Honkai Star Rail Wiki:Wiki Syntax Formatting Guidelines

This page covers general wiki syntax formatting guidelines that are not covered in the manual of style to maintain readability and consistency of the wiki markup used to generate a page. It is meant to supplement the manual of style and is meant to describe best practices regarding wikitext formatting.

This page applies to articles, templates, and project pages. It does not apply to user pages, talk pages, or sandbox pages, which may use whatever markup as desired.

General

• It is strongly recommended to use the source editor, not VisualEditor. This reduces the probability of introducing nonconforming syntax changes that may need fixing later. If you need help, feel free to ask in the wiki's Discord server.
• At the bare minimum, syntax changes must not cause problems with the outputted layout. Correct page output must always be prioritized. Use the "Show preview" button to make sure that the output is correct before and after adjusting syntax. You may use Ctrl + ⇧ Shift + I or F12 to open the developer tools to check the output.
• Changes to syntax that do not result in changes to page output should only be made en masse by bot accounts to avoid cluttering recent changes and revision history pages. It is preferred to clean up wiki syntax when making a bold edit to a page, rather than making an edit that solely cleans up wiki syntax.
• Wiki markup is preferred in most cases over HTML tags that do the same thing (such as ''...'' instead of <i>...</i>).

Headings

• No spaces between headings and the wikitext markup is preferred (i.e. ==Heading== instead of == Heading ==).
  • Note that the MediaWiki software automatically adds spaces between headers while using the VisualEditor or when using the "Heading" function in the source editor.
  • Spaces may only be used in the rare event that a heading needs to contain equals signs at the start or end of the heading name. (e.g. == = ==)
• To facilitate easier editing, HTML tags for headings should be avoided, as sections whose headings were generated through HTML tags in wikitext cannot be directly edited. HTML tags for headings should only be used in cases where attempting to edit a section would result in editing the wrong page/section (such as a template from an article in mainspace) or a non-existent section, or when adding wikitext headers is not possible. This usually only happens when templates and modules are involved, and with specific functions like tabber or DPL.
• For readability, it is recommended to have a single empty line before headings, especially level 2 headings. However, this may produce extra empty lines in the page if the previous section ends with certain transclusions, templates, or other features. Therefore, if in doubt, do not leave any empty lines before headings, as correct page output must be prioritized.
• It is preferred to not have any empty lines after headings.
• H1 tags and level 1 headings should never be used in article space, as those are used for displaying the titles of pages.

Examples

<!-- Preferred: no spaces in headings -->

==Heading==
Content

<!-- Preferred: no line breaks before subheadings -->

==Heading==
===Subheading===
Content

<!-- Discouraged: spaces in headings -->

== Heading ==
Content

<!-- Discouraged: no line breaks before headings -->
==Heading==
Content

<!-- Discouraged: line breaks after headings -->

==Heading==

Content

<!-- Last resort: HTML headings -->

<h2>Heading</h2>
Content

<!-- Unacceptable: half-headings -->

== Heading
Content

<!-- Unacceptable: level 1 headings -->

=Heading=
Content

<!-- Unacceptable: h1 headings -->

<h1>Heading</h1>
Content

Template Markup

• Generally speaking, block templates and other templates that are not meant to be used inline should occupy their own line, and they should not have anything else on their line. Only place them on the same line if the resulting output is different and inappropriate if the templates were on different lines.
• Block templates should not have spaces between the pipe | denoting the start of the parameter and the parameter name (i.e. |parameter = a instead of | parameter = a).
  • Note that VisualEditor will add spaces to block templates unless the format is configured otherwise in the template data.
• The equal signs indicating the start of parameter values should line up across the entire template call to allow for readability when using a monospaced font.
  • If you are unsure if your editor is using a monospaced font, you can check in Special:Preferences to see the desired font, and if you are still not sure you can copy and paste the text into any text editor of your choice and set the displayed font to Consolas or Courier, then check that the equal signs in block templates align.
  • Note that MediaWiki will automatically trim whitespaces at the beginning and end of parameters and parameter values, so whitespace is not included in the parameter values. If a space is desired at the beginning or end of a parameter value, a &nbsp; can be used there instead. Some cases may need <nowiki> </nowiki> instead.
• The equals signs indicating the start of parameter values should each be preceded by at least one space, and they should each be followed by exactly one space.

Examples

<!-- Preferred -->
{{Stub}}
{{Infobox
|type  = A
|type2 = B
}}

<!-- Okay: equal signs not aligned -->
{{Stub}}
{{Infobox
|type = A
|type2 = B
}}

<!-- Discouraged: spaces between template parameter pipes -->
{{Stub}}
{{Infobox
| type  = A
| type2 = B
}}

<!-- Last resort: templates on same line -->
{{Stub}}{{Infobox
|type  = A
|type2 = B
}}

Template Design

• Adding HTML comments is recommended to separate individual lines to help improve the readability of the template code.

