Misplaced Pages:Manual of Style/Layout: Difference between revisions

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			{{short description\|Style guide which presents the typical layout of Misplaced Pages articles}}
			{{About\|the layout of Misplaced Pages articles\|the layout of Misplaced Pages talk pages\|Misplaced Pages:Talk page layout}}
			{{Pp-semi\|small=yes}}
			{{Style-guideline\|MOS:LAYOUT\|MOS:STRUCTURE\|WP:MOSLAYOUT}}
	{{Style}}		{{Style}}
			]
	The '''Misplaced Pages Guide to Layout''' is an annotated, working example of some of the basics of laying out an article.

			This guide presents the typical '''layout''' of Misplaced Pages articles, including the sections an article usually has, ordering of sections, and formatting styles for various elements of an article. For advice on the use of wiki ], see ]; for guidance on writing style, see ].
	This little article is not about how to use wiki markup; see ] for that. This little article is not about style; see ] for that. This little article is just a summary of what some fairly clean, simple Misplaced Pages articles look like. For more complicated articles, you may want to copy the markup of some existing article you like the looks of.

			__TOC__
	==Introductory material==
			{{anchor\|ORDER}}
	The subject of the article should be mentioned in '''bold text''' (<nowiki>'''subject'''</nowiki>) at a natural place in the first sentence, or at least the first paragraph. The name of the subject may appear slightly different from the title of the page, or may include variations, but normally it is identical to the page title.

			==Order of article elements<span id="Order of sections"></span>==
	If the article is long enough to contain several paragraphs, the first paragraph should be short and to the point, with a clear explanation of what the subject of the page is.
			{{shortcut\|MOS:ORDER\|MOS:SECTIONORDER\|WP:ORDER}}
	If further introductory material is needed before the first header, then this can be given in additional paragraphs. It is common for introductions to biographical articles to dual as summaries, mentioning the most prominent achievements of the subject.
			{{See also\|Misplaced Pages:Manual of Style#Section headings}}

			A ] should have, at least, (a) a lead section and (b) references. The following list includes additional standardized sections in an article. A complete article need not have all, or even most, of these elements.
	Introductory paragraphs should precede sections; in particular, they should not be in an <nowiki>==Introduction==</nowiki> section of their own. The table of contents will automatically follow the introduction, preceding the first named section.
			# Before the article content
			## ]<ref>Discussed in ] and ].</ref>
			## {{tl\|DISPLAYTITLE}}, {{tl\|Lowercase title}}, {{tl\|Italic title}}<ref>Per the template documentation at {{Section link\|Template:Italic title/doc#Location on page}}</ref> (some of these may also be placed before the infobox<ref>Per the RFC at {{Section link\|Misplaced Pages talk:Manual of Style/Layout/Archive 14#DISPLAYTITLE}}</ref> or after the infobox<ref>Per the template documentation at {{Section link\|Template:DISPLAYTITLE#Instructions}}</ref>)
			## ]
			## {{tl\|Featured list}}, {{tl\|Featured article}} and {{tl\|Good article}} (where appropriate for article status)
			## Deletion / protection tags (], ], ], ] notices)
			## ], ], and ] tags
			## Templates relating to ] and ]<ref>The matter was discussed in ], ], and ].</ref>{{efn\|These templates (see ]) can also be placed at the end of an article.}}
			## ]{{efn\|It is important that hatnotes and maintenance/dispute tags appear on the first page of the article. On the mobile site, the first paragraph of the lead section is moved above the infobox for the sake of readability. Since the infobox is generally more than one page long, putting hatnotes, etc., after it will result in them being placed after the first page, making them less effective.}}
			## ]
			## ]
			## ] (])
			# Article content
			## ] (also called the introduction)
			## ]
			## ] (see ] for specialized layout)
			# ]<ref name="sequence">This sequence has been in place since at least ] (when "See also" was called "Related topics"). See, for example, ].</ref>{{efn\|The original rationale for the ordering of the appendices is that, with the exception of "Works", sections which contain material outside Misplaced Pages (including "Further reading" and "External links") should come after sections that contain Misplaced Pages material (including "See also") to help keep the distinction clear. The sections containing notes and references often contain both kinds of material and, consequently, appear after the "See also" section (if any) and before the "Further reading" section (if any). Whatever the merits of the original rationale, there is now the additional factor that readers have come to expect the appendices to appear in this order.}}
			## ] (for biographies only)
			## ]
			## ] (this can be two sections in some citation systems)
			## ]
			## ]{{efn\|There are several reasons why this section should appear as the last appendix section. So many articles have the "External links" section at the end that many people expect this to be the case. Some "External links" and "References" (or "Footnotes", etc.) sections are quite long and, when the name of the section is not visible on the screen, it could cause problems if someone meant to delete an external link but deleted a reference citation instead. Keeping the "External links" last is also helpful to editors who patrol external links.}}
			# {{anchor\|End matter}}]
			## ] and geography boxes
			## Other ] (])<ref>]</ref>
			## {{tl\|Portal bar}}{{efn\|This template is primarily used when ] would cause formatting problems.}} (or {{tl\|Subject bar}})
			## {{tl\|Taxonbar}}
			## ] templates
			## ] (if not in the infobox) or {{tl\|coord missing}}
			## ]
			## ]{{efn\|While categories are entered on the editing page ahead of stub templates, they appear on the visual page in a separate box after the stub templates. One of the reasons this happens is that every stub template generates a stub category, and those stub categories appear after the "main" categories. Another is that certain bots and scripts are set up to expect the categories, stubs and ] to appear in that order, and will reposition them if they don't. Therefore, any manual attempt to change the order is futile unless the bots and scripts are also altered.}}
			## {{t\|Improve categories}} or {{tl\|Uncategorized}} (These can alternatively be placed with other maintenance templates before the article content)
			## ] (follow ])

	==~~Links~~==		==Body sections==
			{{Shortcut\|MOS:BODY}}
			{{further\|Help:Section\|Misplaced Pages:Manual of Style#Article titles, headings, and sections}}
			Articles longer than a ] are generally divided into sections, and sections over a certain length are generally divided into paragraphs: these divisions enhance the readability of the article. Recommended names and orders of section headings may ], although articles should still follow good organizational and writing principles regarding sections and paragraphs.

