Wikipedia:Manual of Style: Difference between revisions

This '''Manual of Style''' ('''MoS''' or '''MOS''') is the [[style manual]] for all English Wikipedia [[Wikipedia:What is an article?|articles]]<!-- Changing "articles" to "pages" (or any change broadening MOS's scope of applicability) would require a widely advertised RfC. --> (though [[Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Accessibility|provisions related to accessibility]] apply across the entire project, not just to articles). This primary page is supported by further [[:Category:Wikipedia Manual of Style|detail pages]], which are cross-referenced here and listed at [[Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Contents]]. If any contradiction arises, this page has precedence.{{efn|name="CONLEVEL"|This is a matter of policy at {{section link|Wikipedia:Consensus|Level of consensus}}: "Consensus among a limited group of editors, at one place and time, cannot override community consensus on a wider scale. For instance, unless they can convince the broader community that such action is right, participants in a wikiproject cannot decide that a Wikipedia policy or guideline does not apply to articles within its scope." And: "Wikipedia has a higher standard of participation and consensus for changes to policies and guidelines than to other types of pages." Subordinate pages include [[:Category:Wikipedia Manual of Style|MoS detail pages]], [[Wikipedia:WikiProject Council/Guide#Advice pages|style essays]], and the [[Wikipedia:Simplified Manual of Style|Simplified Manual of Style]].}}

{{Crossrefcrossref|pw=y|For retention of an article's established national variety of English (and potential reasons to change it), see {{section link||National varieties of English}}.}}

*Do not use [[Article (grammar)|articles]] (''a'', ''an'', or ''the'') as the first word ({{xt|Economy of the Second Empire}}, not {{!xt|The economy of the Second Empire}}), unless it is an inseparable part of a name ({{xt|The Hague}}) or of the title of a work (''{{xt|A Clockwork Orange}}'', ''{{xt|The Simpsons}}'').

{{crossref|pw=y|See also [[Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Titles of works]], for cases where an article about a published work has a title that coincides with the work's title.}}

An article's content should begin with an introductory {{em|lead<!-- Do not add the word "lede" here. See footnotes at WP:LEAD for details. --> section}}{{snd}}a concise summary of the article{{snd}}which is never divided into sections {{crossref|pw=y|(see [[Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Lead section]])}}. The remainder of the article is typically divided into [[Help:Section|sections]].

*A [[Wikipedia:Hatnote|disambiguation hatnote]], most of the time with the {{tlx|Hatnote}} template {{crossref|pw=y|(see also {{section link|Wikipedia:Hatnote#Hatnote templates}})}}

If the topic of a section is covered in more detail in a dedicated article {{cross referencecrossref|pw=y|(see [[Wikipedia:Summary style]])}}, insert {{tlx|main|{{var|Article name}}}} or {{tlx|further|{{var|Article name}}}} immediately under the section heading.

*Notes and references, with a section heading "Notes" or "References" (usually the latter), or a separate section for each in this order {{crossref|pw=y|(see [[Wikipedia:Citing sources]])}}; avoid "Bibliography", confusable with the subject's works

National varieties of English (for example, [[American English]] or [[British English]]) differ in vocabulary (''elevator'' vs. ''lift''{{hairspace}}), spelling (''center'' vs. ''centre''), and occasionally grammar {{crossref|pw=y|(see {{section link||Plurals}}, below)}}. Articles such as [[English plurals]] and [[Comparison of American and British English]] provide information about such differences. The English Wikipedia prefers no national variety over others.

{{crossref|printworthypw=y|For assistance with specific terms, see {{section link|Comparison of American and British English|Vocabulary}}, and [[American and British English spelling differences]]; most dictionaries also indicate regional terms.}}

Generally, do not capitalize the word ''the'' in mid-sentence: {{xt|throughout the United Kingdom}}, not {{!xt|throughout The United Kingdom}}. Conventional exceptions include certain proper names ({{xt|he visited The Hague}}) and most titles of creative works ({{xt|Tolkien wrote ''The Lord of the Rings''}}{{snd}}but be aware that ''the'' maymight not be part of the title itself, e.g., {{xt|Homer composed the ''Odyssey''}}).

