The Vault:Item page overhaul project

Item page overhaul project This article is within the scope of the Item page overhaul project. This project is dedicated to improving the quality and layout of articles about items which appear in more than one Fallout game. If you want to participate, please check the project page.

 

	This is the home page of a Vault project. A project is a collaboration of editors improving articles and other content related to a particular subject. For more information, see The Vault:Projects.

The Item page overhaul project is a project which aims to improve the quality and layout of articles about items in all Fallout games, particularly items that appear in more than one game.

After a lengthy discussion about the new policies, we are introducing new format for items (particularly weapons and armor) that can be found in multiple games. Previously, the generic name, like Laser rifle, functioned as a disambiguation page, while the stats for the same item for each game, if a given item was the same in-universe, were listed on the same page (e.g. Wattz 2000 Laser Rifle, with stats for both FO1/2 and for FOT).

In our new version, on the other hand, the generic title is an overview page, like at Laser pistol, and there are separate pages with game-specific info for each game an item of a given type appears in with different stats, regardless of whether it is the same item in-universe, or not. We think that this helps us avoid the pages being cluttered, while pages for each game are still not entirely disconnected from one another.

Scope

All pages in Category:Items and its subcategories, especially weapons and armor.

Guidelines

Game-specific item article

Standard layout items (top)
Layout item	Headline	Required	Explanation
Page management boxes	No	No	Page management templates are used if you notice that something is out of order with a certain article or section and want to bring it to the attention of other editors or administrators. If the issue affects the whole article, these boxes should be placed at the very top of an article; if only a section is affected, they should be placed just below the headline of the respective section. The only exception are stub templates; see Stub templates below. For a list of page management boxes, please refer to our template overview or directly to Category:Page management templates.
Project tags	No	No	Projects are joint efforts of editors who work together to improve a set of articles that cover a certain area of interest. Some of these projects have tags or boxes which are placed on the pages which the project affects; these should be placed below the article management boxes.
"For" template	No	No	{{for}} is used to make a reader aware of other articles they may have been looking for when entering the title of the current page.
Infobox	No	Yes	The purpose of infoboxes is to summarize data relating to the article. Infoboxes should appear in the top-right corner of an article. For a list of infobox templates, please refer to our template overview or directly to Category:Infobox templates.
"Games" template	No	Yes	{{Games}} should be placed just below the infobox (if there is one). It produces small icons in the top right corner of an article which allow the reader to see "at a glance" what games or sources the article relates to or is based on. The template should be used in every article; almost no exceptions exist.

Item-specific layout items
Layout item	Headline	Required	Explanation
Lead section	No	Yes	Short summary that usually looks something like this: "{{PAGENAME}} is a weapon in Fallout 3." In general, it should contain: Name of the item (and alternative names) in bold. What type of item it is (weapon, armor, drug, edible etc) with a link to the appropriate overview page for this item and game. Which games this item appears in.
Background	Yes	No	If there is any background story/history for the item.
Characteristics	Yes	Yes	Properties of this item. For drugs, these are the effects. For armor, these include damage resistance, effects and what other items they can be repaired with if any. For weapons, these include damage, special effects, what items they can be repaired with (if any) and general properties (such as what type of weapon it is etc).
Variants	Yes	No	For weapons/armor; list of variants for this item. If the variants have own articles, these should only be linked to. If multiple variants of this item are described in the current article (on Fallout 3 armor pages, for example), a sub-section (with the name of the variant) should be made for each variant.
Location(s)	Yes	No	Location(s) where this item can be found (fixed location(s) only, no random spawns).
Related quests	Yes	No	If there are quests which are related to this item, list them here (just link them, no need to go into detail).
Notes	Yes	No	For interesting things about the item which do not fit into the other categories. Try to keep this section to a minimum.