			===Headings and sections===
	Wikified articles link significant words to the corresponding article. For example, an article might mention ]s without explaining what they are. Or an article about ] might provide helpful background material when mentioned in passing. Not every word should be linked, just helpful ones. Long stretches without links are unusual. Useful links that are not mentioned in the prose paragraphs can be added to the "see also" section near the end. (See below.)
			{{shortcut\|MOS:OVERSECTION}}
			{{further\|Misplaced Pages:Manual of Style#Section headings}}
			]

			Headings introduce sections and subsections, clarify articles by breaking up text, organize content, and populate the ]. Very short sections and subsections clutter an article with headings and inhibit the flow of the prose. Short paragraphs and single sentences generally do not warrant their own subheadings.
	==Structure of the article==
	Paragraphs should be relatively short, as the eye gets tired of following solid text for too many lines. Similarly, articles themselves should be kept relatively short. Articles are generally prose paragraphs, not bullet points. But lists may be included for reference.

			Headings follow a six-level hierarchy, starting at 1 and ending at 6. The level of the heading is defined by the number of equals signs on each side of the title. Heading 1 (<code>= Heading 1 =</code>) is automatically generated as the title of the article, and is never appropriate within the body of an article. Sections start at the second level (<code>== Heading 2 ==</code>), with subsections at the third level (<code>=== Heading 3 ===</code>), and additional levels of subsections at the fourth level (<code>==== Heading 4 ====</code>), fifth level, and sixth level. Sections should be consecutive, such that they do not skip levels from sections to sub-subsections; the exact methodology is part of the ] guideline.{{efn\|1=For example, skipping heading levels, such as jumping from <code>== Heading 2 ==</code> to <code>==== Heading 4 ====</code> without <code>=== Heading 3 ===</code> in the middle, violates ] as it reduces usability for users of screen readers who use heading levels to navigate pages.}} Between sections, there should be a {{em\|single}} blank line: multiple blank lines in the edit window create too much white space in the article. There is no need to include a blank line between a heading and sub-heading. When changing or removing a heading, consider adding an ] with the original heading name to provide for ] and ]s (preferably using <code><nowiki>{{subst:anchor}}</nowiki></code> rather than using <code><nowiki>{{anchor}}</nowiki></code> directly—see ]).
	Headers also help make an article clearer and determine the table of contents; see ].
	Since headers are hierarchical, and some people set their user preferences to number them, you should start with <nowiki>==Header==</nowiki> and follow it with <nowiki>===Subheader===</nowiki>, <nowiki>====Subsubheader====</nowiki>, and so forth.
	Yes, the <nowiki>==Header==</nowiki> is awfully big in some browsers, but that can be fixed in the future with a ] more easily than a nonhierarchical article structure can be fixed.

			===Section order{{Anchor\|Names and orders for section headings}}===
	On the other hand, overuse of sub-headings should be avoided, as it can make the article look cluttered. Short paragraphs and single sentences generally do not warrant their own sub-heading, and in these circumstances it may be preferable to use bullet points or bolded text instead.
			{{short\|MOS:SNO}}
			{{See also\|Help:Section\|WP:Manual of Style/Accessibility#Headings\|WP:Manual of Style#Section headings\|WP:Manual of Style/Capital letters#Section headings}}

			Because of the diversity of subjects it covers, Misplaced Pages has no general standard or guideline regarding the order of section headings within the body of an article. The usual practice is to order body sections based on the precedent of similar articles. For exceptions, see ] below.
	The degree to which subtopics should be kept on a single page or given their own pages is a matter of judgment.

			===Section templates and summary style===
	==Images==
			<!--Linked from ]-->
	If the article can be illustrated with pictures, find an appropriate place to position these images. For more information, see ].
			{{further\|WP:SUMMARYHATNOTE\|Misplaced Pages:Summary style#Templates}}

			When a section is a ] of another article that provides a full exposition of the section, a link to the other article should appear immediately under the section heading. You can use the {{tlx\|Main}} template to generate a "Main article" link, in Misplaced Pages's ] style.
	== Standardized appendices ==
	Certain optional standardized sections go at the bottom of the article, as you see below.

			If one or more articles provide further information or additional details (rather than a full exposition, see above), links to such articles may be placed immediately after the section heading for that section, provided this does not duplicate a wikilink in the text. These additional links should be grouped along with the {{tnull\|Main}} template (if there is one), or at the foot of the section that introduces the material for which these templates provide additional information. You can use one of the following templates to generate these links:
	===Quotations===
			* {{tlx\|Further}}{{snd}} generates a "Further information" link
	Under this header, list any memorable quotations that are appropriate to the subject.
			* {{tlx\|See also}}{{snd}} generates a "See also" link
	*"Misquotations are the only quotations that are never misquoted." — Hesketh Pearson, ''Common Misquotations'' (1934)

			For example, to generate a "See also" link to the article on ], type {{tlx\|See also\|Misplaced Pages:How to edit a page}}, which will generate:
	This header is somewhat deprecated. Usually, the most relevant quotes can be placed directly into the article text in order to illustrate the topic. Lists of quotes are generally moved to ] and the Quotations section as a whole is replaced with a <nowiki>{{wikiquote}}</nowiki> badge, usually placed at the top of the external links section.
			{{xt\|{{See also\|Misplaced Pages:How to edit a page}}}}

	===~~See also~~===		===Paragraphs===
			{{shortcut\|MOS:PARA\|MOS:LINEBREAKS}}
	Put here, in a bulleted list, other articles in the Misplaced Pages that are related to this one.
	*]		{{redirect\|MOS:LINEBREAKS\|preventing line breaks\|Misplaced Pages:Manual of Style#Controlling line breaks}}
			{{See also\|WP:Writing better articles#Paragraphs\|Help:Wikitext#Line breaks\|WP:Manual of Style/Accessibility#Indentation}}
	*]

			Sections usually consist of paragraphs of running prose, each dealing with a particular point or idea. Single-sentence paragraphs can inhibit the flow of the text; by the same token, long paragraphs become hard to read. Between paragraphs—as between sections—there should be only a {{em\|single}} blank line. First lines are {{em\|not}} indented.
	Related topics ought to be grouped by subject area for ease of navigation. Please also provide a brief explanatory sentence, when the relevance of the added links is not immediately apparent - like so:
	*] made a similar achievement in ].

