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Help:Contents
General information about editing and formatting Wiki articles can be found at the Meta-Wiki help page. Other links on this page will cover such topics specific to this Wiki.
Starting a new page
When creating a new page:
- Use the simplest, most obvious name possible; you can always create a redirect and/or disambiguation page later if needed.
- Pages relating specifically to a single game or system should have the names start with the name of that game or system and a colon like EarthBound:Item Properties Table or Super Nintendo:Color.
- Help prevent chaotic growth by editing existing pages rather than creating new pages when possible.
From the search page
If you search for a page that doesn't exist (using the search box and Go button on the left of the page) then you will be provided with a link to create the new page.
From the URL
You can use the Wiki's URL for creating a new page. The URL to an article of the Wiki is usually something like this:
- http://datacrystal.romhacking.net/wiki/ARTICLE
If you replace ARTICLE with the name of the page you wish to create, you will be taken to a blank page which indicates that no article of that name exists yet. Clicking the edit page tab at the top of the page will take you to the edit page for that article, where you can create the new page by typing your text and clicking Save page.
Content and conventions
All Data Crystal articles should be written in Standard English. If you are unfamiliar with the English language, please contact an administrator before posting any articles. Refrain from using leetspeak or other non-standard forms of English on Data Crystal.
Since English is the primary language of this Wiki, game consoles will be referred to by the name they were released in the United States. For example, the Nintendo Famicom will be referred to as the Nintendo Entertainment System. Regarding games, the same rule applies and exceptions should be made in the case of games that were not released in the United States; however, an English name should be provided under Miscellaneous.
Game has been [modifier] hacked refers to the status of exploratory hacking; that is, how much is known about the inner workings of the game. Consequently, games with many sprite-only hacks are not said to have been extensively hacked, as where games for which few hacks are available may be extensively hacked with regards to the knowledge of their code. One example of the latter is Chrono Trigger.
Data Crystal strives for a uniform style across all pages. Please adhere to the following guidelines when writing articles of your own.
- Third-person point of view.
- Data Crystal aims for an encyclopedic method of writing so please phrase all articles in the third person. This includes Wikipedia's idea of Neutral point of view.
- ROM Hacking Content.
- Data Crystal is a repository of ROM Hacking information. As such, please limit the scope of articles to ROM Hacking and related topics. Many tangentially related topics already have thorough articles on Wikipedia, and we encourage inter-wiki linking. In fact, a template exists to make this as easy as possible.
- Game pages
- Please create separate pages for each game. In creating these pages, please see the respective template game page.
- Wiki networking
- Please create links to newly created articles, and avoid creating orphaned pages.
- Use templates where appropriate
- This especially applies to making text larger; please use the {{magnify}} template instead of headings to increase the size of text that is not appropriate as a header.
Basic Wiki syntax
| Description | You type | You get |
| Applies anywhere | ||
| Italic text |
''italic'' |
italic |
| Bold text |
'''bold''' |
bold |
| Bold and italic text |
'''''bold & italic''''' |
bold & italic |
| Internal link (within Data Crystal) |
[[name of page]] |
|
| Redirect to another page |
#redirect [[Target page]] |
1. redirect Target page |
| External link (to other websites) |
[http://www.example.com] |
|
| Don't interpret text |
<!--an embedded comment--> |
|
|
Sign your posts |
~~~~ |
Username 14:24, |
| Applies only at the beginning of the line | ||
| Headings of different sizes |
==level 1== |
Headings of different levels. |
| Horizontal rule |
---- |
|
| Bulleted list |
* list item a |
|
| Numbered list |
# first list item |
|
| Mixture of bulleted and numbered lists |
* list item X |
|
| Definition |
; Technical Term |
|
| Indentation |
: normal text (indented) |
|
| Preformatted text (boxed text) |
add a space at the beginning of the line to create preformatted text in a box |
add a space at the beginning of the line |
| Thumbnail image |
[[Image:Wiki.png|thumb|Caption text]] |
|
Namespaces
Pages on Data Crystal are grouped into collections called namespaces, which differentiate between the purpose of the pages at a high level. Namespaces are indicated in page titles by prefixing the page name with namespace:, so the prefix Help: in this page's title (Help:Contents) indicates that this page is in the Help namespace. Note, however, that colons and prefixes can also appear in page titles without indicating a namespace. For instance, the page Foo:Namespaces is a page located in the mainspace because the namespace Foo does not exist. Similarly the page Help:Foo:Namespaces is in the Help namespace.
There are several defined namespaces, for a complete list please refer to the MediaWiki help page.
Main
This is the null namespace, commonly called the main namespace or mainspace. This namespace typically contains the bulk of the content pages in Data Crystal.
User
Each user has a corresponding page in the User namespace. This page and respective subpages, can be used by users to record information about themselves or to test and draft new content. For example, pages of the form User:UserName/Sandbox or User:UserName/TestPage can only be edited by the user themselves or by administrators.
File
The File namespace is used to store images, videos or sound files. Each file has a corresponding page in the File namespace which should be used to hold licensing data as well.
Template
The Template namespace is used to hold templates, blocks of text or wikicode that are intended to be embedded in several other pages.
Help
The Help namespace is usually used to hold help files, instructions and 'how-to' guides.
Templates
As mentioned above, Data Crystal includes a Template namespace which holds pages designed specifically to be embedded on other pages. Therefore, a page within the Template: namespace is called a template and this special page is meant to reduce the need for writing the same thing multiple times. Also, a page in the template namespace can be linked to like any other page:
| You type | Where Template:Example1 contains | You get |
[[Template:Example1]]
|
Hello World!
|
Template:Example1 |
{{Template:Example1}}
|
Hello World! | |
{{Example1}}
|
Hello World! | |
abc{{Example1}}def
|
abcHello World!def |
One important feature of templates is their ability to take arguments. As shown in the previous table, a template with no arguments is called as {{template_name}}. Parameters are defined inside triple braces and when the template is embedded to a page, the contents of the parameter name will also be embedded:
| You type | Where Template:Example2 contains | You get |
{{Example2|1=Angus}}
|
Hello {{{1}}}!
|
Hello Angus! |
{{Example2|Jimmy}}
|
Hello Jimmy! | |
{{Example2|2=Kirk}}
|
Hello {{{1}}}! | |
{{Example2||David}}
|
Hello ! |
By default, the parameters are numbered in order, starting from 1; there is no practical limit to the number of parameters that can be defined (at least 65536). However, named parameters may be added at any point without interrupting the numbering:
| You type | Where Template:Example3 contains | You get |
{{Example3|Super|Mario|Brothers}}
|
{{{1}}} {{{2}}} {{{x}}}!
|
Super Mario {{{x}}}! |
{{Example3|Super|Mario|x=Brothers}}
|
Super Mario Brothers! | |
{{Example3|Super|x=Mario|Brothers}}
|
Super Brothers Mario! | |
{{Example3|Super|x=Mario|x=Brothers}}
|
Super {{{2}}} Brothers! | |
{{Example3|1=Super|2=Mario|=Brothers}}
|
Super Mario {{{x}}}! |
Please refer to the Templates Help page for a list of existing templates and their usage.