Help:Guide to layout

The No Subject Guide to Layout is an annotated, working example of some of the basics of laying out an article. It is a summary of what some articles look like. For more complicated articles, you may wish to copy the markup of an existing article that appears to have an appropriate structure.

This guide is not about how to use wiki markup (see Help:Editing for that); nor is it about style (see Manual of Style for that).

Introductory material

Main project page:

Unless an article is very short, it should start with a lead section comprising one or more introductory paragraphs. The lead should not be explicitly entitled == Introduction == or any equivalent header.

The subject of the article should be mentioned in bold text ('''subject''') at a natural place, preferably in the first sentence, or elsewhere in the first paragraph. The name of the subject is normally identical to the page title, although it may appear in a slightly different form from that used as the title.

Normally, the first paragraph clearly explains the subject so that the reader is prepared for the greater level of detail to follow. If further introductory material is needed before the first section, this can be covered in subsequent paragraphs.

The lead is automatically followed by a table of contents, unless a user has selected the option of not viewing tables of contents. The first section follows the table of contents.

Links

Wikified articles link significant words to the corresponding article, provided that the corresponding article contains information that will help the reader to understand the original article. For example, an article might mention 'GPOs' without explaining what they are, although a brief phrase explaining the term might be more appropriate in many instances. An article about productivity might provide helpful background material when mentioned in passing. Useful links that are not mentioned in the prose paragraphs can be added to the "References and Resources" section near the end.

Structure of the article

The number of single-sentence paragraphs should be minimized, since these can inhibit the flow of the text. By the same token, paragraphs become hard to read once they exceed a certain length.

Articles generally comprise prose paragraphs, not bullet points; however, sometimes a bulleted list can break up what would otherwise be an overly large, grey mass of text, particularly if the topic requires significant effort on the part of readers. Bulleted lists should not be overused in the main text, but are typical in the reference and reading sections at the bottom.

Headings help to make an article clearer, and comprise the table of contents;

Headings are hierarchical, so you should start with == Header == and follow it with === Subheader ===, ==== Subsubheader ====, and so forth.

Just as for paragraphs, sections and subsections that are very short will make the article look cluttered and inhibit the flow. Short paragraphs and single sentences generally do not warrant their own subheading, and in these circumstances, it may be preferable to use bullet points.

The degree to which subtopics should appear in a single article or be given their own pages is a matter of judgment and of controlling the total length of the article.

Between paragraphs and between sections, there should be only a single blank line. Multiple blank lines unnecessarily lengthen the article and can make it more difficult to read.

External links

Links to articles outside appear as internal footnotes and can appear either in the body or as part of a list at the bottom of the article. They should not appear as their native URLs, but should be formatted to describe the website and the topic. Not written as: [http://www.nosubject.com]. But should be written as: [http://www.nosubject.com No Subject]. When wikified it will appear as: No Subject.

References and Resources

If you find yourself referencing sources try to take advantage of the footnote function. Or if you would like to provide links to external resources that do not fit well in the body of an article create a “References and Resources” header at the bottom of the article; under which list resources and references.