			] should not be used in the lead of an article. They may be used in the body to break up a mass of text, particularly if the topic requires significant effort to comprehend. Sometimes, it may be preferable to use bullet points instead of having a series of very short paragraphs. However, bulleted lists are typical in the reference, further reading, and external links sections towards the end of the article. Bullet points are usually not separated by blank lines, as that causes an accessibility issue (''see'' ] for ways to create multiple paragraphs within list items that do not cause this issue).
	Or for a less formal feel you can simply use this:

			==Standard appendices and footers<span id="Standard appendices and descriptions"></span><span id="standard appendices"></span>==
	''See also'': ], ]
			{{shortcut\|MOS:APPENDIX\|MOS:FOOTERS}}
			{{for\|the list and order of common appendices and footers\|#Order of article elements}}

	===~~References~~===		===Headings===
			When appendix sections are used, they should appear at the bottom of an article, with <code>==level 2 headings==</code>,{{efn\|1=Syntax:
	Put under this header, again in a bulleted list, any books, articles, web pages, etcetera that you used in constructing the article and/or recommend as sources of further information to readers.
			<syntaxhighlight lang="wikitext" style="color: #000000; background: #FFFFFF; padding: 1em; border: 1px solid #8FBC8F; font-size:111%;">
			==See also==
			* ]
			* ]
			</syntaxhighlight>

			Which produces:
	* Pooh, W. T. & Robin, C. (1926). "How to catch a heffalump" in A. A. Milne (Ed.), ''The Karma of Kanga'', pp. 23–47. Hundred Acre Wood: Wol Press. <nowiki>ISBN 999999999</nowiki>
			<blockquote style="background: #FFFFFF; padding: 1em; border: 1px solid #999999; font-size:111%;">
			{{fake heading\|See also}}
			* ]
			* ]
			</blockquote>}} followed by the various footers. When it is useful to sub-divide these sections (for example, to separate a list of magazine articles from a list of books), this should be done using level 3 headings (<code>===Books===</code>) instead of ] (<code>;Books</code>), as explained in the ].

			===Works or publications<span id="works"></span><span id="Works or Publications or Bibliography"></span>===
	The most important thing is to include the complete citation information, just as you would for any other bibliography; the precise formatting is still debatable and can be fixed later. See also: ] and ].
			{{shortcut\|MOS:LAYOUTWORKS\|MOS:BIB}}
			{{further\|Misplaced Pages:Manual of Style/Lists of works}}

			'''Contents:''' A bulleted list, usually ordered chronologically, of the works created by the subject of the article.

			'''Heading names:''' Many different headings are used, depending on the subject matter. "Works" is preferred when the list includes items that are not written publications (e.g. music, films, paintings, choreography, or architectural designs), or if multiple types of works are included. "Publications", "Discography" or "Filmography" are occasionally used where appropriate; however, "Bibliography" is discouraged because it is not clear whether it is limited to the works of the subject of the article.<ref>]</ref>{{efn\|1= of "Bibliography" and "Selected bibliography"}} "Works" or "Publications" should be plural, even if it lists only a single item.{{efn\|name=pluralHeading\|For further information, see ].}}

			==="See also" section<span id="See also section"></span>===
			{{shortcut\|MOS:SEEALSO\|MOS:ALSO}}
			{{for\|the placement of "see also" notes at the top of an article\|WP:RELATED}}
			{{see also\|Misplaced Pages:Manual of Style/Lists#Related topics (navigational lists)}}
			A "See also" section is a useful way to organize ] to related or comparable articles and ]. However, the section itself is not required; many high-quality and comprehensive articles do not have one.

			The section should be a bulleted list, sorted either logically (for example, by subject matter), chronologically, or alphabetically. Consider using {{tlx\|Columns-list}} or {{tlx\|Div col}} if the list is lengthy.

			'''Contents:''' Links in this section should be relevant and limited to a reasonable number. Whether a link belongs in the "See also" section is ultimately a matter of editorial judgment and ]. One purpose of "See also" links is to enable readers to explore tangentially related topics; however, articles linked should be related to the topic of the article or be in the same defining category. For example, the article on ] might include a link to ] because it is related to the subject but not otherwise linked in the article. The article on ] might include ] as another example of Mexican cuisine.

			{{shortcut\|MOS:NOTSEEALSO\|MOS:NOTSEEAGAIN}}

			{{anchor\|NOTSEEALSO}}The "See also" section should {{em\|not}} include ], links to ] (unless used in a disambiguation page for ]), or ] (including links to pages within ]). As a general rule, the "See also" section should {{em\|not}} repeat links that appear in the article's body.<ref>The community has rejected past proposals to do away with this guidance. See, for example, ].</ref>

			Editors should provide a brief annotation when a link's relevance is not immediately apparent, when the meaning of the term may not be generally known, or when the term is ambiguous. For example:
			:* ]{{snd}}made a similar achievement on April 4, 2005
			:* ]{{snd}}restriction in blood supply

			If the linked article has a ] then you can use {{tl\|annotated link}} to automatically generate an annotation. For example, {{tlx\|annotated link\|Winston Churchill}} will produce:
			:* {{annotated link\|Winston Churchill}}

			'''Other internal links:''' {{tlx\|Portal}} links are usually placed in this section. As an alternative, {{tlx\|Portal bar}} may be placed with the end matter navigation templates. See relevant template documentation for correct placement.

			'''Heading name:''' The standardized name for this section is "See also".