The words ''sun'', ''earth'', ''moon'', and ''solar system'' do not take capitals in general use ({{xt|The sun was over the mountain top}}; {{xt|The tribal people thought of the whole earth as their home}}). They are capitalized when the entity is personified ({{xt|Sol Invictus ('Unconquered Sun') was the Roman sun god}}) or when used as the name of a specific body in a scientific or astronomical context ({{xt|The Moon orbits the Earth}}; but {{xt|Io is a moon of Jupiter}}).

Do not capitalize '''directions''' such as ''north'', or their related forms ({{xt|We took the northern road}}), except wherewhen they are parts of proper names ({{xt|Great North Road}}, {{xt|Great Western Drive}}, {{xt|South Pole}}).

Capitalize names of particular institutions ({{xt|the founding of the University of Delhi}};{{nbsp}} {{xt|the history of Stanford University}}) but not generic words for institutions ({{xt|the high school is near the university}}). Do not capitalize ''the'' at the start of an institution's name, regardless of the institution's preferred style. There are rare exceptions, when a leading ''The'' is represented by a ''T'' in the organization's acronym: {{xt|The International Cat Association (TICA)}}.

Treat political or geographic units similarly: {{xt|The city has a population of 55,000}};{{nbsp}} {{xt|The two towns merged to become the City of Smithville}}. Do not mimic the style of local newspapers which refer to their municipality as ''the City'' or ''The City''; an exception is the [[City of London]], referred to as {{xt|the City}} in a context that already makes the subject clear, as distinct from [[London]] and [[Greater London]]. When in doubt, use the full name for [[Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Accessibility|accessibility]] reasons; users of text-to-speech systems usually cannot hear a difference between ''city'' and ''City''.

An abbreviation may or may not be terminated with a full point (also called a ''period'' or ''full stop''). A consistent style should be maintained within an article. North American usage is typically to end all abbreviations with a period/point ({{xt|Dr. Smith of 42&nbsp;Drummond St.}}) but in common British and Australian usage, no period/point is used if the abbreviation (contraction) ends in the last letter of the unabbreviated form ({{xt|Dr Smith of 42&nbsp;Drummond St}}) unless confusion could result. This is also common practice in scientific writing. Regardless of punctuation, words that are abbreviated to more than one letter are spaced ({{xt|op.&nbsp;cit.}} not {{!xt|op.cit.}} or {{!xt|opcit}}). There are some exceptions: {{xt|PhD}} {{crossrefcrossrefercence|pw=y|(see above)}} for "Philosophiae Doctor"; {{xt|BVetMed}} for "Bachelor of Veterinary Medicine". In most situations, Wikipedia uses no such punctuation inside acronyms and initialisms: {{xt|GDP}}, not {{!xt|G.D.P.}}

{{xt|US}} is a commonly used abbreviation for {{xt|United States}}, although {{xtn|U.S.}} – with periods and without a space – remains common in North American publications, including in news journalism. Multiple American style guides, including ''[[The Chicago Manual of Style]]'' (since 2010), now deprecate "U.S." and recommend "US".

Use italics when {{em|mentioning}} a word or character {{crossref|pw=y|(see [[Use–mention distinction]])}} or a string of words up to one sentence ({{xt|the term ''panning'' is derived from ''panorama''}}; {{xt|the most common letter in English is ''e''}}). When a whole sentence is mentioned, double quotation marks may be used instead, with consistency ({{xt|The preposition in ''She sat on the chair'' is ''on''}}; or {{xt|The preposition in "She sat on the chair" is "on"}}). Quotation marks may also be used for shorter material to avoid confusion, such as when italics are already heavily used in the page for another purpose (e.g., for many non-English words and phrases). {{em|Mentioning}} (to discuss grammar, wording, punctuation, etc.) is different from {{em|quoting}} (in which something is usually expressed on behalf of a quoted source). Quotation is done with quotation marks, never italics, nor both at once {{crossref|pw=y|(see {{section link||Quotations}} for details).}}

Italics are indicated for non-English phrases and isolated non-English words that are not commonly used in everyday English. However, proper names (such as place names) in other languages are not usually italicized, nor are terms in non-Latin scripts. The {{tlx|lang}} template and its variants support all [[ISO 639]] language codes, correctly identifying the language and automatically italicizing for you. Please use these templates rather than just manually italicizing non-English material. {{Crossrefcrossref|pw=y|(See {{section link|WP:Manual of Style/Accessibility#Other languages}} for more information.)}}

