should have a period after instead of treating the end of the quote or parenthesis as the end of the sentence it's in.
 * Types are written as "-type" (e.g. "Fairy-type") or just "" for short.
 * Single-digit numbers are written as the word (e.g. "there are two boxes" vs. "there are 2 boxes") unless particularly referencing something that always uses number values like currencies or HP. If the number is in front of a word like "Level" or "Floor", always use the digits. Don't use "1st" or "2nd" instead of "first" and "second" and so on, unless that's how it's stylized in-game (e.g. "1st Place Ribbon").

All of that being said, oversights happen. Don't fret over mistakes, but fix them if possible and be sure to check your edits if you can. When it comes to personal pages like your userpage, a blog, or messages in Discussions or talk pages, it's fine to type how it is comfortable for you.

Articles for your guild are considered personal pages to a degree, but should still follow basic formal writing simply to not look awful. Personal pages are still property of the wiki and available to the public view. The most they'll be tampered with by admins is for readability and general fixing unless something is requested.

Dialogue should be written as is in-game, typos included.

Capitalization
Capitalization is the term used for making the first letter of a word capital.

+The words in this list should always be capitalized:
 * Linked article titles when being directed to even if it wouldn't otherwise (e.g. "see Staff Team" vs. "see staff team")
 * Pokémon (the word and the Pokémon names themselves)
 * Stat names (except "movement speed" and "attack speed")
 * Player names
 * NPC names
 * Ability
 * Ability names
 * Type names
 * Move names
 * Exact item names unless specified (e.g. "Aquatic Key", but not "Key" or "Keys")
 * Currency names
 * Berry
 * Honey
 * Gummi
 * Fossil
 * Series or game names
 * Location and dungeon names (towns, Holiday Cave, etc.)
 * Kecleon Shop
 * Monster House
 * Secret Room
 * Mystery Egg
 * Floor, when followed by a number (e.g. "The floor becomes water after Floor 10" vs. "The Floor becomes water after Floor 10")
 * Generation, when followed by a number (e.g. "Generation 3/III", but not "third Generation" or "this Generation").

Tables
!style="background:#"|Example text !style="background:#"|Example text
 * - style="background:#"
 * example data
 * example data
 * }

Tables are what is used on several pages, such as the main page and item pages, to display data or to make things look nice. For the latter,  s can be used for the same purpose. When you add a table on an article, it should have specific styling, and there are some templates to automatically put the code of the start of a table:

TableHeader/TableHeader2, PokemonTable/t, ItemTable/t, ShopTable/t, and EggTable/t.

Generic tables usually use the vanilla TableHeader, as the last four are meant for dungeon pages. Each of these templates has parameters for certain customization if needed, which can be read into on their pages.

To make a table for basic usage, put  on a page, and follow that up with   under it, then some text after the horizontal bar. This adds an actual header, signifying what the data under it represents.

Under the header(s) you will need to start a row by adding, then some cells with the data you want to display by using a horizontal bar similarly to adding a header. You'll need as many cells as there are headers so there aren't empty blocks. Add more lines and cells as needed and close the table by putting  on a new line.

The code of the example table:

!style="background:#"|Example text !style="background:#"|Example text
 * - style="background:#"
 * example data
 * example data
 * }

The color of the TableColor and header templates can be changed to a region's color scheme if appropriate.

Opinion and Bias
Being that this is a wiki, which is meant to share knowledge and information with others, we are obviously to write things from a mostly neutral standpoint. The word "mostly" is used due to the existence of community pages and the "Tips" section used on some dungeon pages.

For example, the Good Training Locations page. Most of the dungeons listed here are widely agreed on to be good for training. One person could disagree on one dungeon there or another. Hence why it's a community—or, "meta" page. These pages exist due to being historic and PMU itself being community-based. They still end up helping others and that's the purpose of a wiki so they live.

Tips on dungeon pages should be relevant to the dungeon and simplified. In a dungeon that has Fire-types, you can suggest running with a Pokémon that has Thick Fat, rather than putting "use Mobile Scarf with x4 speed nub" which is just forcing your play style on others. There's also no need to suggest something like your entire set-up when you beat the dungeon. There is a general tips page and you can always make a blog post for an in-depth dungeon guide.