Other Template Usage Notes

• Some templates have the exact same functionality as raw wikitext. It is usually preferred to use these templates over raw wikitext, even for simple cases.
  • Examples include {{W}} (which quickly links to Wikipedia pages) and {{Transclude}} (which fetches the section of a named page).

Lists and Indents

• List items should have exactly one space between the asterisk/number sign and the item's content (e.g. * Bullet text instead of *Bullet text).
• Indents and description/definition—association lists should not have spaces between the colon/semicolon and the actual text when paired together (i.e. :Text and ;Text instead of : Text or ; Text).
  • Definition—association lists should not be placed on one line (i.e. use ;A and :The first letter of the alphabet on separate lines, not ; A : The first letter of the alphabet).
• List items should use wiki markup (i.e. asterisks and number signs), not HTML tags. HTML tags should only be used if it is necessary due to technical reasons, such as in modules.
• List items should not be double-spaced, as this will create separate lists. Instead, use single spacing between list items.
• List items should be indented by placing the appropriate list marker after the current list marker.
  • For example, a sublist of a bulleted list can be indented by using ** Item 2 after * Item 1, but not :* Item 2 after * Item 1. The second asterisk can be replaced by a number sign, colon, or semicolon and the list would still be properly indented.

Examples

<!-- Preferred: subunordered list -->
* A
** B

<!-- Preferred: subordered list -->
# A
## B

<!-- Preferred: definition-association lists -->
;A
:B

<!-- Preferred: mix of the formatting -->
# A
#; B
#: C
#: D

<!-- Okay: spaces between definition-association list markers -->
; A
: B
: C

<!-- Discouraged: defintion-association list markers on same line -->
; A : B

<!-- Last resort: HTML lists -->
<ol>
<li>A</li>
<li>B</li>
</ol>

<!-- Unacceptable: indenting (un)ordered lists with colons -->
* A
:* B

<!-- Unacceptable: spaces between list items -->
* A

** B

Links, Files, and Categories

• Use the entire page or file name without any spaces before or after the brackets (i.e. [[Link]] but not [[ Link]] or [[Link ]])
  • It is preferred for pluralization to be accomplished with [[Link]]s.
  • To stop a link from populating a category or embedding a file, prepend a colon before the namespace name (i.e. [[:Category:Playable Characters]]).
  • When adding a category, one single empty space may be used as a sort key to tell MediaWiki to pin the page to the top of the category list (i.e. [[Category:Playable Characters| ]]). Otherwise, links should not be empty spaces.
• Links should not be done in a confusing manner. For example, Players can gather [[Sunsettia|fruits]] from trees. would be an inappropriate use of a link.
  • Don't link to disambiguation pages. Link directly to the article in question.
• If linking to a page whose name is not a proper noun, it is preferred to link directly to the page name following normal English capitalization rules, as all page names are case-insensitive for the first character. This is true even for terms that have a special meaning in Honkai: Star Rail, as long as they are not proper nouns.
  • Note that all characters following the first character in a page name are case-sensitive.
• Linking to redirects is preferred in the following cases:
  • The redirect name is the same as the text being linked, especially if they are a proper noun or an otherwise special term in Honkai: Star Rail.
  • The redirect name is a pluralization or other transformation of a page name, where the final word does not simply add a suffix to the end of the target page name.
• Linking to redirects is acceptable in the following cases:
  • The redirect name is a simple pluralization or other transformation of a page name, where the final word only adds a suffix to the end of the target page name. Suffixes include but are not limited to -s (plural, as in Aeons), -es (plural, as in Currencies), and -al.
• Linking to redirects is not acceptable in the following cases:
  • The link text is not the same as the text being linked.
  • The link is a category that has not been escaped properly with a colon before the namespace name. This will result in the page being placed in the category where the redirect is located, not at the redirect target.
  • The link is itself a redirect pointing to another redirect. This will result in cumbersome navigation as the software will follow the first but not the second redirect. It will also add the page to Special:DoubleRedirects. Similarly, redirects should not point to themselves.
• External links can be used to point to pages that are located on another website and that are not covered by Fandom's interwiki prefixes.
  • Use // to allow for the web browser to automatically select a protocol (i.e. [//hoyolab.com/ HoYoLAB]). https:// is also acceptable, but http:// risks an insecure connection to whatever website is being linked should a reader follow that link.
  • For links to another page on Fandom or via interwiki, a wikilink is preferred (i.e. [[w:c:community:|Community Central]] is preferred over [https://community.fandom.com/ Community Central]).
  • If the link is to a page on Fandom that has additional parameters added to the end of it, [{{fullurl:Page name|query parameters}} link] or [{{canonicalurl:Page name|query parameters}} link] can be used instead. The latter parser function will attempt to resolve any interwiki prefixes.
• External links should not be used:
  • To link to another page on the Honkai: Star Rail wiki. Wikilinks serve this purpose better; plus they do not come with an external link arrow attached.
  • Without an accompanying label, otherwise it will simply output <a href="https://example.com/">[#]</a>, where # is 1, 2, 3, etc. depending on which unlabeled link this is.
  • Bare (outside of external link syntax); while the link will be resolved by the MediaWiki parser, it can result in poor flow, especially in the middle of sentences. Do not use https://example.com/ to link to pages off-site.
  • When the link itself violates the Community Rules or Fandom's Community Guidelines. For example, links to spam as well as links to leaked information will be deleted.