			===Notes and references<span id="Notes"></span><span id="References"></span><span id="Notes or references"></span>===
			{{shortcut\|MOS:FNNR\|MOS:NOTES\|MOS:REFERENCES}}
			{{hatnote\|For how to generate and format these sections, see ], ], and ] (particularly {{slink\|Misplaced Pages:Citing sources\|How to create the list of citations\|nopage=yes}}).}}
			{{Redirect\|MOS:NOTES\|hatnotes\|Misplaced Pages:Hatnotes\|Musical notes\|Misplaced Pages:Manual of Style/Music#Images and notation}}
			{{See also\|Misplaced Pages:Manual of Style/Text formatting#Citations}}
			]

			'''Contents:''' This section, or series of sections, may contain any or all of the following:

			# ] that give information which is too detailed or awkward to be in the body of the article
			# ] (either short citations or full citations) that connect specific material in the article with specific sources
			# Full citations to sources, if ] are used in the footnotes
			# ] (full bibliographic citations to sources that were consulted in writing the article but that are not explicitly connected to any specific material in the article)

			], but it should be consistent within an article.

			If there are both citation footnotes and explanatory footnotes, then they may be combined in a single section, or separated using the ] function. General references and other full citations may similarly be either combined or separated (e.g. "References" and "General references"). There may therefore be one, two, three or four sections in all.

			It is most common for only citation footnotes to be used, and therefore it is most common for only one section ("References") to be needed. Usually, if the sections are separated, then explanatory footnotes are listed first, short citations or other footnoted citations are next, and any full citations or general references are listed last.

			'''Heading names:''' Editors may use any reasonable section and subsection names that they choose.{{efn\|One reason this guideline does not standardize section headings for citations and explanatory notes is that Misplaced Pages draws editors from many disciplines (history, English, science, etc.), each with its own note and reference section-naming convention (or conventions). For more, see ], ], and ].}} The most frequent choice is "References". Other options, in diminishing order of popularity, are "Notes", "Footnotes" or "Works cited", although these are more often used to distinguish between multiple end-matter sections or subsections.

			Several alternate titles ("Sources", "Citations", "Bibliography") may also be used, although each is questionable in some contexts: "Sources" may be confused with ] in computer-related articles, product purchase locations, river origins, ], etc.; "Citations" may be confused with official awards, or a summons to court; "Bibliography" may be confused with the complete list of printed works by the subject of a biography ("Works" or "Publications").

			If multiple sections are wanted, then some possibilities include:
			* For a list of explanatory footnotes or shortened citation footnotes: "Notes", "Endnotes" or "Footnotes"
			* For a list of full citations or general references: "References" or "Works cited"

			With the exception of "Bibliography", the heading should be plural even if it lists only a single item.{{efn\|name=pluralHeading}}

			===Further reading===
			<!-- Please note that "Bibliography" is an alternate title for the works section and is also used as a title in some articles' notes and references sections. Accordingly, it is not suggested as a title here. -->
			{{shortcut\|MOS:FURTHER}}
			{{See also\|Misplaced Pages:Further reading}}

			'''Contents:''' An optional bulleted list, usually alphabetized, of a reasonable number of publications that would help interested readers learn more about the article subject. Editors may include brief annotations. Publications listed in ] are formatted in the same ] used by the rest of the article. The Further reading section should not duplicate the content of the External links section, and should normally not duplicate the content of the References section, unless the References section is too long for a reader to use as part of a general reading list. This section is not intended as a repository for ] or full citations that were used to create the article content. Any links to external websites included under "Further reading" are subject to the guidelines described at ].

	===External links===		===External links===
			{{shortcut\|MOS:LAYOUTEL\|MOS:ELLAYOUT}}
	Put here, in list form, any web sites that you have used or recommend for readers of the article. Describe it if possible (see ])
			{{main\|Misplaced Pages:Manual of Style/Linking#External links section\|Misplaced Pages:External links}}

			'''Contents:''' A bulleted list of recommended ], each accompanied by a short description. These hyperlinks should not appear in the article's body text, nor should links used as references normally be duplicated in this section. "External links" should be plural, even if it lists only a single item.{{efn\| name=pluralHeading}} Depending on the nature of the link contents, this section may be accompanied or replaced by a ] section.

			====Links to sister projects====
			{{main article\|Misplaced Pages:Wikimedia sister projects}}

			Links to ] and {{tlx\|Spoken Misplaced Pages}} should generally appear in "External links", not under "See also". If the article has no "External links" section, then place the sister link(s) in a new "External links" section using inline templates. If there is more than one sister link, a combination of box-type and "inline" templates can be used, as long as the section contains ''at least one'' "inline" template.

			{{commonscat\|Misplaced Pages logos}}
			* Box-type templates (such as {{tlx\|Commons category}}, shown at right) have to be put at the beginning of the "External links" section of the article so that boxes will appear next to, rather than below, the list items. (Do {{em\|not}} make a section whose sole content is box-type templates.)
			* "Inline" templates are used when box-type templates are not good, either because they result in a long sequence of right-aligned boxes hanging off the bottom of the article, or because there are no external links except sister project ones. "Inline" templates, such as {{tlx\|Commons category-inline}}, create links to sister projects that appear as list items, like this:
			** {{commons category-inline\|Wikimedia Foundation}}
			If an external link is added and/or exists in the "External links" section, the "inline" templates linking to sister projects can be replaced with their respective box-type templates.

			===Navigation templates===
			{{shortcut\|MOS:LAYOUTNAV\|MOS:NAVLAYOUT}}
			{{main article\|Misplaced Pages:Categories, lists, and navigation templates#Navigation templates}}

			An article may end with ] and footer navboxes, such as ] and geography boxes (for example, {{tlx\|Geographic location}}). Most navboxes do not appear in printed versions of Misplaced Pages articles.{{efn\|The ] for not printing navigation boxes is that these templates mostly consist of ]s that are of no use to print readers. There are two problems with this rationale: first, other wikilink content does print, for example ] and ]; second, some navigation boxes contain useful information regarding the relationship of the article to the subjects of related articles.<!--This claim should be reviewed periodically; e.g., most hatnotes have been moved to Lua module code which auto-applies the "unprintworthy" class unless told not to, and succession and other navigation boxes may have class="unprintworthy" or equivalent applied to them.-->}}

			:{{xref\|For navigation templates in the lead, see {{slink\|Misplaced Pages:Manual of Style/Lead section \|Sidebars}}.}}

			==Specialized layout==
			] and ] have their own layout designs.