Quotations must be [[Wikipedia:Verifiability|verifiably]] attributed, and the wording of the quoted text must be faithfully reproduced. This is referred to as the {{strong|principle of minimal change}}. Where there is good reason to change the wording, bracket the changed text; for example, {{!xt|"Ocyrhoe told him his fate"}} might be quoted as {{xt|"Ocyrhoe told [her father] his fate"}}. If there is a significant error in the original, follow it with {{tlx|sic}} (producing {{xt|{{sic}}}}{{hsp}}) to show that the error was not made by Wikipedia. When<!-- appliedIF toEDITING aTHE titleFOLLOWING parameterSENTENCE, withinPLEASE aUPDATE <nowiki><ref><THE DOCUMENTATION AT [[Template:Sic/ref></nowikidoc]] ACCORDINGLY --> However, insignificant spelling and typographic errors should simply be silently corrected (for example, correct {{!xt|basicly}} to {{xt|basically}}). When applied to linked titles appearing between {{tag|ref}} settags, title parameters in citation templates, or similar text creatingthat linksis linked, the syntax of the template may be adjusted to {{tlx|sic|2=nolink=y}} (producing <nowiki>[{{sic]</nowiki>|nolink=y}} in the resulting linked text). <!--For IFthe EDITINGsake THEof FOLLOWINGaccuracy SENTENCEand indexing, PLEASEthe UPDATEtitles THEof DOCUMENTATIONreferenced ATsources [[Template:Sic/doc]]should ACCORDINGLYnot -->be However,corrected insignificantfor spelling, andbut minor typographic errorscorrections should(like simplychanging be[[MOS:CURLY|curly silentlyquotes]] correctedto (forstraight) example,may correctbe {{!xt|basicly}}made to {{xt|basically}})silently.

*Generally preserve bold and italics {{cross referencecrossref|pw=y|(see {{section link||Italics}})}}, but most other styling should be altered. {{!xt|{{Underline|Underlining}}}}, {{!xt|spac&nbsp;ing}} within words, {{!xt|1=co<span style="color:Goldenrod;">lor</span>s}}, {{!xt|ALL CAPS}}, {{Smallcaps|{{!xt|small caps}}}}, etc. should generally be normalized to plain text. If it {{em|clearly}} indicates emphasis, use italic {{em|emphasis}} ({{tlx|em}}) or, in an already-italic passage, boldface (with {{tlx|strong}}). For titles of books, articles, poems, and so forth, use italics or quotation marks following [[Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Titles|the guidance for titles]]. Italics can also be added to mark up [[#Non-English termterms|non-English terms]] (with the {{tlx|lang}} template), for an [[#Animals, plants, and other organisms|organism's scientific name]], and to indicate a [[#Words as words|words-as-words]] usage.

*Normalize archaic glyphs and ligatures in English that are unnecessary to the meaning. Examples include ''[[æ]]''→''ae'', ''[[œ]]''→''oe'', ''[[Long s|ſ]]''→''s'', and ''[[Thorn (letter)#Abbreviations|þ^e]]''→''the''. {{crossref|pw=y|(See also {{section link||Ampersand}}.)}}

{{crossref|pw=y|See {{section link|Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Titles#Typographic conformity}} for special considerations in normalizing the typography of titles of works.}}

However, national varieties should not be changed, as these may involve changes in vocabulary. For example, a quotation from a British source should retain British spelling, even in an article that otherwise uses American spelling. {{crossref|pw=y|(See {{section link||Consistency within articles}}.)}} Numbers also usually [[Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Dates and numbers#Quotations, titles, etc.|should not be reformatted]].

The reader must be able to determine the source of any quotation, at the very least via a footnote. The source must be named {{em|in article text}} if the quotation is an opinion {{Crossreferencecrossref|pw=y|(see {{Section link|Wikipedia:Neutral point of view|Attributing and specifying biased statements}})}}. When attributing a quotation, avoid [[Wikipedia:Words to avoid#Synonyms for said|characterizing it in a biased manner]].

