Wikiquote:Guide to layout/Television formatting

Following are formatting guidelines for television shows generally, with helpful shortcuts for specific shows.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Buffy the Vampire Slayer uses a common Wikiquote TV-show formatting scheme that provides unambiguous attribution of quotes in a dialog format, includes Wikipedia links to character pages, and organizes all quotes in chronological order, grouped by episode. The additional overhead of maintaining such organization can be intimidating for new editors, or even regular wiki editors who are used to one-line quotes, often without attribution.

This format page describes the formatting practices and provides text that allows editors to copy-and-paste format elements into the main article. It also describes how and where to add new quotes, especially if one doesn't know where the quote belongs.

Putting quotes in order
This quote page is divided into seasons and episodes. To add a quote, first find the relevant episode and copy the formatting of an existing quote as a starting point. If you don't know the episode, place it in the Unknown episode section near the bottom of the page and someone'll put it in the right place.

Second, look up the quote in a transcript (Buffyworld.com or Buffy-vs-angel.com) and find where in the episode it belongs. The order in which quotes appear in an episode is important.

Inserting the quote
Many great quotes from the show are dialogues, which confound usual quote formatting. If the following instructions are too much, use the simplified version:


 * :Xander: Angel was in your bedroom?!
 * :Willow: Ours is a forbidden love.

Above all, remember the initial colon and the blank line between different quotes. Someone will pretty it up later. Or you can create


 * Xander: Angel was in your bedroom?!
 * Willow: Ours is a forbidden love.
 * Xander: ...

by typing


 * :Xander: Angel was in your bedroom?!
 * :Willow: Ours is a forbidden love.
 * :Xander: ...

It works as follows:
 * The colon indents the quote.
 * The triple apostrophes ( ''' ) surrounding the character name make the name bold.
 * The double brackets ( ... ) make the character name a Wiki link, so you can click on the character for more information. A list of these links is provided in the next section.
 * The expression "w:Character's FullName|" links to Wikipedia, where most if not all of the Buffy characters have entries. Do it for the first occurrence of each character per episode. Notice the second Xander line above.

Don't add any blank line within a dialogue quote, but do add one between two quotes. Buffy:Fromnow on,every girl who might be a slayer,will be a slayer.Every girl who could have the power,will have the power

Character list
Here is a set of preformatted character names that, if you paste it into your quotes, will provide full formatting and linking abilities, including disambiguation for common names. They're separated into regular and recurring characters, and sorted by the names they're typically called in the show.


 * REGULAR CHARACTERS
 * :Angel
 * :Anya
 * :Buffy
 * :Cordelia
 * :Dawn
 * :Drusilla
 * :Giles
 * :Oz
 * :Riley
 * :Spike
 * :Tara
 * :Willow
 * :Xander


 * RECURRING CHARACTERS
 * :Adam
 * :Amy
 * :Andrew
 * :Ben
 * :Buffybot
 * :Caleb
 * :Clem
 * :Darla
 * :Devon
 * :D'Hoffryn
 * :Drusilla
 * :Ethan
 * :Faith
 * :The First
 * :Glory
 * :Halfrek
 * :Harmony
 * :Jenny
 * :Ms. Calendar
 * :Jonathan
 * :Joyce
 * :Kendra
 * :Kennedy
 * :Larry
 * :Maggie Walsh
 * :The Master
 * :The Mayor
 * :Mr. Trick
 * :Principal Flutie
 * :Principal Snyder
 * :Principal Wood
 * :Quentin Travers
 * :Warren
 * :Wesley
 * :Willy

Contexts for quotes
Longer dialogues may require explanations, but please make any comment succinct. Italicize it and put braces around it. To insert:


 * [Willow, sleeping over an open book, bolts upright.]

type


 * :[Willow, sleeping over an open book, bolts upright.]

Separating dialog segments
In order to make the article clearer without adding too much blank space for one skin, use the following HTML between each pair of dialog sections:


 * &lt;hr width="50%"/&gt;

The standard Wiki line markup " " looks exactly like the horizontal lines in Monobook headings. The Monobook skin that is the default for anonymous and registered users makes it difficult to see separations made with the Classic skin and its stylesheet. Other solutions only work for specific skins, too.

Adding accurate quotes
Please verify quotes by watching the episodes whenever possible to confirm them. Otherwise, check highly reliable sources like buffy-vs-angel.com or Buffyworld.com. Try to leave out stage directions.