			Certain topics have Manual of Style pages that provide layout advice, including:
			* ]
			* ]
			* ], for articles on treatments, procedures, medical products, fields of medicine, and other concepts
			* ]
			* ]

			Some WikiProjects have ] that include layout recommendations. You can find those pages at ].

			==Formatting==
			===Images===
			{{shortcut\|MOS:LAYIM}}
			{{main article\|Misplaced Pages:Manual of Style/Images}}

			Each image should ideally be located in the section to which it is most relevant, and most should carry an explanatory ]. An image that would otherwise overwhelm the text space available within a ] should generally be formatted as described in relevant formatting guidelines (e.g. ], ], {{Section link\|Help:Pictures#Panoramas}}). Try to harmonize the sizes of images on a given page in order to maintain visual coherence.

			If "stacked" images in one section spill over into the next section at 1024×768 screen resolution, there may be too many images in that section. If an article overall has so many images that they lengthen the page beyond the length of the text itself, you can use a ]; or you can create a page or category combining all of them at ] and use a relevant template ({{tl\|Commons}}, {{tl\|Commons category}}, {{tl\|Commons-inline}} or {{tl\|Commons category-inline}}) to link to it instead, so that further images are readily available when the article is expanded. See {{section link\|Misplaced Pages:Image use policy\|Image galleries}} for further information on galleries.

			Use {{para\|upright\|{{var\|scaling factor}}}} to adjust the size of images; for example, {{para\|upright\|1.3}} displays an image 30% larger than the default, and {{para\|upright\|0.60}} displays it 40% smaller. Lead images should usually be no larger than {{para\|upright\|1.35}}.

			Avoid article text referring to images as being to the left, right, above or below, because image placement varies with platform (especially mobile platforms) and screen size, and is meaningless to people using screen readers; instead, use captions to identify images.

			===Horizontal rule<span id="Horizontal dividing line"></span>===
			{{shortcut\|MOS:HR\|MOS:----}}
			] are sometimes used in some special circumstances, such as inside {{tl\|sidebar}} template derivatives, but not in regular article prose.

			===Collapsible content===
			As explained at ], limit the use of {{tl\|Collapse top}}/{{tl\|Collapse bottom}} and similar templates in articles. That said, they can be ].

			==See also==
			* ]
			* ] – shows how to use headings on talk pages

			==Notes==
	*
			{{Notelist}}

			==References==
	(Some editors prefer to list external links under "References"; there is currently no consensus on the desirability of a separate section for online citations.)
			{{Reflist}}

			{{Writing guides\|state=expanded}}
	]
			{{Style wide}}
			{{Misplaced Pages policies and guidelines}}

			]
	]
			]
	]
	]
	]

Latest revision as of 04:43, 5 January 2025

Style guide which presents the typical layout of Misplaced Pages articles This page is about the layout of Misplaced Pages articles. For the layout of Misplaced Pages talk pages, see Misplaced Pages:Talk page layout.

This guideline is a part of the English Misplaced Pages's Manual of Style.
It is a generally accepted standard that editors should attempt to follow, though occasional exceptions may apply. Any substantive edit to this page should reflect consensus. When in doubt, discuss first on the talk page.

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Manual of Style (MoS)

Content

Formatting

Images

Layout

Lists

By topic area

Legal

Arts

Music
Anime and manga Comics Film Lyrics and poetry Novels Television Video games Visual arts Writing about fiction
Music Music samples Record charts Stringed instruments

History

Regional

Religion

Science

Sports

Cue sports (Snooker)
Figure skating (Terminology)

Related guidelines

This guide presents the typical layout of Misplaced Pages articles, including the sections an article usually has, ordering of sections, and formatting styles for various elements of an article. For advice on the use of wiki markup, see Help:Editing; for guidance on writing style, see Manual of Style.

Order of article elements

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A simple article should have, at least, (a) a lead section and (b) references. The following list includes additional standardized sections in an article. A complete article need not have all, or even most, of these elements.

Before the article content
1. Short description
2. {{DISPLAYTITLE}}, {{Lowercase title}}, {{Italic title}} (some of these may also be placed before the infobox or after the infobox)
3. Hatnotes
4. {{Featured list}}, {{Featured article}} and {{Good article}} (where appropriate for article status)
5. Deletion / protection tags (CSD, PROD, AFD, PP notices)
6. Maintenance, cleanup, and dispute tags
7. Templates relating to English variety and date format
8. Infoboxes
9. Language maintenance templates
10. Images
11. Navigation header templates (sidebar templates)
Article content
1. Lead section (also called the introduction)
2. Table of contents
3. Body (see below for specialized layout)
Appendices
1. Works or publications (for biographies only)
2. See also
3. Notes and references (this can be two sections in some citation systems)
4. Further reading
5. External links
End matter
1. Succession boxes and geography boxes
2. Other navigation footer templates (navboxes)
3. {{Portal bar}} (or {{Subject bar}})
4. {{Taxonbar}}
5. Authority control templates
6. Geographical coordinates (if not in the infobox) or {{coord missing}}
7. Defaultsort
8. Categories
9. {{Improve categories}} or {{Uncategorized}} (These can alternatively be placed with other maintenance templates before the article content)
10. Stub templates (follow WP:STUBSPACING)

Body sections

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MOS:BODY

Further information: Help:Section and Misplaced Pages:Manual of Style § Article titles, headings, and sections

Articles longer than a stub are generally divided into sections, and sections over a certain length are generally divided into paragraphs: these divisions enhance the readability of the article. Recommended names and orders of section headings may vary by subject matter, although articles should still follow good organizational and writing principles regarding sections and paragraphs.