Standard layout items (bottom)
Layout item	Headline	Required	Explanation
Behind the scenes	Yes	No	"Behind the scenes" is the place for information relating to game development and cultural references. See The Vault:Content policy#Behind the scenes for additional information.
Bugs	Yes	No	Game glitches, short "bugs", relating to the article subject should be here. See The Vault:Content policy#Bugs for additional information.
Gallery	Yes	No	If an article contains a lot of images, it is often better to place them in an own gallery section than to have them clutter the article. Please see Help:Gallery on how to use galleries and our image policy.
Videos	Yes	No	If an article contains embedded videos, they are to be placed here. See our video policy for which kind of videos are eligible to be placed in articles.
See also	Yes	No	The purpose of this section is to list links to related topics on this wiki which may not have been linked within the article content.
External links	Yes	No	Links to external (i.e. off-wiki) sites which are not references should be just above "References".
References	Yes	No	If references have been used in an article, {{references}} should be placed here.
Stub template	No	No	A stub template marks an article as being too short to provide more than rudimentary information about a subject.
Navboxes	No	No	Navboxes are navigational aids which allow easy access to other articles in a group the current article belongs to. They should be placed at the end of an article, just above the categories. The most article-specific navboxes should be highest and the least-specific lowest. A list of navboxes can be found in Category:Navbox templates. New navboxes can be constructed with {{Navbox}}.
Categories and interwiki links	No	Yes	Categories and interwiki links should be added at the very end of an article. A full list of categories can be found on Special:Categories. For additional information, please see our categorization guideline.

Overview article for multi-game items

Layout
Section headline	required?	Content
	Yes	{{Games}} template
	Yes	{{Gamearticlelist}} template with all variants listed. See the template documentation on how to use this template.
	Yes	Short summary which contains (at least): Name of the item (and alternative names) in bold. What type of item it is (weapon, armor etc).
Background	No	If there is general background history for this item (and not specific models or variants), it goes here. For example, Power armor would be an item with general background history.
Variants	Yes	Make a sub-headline for each model of this item. Place {{Gamearticle}} at the top of each subsection; see the template documentation on how to use this template. The headline should be named like the model is called in "lore" (e.g. "AEP7 Laser Pistol"). If the exact model is not known, use a descriptive name (e.g. "Drum-Magazine Combat Shotgun"). Place <section begin="name goes here" /> right after {{Gamearticle}} and <section end="name goes here" /> at the end of the section about this model. This is necessary for transcluding the sections in the game-specific articles. Keep the description general; do not include game-specific details (e.g. do not include stuff like "This item has a damage of 40 in Fallout 2"). Think of it as a "lore" section or an "outsourced" background section. If known, mention things like the manufacturer, users, general technical background etc.
Behind the scenes	No	For out-of-game references and similar stuff (if there are any which apply to the item or certain models in general)
Gallery	No	Cluttering the article with too many images should be avoided. Instead, place them in a gallery at the end if applicable.

Participants

To participate, simply add your name below using {{userlink|your user name}}. Place every participant on a new line. The list is alphabetized (with the exception of the project leader). Please add your username to the list appropriately.

• Ausir (talk · contribs) - project leader

• -bleep196- (talk · contribs)

• GhostAvatar (talk · contribs)

• GuardianOfTheWastes (talk · contribs)

• Tagaziel (talk · contribs)

• Nitpicker of the Wastes (talk · contribs)

• Shadowrunner56 (talk · contribs)

• Ant2242 (talk · contribs)

Inactive Participants

• Courier of the Wastes (talk · contribs)

• Gauzz Rifle (talk · contribs)

• Jspoelstra (talk · contribs)

• Kingclyde (talk · contribs)

Progress

• Add your name to the tasks you are currently working on (simply insert {{repeat}} ~~~, this adds your signature without date)
• Mark tasks you have completed with {{yes}} ~~~
• Once all other tasks have been completed, someone else should review the result. This is done to ensure nothing has been overlooked. If that has been done, add {{yes}} ~~~ to the "peer review" and "all done" columns.