Abstract Wikipedia:Manual of Style

This Manual of Style is the style manual for all Abstract Wikipedia articles. This page applies to content in all languages, but be sure to check the local Wikipedia's style guide, as you should adhere to that as much as possible for outputted text. This manual may be relevant to content authors, function authors, or both. This manual is a target, apply common sense and be aware that technical limitations may make compliance impossible or unreasonable.

Summary

We're writing...

• an encyclopedia;
• in all languages;
• accessibly and aesthetically.

Section organization

An article's content should begin with an introductory lead section – a concise summary of the article – which is never divided into sections. The remainder of the article is typically divided into sections.

Infoboxes, images, and other related content in the lead should be positioned on the side opposite the reader's starting point for that specific script (on the right for left-to-right languages like English, on the left for right-to-left languages like Arabic). For now, this is technically enforced by the software.

Section headings

All section headings should be their own fragment.

Section headings should:

• not redundantly refer back to the subject of the article, e.g., Early life, not Smith's early life or His early life
• not refer to a higher-level heading, unless doing so is shorter or clearer
• not be numbered or lettered as an outline
• not use question format, e.g., Languages, not What languages are spoken?
• not use color, unusual fonts, markup (such as bold or italics), images, citations, or footnotes, which cause accessibility issues.

Section headings must be unique in all languages except in ones with exceptionally limited vocabulary (e.g. Toki Pona).

Quotations

Quotations should be used sparingly, as a quote can only be on one language, whereas an article in many. They should be used only when you would naturally use a foreign language quote. Consider paraphrasing quotations abstractly (while being aware that close paraphrasing can still violate copyright).

Media

Only media directly pertinent to the subject matter of the article should be included; remember that Abstract Wikipedia articles often have a narrower topical scope than the corresponding articles at the natural language wikis, since they are tied to Wikidata concepts.

Links

• Make links only where they are relevant and helpful in the context: Excessive use of hyperlinks can be distracting and may slow the reader down. Redundant links clutter the page and make future maintenance harder. High-value links that are worth pursuing should stand out clearly.
• Link to Abstract Wikipedia articles: Do not link to articles on other Wikipedias, such as the English Wikipedia, unless in a section specifically for external links. Link to an Abstract Wikipedia article through its QID, displaying the title of the article or another relevant name in the display language.
• Link a term at most once per major section: Only include one link per term per major section (typically level 2), at its first occurrence.

Paragraphs

Paragraphs should roughly cover one cohesive topic area. Each paragraph should be its own fragment, and all parts of the paragraph should be one fragment.

In the interest of best serving the many languages that abstract content may be written in, write in chronological order, and include the most general statements first and continue to more detailed statements.

Paragraph tags

Each paragraph should have a <p> tag for accesibility reasons.

Spaces between sentences

Be mindful of the fact that Japanese and Chinese languages do not have spaces between sentences. As such, you should use a function like f:Z33068 to ensure that your content is accurate in these languages.

Functions

Only use NLG functions that are already implemented in multiple languages. New functions may be ill-defined, and might never be suitable for Abstract Wikipedia.

Only use functions in the literal sense of their scope. Do not use them for metaphors or abstract concepts. Just because the output in English (or any one language) is correct does not make a use acceptable. For example, only use f:Z26570 for physical locations, and not for metaphorical ones.

Do not use a sequence of functions that only generate a part of a sentence, since different languages structure their sentences in a very different way.

Monolingual content

Monolingual content (content that can only be rendered in one language) should be avoided on Abstract Wikipedia to the greatest extent possible. (Not to be confused with monolingual text; its content should simply be translated depending on the user's language.)