Nerf Wiki:Article Layout

To keep articles uniform and similar to each other, the Nerf Wiki provides this article layout guide.

Most but not all articles will follow this format. Questions regarding how an article is set up can be asked on a staff member's talk page, on the forums, or on the official Discord server.

Badges
At the top of each page is a set of badges, which helps denote various things about the article's subject, such as what brand or company the product is from. It is also used to mark articles that are locked from editing, or those that have been featured on the front page of the wiki.

Some articles may not have a badge at the top of them, as they are too general to attach badges to. This includes some glossary-style articles, such as Nerf war, and year of release listings.

Badge should be used and not Badgeicon, as the latter is a utility template for the former.

Infobox
When possible, an article should contain an infobox. Which infobox used depends on the subject of the article; a list of infoboxes can be browsed through here.

Infoboxes should be placed at the top of the page, underneath the badge template, and filled out accordingly. If a piece of information is unknown, such as a year of release, size and weight, or performance information, that section should be deleted, rather than putting "?" or "unknown".

Alert-style templates
Underneath the infobox, or badge template if an infobox is not present, any alert-style templates should be placed. This includes Delete, Leaked Information, Discontinued, Spoiler, and more.

A hierarchy of how these should be ordered is as follows:
 * Delete
 * Construction
 * Articlesplit
 * Conjecture
 * Leaked Information
 * Spoiler
 * Unconfirmed Product
 * Unreleased Product/Unreleased Series
 * Discontinued/Disc-Amazon/Disc-LimitedStock/DiscontinuedSeries
 * Early Release
 * Cancelled
 * Speculation
 * CleanUp

The Quote template, if included at the top of an article, should be placed atop all alert-style templates.

Introduction
The first paragraphs of information should be concise and clear, for sake of easy identification when opening the article.

For product articles, this should include the name of the product, a year and series of initial release, if batteries are required, any accessories it is included with, and information regarding store exclusivities. Any additional information on the product, such as performance and features should be listed below in the proper sections; this excludes blasters that use N-Strike number codes, as that can be listed in the opening sentence (ie: "The Maverick REV-6 is a revolver Nerf blaster...")

For series articles, this should list the series name, the year it began, and information regarding store exclusivities.

Details
The Details section allows more in-depth explanations of a subject, including features, performance quirks, compatibility with ammunition and accessories, advertised performance claims, and more. Generally, the first section of the Details section should summarize the type of product or blaster (ie: "The Rampage is a pump-action clip system blaster.")

For advertised firing range claims, this should be placed last in the Details section.

Sub-sections can be added below this, before the official description, if there is enough content on a specific topic to warrant it having its own section. Examples of this include the Stampede ECS and the Deploy CS-6.

Official description
For products, if official descriptions are accessible, they should be listed in the first sub-section of the Details section. These should come from official sources first, directly from a brand or company's website. If this is not available, a retail website's official description should be used instead. If none of these are available, a fan site can be used, so long as it is using a description written by the company instead, rather than their own wording.

Official descriptions should be as they are on their website of origin, intact and without editing. Misspellings and grammatical mistakes should not be corrected.

History
Information regarding a subject's history should be placed here. An initial release date is not necessary for this section, and should be listed in the introduction instead.

Re-releases should be denoted here, providing a link to them as needed.

Color schemes
A product's available color schemes should be listed here, if there is more than one. If the color scheme is tied to a specific series or re-release, such as a blaster set, the name of that series should be listed first, followed by the color scheme in parenthesis.

Modification
Information about how a product can be modified should be listed here. This should not go into great detail, and instead give examples of how a product is capable of being modified. Mod guides and write-ups can be posted to a user blog or on the forum. Third-party companies who have articles and offer kits and part replacements for a product in question can also be listed here.

Blaster sets/Value packs/Product sets
A product's availability in product sets should be listed here; the name of this section may be different, depending on what the product is or what it is included in. "Blaster set" should be the heading name if a blaster or product is available in a set alongside one or another blasters. "Value pack" is an alternative to this, if the blaster in question has only been given value pack-style blaster sets.

Product listings
For series articles, a list of all products released under said series should be placed here. This section is split under sub-sections, depending on what type of product it is (ie: Blasters, Accessories, Products, Product sets.)

Tables are constructed using TableStart, ProductList, and TableEnd. See these template pages for documentation on how to use them.

Reloading and firing
This optional section explains into deep detail in how to reload and fire each blaster. It is intended to be used in cases where blaster operation is not straight-forward or requires additional explanation (such as how many times an air-powered blaster must be pumped for full power.)

Trivia
Tidbits of information and pieces of trivia should be listed here, in bullet point fashion. Trivia should pertain in some way to the product, otherwise it will be removed.

More information on adding trivia to articles can be found here.

Gallery
Additional images on an article should be included in a gallery section, unless they specifically help to explain information or provide visual reference to parts of an article. This includes product packaging, stock photos of a product being used, and alternate color schemes of a product.

When a gallery exceeds four images, a gallery sub-article should be created, where all images for a subject are available. In its place where it should be on the parent article will be the Gallery template, where three key images are included. Generally, these will be the product's packaging, and two miscellaneous images that highlight features or variants of said product.

When uploading images to a gallery, please follow wiki policies regarding images.

All galleries on the Nerf Wiki should use the following code:

Official videos
If available, official videos for a product can be placed here. This only includes TV commercials and videos uploaded to an official YouTube channel. Reviews and fan content are not allowed and will be deleted from this section if added. Reference videos should instead be added using  tags and the Cite web template.

For more information, see the Manual of Style's References section.

All galleries on the Nerf Wiki should use the following code:

Footer
The bottom of a page is where the Stub template should be placed, if required. Below this, navigational templates can be used, in order to link from one article to another, based on similarity of release and content. For a list of navigational templates, click.

If no navigational templates are applicable, an alternate "See also" section can be included, providing link to similar articles in bullet point fashion. This should go above the stub template, rather than below it.