IMDb is atrociously error-prone. Use it only as a starting point.

The Cleveland Show
The Cleveland Show uses a common Wikiquote TV-show formatting scheme that provides unambiguous attribution of quotes in a dialog format, includes Wikipedia links to character pages, and organizes all quotes grouped by episode. The additional overhead of maintaining such organization can be intimidating for new editors.

This format page describes the formatting practices and provides text that allows editors to copy-and-paste format elements into the main article. It also describes how and where to add new quotes, especially if one doesn't know where the quote belongs.

Organization
For maximum information content and readability, all quotes are listed in their respective episodes. If you don't know which episode a quote belongs to, but you know the character who uttered it, add it to their sub-section in the Unknown episode section.

Other editors that monitor this page frequently will review the new quotes and move them into the correct position.

Basic quote formatting
MediaWiki, the software used to operate Wikiquote, does not provide convenient formatting for dialog. Many variations of HTML and wiki markup have been tested, but the following guidelines used on this page have achieved considerable popularity. (NOTE: These guidelines can be overwhelming in their entirety. See Shortcuts below on how to get started.)


 * Each block of dialog is seperated by the following HTML divider:
 *   
 * This divider seperates dialog blocks with a half-page-width horizontal lines that distinguishes the blocks from the full-page-width lines that mark section headings.


 * Each dialog segment consists of one or more text lines in the following format:
 *  :Cleveland: Ohh, it can't get any worse than this. 
 *  :Cleveland, Jr.: [upstairs] Daddy, can you come wipe me? 
 *  :Cleveland: Ohh. 
 * This is displayed by Wikiquote like so:
 * Cleveland: Ohh, it can't get any worse than this.
 * Cleveland, Jr.: [upstairs] Daddy, can you come wipe me?
 * Cleveland: Ohh.
 * Note the following:
 * Each line is intended by a colon . This is required to prevent multiple lines from being combined by the wiki software.
 * Each character's name is bolded by surrounding it with three apostrophes ( ''' ).
 * Each character name is fully capitalized (i.e., uppercase every first letter) and is followed by a colon outside the bolding.
 * Optional context lines are italicized by surrounding them with two apostrophes ( '' ). The text itself is surrounded by [brackets]. They should be complete sentences whenever possible. Context lines do not describe what the quotes are about, but rather describe the setting. They should be short, and be used sparingly. In general, the quotes should speak for themselves.
 * Optional stage directions (like [quietly]) are like context lines, except they should be as short as possible and are never complete sentences. They are used to indicate a speaking style or gesture that is crucial to understanding the quote.

Shortcuts
The most important element of Wikiquote articles is, of course, the quotes themselves. If you are just getting started contributing to these highly formatted quote pages, or you feel it's too much work, you can add a quote or dialog segment with only a slight amount of formatting and no context or stage directions:
 * :Cleveland: Statement.
 * :Tim the Bear: Retort.</tt>
 * which will look like this:
 * Cleveland: Statement.
 * Tim the Bear: Retort.

In additional to the quoted text, this minimal formatting ensures that each dialog line is on a seperate physical line, and each line is attributed to a character. The editors who regularly monitor this article can add the rest of the formatting at a later date. But we encourage you to learn the basic rules as you get comfortable, and use the character-list text to provide readers with links to the characters' Wikipedia articles.

What quotes to add
The purpose of Wikiquote is to provide quotes that are memorable as presented in text form on a page. It cannot do justice to quotes that are interesting because of accompanying visual imagery or sounds that cannot be briefly and usefully described. It is also not a source for full transcriptions of programs or even of entire scenes. (The former is the province of fan sites; both it and the latter are technically copyright violations, which Wikiquote does not accept.) Please bear in mind when considering adding a quote whether the quote would be interesting to someone who has never seen the show, and has no means to see it. In other words, make sure the quote's "interest factor" can be demonstrated by the quote itself, with at most only a little contextual information. One expection may be notorious one-line or similarly short quotes that somehow exemplify the show itself, like a motto or a catch phrase.

To avoid copyright violations, only two quotes per 30-minute episode may be included. (See Limits on quotations).

