User:Dagg/Article types

Characteristics:

• Bulleted lists or very simple tables
• Organized into sections
• Some pictures; usually zero or one picture per section. Each item does not have a picture.

Sub-types:

• Season - Sectioned by season, and sorted by episode
• Character - Sectioned by character, and sorted by episode
• Alphabetized - Short lists of alphebetized articles (like disambiguation articles)
• Other - Sectioned by type (e.g., animal), and sorted by episode

Benefits:

• Simple for viewers to quickly navigate to main articles (if there is any)
• Easiest type of article for editors to maintain

What to look out for:

• Will become unorganized over time, and will need cleaned up. Making the rules for the article easily apparent to editors can help this issue.

Examples:

• Dreams and visions (example of season subtype)
• Kissing (example of season subtype)
• Parent issues (example of season subtype)
• Redemption (example of season subtype)
• Episode list (example of season subtype, organized as a simple table)
• Nicknames (example of character subtype)
• Dog (example of alphabetized subtype)
• Hotels and motels (example of other subtype)

Characteristics:

• Each item in the list has related characteristics that can be described in separate fields.
• Each item has its own header, and usually one representative picture.
• Often uses the Template:Sectionbox template, or one of its children.
• The majority of the items do not have their own article pages (see also: #Structured portal).

Sub-types:

• Mini-articles - A list of things that do not have their own article pages
• Mixture - A few items in the list have their own article pages

Benefits:

• Information is structured for the viewer
• Since the same formatting is used for each item in the list, editors do not need to worry as much about the presentation of the item.

What to look out for:

• Organizing all the fields can be confusing for editors. Using a template can help, but can also scare away new editors.
• The article may become very large and unmanageable as a single article (e.g., Character secrets).
• The TOC can get very long.
• Articles with the subtype mixture can cause confusion for both viewers and editors: Which items are merely summaries of the main article, and which items are mini-articles? Items with their own article should be highlighted in some way.

Examples:

• A-Missions (example of mini-articles subtype)
• Deceptions and cons (example of mini-articles subtype)
• Rivalries (example of mini-articles subtype)

Characteristics:

• Each item contains a title, small image, and an optional very brief summary

Sub-types:

• Chart - A chart of titled images that link to main articles. A summary is not included.
• Mini-gallery - A list of items, with tiny representative pictures. Each item can have a very brief summary.

Benefits:

• Simple for end users to find main articles
• Can be visually appealing

What to look out for:

• Editors must create and maintain the required images

Examples:

• Themes (example of chart subtype)
• Flashback characters (example of mini-gallery subtype)

Characteristics:

• Same as the #Structured list, but most or all of the items also have main articles.

Sub-types:

• none

Benefits:

• Same as a #Structured list

What to look out for:

• Same issues as a #Structured list and the same issues as a #Simple portal
• The structured information could be redundant to the information in its children articles. Editors may have to manage the same information in multiple places.
• A structured portal could make it hard for people to get to the main article: 1. User finds structured portal page; 2. User clicks TOC link which shows the user a summary; 3. User clicks link in summary which finally shows the main article. This is a bad experience if the user is forced to do this repeatedly.

Examples:

• Literary works
• Medical personnel
• Season 1
• Season 2
• Season 3

Characteristics:

• Multiple paragraphs of related information.
• Organized into sections.
• Contains some lists when appropriate.

Sub-types:

• none

Benefits:

• Tells a story most effectively

What to look out for:

• Hard for editors to add new information
• Editors must follow existing conventions of previous writer, or must rewrite whole article to follow a new convention

Examples:

• "I Do", and all other article pages
• John Locke, and all other character pages