Dialogue
How dialogue is displayed depends on the article and where in-game:
 * For NPCs you press F to talk to, it should be conveyed in a table (example: Grassroot Town). If the NPC has more than one dialog box of text, keep everything in one paragraph.
 * Dialogue of random NPCs that are in set dungeon floors (such as Vertigo in Cryptic Chasm's Cryptic Drop) don't tend to be included in the respective dungeon's page.
 * For dungeon bosses, there's a template specifically for it: BossDialogue. See the third method.
 * In spite of the name, this template may also be used for non-boss dungeon story dialogue, using the custom parameters (example: Gritty Burrow).
 * For any other story dialogue (such as the Exbel Woods tutorial), see below.

Dialogue from stories use listed text, and should be in a collapsed  unless the dialogue is only a few dialog boxes long. The name of the speaker should be Italicized. When the player is addressed or says something, use "[Player Name]". For actions in dialogue not lead by a speaker's name with a colon, use an indent instead of an asterisk (':' behind text on a new line). It should be noted that there are cases where story dialogue doesn't have names at all. In said cases, names shouldn't be added unless there's multiple speakers that need to be differentiated. When the story allows a choice, display the choices bolded and indented [Like this]. The text specific to that choice should be indented as well.

Dialogue:
 * Wiki Barry: This is a sample. Hello there, [Player Name].
 * Wiki Barry hopes you have a good day.
 * [Say thanks]
 * [Player Name]: Why thank you.
 * [Say nothing]
 * [Player Name]: ...


 * Wiki Barry: Shall we meet again.

Ability Pages

 * If a Pokémon in the list of Pokémon with the Ability is not able to be obtained by players in PMU yet, put  after its name.
 * There are some held items in PMU which give the effect of an Ability when held. Please make sure that these are referenced on the page of the real Ability. These items also sometimes give text different from the actual Ability in the Battle Log when taking effect. Have a screenshot of both in a gallery (example: Strong Jaw).
 * For pictures, see Images.

Images

 * General/Game images
 * Preferably, player names, the mini HP bar, and minimap should be off, and the Battle Log shouldn't be visible. Unless otherwise necessary, the maximum size for in-game images is 640 by 480, meaning they should only ever show the game screen.
 * Image names should be relevant to the image. If you use the screenshot function, don't leave the filename as "Screenshot#" when uploading.
 * Avoid using .jpgs and .jpegs when possible or any low quality images.
 * Avoid uploading images with a capitalized file extension (e.g. ".png" vs ".PNG" ).
 * It's preferred to take screenshots at the game's true resolution, i.e. don't take a screenshot while using methods to enlarge or magnify the screen.


 * Dungeon page images
 * Common images on dungeon pages have a specific convention for naming. See P.MysteryUniverse Wiki:Dungeon Template and Template:Infobox Dungeon/doc.
 * Images for bosses should not be a screenshot of the map, but an in-dialogue screenshot, ideally on a dialog where the boss or bosses are in position, as that usually tells where the actual NPC will spawn, helping attentive people.

 Sprite used for:
 * Sprites
 * When uploading item sprites PMU uses, rip them from Items.png in the client (Pokemon Mystery Universe\GFX\Items). This can be done easily using a tool such as paint.net. Images of sprites should be transparent, have no unneeded empty space, and be added to the Category:Sprites category, along any existing sub-categories if necessary.
 * If uploading a sprite that is from the main series and therefore has an actual name, upload the sprite with that name; create a redirect with the name of the PMU item that uses the sprite.
 * If an item uses a sprite already uploaded to the wiki, make the item name a redirect to that sprite's file (e.g. make a page named " " with the text " "), and list the item names in the file description like so:
 * Item name
 * Item name...
 * For tiles, if an image of one needs to be ripped for one reason or another, one can use the "/edithouse" command, find the tile in the map editor, and screenshot it.
 * Every portrait from Pokémon Super Mystery Dungeon/Gates to Infinity has been uploaded here. There's no need to upload basic portraits if you need to use them.


 * Ability images
 * Most of the time Ability images should depict the Ability activating a message in the Battle Log. In the case of certain Abilities like Pixilate or Liquid Voice, make sure it's clear the effect is working (i.e. make it clear you're attacking something that's weak to a move due to being affected by the Ability).
 * In the case of Abilities where the effect is only seen visually like Chlorophyll, record a .gif with and without the Ability.
 * Use Template:Abilimg. See the page for parameters but generally all you need to do is have Abilimg on the page.
 * Pages that require more than one image should go in a gallery instead (again example: Strong Jaw).


 * Add uploaded Ability images to the Ability Images category.