Verifying quotes
Editors providing quotes for TV shows and films should note that the vast majority of quote websites are notoriously inaccurate. Even well-respected sources like IMDb are plagued with quotes that people add as they remember them, not as they observe and verify by examining the program from which the quotes are taken. Even reviewing the program, on must consider how it may have been edited for telecast or presented in some form other than a canonical version (e.g., edited for time and/or content, deleted scenes from a DVD, alternate endings). And different people may watch the same scene and think they heard different words. Because of this, please be careful about using quotes from sources other than the original program. If there is any dispute about the accuracy of a quote, please bring it up on the talk page of the main article.

Character list
Below is a set of preformatted character names that can be copied and pasted into quotes to provide full formatting and linking to Wikipedia articles. They are seperated into regular and reccuring characters.


 * REGULAR CHARACTERS
 * :Cleveland:
 * :Cleveland:
 * :Donna:
 * :Donna:
 * :Cleveland, Jr.:
 * :Cleveland, Jr.:
 * :Rallo:
 * :Rallo:
 * :Roberta:
 * :Roberta:
 * :Tim:
 * :Tim:
 * :Holt Richter:
 * :Holt:
 * :Lester:
 * :Lester:


 * RECURRING CHARACTERS
 * :Raymond the Bear:
 * :Arianna the Bear:
 * :Lloyd Waterman:
 * :Gabriel Friedman:
 * :Robert Tubbs:
 * :Terry Kimple:
 * :Ernie Krinklesac:
 * :Kendra Krinklesac:

Family Guy
Family Guy uses a common Wikiquote TV-show formatting scheme that provides unambiguous attribution of quotes in a dialog format, includes Wikipedia links to character pages, and organizes all quotes grouped by episode. The additional overhead of maintaining such organization can be intimidating for new editors.

This format page describes the formatting practices and provides text that allows editors to copy-and-paste format elements into the main article. It also describes how and where to add new quotes, especially if one doesn't know where the quote belongs.

Organization
For maximum information content and readability, all quotes are listed in their respective episodes. If you don't know which episode a quote belongs to, but you know the character who uttered it, add it to their sub-section in the Unknown episode section.

Other editors that monitor this page frequently will review the new quotes and move them into the correct position.

Basic quote formatting
MediaWiki, the software used to operate Wikiquote, does not provide convenient formatting for dialog. Many variations of HTML and wiki markup have been tested, but the following guidelines used on this page have achieved considerable popularity. (NOTE: These guidelines can be overwhelming in their entirety. See Shortcuts below on how to get started.)


 * Each block of dialog is separated by the following HTML divider:
 * <tt> <hr width="50%"/> </tt>
 * This divider separates dialog blocks with a half-page-width horizontal line that distiguishes the blocks from the full-page-width lines that mark section headings.


 * Each dialog segment consists of one or more text lines in the following format:
 * <tt> :[after sniffing another dog's butt] </tt>
 * <tt> :Brian: I thought I smelled cookies. </tt>
 * <tt> :Mort Goldman: Wow! Does it really smell like... Oh, God! She farted and it went down my throat! </tt>
 * This is displayed by Wikiquote like so:
 * [after sniffing another dog's butt]
 * Brian: I thought I smelled...cookies.
 * Mort Goldman: Wow! Does it really smell like... Oh, God! She farted, and it went down my throat!
 * Note the following:
 * Each line is indented by a colon . This is required to prevent multiple lines from being combined by the wiki software.
 * Each character's name is bolded by surrounding it with three apostrophes (<tt> ''' </tt>).
 * Each character name is fully capitalized (i.e., uppercase every first letter) and is followed by a colon outside the bolding.
 * Optional context lines are italicized by surrounding them with two apostrophes (<tt> '' </tt>). The text itself is surrounded by [brackets]. They should be complete sentences whenever possible. Context lines do not describe what the quotes are about, but rather describe the setting. They should be short, and be used sparingly. In general, the quotes should speak for themselves.
 * Optional stage directions (like [quietly]) are like context lines, except they should be as short as possible and are never complete sentences. They are used to indicate a speaking style or gesture that is crucial to understanding the quote.

Shortcuts
The most important element of Wikiquote articles is, of course, the quotes themselves. If you are just getting started contributing to these highly formatted quote pages, or you feel it's too much work, you can add a quote or dialog segment with only a slight amount of formatting and no context or stage directions:
 * <tt>:Peter: Statement.</tt>
 * <tt>:Brian: Retort.</tt>
 * which will look like this:
 * Peter: Statement.
 * Brian: Retort.

