OverWiki:Layout Guide

A consistent layout is a healthy layout!

Articles of a similar type must follow a similar layout in order to be consistent, therefore this official Layout Guide shows how articles should be structured; it should be considered a standard that everyone has to follow. Feel free to discuss it on the talk page.

Changing these layouts with disregard of this guide will likely cause some issues to the related user, possibly resulting in a short block.

General layout

These sections are for any type of article. When there is nothing to say in these sections, they of course must not be included.

• Some subtitles can sometimes appear in only one page, depending on the subject (see Alyx Vance for an example).

• Sometimes a quote can be added at the start of a section when justified (see the G-Man for an example).

• Sections can feature subsections and are obviously not all used all the time.

• "Behind the scenes" is for development information, such as design evolution, cut content, name change, etc.

• "Trivia" is for trivial information, such as little details that does not add much to the subject, could even be disregarded, but are fun to know. Pointless and irrelevant trivia will be removed; prefer concentrate on the article itself. (see Judith Mossman for an example).

• If these sections contain several items, use "*" to list each one. If there is only one item, no "*" is needed.

• The section "List of appearances" must only contain official Half-Life and Portal titles, canon and non-canon, in release date order.

Header template

Every article on the wiki has small icons on the upper right that you must add when you create an article. This is the Article template, which usually is the uppermost element in a page. Check the template to see usage examples. An article must have at least one icon, and can have many at the same time. Every in-universe article must include at least one of the four era icons (i.e. the Half-Life, Half-Life 2, Portal and Portal 2 eras). Articles written from the real world point of view must include at least the "Valve" icon. These 5 icons are the only ones you should worry about; all the others are used and placed by admins only.

Article management template

Many articles have "article management tags", which spreads along the entire width of the article, and always come after the era logos and before the infobox. Giving various information about the article, they come in two types: the permanent, which are green-colored, and the temporary, which are blue-colored. The green templates must always be placed on top, followed by the blue ones.

The permanent (green) templates link to disambiguation pages, they show the era-related project they are in, they state about the canon or cut status of a subject, etc.

The temporary (blue) templates give information about the current state of an article and the problems that it may have (it needs to be cleaned up, it needs more images, it should be merged with another, it is still under construction, etc.). When the problem is solved, they are supposed to be removed.

Cleanup template

Unless you are an admin, always add the temporary template "Cleanup". That means the article still has to be reviewed by an admin (and an admin only) until it is given a safe, good or featured status. At that point the template will be removed.

Infobox

99% of the time, an article will have an Infobox that will be placed right under the Article template, and be seen on the upper right of the article. Please use the relevant infobox for you article, and choose it through the category (their names are self-explanatory, so you'll easily find which one to use), and copy/paste in your article the code listed on their page. Don't (never ever) alter it, and fill the fields with the relevant information. When there is nothing to add in a field, just leave it blank. When a subsection is empty, hide its title with the "hide" code in the related field. The infobox will typically feature a picture that clearly identifies the article subject, without the thumbnail attribute, and 250px-wide. Just in case, there will never be an article with two infoboxes. Just one.

Article introduction

Like on any wiki, the article must feature a short introduction, starting by the article name in in bold. A game title must be in bold and in italics. At least one relevant picture should be at the right side of the article (in the Infobox when there is one). Then the main article starts, with its first or only subtitle(s).

Article end

After the main contents, the end of an article will include, in this order:

• Related Achievements
• Behind the scenes
• Trivia
• Gallery
• List of appearances
• See also
• References
• External links
• Navigation template (every article must have at least one navigation template at the bottom, where they must be linked to in the proper place)

Gallery

The gallery can be subdivided if needed. It always starts with "<gallery>" and ends with "</gallery>". The subsections commonly used include, in order:

• Concept art
• Screenshots
  • Pre-release
  • Retail
• Models

Layouts by subject

Each "*" stands for an "=", which of course must be on both sides of the subtitle.

Characters

Article introduction and Character infobox.

• • Biography

• • • Background

• • • Appearances

• • • • Game title(s), in italics and linked to their respective articles

• • • Appearance

• • • Personality and skills

• • Objects

• • Related Achievements

• • Behind the scenes

• • Trivia

• • Gallery if needed

• • List of appearances

• • See also

• • References
• {{Quotecat}} if needed
• {{Imagecat}} if needed
• {{Reflist}} must always be there

• • External links

• • Character navigation template, followed by that of the related faction if one

Enemies

Article introduction and Enemy infobox.

• • Overview

• • Application (for military) / Behavior and skills (for natural fauna) (sometimes both can be used)

• • • Weaponry

• • Variants

• • Appearances

• • • Game title(s), in italics and linked to their respective articles

• • Tactics

• • Related Achievements

• • Behind the scenes

• • Trivia

• • Gallery if needed

• • List of appearances

• • See also

• • References
• {{Quotecat}} if needed
• {{Imagecat}} if needed
• {{Reflist}} must always be there

• • External links

• • As no enemy navigation template exist, that of the related faction must be used

Games

Article introduction and Game infobox.

• • Overview

• • Plot

• • Gameplay

• • Characters

• • Enemies

• • Weapons

• • Development

• • Reception

• • Expansions

• • Mods

• • Downloadable content

• • Achievements and trophies

• • Soundtrack

• • Trivia

• • Gallery

• • See also

• • References
• {{Reflist}} must always be there

• • External links

• • Games template

Locations

Article introduction and Location infobox.

• • Overview

• • Features or Layout

• • Fate (for the cut locations)

• • Appearances

• • • Game title(s)

• • Related Achievements

• • Behind the scenes

• • Trivia

• • Gallery if needed

• • List of appearances

• • See also

• • References
• {{Quotecat}} if needed
• {{Imagecat}} if needed
• {{Reflist}} must always be there

• • External links

• • Location navigation template, followed by that of the related faction if one

Real world people

Article introduction and Real-world person infobox.

• • Biography

• • Works (oldest first)

• • • Game title(s), in italics and linked to their respective articles

• • Selected gameography

• • Gallery if needed (for graphical artists)

• • See also

• • References
• {{Reflist}} must always be there

• • External links

• • Real world people template

Weapons

Article introduction and Weapon infobox.

• • Overview

• • Tactics

• • Related Achievements

• • Behind the scenes

• • Trivia

• • Gallery if needed

• • List of appearances

• • See also

• • References
• {{Quotecat}} if needed
• {{Imagecat}} if needed
• {{Reflist}} must always be there

• • External links (a link to Wikipedia can be featured here if the weapon exists in real life)

• • Weapon navigation template, followed by that of the related faction if one

Vehicles

Article introduction and Vehicle infobox.

• • Overview

• • Use

• • Weaponry

• • Appearances

• • • Game title(s), in italics and linked to their respective articles

• • Tactics

• • Related Achievements

• • Behind the scenes

• • Trivia

• • Gallery if needed

• • List of appearances

• • See also

• • References
• {{Quotecat}} if needed
• {{Imagecat}} if needed
• {{Reflist}} must always be there

• • External links (a link to Wikipedia can be featured here if the vehicle exists in real life)

• • Transportation navigation template, followed by that of the related faction if one