Custom BIONICLE Wiki:Policy/Layout Guide

The following is a guide to how a fanon article should be written here on Custom BIONICLE. Feel free to make new suggestions on Custom Bionicles:Policy/Vote.

Note that this is not a tutorial on how to make an article, but rather how the article should be structured. If you want help on getting started, see Help:Tutorial and Category:Help.

Opening templates
The Title tag is used to alter the appearance of the article's title. Its main uses are to italicize the names of a fiction of some sort or a type of vessel. Do not use this to alter the actual title (ex: Only displaying "Title" instead of "Title (disambiguation)").

The Writer template (accompanied by Writer2 and Writer3; more can be made if necessary) is for explaining that a specific user has created this fanon article, and therefore all additions to the page's story will be reverted. Please note that this does NOT mean that you are not allowed to edit the page; it means that you are not allowed to add your own fanon info.

The Youmay tag is used when it is possible that a user has found one article when they were actually looking for another of a similar or identical name.

Infoboxes
Infoboxes (Category:Information templates) are a quick and easy means to access vital statistics about an article at a glance. They should almost always be used in articles, save in the few instances where one would not apply. For example, the aura field does not fit into any of the categories that the infoboxes cover and therefore is not required to have one.

There is a guide to infoboxes on their respective pages; a list can be found on Category:Information templates. Please note that the “header” section on the Character template is for listing the species of the character, and that if none is known, then it may be left blank.

Article body organization
There are some guidelines for the organization of articles within the Custom BIONICLE Wiki. Ideally, they are organized into several main sections, with subsections and extra sections where appropriate.

Character articles

 * 1) Biography: An account of the character's life. It is generally expected that this section will be divided into subsections on lengthy articles, though the appropriate sectioning of this is left to the author.
 * 2) Personality and traits: Describes personality.
 * 3) Powers and abilities: Describes any notable abilities possessed by the character. This section is particularly appropriate for beings with powers.
 * 4) Equipment: Used to give a brief description of any notable equipment associated with the character. (If enough information is available for the equipment, an article should be created for it.)

Species articles

 * 1) Physiology: Deals with the physical characteristics of the species.
 * 2) Society and culture (for sentient species)/Behavior (for non-sentients): Deals with how the structure of the species' society is organized, or how it behaves in the wild, depending on whether the species is sentient or not.
 * 3) History: An account on the species' history.
 * 4) Known individuals: A list of known members of the species.

Location articles

 * 1) Description: Includes any information on the characteristics of the location, such as its position, geological trends, ecosystem, and non-sentient species.
 * 2) History: An account on the location's history.
 * 3) Locations: A list of major locations within the one that the article is about.
 * 4) Known inhabitants: Describes native sentient species and individuals.

Event articles

 * 1) Prelude: The history that led up to the event.
 * 2) The battle/The treaty/The duel/The mission, etc.: The actual event. Can be divided into subsections at the author's discretion.
 * 3) Aftermath: The aftermath.

Object/vehicle/Kanohi articles

 * 1) Description: Contains all details of the object/vehicle's design and capabilities.
 * 2) History: All history related to the article.
 * 3) Known users: A list of beings who have used the object (if applicable).

Power articles

 * 1) Description: A list of capabilities that wielders of the power may have access to.
 * 2) Known users: A list of beings who are capable of using the power. Note that subsections such as “Species,” “Objects,” and “____-related locations” may be created if necessary.

Fiction articles (Story, series, movie, etc.)

 * 1) Story/Synopsis (if applicable): The main plot of the story/movie. Should be divided into subsections for chapters.
 * 2) Characters: A list of characters. (The scroll box template may be used if necessary; see the Appearances section below for help.)

Appearances
A list of appearances may be provided in each article if applicable, with the exception of fiction pages, which follow their own guidelines. All appearances should be linked to and italicized.

See also and External links
See also is a bulleted list, preferably alphabetized, of internal links to related articles. Editors should provide a brief annotation when a link's relevance is not immediately apparent.

External links is the same, only it contains links for other pages on the Internet. See External links for more detailed information.

Notes and references
This section presents citations that verify the information in the article. On this wiki, they should not commonly be used, as most of the information here is fan fiction.

For more information, see Citing sources.