Headings and sections

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MOS:OVERSECTION

Further information: Misplaced Pages:Manual of Style § Section headings

Headings introduce sections and subsections, clarify articles by breaking up text, organize content, and populate the table of contents. Very short sections and subsections clutter an article with headings and inhibit the flow of the prose. Short paragraphs and single sentences generally do not warrant their own subheadings.

Headings follow a six-level hierarchy, starting at 1 and ending at 6. The level of the heading is defined by the number of equals signs on each side of the title. Heading 1 (= Heading 1 =) is automatically generated as the title of the article, and is never appropriate within the body of an article. Sections start at the second level (== Heading 2 ==), with subsections at the third level (=== Heading 3 ===), and additional levels of subsections at the fourth level (==== Heading 4 ====), fifth level, and sixth level. Sections should be consecutive, such that they do not skip levels from sections to sub-subsections; the exact methodology is part of the Accessibility guideline. Between sections, there should be a single blank line: multiple blank lines in the edit window create too much white space in the article. There is no need to include a blank line between a heading and sub-heading. When changing or removing a heading, consider adding an anchor template with the original heading name to provide for incoming external links and wikilinks (preferably using {{subst:anchor}} rather than using {{anchor}} directly—see MOS:RENAMESECTION).

Section order

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MOS:SNO

Because of the diversity of subjects it covers, Misplaced Pages has no general standard or guideline regarding the order of section headings within the body of an article. The usual practice is to order body sections based on the precedent of similar articles. For exceptions, see Specialized layout below.

Section templates and summary style

Further information: WP:SUMMARYHATNOTE and Misplaced Pages:Summary style § Templates

When a section is a summary of another article that provides a full exposition of the section, a link to the other article should appear immediately under the section heading. You can use the {{Main}} template to generate a "Main article" link, in Misplaced Pages's "hatnote" style.

If one or more articles provide further information or additional details (rather than a full exposition, see above), links to such articles may be placed immediately after the section heading for that section, provided this does not duplicate a wikilink in the text. These additional links should be grouped along with the {{Main}} template (if there is one), or at the foot of the section that introduces the material for which these templates provide additional information. You can use one of the following templates to generate these links:

{{Further}} – generates a "Further information" link
{{See also}} – generates a "See also" link

For example, to generate a "See also" link to the article on Misplaced Pages:How to edit a page, type {{See also|Misplaced Pages:How to edit a page}}, which will generate:

Paragraphs

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"MOS:LINEBREAKS" redirects here. For preventing line breaks, see Misplaced Pages:Manual of Style § Controlling line breaks. See also: WP:Writing better articles § Paragraphs, Help:Wikitext § Line breaks, and WP:Manual of Style/Accessibility § Indentation

Sections usually consist of paragraphs of running prose, each dealing with a particular point or idea. Single-sentence paragraphs can inhibit the flow of the text; by the same token, long paragraphs become hard to read. Between paragraphs—as between sections—there should be only a single blank line. First lines are not indented.

Bullet points should not be used in the lead of an article. They may be used in the body to break up a mass of text, particularly if the topic requires significant effort to comprehend. Sometimes, it may be preferable to use bullet points instead of having a series of very short paragraphs. However, bulleted lists are typical in the reference, further reading, and external links sections towards the end of the article. Bullet points are usually not separated by blank lines, as that causes an accessibility issue (see MOS:LISTGAP for ways to create multiple paragraphs within list items that do not cause this issue).

Standard appendices and footers

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For the list and order of common appendices and footers, see § Order of article elements.

Headings

When appendix sections are used, they should appear at the bottom of an article, with ==level 2 headings==, followed by the various footers. When it is useful to sub-divide these sections (for example, to separate a list of magazine articles from a list of books), this should be done using level 3 headings (===Books===) instead of definition list headings (;Books), as explained in the accessibility guidelines.

Works or publications

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Further information: Misplaced Pages:Manual of Style/Lists of works

Contents: A bulleted list, usually ordered chronologically, of the works created by the subject of the article.

Heading names: Many different headings are used, depending on the subject matter. "Works" is preferred when the list includes items that are not written publications (e.g. music, films, paintings, choreography, or architectural designs), or if multiple types of works are included. "Publications", "Discography" or "Filmography" are occasionally used where appropriate; however, "Bibliography" is discouraged because it is not clear whether it is limited to the works of the subject of the article. "Works" or "Publications" should be plural, even if it lists only a single item.

"See also" section

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For the placement of "see also" notes at the top of an article, see WP:RELATED. See also: Misplaced Pages:Manual of Style/Lists § Related topics (navigational lists)

A "See also" section is a useful way to organize internal links to related or comparable articles and build the web. However, the section itself is not required; many high-quality and comprehensive articles do not have one.

The section should be a bulleted list, sorted either logically (for example, by subject matter), chronologically, or alphabetically. Consider using {{Columns-list}} or {{Div col}} if the list is lengthy.

Contents: Links in this section should be relevant and limited to a reasonable number. Whether a link belongs in the "See also" section is ultimately a matter of editorial judgment and common sense. One purpose of "See also" links is to enable readers to explore tangentially related topics; however, articles linked should be related to the topic of the article or be in the same defining category. For example, the article on Jesus might include a link to List of people claimed to be Jesus because it is related to the subject but not otherwise linked in the article. The article on Tacos might include Fajita as another example of Mexican cuisine.

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The "See also" section should not include red links, links to disambiguation pages (unless used in a disambiguation page for further disambiguation), or external links (including links to pages within Wikimedia sister projects). As a general rule, the "See also" section should not repeat links that appear in the article's body.

Editors should provide a brief annotation when a link's relevance is not immediately apparent, when the meaning of the term may not be generally known, or when the term is ambiguous. For example:

Joe Shmoe – made a similar achievement on April 4, 2005
Ischemia – restriction in blood supply

If the linked article has a short description then you can use {{annotated link}} to automatically generate an annotation. For example, {{annotated link|Winston Churchill}} will produce:

Winston Churchill – British statesman and author (1874–1965)

Other internal links: {{Portal}} links are usually placed in this section. As an alternative, {{Portal bar}} may be placed with the end matter navigation templates. See relevant template documentation for correct placement.