It is conventional to precede a block quotation with an introductory sentence (or sentence fragment) and append the source citation to that line. Alternatively, the {{tnull|blockquote}} template provides parameters for attribution and citation which will appear below the quotation. {{Crossrefcrossref|pw=y|(For use of dashes with attributions, see {{section link||Other uses for em dashes}}.)}} This below-quotation attribution style is intended for famous quotations and is unusual in articles because it may strike an inappropriate tone. A quotation with no cited source should be flagged with {{tlx|quote without source}}, or deleted.

*:{{crossref|printyworthypw=y|See also {{section link|Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Hawaii-related articles|Orthography, spelling and formatting}}}}

**From [[Babe Ruth]]: {{xt|'''George Herman''' "'''Babe'''" '''Ruth''' was an American baseball player&nbsp;...}} {{crossref|pw=y|(See also {{section link|Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Biography|Nicknames}}.)}}

*To reduce the size of a quotation: {{xt|X contains Y, and under certain circumstances, X may contain Z as well}} may be reduced to {{xt|X contains Y [and sometimes Z]}}. When an ellipsis ({{xt|...}}) is used to indicate that material is removed from a direct quotation, it should not normally be bracketed. {{crossref|pw=y|(See {{section link||Ellipses}} for an exceptional case.)}}

Use an ''[[ellipsis]]'' (plural ''ellipses'') if material is omitted in the course of a quotation, unless square brackets are used to [[Gloss (annotation)|gloss]] the quotation {{crossref|pw=y|(see {{section link||Brackets and parentheses}}, and the points below)}}.

| {{xt|The newest member, John Smith{{snd}}himself a retired teacher{{snd}}was blunt.}}

A comma may be included before a quotation embedded within a sentence {{crossref|pw=y|(see {{section link||Quotation marks}})}}.

{{Block indent|{{xt|ham, chips, and eggs}} {{spnd}}serial comma}}

{{Block indent|{{xt|ham, chips and eggs}} {{spnd}}no serial comma}}

{{Block indent|{{!xt|The author thanked her friends, Sinéad O'Connor and Bob Marley}} {{spnd}}which may list either four or more people (the friends and the two people named) or two people (O'Connor and Marley, who are the friends).}}

{{Block indent|{{!xt|The author thanked a friend, Sinéad O'Connor, and Bob Marley}} {{spnd}}which may list either two people (O'Connor, who is the friend, and Marley) or three people (the first being the friend, the second O'Connor, and the third Marley).}}

***But not: {{!xt|The author thanked Bob Marley, Sinéad O'Connor[,] and her friends}} {{spnd}}introduces ambiguity about ''her''.

A colon may also be used to introduce [[Quotation marks in English#Quotations and speech|direct speech]] enclosed within quotation marks. {{crossref|pw=y|(See {{section link||Quotation marks}}.)}}

# To link related terms in [[compound modifier]]s:{{Efn|1=Specifically, compound [[attributive adjective|attributive]]s, which are modifiers of a noun that occur within the [[noun phrase]]. {{crossref|pw=y|(See {{section link|English compound#Hyphenated compound modifiers}}.)}}}}

'''Spacing:''' A hyphen is never followed or preceded by a space, except when hanging {{crossref|pw=y|(see above)}} or when used to display parts of words independently, such as {{xt|the prefix sub-}}{{nbsp}}and {{xt|the suffix{{nbsp}}-less}}.

Do not use a double hyphen (<code>--</code>) to stand in for a dash. {{crossref|pw=y|(See also: [[Wikipedia:How to make dashes]].)}}

Do not insert any spaces where an en dash should be unspaced {{crossref|printworthypw=y|(see {{section link||Other uses for en dashes}})}}.

A slash or some other alternative may occasionally be better to express a ratio, especially in technical contexts {{crossref|pw=y|(see {{section link||Slashes}})}}.

*Colons are often used for strictly numeric ratios, to avoid confusion with subtraction and division: {{xt|a 3:1 ratio}};&nbsp;&nbsp;{{xt|a three-to-one ratio}} {{crossref|pw=y|(see {{section link|Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Dates and numbers|Ratios}})}}.

