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GuildWars Wikia:Style and formatting/Disambiguation

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< GuildWars Wikia:Style and formatting

Style guides
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This page is a style and formatting guideline on GuildWars Wikia.

It has general acceptance among editors and is considered a standard to which articles should adhere. However, it is not set in stone and should be treated with common sense and the occasional exception.

Shortcut:
GW:DISAMBIG

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When more than one topic can be associated with a single article title, that title is ambiguous. Disambiguation is used to help readers find the article they are looking for. Disambiguation templates help editors achieve this.

One title, several articles Edit

Different topics that share a common title are differentiated by suffixing a qualifier after the individual article titles. This is usually a word or two in parentheses that uniquely identifies the topic. Example:

There is always a page that uses the title without qualifiers ("primary article"); it may be the most commonly sought article on the subject, a redirect to that article, or a disambiguation page.

Disambiguation page Edit

A disambiguation page is a list of links to articles that a reader may be looking for, along with short descriptions. These pages should not contain any information beyond that. A disambiguation page that needs a qualified title uses (disambiguation).

The individual articles often have the same name as the disambiguation page, with a qualifier suffix (see above). Examples:

The {{Disambig}} notice should be placed at the top of every disambiguation page. It alerts the user to the purpose of the page and lists the page in Category:Disambiguation. The only other category that may be used on disambiguation pages is Category:Abbreviations — since a disambiguation page already lists the common terms an abbreviation can stand for, the one article can serve both purposes.

Never link to a disambiguation page if you can avoid it! Links should always point directly to the intended article.

Tip: The "pipe trick" (pipe is a name for the | character) is an easy way to make a link that hides the qualifer. Example:

Type [[Tihark Orchard (mission)|]] to make [[Tihark Orchard (mission)|Tihark Orchard]], which displays as Tihark Orchard.

Disambiguation message Edit

A disambiguation message appears at the top of an article and points to other articles the reader may have been seeking under that name, or the disambiguation page for that title.

Always use a disambiguation message on pages that share the same name (with qualifiers)!

Example:

The {{DisambigMsg}} template is commonly used to display this message.

UsageEdit

Usage is {{DisambigMsg|what this article is about|what other article 1 is about|name of other article 1|what other article 2 is about|name of other article 2|...)}}. You can provide up to three pairs of "other article" parameters as you want (minimum one, of course).

For example, {{DisambigMsg|the skill Shatterstone|the unique item|Shatterstone (unique item)}} will result in:

Disambiguous This article is about the skill Shatterstone. For the unique item, see Shatterstone (unique item).

{{DisambigMsg|the skill Phoenix|the pet|Phoenix (Animal)|the emote|rank}} will result in:

Disambiguous This article is about the skill Phoenix. For the pet, see Phoenix (Animal). For the emote, see rank.


Special cases Edit

Primary articleEdit

Sometimes a title is much more commonly associated with a certain topic than the others. In this case, the article for that topic can use the title with no qualifier, either as page title, or from a redirect. Example:

  • Camp is thought to most often refer to the player tactic of camping. The disambiguation page for the topic is at Camp (disambiguation).

Skills Edit

Skill names always have the skill article as the primary article, since skills are usually the most commonly referenced articles on GuildWiki. In other words, a skill name is never a disambiguation page, although there may be one at "Skill name (disambiguation)". Example:

If there are multiple skills that share a name, the PvE version is the primary topic. Examples:

Skill iconsEdit

Use {{skill icon|skill name}} to list a skill on a disambiguation page. Examples:

Split skillsEdit

You can easily create a pair of disambiguation messages for PvE/PvP split skills by copying the following:

  • on the PvE page (plain name):
{{split slill|PvE}}
  • on the PvP page, with (PvP) page name:
{{split slill|PvP}}

MissionsEdit

Missions always share their name with the mission outpost, and in the case of Factions missions, with the explorable area, as well. Missions are always given primary article status, since it is much more likely a visitor is looking for help with the mission than information on either of the other options.

{{Location info}} is a simpler version of the DisambigMsg template that is used for mission articles to link to to the mission outpost. Example:

{{Location_Info|title=Tihark Orchard}}

There are also {{Mission info}} and {{Explorable info}}, which work similarly.

Commonly used qualifiersEdit

When creating an article that will require a qualifier as part of the title, try to use one that is already in common use. In general, the qualifier should be short, concise, and follow standard capitalization rules. Some of the more common qualifiers are:

  • Quest or location type: (mission), (location), (quest), (explorable)
  • Campaign: (Core), (Prophecies), (Factions), (Nightfall), (Eye of the North)
  • Skill type: (Skill), (Attack), (effect), (PvP)
  • Item type: (item), (unique), (unique item), (weapon)
  • Creature type: (boss), (monster), (species), (NPC)
  • Profession: (Warrior), (Ranger), (Necromancer), (Mesmer), ...
  • Location: (Pre-Searing), (Crystal Desert), (Shing Jea Island), ...
  • Special events: (Wintersday), (Canthan New Year), ...
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