Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Layout

The Wikipedia Guide to Layout is an annotated, working example of some of the basics of laying out an article.

This little article is not about markup; see Wikipedia:How does one edit a page for that. This little article is not about style; see Wikipedia:Manual of Style for that. This little article is just a summary of what some fairly clean, simple Wikipedia articles look like. For more complicated articles, you may want to copy the markup of some existing article you like the looks of.

The subject of the article should be mentioned in '''strongly emphasised''' text at a natural place in the first sentence, or at least the first paragraph. The name of the subject may appear slightly different from the title of the page, or may include variations, but normally it is identical to the page title.

If the article is long enough to contain several paragraphs, then the first paragraph should be short and to the point, with a clear explanation of what the subject of the page is. If further introductory material is needed before the first header, then this can be given in additional paragraphs. It is very rarely useful to put ==Introduction== as the first header because the first paragraph, above the first header, should be the introduction to the article. A common title for the first section of an article under the introductory paragraph is "Overview", although more specific section titles are generally to be preferred.

Paragraphs should be relatively short, as the eye gets tired of following solid text for too many lines. Similarly, articles themselves should be kept relatively short.

Headers also help make an article clearer and determine the table of contents, see Wikipedia:Section. Since headers are hierarchical, and some people set their user preferences to number them, you should start with ==Header== and follow it with ===Subheader===, ====Subsubheader====, and so forth. Yes, the ==Header== is awfully big in some browsers, but that can be fixed in the future with a style sheet more easily than a nonhierarchical article structure can be fixed.

A counter-argument is that overuse of sub-headings should be avoided, as it can make the article look cluttered. Short paragraphs and single sentences generally do not warrant their own sub-heading, and in these circumstances it may be preferable to use bullet points or bolded text instead.

The degree to which subtopics should be kept on a single page or given their own pages is a matter of judgment.

Certain optional standardized sections go at the bottom of the article, as you see below.

Under this header, list any memorable quotations that are appropriate to the subject.

• "Misquotations are the only quotations that are never misquoted." -- Hesketh Pearson, Common Misquotations (1934)

Other articles in the Wikipedia that are related to this one.

• Wikipedia:Manual of Style
• Wikipedia:Talk page layout

Put under this header, in list form, any books that you have used or recommend for readers of the article. If you can, include the ISBN for the most recent edition. The ISBN will automatically link to a page assisting readers in finding the book.

• John Grossman (editor); The Chicago Manual of Style; University of Chicago Press; ISBN 0-22-610389-7 (14th edition, hardcover, 1993)
• H.W. Fowler and Robert Burchfield (editor); The New Fowler's Modern English Usage; Clarendon Press; ISBN 0-19-860263-4 (revised 3rd edition, hardcover, 2000)

Put here, in list form, any web sites that you have used or recommend for readers of the article. Describe it if possible (see Wikipedia:Describe external links)

• Yale Style Manual for web pages

Its code is: * [http://info.med.yale.edu/caim/manual/ Yale Style Manual for web pages]