<!-- This list of examples only includes compounds that have a space or dash in them, but this should also apply when a compound includes a dash or hyphen. Such examples should be included, if they exist. -->

The [[en dash]] (–) has several common functions beyond its use in lists and running text. It is used to <em>join</em> components less strongly than a hyphen would {{crossref|pw=y|(see {{section link||Hyphens}})}}; conversely, it may also <em>separate</em> components less strongly than a slash would {{crossref|pw=y|(see {{Section link||Slashes}})}}. Consider the relationship that exists between two components when deciding what punctuation to place between them.

In circumstances involving a distinction or disjunction, the en dash {{crossref|pw=y|(see above)}} is usually preferable to the slash: {{xt|the digital–analog distinction}}.

Prefer the division operator ({{xt|&nbsp;÷&nbsp;}}) to slash or fraction slash when representing elementary arithmetic in general text: {{xt|{{nowrap|10 ÷ 2 {{=}} 5}}}}. In more advanced mathematical formulas, a [[Vinculum (symbol)|vinculum]] or slash is preferred: <math>\textstyle\frac{x^n}{n!}</math> or {{xt|{{var|x}}^{{var|n}}/{{var|n}}!}} {{cross referencecrossref|1pw=y|(see {{section link|Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Dates and numbers|Common mathematical symbols}} and [[Help:Displaying a formula]])}}.

! Composed <br> ASCII Symbolsymbol !! Preferred <br> Replacementreplacement

Some editors place two spaces after a period/full stop ({{crossref|pw=y|see [[Sentence spacing]]}}); these are condensed to one space when the page is rendered, so it does not affect what readers see.

*Journals and other publications that are issued seasonally (e.g., "Summer 2005") should be dated as such in citations {{crossref|pw=y|(for more information, see {{section link|Wikipedia:Citing sources|Seasonal publication dates and differing calendar systems}})}}.

*Write {{xt|3%}}, {{xt|three percent}}, or {{xt|three per cent}}, but not {{!xt|3{{nbsp}}%}} (with a space) or {{!xt|three{{nbsp}}%}}. "Percent" is American usage, and "per cent" is British usage {{crossref|pw=y|(see {{section link||National varieties of English}})}}. In ranges of percentages written with an en dash, write only a single percent sign: {{xt|3–14%}}.

{{See also|Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Mathematics|Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Dates and numbers#Common mathematical symbols}}

Avoid addressing the reader using ''you'' or ''your'', which sets an inappropriate tone {{crossref|pw=y|(see also {{section link||Instructional and presumptuous language}})}}.

*Likewise, "See: (reference)&nbsp;..." or "Consider&nbsp;..." (in reference to arguments, principles, facts, etc.) are milder second-person baits, common in academic writing ([[pedagogy]]). This interactive personality is inconsistent with an encyclopedia's passive presentation of objective matter.

**"See" and the like can be used to internally cross-reference other Wikipedia material. Do not italicize words like "see". Such a cross -reference should be parenthetical, so the article text stands alone if the parenthetical is removed. {{tlx|Cross referenceCrossref}} can be used for this: {{tlx|Cross referenceCrossref|(see <nowiki>[[Chicken]]</nowiki>)}}, {{tlx|Cross referenceCrossref|(See <nowiki>[[Dacian language]]</nowiki> for details.)}} It is usually better to rewrite the material to integrate these links contextually rather than use [[Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Self-references to avoid|explicit Wikipedia self-references]].

Use the appropriate plural; allow for cases (such as ''[[excursus]]'' or ''[[hanif]]'') in which a word is now listed in major English dictionaries, and normally takes an ''s'' or ''es'' plural, not its original plural: {{xt|two excursuses}}, not {{!xt|two ''{{lang|la|excursūs}}''}} as in Latin; {{xt|three hanifs}}, not {{!xt|three ''{{lang|ar-Latn|hunafa''}}}} as in Arabic.

By default, write articles in the [[present tense]], including those covering works of fiction {{crossref|pw=y|(see {{section link|Wikipedia:Writing better articles|Tense in fiction}})}} and products or works that have been discontinued. Generally, use past tense only for past events, and for subjects that are dead or no longer meaningfully exist. Use [[Past tense#English|past tense]] for articles about periodicals no longer produced, with common-sense exceptions.<!-- RfC that resulted in preceding sentence at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Permalink/974747679#RfC:_Should_"is"_or_"was"_be_used_to_describe_periodical_publications_that_are_no_longer_being_published? -->

Always use present tense for verbs that describe genres, types, and classes, even if the subject of the description (e.g. program, library, device) no longer exists, is discontinued, is unsupported or is unsupported/unmaintained.