Examples

<!-- Wikilinks/interwiki links -->
[[Aeon]] <!-- Preferred -->
[[Category:Aeon Characters| ]] <!-- Preferred: empty category sortkey -->
[[w:c:help:Extension:DPL3|DPL]] <!-- Preferred: interwiki -->
[[:Category:Aeon Characters|]] <!-- Okay: namespace-stripping pipe -->
[[:Category:Aeon Characters| ]] <!-- Unacceptable: space in wikilink -->

<!-- External links -->
[//example.com/ Example Site] <!-- Preferred: external link -->
[https://example.com/ Example Site] <!-- Preferred: secure external link -->
[{{fullurl:Welt|action=edit}} Edit Welt's Page] <!-- Preferred: fullurl link -->
[//honkaiimpact3.fandom.com/wiki/Kiana Kiana] <!-- Discouraged: interwiki -->
[http://example.com/ Example Site] <!-- Unacceptable: unsecure link -->
[https://example.com/] <!-- Unacceptable: link without label -->
https://example.com/ <!-- Unacceptable: bare links -->

Galleries

• Spaces should not be used between the pipe and the gallery item (i.e. A.png|The letter A instead of A.png).
• The File: prefix in galleries should be omitted.

Examples

<gallery>
A.png|The letter A <!-- Preferred -->
Google doing a barrel roll.png|A picture of Google doing a barrel roll, as seen on Windows. <!-- Preferred -->
A.png | The letter A <!-- Discouraged -->
Google doing a barrel roll.png | A picture of Google doing a barrel roll, as seen on Windows. <!-- Discouraged -->
File:Google doing a barrel roll.png | A picture of Google doing a barrel roll, as seen on Windows. <!-- Discouraged -->
</gallery>

Tables

• Do not write tables using HTML tags unless technical limitations force you to do so. Write WikiTables instead.
• Include spaces between pipes and actual table content/styling to make reading the table easier.
• Do not include spaces before the start of a table pipe.

Examples

<!-- Preferred: wikitable -->
{| class="wikitable"
|+ Table name
|-
! A
! B
|-
| C
| D
|}

<!-- Preferred: condensed wikitable -->
{| class="wikitable"
|+ Table name
|-
! A !! B
|-
| C || D
|}

<!-- Preferred: spaces in wikitable formatting -->
{| class="wikitable"
|+ Table name
|- style="font-style:italics;"
! style="font-weight:bold;" | A
|-
| style="font-weight:bold;" | B
|}

<!-- Discouraged: no spaces in formatting -->
{|class="wikitable"
|+Table name
|-style="font-style:italics;"
!style="font-weight:bold;"|A
|-
|style="font-weight:bold;"|B
|}

<!-- Last resort: HTML table -->
<table>
<tr>
<th>A</th>
<th>B</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>C</td>
<td>D</td>
</tr>
</table>

HTML Comments

• HTML comments <!-- Comment --> can be placed inside a page to communicate what is needed and what should and should not be used.
  • For comments to be used in preloads that should not be saved upon submission, the {{void}} template allows just for that.
• Be wary not to mess up the positions of HTML comments while editing. You may need to switch from the VisualEditor to complete your edit if you notice this change happening upon selecting "Show changes."
• Do not leave any empty HTML comments <!----> upon saving.

Examples

<!-- Preferred -->
<!-- This is an HTML comment -->
<!--This is an HTML comment-->
Some text<!--
-->ing
<!-- Unacceptable -->
<!---->

Other

• Use single spaces between sentences and between words. Double spaces will get trimmed down to single spacing by the MediaWiki parser.
• Experimentation with syntax should be done in sandbox pages, not in article space, to avoid getting mistaken for vandalism.

See Also

• Manual of Style
• Caution Against Visual Editor