User blog:MasterTeska/Editing Tips and Guidelines

Hi everyone!

This blog entry is supposed to show a few guidelines and tips when it comes to editing this wiki. Some of them you might be aware of, some others not. I figured it's about time to clear a few things up and write them down.

This guide will be updated in future whenever additional information is needed.

Categories
A good categorisation system is very important, not only for search engines such as Google, but also for users who are visiting the wiki. Every page on the wiki should be categories into at least one category. However, too many categories can become very confusing very fast. The most important information should be found on the page itself and not in its categories.

As a general guideline, if a page has more than four categories, it's too much. Try to keep it simple and only add the most important categories to a page.

For cosmetic items, for example, a must have category is the type of cosmetic such as Category:Outfits or Category:Back Blings. If the item is part of a set, you might want to add a category for the set, so users can find what belongs together easily. If you're using the Infobox cosmetics and type in the rarity, the page will also automatically be categorised into the rarity category it belongs to, so typing in the rarity "Rare" will add it to Category:Rare, typing in "Uncommon" will add it to Category:Uncommon etc.

When you've added a page to the Outfits category, for example, there's no need to add the Category:Cosmetics, too, because every Outfit is an cosmetics and therefore the Outfits category already gives you the same (and even more specific) information as the Cosmetics category would. Another example would be if you already have the Back Bling category and the Rare rarity category (thanks to the infobox), then you don't need another category that says "Rare Back Blings" because this categorisation is also already made.

As much as release date, appearances (Chapter 2 skins, Season 8 skins), themes (Winter skins, summer skins) and whatever additional information you would want to categorise it for are interesting information about the skin you could use to group certain skins, those should be kept as simple text information on the page itself.

Infobox cosmetics
The template Infobox cosmetics is a very powerful one. As mentioned before, it automatically adds the rarity category depending on what you're typing in. Not only that, it also automatically changes the colour of the rarity text in the infobox depending on the rarity, so you don't have to use templates like Uncommon or Rare additionally to change the colour. Again, make sure to write the rarity with an upper case letter because it's case sensitive.

NOTE: That means if you're using this infobox, there is no need to add the rarity category yourself. The template is already doing this for you.

Using the classic editor
If you click the edit button on a page, usually the VisualEditor opens up. Now, here's the thing: Don't use it.

I highly recommend to switch to the classic editor. You can read here how you can do that.

The classic editor might seem confusing at the beginning, but in the end it's easier to use once you got the hang of it.

Naming files
When it comes to uploading images, it's important to choose a descriptive file name. That makes it easier to find images on the wiki. File names such as "Download.jpg" or "3013652E-A5F1-4E05-9BF8-6A0C6E7FC9AF.png" make it very hard to understand what the file shows. It could be just the file you need, but with a name like this you would never be able to find it just by using the search bar.

To keep things as easy as possible, we're using a specific naming scheme on the wiki: [name of the thing on the image] - [type] - Fortnite.png/.jpg

Here are a few examples: For an image of an outfit, that could be Astra - Outfit - Fortnite.png. For a back bling, it would be Strongbox - Back Bling - Fortnite.png. For a location, that could be Dusty Depot - Location - Fortnite.png. You can also get a bit more specific if needed, for example as I did with Vault Opening - Nexus Event - Fortnite.png.

This naming scheme makes it also easier to use images on pages. For example, when adding multiple outfit images to a page, you could simply copypaste the " - Outfit - Fortnite.png" part and just change the name of the outfit at the beginning for each image. For this to work, you have to follow the scheme completly. Wiki text is case sensitive, which means "Astra - outfit - fortnite.png" wouldn't link to Astra - Outfit - Fortnite.png anymore just because "outfit" and "fortnite" start with lower case letters. Missing spaces can also be a problem. "Astra-Outfit-Fortnite.png" wouldn't link to the correct file either.

Choosing a license
When uploading files, please always choose a license for it. If it's an image from the game itself or from Epic Games, you can always take the Fairuse template by choosing the following option at the "Licensing" part of the upload process: "This will be used in a way that qualifies as fair use under US law"

If you forgot to choose a license while uploading, you can edit the file page and add the template afterwards by typing in.

If added correctly, the Fairuse template adds the following box onto the file page:

Categorising files
Another way to make files easier to find is by adding them to categories as well. Now, file categorisation should be kept as minimalistic as possible - one category is already enough. Images of outfits should be added to the Category:Images - Outfits; images of locations in Fortnite: Battle Royale should be added to Category:Images - Locations (Battle Royale), their Save the World counterparts to Category:Images - Locations (Save the World) etc.

You can find all available image categories under Category:Images. If you're not sure into which category a file belongs or if you think there isn't a fitting category for the image, please contact me on my message wall. The image categories are still a work in progress.

Adding files to a page
Now that we talked so much about how to add a file to the wiki, let's talk about how you can actually use it and add it to the page. This depends on which editor you use. As mentioned before, I highly recommend using the classic editor, which is why I'll show you how to add images in the classic editor.

If you want to add a simple image, you just need the following code:. To give you an example,  turns into:

makes the image float on the right side of the text. The  is the size of the image on the page - you can make it larger or smaller. By adding  (like this:  ) the image will be positioned on the left side instead. This also works with  if you want to have the image in the middle of the page.

To add a gallery, you need the following code:

You can read more about how to use galleries here. Note that this help page also only talks about galleries with the classic editor.

When editing an infobox with the classic editor, there's usually an image field where you can add the file name. For example, with the Infobox cosmetics, it would work like this:

'''If you have any questions or if anything is unclear, feel free to comment on this blog or contact me on my message wall. I'd be happy to help!'''

If you have any ideas or suggestions how to improve those guidelines or if you want to add something, you can also comment here.