When there is a discrepancy between the term most commonly used by reliable sources for a person or group and the term that person or group uses for themselves, use the term that is most commonly used by recent{{efn|name=recent|In MoS's own wording, "recent", "current", "modern", and "contemporary" in reference to sources and usage should usually be interpreted as referring to reliable material published within the last forty years or so. In the consideration of name changes of persons and organizations, focus on sources from the last few years. For broader English-language usage matters, about forty years is typical. While style guides with fewer than five years in print have not been in publication long enough to have had as much real-world impact as those from around 2000–2015 (on which MoS is primarily based), the corpora used for [[Google ngrams|Google {{var|n}}grams]] are updated through 20192022, and we frequently [[Wikipedia:Search engine test#Some search engine tests|rely on]] what they indicate from the late 20th century and onward.}} reliable sources. If it is unclear which is most used, use the term that the person or group uses.

{{Crossrefcrossref|printworthypw=y|For examples and finer points, see {{section link|Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Biography#Gender identity}}.}}

Non-English terms should be used sparingly. In general, [[Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Text formatting#Foreign terms|use italics]] for phrases and words that are not current in English. This is best done with the {{tlx|lang}} template using the appropriate [[ISO language code]], e.g., {{tlx|lang|es|casa}}. There are alternatives to the {{tnull|lang}} template which also provide additional information about a non-English word or phrase, such as a link to the language name; {{crossref|printworthypw=y|see [[:Category:Wikipedia multilingual support templates]]}}. As Wikipedia does not apply italics to names of people, places, or organizations, the alternative template {{tlx|langr}} can be used to apply the language markup without italicizing.{{efn|This has the benefit of helping screen readers pronounce the name correctly. Such a proper name may be italicized when contrasting it with a conventional English form: {{xt|Munich ({{lang-langx|de|München|link=no}})}}.}} Templates like {{tlx|lang}} automatically italicize text written using the Latin alphabet, so specifying italics is unnecessary.

[[Loanword]]s and borrowed phrases that have common usage in English{{snd}}{{xt|Gestapo}}, {{xt|samurai}}, {{xt|vice versa}}{{snd}}do not require italics. A rule of thumb is to not italicize words that appear unitalicized in major general-purpose English dictionaries.

Spell a name consistently in the title and the text of an article. {{crossref|pw=y|(Relevant policy: [[Wikipedia:Article titles]]; see also [[Wikipedia:Naming conventions (use English)]].)}} For a non-English name, phrase, or word, adopt the spelling most commonly used in English-language [[Wikipedia:Verifiability#Reliable sources|reliable sources]], including but not limited to those already cited in the article.{{efn|name=GScholar|1=Reputable English-language encyclopedias and dictionaries in the aggregate are often helpful in [[Wikipedia:Naming conventions (geographic names)#Widely accepted name|determining the most widely accepted spelling]] of a place name, loanwords, etc. It may also help ([[Wikipedia:Google test|within limits]]) to compare search results from the [[Google Scholar]] journal index, for topics likely to be covered in peer-reviewed academic papers.}} For punctuation of compounded forms, see relevant guidelines in {{section link||Punctuation}}.

[[Proper and common nouns|Proper name]]s in non-English languages should generally not be italicized, unless another reason applies; such as with [[Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Titles of works#FOREIGNTITLE|titles of major published works]], e.g., [[Les Liaisons dangereuses|{{xt|{{lang|fr|Les Liaisons dangereuses}}}}]]; or when being compared to other names for the same subject in a [[Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Text formatting#Words as words|words-as-words]] manner, e.g., {{xt|'''Nuremberg''' ({{lang-langx|de|Nürnberg}})}}. When non-English text should not be italicized, it can still be properly tagged by using the {{tlx|lang}} template with the {{para|italic|unset}} parameter: {{tlx|lang|de|Nürnberg|italic{{=}}unset|Nürnberg}}.