Heading name: The standardized name for this section is "See also".

Notes and references

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For how to generate and format these sections, see Help:Footnotes, Help:Shortened footnotes, and Misplaced Pages:Citing sources (particularly § How to create the list of citations). "MOS:NOTES" redirects here. For hatnotes, see Misplaced Pages:Hatnotes. For Musical notes, see Misplaced Pages:Manual of Style/Music § Images and notation. See also: Misplaced Pages:Manual of Style/Text formatting § Citations

Contents: This section, or series of sections, may contain any or all of the following:

Explanatory footnotes that give information which is too detailed or awkward to be in the body of the article
Citation footnotes (either short citations or full citations) that connect specific material in the article with specific sources
Full citations to sources, if short citations are used in the footnotes
General references (full bibliographic citations to sources that were consulted in writing the article but that are not explicitly connected to any specific material in the article)

Editors may use any citation method they choose, but it should be consistent within an article.

If there are both citation footnotes and explanatory footnotes, then they may be combined in a single section, or separated using the grouped footnotes function. General references and other full citations may similarly be either combined or separated (e.g. "References" and "General references"). There may therefore be one, two, three or four sections in all.

It is most common for only citation footnotes to be used, and therefore it is most common for only one section ("References") to be needed. Usually, if the sections are separated, then explanatory footnotes are listed first, short citations or other footnoted citations are next, and any full citations or general references are listed last.

Heading names: Editors may use any reasonable section and subsection names that they choose. The most frequent choice is "References". Other options, in diminishing order of popularity, are "Notes", "Footnotes" or "Works cited", although these are more often used to distinguish between multiple end-matter sections or subsections.

Several alternate titles ("Sources", "Citations", "Bibliography") may also be used, although each is questionable in some contexts: "Sources" may be confused with source code in computer-related articles, product purchase locations, river origins, journalism sourcing, etc.; "Citations" may be confused with official awards, or a summons to court; "Bibliography" may be confused with the complete list of printed works by the subject of a biography ("Works" or "Publications").

If multiple sections are wanted, then some possibilities include:

For a list of explanatory footnotes or shortened citation footnotes: "Notes", "Endnotes" or "Footnotes"
For a list of full citations or general references: "References" or "Works cited"

With the exception of "Bibliography", the heading should be plural even if it lists only a single item.

External links

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Main pages: Misplaced Pages:Manual of Style/Linking § External links section, and Misplaced Pages:External links

Contents: A bulleted list of recommended relevant websites, each accompanied by a short description. These hyperlinks should not appear in the article's body text, nor should links used as references normally be duplicated in this section. "External links" should be plural, even if it lists only a single item. Depending on the nature of the link contents, this section may be accompanied or replaced by a "Further reading" section.

Links to sister projects

Main page: Misplaced Pages:Wikimedia sister projects

Links to Wikimedia sister projects and {{Spoken Misplaced Pages}} should generally appear in "External links", not under "See also". If the article has no "External links" section, then place the sister link(s) in a new "External links" section using inline templates. If there is more than one sister link, a combination of box-type and "inline" templates can be used, as long as the section contains at least one "inline" template.

Box-type templates (such as {{Commons category}}, shown at right) have to be put at the beginning of the "External links" section of the article so that boxes will appear next to, rather than below, the list items. (Do not make a section whose sole content is box-type templates.)
"Inline" templates are used when box-type templates are not good, either because they result in a long sequence of right-aligned boxes hanging off the bottom of the article, or because there are no external links except sister project ones. "Inline" templates, such as {{Commons category-inline}}, create links to sister projects that appear as list items, like this:
- Media related to Wikimedia Foundation at Wikimedia Commons

If an external link is added and/or exists in the "External links" section, the "inline" templates linking to sister projects can be replaced with their respective box-type templates.

Navigation templates

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Main page: Misplaced Pages:Categories, lists, and navigation templates § Navigation templates

An article may end with Navigation templates and footer navboxes, such as succession boxes and geography boxes (for example, {{Geographic location}}). Most navboxes do not appear in printed versions of Misplaced Pages articles.

For navigation templates in the lead, see Misplaced Pages:Manual of Style/Lead section § Sidebars.

Specialized layout

Stand-alone lists and talk pages have their own layout designs.

Certain topics have Manual of Style pages that provide layout advice, including:

Chemistry
Film
Medicine, for articles on treatments, procedures, medical products, fields of medicine, and other concepts
Television
Video games

Some WikiProjects have advice pages that include layout recommendations. You can find those pages at Category:WikiProject style advice.

Formatting

Images

Shortcut

MOS:LAYIM

Main page: Misplaced Pages:Manual of Style/Images

Each image should ideally be located in the section to which it is most relevant, and most should carry an explanatory caption. An image that would otherwise overwhelm the text space available within a 1024×768 window should generally be formatted as described in relevant formatting guidelines (e.g. WP:IMAGESIZE, MOS:IMGSIZE, Help:Pictures § Panoramas). Try to harmonize the sizes of images on a given page in order to maintain visual coherence.

If "stacked" images in one section spill over into the next section at 1024×768 screen resolution, there may be too many images in that section. If an article overall has so many images that they lengthen the page beyond the length of the text itself, you can use a gallery; or you can create a page or category combining all of them at Wikimedia Commons and use a relevant template ({{Commons}}, {{Commons category}}, {{Commons-inline}} or {{Commons category-inline}}) to link to it instead, so that further images are readily available when the article is expanded. See Misplaced Pages:Image use policy § Image galleries for further information on galleries.

Use |upright=scaling factor to adjust the size of images; for example, |upright=1.3 displays an image 30% larger than the default, and |upright=0.60 displays it 40% smaller. Lead images should usually be no larger than |upright=1.35.

Avoid article text referring to images as being to the left, right, above or below, because image placement varies with platform (especially mobile platforms) and screen size, and is meaningless to people using screen readers; instead, use captions to identify images.

