Legacy Portable Computing Wiki:Style guide

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In order to maintain a consistent appearance between articles and to make reading easier, we enforce a style guide that all device pages should follow.

Note that this is a list of guidelines, not a tutorial for creating pages. For that, see the Page-writing guide and the MediaWiki manual.

Page naming

The name of a page must follow these guidelines:

• Only includes the base model of the phone, not any variants. Note that variants and alternative names can have their own pages that redirect to the base model's page. If a phone is known by multiple model numbers and a base model cannot be decided, choose the model that you're most familiar with (for example the model that you own).
  • Bad: Nokia 6610 / 6610i / 6560 / 6585
  • Good: Nokia 6610
• Name is capitalized and styled correctly (like in the manufacturer's official documentation)
  • Bad: Samsung galaxy s3
  • Good: Samsung Galaxy S III
• The most common name of the phone is used - if a phone is most often referred to by its nickname, use that instead of the model number.
  • Acceptable: Samsung SGH-T479
  • Better: Samsung Gravity 3

Lead section

The lead section consists of the first few paragraphs of a page, before any other section.

The very first sentence of a device page should mention the brand and model, type identifier (mainly for Nokia phones), and the codename if it's known. These elements should be marked in bold. The first sentence introduces the device, telling the most essential information like its form factor, network(s) and/or price class. The announcement and release dates should be specified here, if known. Here are some examples:

• The Nokia 2630 (type RM-298, codenamed Barracuda) is a low-end GSM candybar phone announced in May 2007 and released in July of the same year.
• The Sony Ericsson K750 (codenamed Clara) is a high-end camera phone released in June 2005.
• The Samsung SGH-E250 is an entry-level slider-type mobile phone by Samsung, released in October of 2006.

The other sentences in the lead section are for describing the device's design, main features, innovations, marketing, differences to other similar models, etc. They should not focus too much on specs, but a few of the most important or unique specifications can be included there.

For inspiration, you can look at these pages: Sony Ericsson T600, Siemens SL45, Nokia 7710.

Other sections

The other sections of the page go into more detail about specific parts of the device. Some of them can be left out if they are not applicable or known, but at least the specs should be included. Generally the sections follow this order:

• (lead section)
• (optional sections containing base-level information about the device, for example Issues)
• Variants
• Related phones
• Specs
• (optional sections with more technical information, such as dial codes or modding, examples: 1, 2, 3)
• Pre-loaded content
• Accessories
• Gallery
• References
• External links

Variants

The Variants section contains a list of devices which are very similar variations of the device you're writing about. A variant is defined as a device which has nearly or fully identical hardware and design to the base model. If a device doesn't qualify as a variant, it goes into the Related phones section.

The variants list should be formatted as a bullet point list with the model marked in bold. The brand doesn't need to be included unless it's different from the base model.

If the list of variants grows longer than a few lines and they have more differences to the base model, a table can also be used (examples: 1, 2). This is for more advanced editors.

Related phones

The related phones list (which can also be named something like "Related devices" if the subject is not a mobile phone) is similar to the variants list, but it contains links to the devices. Links should be included even if the target page doesn't exist - red links only encourage others to create the missing page. Related phones include the predecessor, successor, and other similar phones which do not qualify as variants.

Specs

The specifications should use the provided PhoneSpecs templates which can be found here. See the Page-writing guide on how to fill out the specs, these are just further instructions on how to format them correctly.

Common rules

• If multiple variants of the same device have a differing specification, the difference should be indicated by using line breaks (<br>) to separate each value. Write the corresponding model number(s) in bold at the start of each line. See this example.
• If a specification (for example a camera) is missing from some variant(s) of the device, it can be marked with a remark like this.
• If a phone does not have a certain feature, that field should be specified as "No" rather than leaving it blank. There are some exceptions to this, for example it's fairly obvious that a brick phone from 1995 wouldn't have a front camera. Platform specific application runtimes are another exception.

Basics

• HW and SW platforms: A link to a relevant hardware and software platform page should be included, if one exists or could be created. For the hardware platform, add a description of the CPU core type and frequency, which can often be found in the corresponding hardware platform article.
• Connectors: Add a link to a relevant connector article. Generally only one or two of these fields should be specified - use cdconn if the connector can both charge and transmit data, chargeconn if it's only for charging, and dataconn if the connector can only do data transfer without charging.
• Regulatory info: For FCC IDs, use the fccid template along with an approval date in YYYY-MM-DD format (same as used by the fcc.report website). Other regulatory IDs can also be specified (examples: 1, 2).

Media

• Rear and front cameras: Include a megapixel count (or something like VGA for 0.3 MP), optionally an exact resolution, type of focus (fixed or auto), type of flash if included, and any software features supported by the camera (for example night mode, self timer, effects). If the camera has more than a couple of extra features, use a line split (<br>) before the list of features (example).
• Synthesizer: Link to a relevant synth article.

Software

• Do not write a question mark or "Unknown" on any of the Software fields, as it will be added to the "Devices capable of running ..." category anyway. If support for a certain platform is unknown, leave the field blank.
• Java: Use three lines separated by <br>s, like in this example.
  • First line: specify the MIDP and CLDC versions, as well as the runtime version if applicable (for example the Sony Ericsson Java Platform version).
  • Second line: specify the maximum allowed JAR size with the text "Max JAR size:" before it.
  • Third line: specify the maximum heap size with the text "Heap size:" before it.
• Java APIs: Use the JSR template to list the supported Java JSR numbers. The JSR template only supports numbers, any notes can be added after the template. Multiple JSR templates can also be chained together with extra info in between them. If the phone supports any proprietary APIs, include them too. See this example.
• BREW and MediaTek MRE: Leave these blank for devices where they aren't relevant.

Pre-loaded content

This section is for content such as apps, games, themes, ringtones, etc. which are preinstalled on the device. Each type of content gets its own sub-heading here.

The content of each sub-heading should be written as a bullet-point list. If there is more information about each item, like screenshots of a theme or composer info for ringtones, use a table instead (example).

Accessories

The accessories section includes accessories such as batteries, chargers, headsets, data cables, etc. which are either included in the device's package or are known to be compatible with it. Each type of accessory gets its own sub-heading. Use bullet-point lists.

Batteries

A list of batteries which are confirmed to work with the device and can be charged while in the device. Each item should include the following, if known:

• Battery model (if not known, this can be "???"), should be a link to a battery page
• Voltage
• Capacity in mAh
• Chemical composition, such as NiMH or Li-ion

A list item should be formatted as:

• Battery model (voltage, capacity composition)
• Nokia BL-5C (3.7 V, 1020 mAh Li-ion)

Gallery

A single gallery element or a list of multiple gallery elements with sub-headings. If using multiple gallery elements, the pictures should be sorted according to the type of picture, for example:

• Phone: Pictures of the phone's design.
• Screenshots: Pictures of the display or direct screenshots. If there are a lot of them, they can be further separated, for example UI and Games.
• Box: Pictures of the retail box.

If the page covers multiple device or color variants, each one can get its own section (examples: 1, 2).

Use the widths and heights parameters to control the size of the pictures - a good width is 150px, and the height should be decided based on the aspect ratio of the pictures.

For example, for 9:16 portrait pictures: <gallery widths=150px heights=265px> ... pictures here ... </gallery>

Categories

All phone pages must be included in a category for that brand's phones. A list of existing categories can be found here, but non-existing categories can be used for previously undocumented brands. Same applies for tablets and other device types.

Carrier categories can be included for phones that were available branded to specific mobile networks. Make sure you use the correct category names by checking the list of carrier categories. If you want to add a category that isn't listed there, choose an appropriate name for the category.