User:Domlith

=Suggestions for a Layout Guide and a Manual of Style=

Below are my suggestions for a Layout Guide and a Manual of Style for this wiki. I await opinions and more suggestions on my user talk page, or in the forums.

Layout Guide
An article's layout in most cases should be the following:

Infobox
In case of characters, use the infobox to summarize their main data. Fill in every data that has reference as a proof, and do include the reference, too.

Introduction
It should briefly summarize the knowledge about the topic of the article, covering every important aspect if possible. It should however, remain reasonably short. Detailed description should be done in the sections that follow. Avoid referencing here, anything that is mentioned here should also be mentioned later in the article in more details, thereby the references should go there.

In the case of characters:

Appearance
Briefly describe the appearance of the character. Reference should be the manga debut, except those characteristics that appear later of course.

Personality
Describe the personality and traits of the character, and if possible, illustrate them with referenced examples.

History
Summarize the known events of the character's life which happened BEFORE the start of the main storyline. Reference the major events. This also applies to articles which are not about characters.

Synopsis
Summarize the events involving the character throughout the manga/anime. The primary source should be the manga, anime-only events should be indicated, if possible, among the notes, because that way it is more elegant.

The events should be divided into subsections for the appropriate Story Arcs. The order of Story Arcs is:

Agent of the Shinigami arc Soul Society arc Bount arc Bount assault on Soul Society arc Arrancar arc Hueco Mundo arc New Captain Amagai Shuusuke arc Fake Karakura Town arc
 * Chapter 1-70 in the manga
 * Episode 1-20 in the anime
 * Chapter 71-182 in the manga
 * Episode 21-63 in the anime
 * Episode 64-91 in the anime, an anime-only arc
 * Episode 92-109 in the anime, an anime-only arc. Tends to be merged with the arc above.
 * Chapter 183-239 in the manga
 * Episode 110-143 in the anime
 * Chapter 240-315 in the manga
 * Episode 144-167, then from 190 to present episodes in the anime
 * Episode 168-189 in the anime, an anime-only arc
 * Chapter 316 to present chapters in the manga

This also applies to articles which are not about characters.

Powers and abilities
As with personality, it is neat to illustrate with examples and to reference them. Information regarding game mechanics can be included, but it is more elegant to describe them in a separate section, as these sort of descriptions tend to disturb the flow of the article and in my opinion are more out-of-universe. If the person in question has a Zanpakuto, than it has to be in a separate sub-section.

In other media
Information about theme albums, the musical and game appearances etc. The latter ones can be separated into sub-sections for the different games.

Trivia
All out-of-universe information regarding the character should come here, and NOT ELSEWHERE. Referencing is still important.

Notes and references
Insert the template here and nothing else. Notes can also be written within references, they should usually be such things that would otherwise break the flow of the article's text, or information that explains the reference further.

Navigation
Appropriate navigation panels can be inserted, if necessary.

Categorization

Always categorize pages as precisely as it is possible, and feel free to create new categories if needed.

Style of text

 * Above all: please remain in-universe! Introduce characters, items, places, organizations etc. by placing them within the Bleach universe. Avoid the use of phrases like "in this episode", "in the next chapter", etc., reference indirectly instead, and use the referencing syntax and templates.


 * Always use present tense (as for my opinion, past tense is more appropriate to describe events in the History and Synopsis sections, but the consensus seems to be present tense, so it is wiser to not break it. It is not too late, however, to hold a voting for it, as for example Narutopedia has also introduced the policy of writing the Plot section in past tense.).

Translation template and other stuff

 * Many characters, items and spells have Japanese names. Even if the subject of the article has an official or unofficial, but frequently used English name, the original Japanese name has to be given using the translation template. As with the Japanese name of characters, the English name order is used, so the original Japanese order (surname first, last name last) has to be reverted in most of the cases.


 * The romaji form of Japanese names (the one with Roman characters), should be given in the Hepburn transcription system. The long forms of the vowels should be given with the characters ō, ū, ā, and ī respectively. They can be found on the editing surface, so please take your time pasting them. Same is in the case of Spanish characters.


 * The original Japanese name should be given in the following cases:
 * it is the topic of the article. In this case it should be given in the introduction. The English (or if the Japanese is used more frequently, than that) should be bolded, but other parts not!
 * it is not the main topic of the article, but it is only described within an article about something else - then it should be given at its description, following the above-described format.


 * Examples:

Take the article about Byakuya Kuchiki. The introduction begins:

is the Captain of the Sixth Division in the Gotei 13. His lieutenant etc.
 * he is introduced here in the Bleach wiki, so his name with the translation template is given here, and NOT ELSEWHERE. It is needless to give his name in this format anywhere else.
 * note that his name, which is used commonly, is bolded
 * in the translation template, the kanji follow
 * then comes the original Japanese form with romaji, it is essentially with Japanese name order. The template automatically italicizes it.
 * there is no translation here

Then take the article about the Gotei 13.

There is the description of Commander-general:

The is the leader of the Gotei 13 etc.
 * the rank of Commander-general has no separate article, therefore it is described at the most appropriate place, within the article about the Gotei 13. Because of it, the translation is also given here. It is not to be given at every occurrence of the word "Commander-general" throughout the wiki!
 * The commonly used English term comes first, it is bolded.
 * the kanji are next
 * then comes the Japanese form with romaji, italicized by the template.
 * then come the translation, it is automatically in normal style. The abbreviation lit. was manually italicized by the editor.

Last example is the article about Zanpakutō.

A is the main weapon of the  Shinigami, the Arrancar and the  Vizard etc.
 * Zanpakutō is used mainly in its Japanese form. Therefore this form comes first, bolded.
 * then come the kanji
 * the place of the original Japanese form with romaji is skipped, as it has already been given.
 * then comes the translation, lit. is italicized manually.

Bolding and italicizing

 * Every Bleach-specific term, be it English, Japanese or Spanish (in case of Hollows, Arrancar and their related things), should be Capitalized, but NOT italicized, e. g. Soul Society, Kidō.


 * Any non-Bleach-specific words in a language other than English should be italicized (e. g. katana).

Linking
Anything that appears in the text of an article, and has a separate article for itself, should be linked, BUT ONLY AT ITS FIRST OCCURRENCE IN THE TEXT. The infobox is an exception, it should be handled as a separate article in this regard, everything should also be linked at its first occurrence in the text of the infobox, too, regardless of its appearance in the text of the article itself.
 * One suggestion here: the sexes should be linked to the category of Male or Female characters, respectively.

Out-of-universe material
Results of popularity polls, cultural references and any out-of-universe material should be mentioned in the Trivia section and NOT ELSEWHERE.