{{crossref|printworthypw=y|For italicization and other markup of introduced terms, see: {{section link|Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Text formatting#Words as words}}.}}

A place should generally be referred to consistently by the same name as in the title of its article {{crossref|pw=y|(see [[Wikipedia:Naming conventions (geographic names)]])}}. An exception may be made when there is a widely accepted historical English name appropriate to the given context. In cases where such a historical name is used, it should be followed by the modern{{efn|name=recent}} name in round brackets (parentheses) on the first occurrence of the name in applicable sections of the article. This resembles linking; it should not be done to the detriment of style. On the other hand, it is probably better to provide such a variant too often than too rarely. If more than one historical name is applicable for a given context, the other names should be added after the modern English name, that is: "historical name (modern name, other historical names)".

:'''Cologne''' ({{lang-langx|de|Köln|link=no}}, IPA: {{IPA|[kœln]}}) is the&nbsp;...

*Use proper wiki markup- or template-based list code {{crossref|pw=y|(see [[Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Lists]] and [[Help:List]])}}.

'''Initial capitalization''': Wikipedia's [[MediaWiki]] software does not require that wikilinks begin with an upper-case character. Capitalize the first letter only where this is naturally called for, or when specifically referring to the linked article by its name (see also related rule for [[Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Text formatting#Uses of italics that are specific to Wikipedia|italics in cross-references]]): {{xt|[[Snake]]s are often [[venomous]], but [[lizard]]s only rarely {{crossreferencecrossref|(see [[Poison]])}}.}}

Modifications in font size, blank space, and color {{crossref|pw=y|(see {{section link||Color coding}})}} are an issue for the Wikipedia site-wide [[Cascading Style Sheets|style sheet]] and should be reserved for special cases only.

*reduces usability, as it may be impossible for people with custom style sheets (e.g. for accessibility reasons) to override it, and may clash with a different [[Skin (computing)|skin]] or inconvenience people with color blindness {{crossref|pw=y|(see below)}}; and

Do not use <code>:</code> ([[description list]] markup) to indent text in articles, even though it is common on talk pages. It causes accessibility problems and outputs invalid HTML. {{Crossrefcrossref|pw=y|See {{section link|Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Accessibility#Indentation}} for alternatives.}}

Elements that can selectively display or hide content can interfere with the ability of readers to access said content. These mechanisms include [[Help:Scrolling list|scrolling list]]s, and templates like {{tlx|collapse}} that can be toggled between collapsed and uncollapsed states using a {{bracket|{{midsizeresize|hide{{\}}show}}}} button. These mechanisms should not be used to conceal "[[Wikipedia:Spoiler|spoiler]]" information. Templates should generally [[Wikipedia:Template namespace#Guidelines|not be used to store article text]] at all, as it interferes with editors' ability to find and edit it. Moreover, content in an article should <em>never</em> be collapsed by default. This applies equally to content in [[Wikipedia:Citing sources#Footnotes|footnotes]], [[Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Tables|tables]], and [[Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Embedded lists|embedded lists]], [[Wikipedia:Image use policy#Image galleries|image galleries]], and [[Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Captions|image captions]].

WhenIf hidingsuch mechanisms are used, care must be taken to ensure the content remains accessible for all users, including [[Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Accessibility#Users with limited CSS or JavaScript support|those with limited CSS or JavaScript support]]. When collapsing is desired, it must be done using the <code>collapsible</code> parameter of relevant templates, or certain manually-added CSS classes <code>mw-collapsed</code>, and <code>autocollapse</code> (see [[Help:Collapsing]]). Other methods of hiding content should not be used, as they may render content inaccessible to many users, such as those browsing Wikipedia with [[JavaScript]] disabled, browsing the mobile version,{{efn|Collapsing content using those classes does not work in the mobile version, where such content is simply always shown. However, applying, or using a template that applies, any of the following CSS classes will cause the affected content to be inaccessible to mobile users, and this list may not be exhaustive: <code>navbox</code>, <code>vertical-navbox</code>, <code>nomobile</code> are from <code>[https://github.com/wikimedia/operations-mediawiki-config/blob/master/wmf-config/InitialiseSettings.php#L17056 wgMFRemovableClasses]</code>. No top icons are displayed, so <code>topicon</code> is missing.}} or using proxy services such as [[Google Web Light]].