Horizontal rule

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Horizontal rules are sometimes used in some special circumstances, such as inside {{sidebar}} template derivatives, but not in regular article prose.

Collapsible content

As explained at MOS:COLLAPSE, limit the use of {{Collapse top}}/{{Collapse bottom}} and similar templates in articles. That said, they can be useful in talk pages.

Notes

These templates (see Category:Use English templates) can also be placed at the end of an article.
It is important that hatnotes and maintenance/dispute tags appear on the first page of the article. On the mobile site, the first paragraph of the lead section is moved above the infobox for the sake of readability. Since the infobox is generally more than one page long, putting hatnotes, etc., after it will result in them being placed after the first page, making them less effective.
The original rationale for the ordering of the appendices is that, with the exception of "Works", sections which contain material outside Misplaced Pages (including "Further reading" and "External links") should come after sections that contain Misplaced Pages material (including "See also") to help keep the distinction clear. The sections containing notes and references often contain both kinds of material and, consequently, appear after the "See also" section (if any) and before the "Further reading" section (if any). Whatever the merits of the original rationale, there is now the additional factor that readers have come to expect the appendices to appear in this order.
There are several reasons why this section should appear as the last appendix section. So many articles have the "External links" section at the end that many people expect this to be the case. Some "External links" and "References" (or "Footnotes", etc.) sections are quite long and, when the name of the section is not visible on the screen, it could cause problems if someone meant to delete an external link but deleted a reference citation instead. Keeping the "External links" last is also helpful to editors who patrol external links.
This template is primarily used when Template:Portal would cause formatting problems.
While categories are entered on the editing page ahead of stub templates, they appear on the visual page in a separate box after the stub templates. One of the reasons this happens is that every stub template generates a stub category, and those stub categories appear after the "main" categories. Another is that certain bots and scripts are set up to expect the categories, stubs and interlanguage links to appear in that order, and will reposition them if they don't. Therefore, any manual attempt to change the order is futile unless the bots and scripts are also altered.
For example, skipping heading levels, such as jumping from == Heading 2 == to ==== Heading 4 ==== without === Heading 3 === in the middle, violates Misplaced Pages:Accessibility as it reduces usability for users of screen readers who use heading levels to navigate pages.
Syntax:
```
==See also==
* ]
* ]
```
Which produces:
See also
- Misplaced Pages:How to edit a page
- Misplaced Pages:Manual of Style
Find all examples of "Bibliography" and "Selected bibliography"
^ For further information, see Misplaced Pages:External links § External links section.
One reason this guideline does not standardize section headings for citations and explanatory notes is that Misplaced Pages draws editors from many disciplines (history, English, science, etc.), each with its own note and reference section-naming convention (or conventions). For more, see Misplaced Pages:Perennial proposals § Changes to standard appendices, § Establish a house citation style, and Template:Cnote2/example.
The rationale for not printing navigation boxes is that these templates mostly consist of wikilinks that are of no use to print readers. There are two problems with this rationale: first, other wikilink content does print, for example "See also" sections and succession boxes; second, some navigation boxes contain useful information regarding the relationship of the article to the subjects of related articles.

References

Discussed in 2018 and 2019.
Per the template documentation at Template:Italic title/doc § Location on page
Per the RFC at Misplaced Pages talk:Manual of Style/Layout/Archive 14 § DISPLAYTITLE
Per the template documentation at Template:DISPLAYTITLE § Instructions
The matter was discussed in 2012, 2014, and 2015.
This sequence has been in place since at least December 2003 (when "See also" was called "Related topics"). See, for example, Misplaced Pages:Perennial proposals § Changes to standard appendices.
Rationale for placing navboxes at the end of the article.
Rationale for discouraging the use of "Bibliography."
The community has rejected past proposals to do away with this guidance. See, for example, this RfC.

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Manual of Style

Overview
Contents
Tips

By topic area

Legal	Legal Trademarks
Arts	Anime and manga Comics Film Lyrics and poetry Novels Television Video games Visual arts Writing about fiction
Music	Music Music samples Record charts Stringed instruments
History	Blazons Military history
Regional	Specific naming conventions Canada China (and Chinese) France (and French) Egypt Hawaii India Indonesia Ireland Japan Korea Malaysia Macedonia Pakistan Philippines Poland Singapore Trinidad and Tobago
Religion	Islam Latter Day Saints
Science	Mathematics Medicine Chemistry Compound classes Chemicals References and external links Safety Structure drawing Computer science Taxonomy
Sports	Cue sports Snooker Figure skating Terminology

Related guidelines

Category

Misplaced Pages key policies and guidelines (?)

Five pillars
- Ignore all rules

Content (?)

P	Verifiability No original research Neutral point of view What Misplaced Pages is not Biographies of living persons Copyright (Copyright violations) Image use Article titles
G	Notability Autobiography Citing sources Reliable sources Medicine Do not include copies of lengthy primary sources Plagiarism Don't create hoaxes Fringe theories Patent nonsense External links

Conduct (?)

P	Civility Consensus Harassment Vandalism Ignore all rules No personal attacks Ownership of content Edit warring Dispute resolution Sockpuppetry No legal threats Child protection Paid-contribution disclosure
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Deletion (?)

P	Deletion policy Proposed deletion Biographies Criteria for speedy deletion Attack page Oversight Revision deletion

Enforcement (?)

P	Administrators Banning Blocking Page protection

Editing (?)

Editing policy

Article size Summary style Be bold Disambiguation Hatnotes Broad-concept article Understandability
Style	Manual of Style Contents Accessibility Dates and numbers Images Layout Lead section Linking Lists
Classification	Categories, lists, and navigation templates Categorization Template namespace

Project content (?)

G	Project namespace WikiProjects User pages User boxes Shortcuts Subpages

WMF (?)

P	Universal Code of Conduct Terms of Use List of policies Friendly space policy Licensing and copyright Privacy policy

List of all policies and guidelines
- P: List of policies
- G: List of guidelines
Summaries of values and principles

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