In additional to the quoted text, this minimal formatting ensures that each dialog line is on a separate physical line, and each line is attributed to a character. The editors who regularly monitor this article can add the rest of the formatting at a later date. But we encourage you to learn the basic rules as you get comfortable, and use the character-list text to provide readers with links to the characters' Wikipedia articles.

What quotes to add
The purpose of Wikiquote is to provide quotes that are memorable as presented in text form on a page. It cannot do justice to quotes that are interesting because of accompanying visual imagery or sounds that cannot be briefly and usefully described. It is also not a source for full transcriptions of programs or even of entire scenes. (The former is the province of fan sites; both it and the latter are technically copyright violations, which Wikiquote does not accept.) Please bear in mind when considering adding a quote whether the quote would be interesting to someone who has never seen the show, and has no means to see it. In other words, make sure the quote's "interest factor" can be demonstrated by the quote itself, with at most only a little contextual information. One exception may be notorious one-line or similarly short quotes that somehow exemplify the show itself, like a motto or a catch phrase.

To avoid copyright violations, only two quotes per 30-minute episode may be included. (See Limits on quotations).

Verifying quotes
Editors providing quotes for TV shows and films should note that the vast majority of quote websites are notoriously inaccurate. Even well-respected sources like IMDb are plagued with quotes that people add as they remember them, not as they observe and verify by examining the program from which the quotes are taken. Even reviewing the program, one must consider how it may have been edited for telecast or presented in some form other than a canonical version (e.g., edited for time and/or content, deleted scenes from a DVD, alternate endings). And different people may watch the same scene and think they heard different words. Because of this, please be careful about using quotes from sources other than the original program. If there is any dispute about the accuracy of a quote, please bring it up on the talk page of the main article.

Character list
Below is a set of preformatted character names that can be copied and pasted into quotes to provide full formatting and linking to Wikipedia articles. They are separated into regular and recurring characters.


 * REGULAR CHARACTERS
 * :Peter:
 * :Peter:
 * :Lois:
 * :Lois:
 * :Stewie:
 * :Stewie:
 * :Meg:
 * :Meg:
 * :Chris:
 * :Chris:
 * :Brian:
 * :Brian:
 * :Joe:
 * :Joe:
 * :Cleveland:
 * :Cleveland:
 * :Quagmire:
 * :Quagmire:


 * RECURRING CHARACTERS
 * :Diane Simmons:
 * :Tom Tucker:
 * :Tricia Takanawa:

Firefly
Firefly uses a common Wikiquote TV-show formatting scheme that provides unambiguous attribution of quotes in a dialog format, includes Wikipedia links to character pages, and organizes all quotes in chronological order, grouped by episode. The additional overhead of maintaining such organization can be intimidating for new editors, or even regular wiki editors who are used to one-line quotes, often without attribution.

This format page describes the formatting practices and provides text that allows editors to copy-and-paste format elements into the main article. It also describes how and where to add new quotes, especially if one doesn't know where the quote belongs.

Organization
For maximum information content and readability, all quotes are organized by episode and listed in the order they appear within each episode. Since many editors may not know where a quote belongs, the following guidelines are provided:


 * 1) If you don't know which episode a quote belongs to, add it to the end of the Unknown episode section.
 * 2) If you know the episode, but are not sure when it occurs within the episode, add it to the end of the episode's section.

Other editors that monitor this page frequently will review the new quotes and move them into the correct position.

Basic quote formatting
MediaWiki, the software used to operate Wikiquote, does not provide convenient formatting for dialog. Many variations of HTML and wiki markup have been tested, but the following guidelines used on this page have achieved considerable popularity. (NOTE: These guidelines can be overwhelming in their entirety. See Shortcuts below on how to get started.)


 * Each block of dialog is separated by the following HTML divider:
 * <tt> <hr width="50%"/> </tt>
 * This divider separates dialog blocks with a half-page-width horizontal line that distiguishes the blocks from the full-page-width lines that mark section headings.


 * Each dialog segment consists of one or more text lines in the following format:
 * <tt> :[Mal confronts Niska's henchman in the cargo hold.] </tt>
 * <tt> :Mal: This is my part of the dialog. </tt>
 * <tt> :Niska Henchman: [quietly] And this is my response. </tt>
 * This is displayed by Wikiquote like so:
 * [Mal confronts Niska's henchman in the cargo hold.]
 * Mal: This is my part of the dialog.
 * Niska Henchman: [quietly] And this is my response.
 * Note the following:
 * Each line is indented by a colon . This is required to prevent multiple lines from being combined by the wiki software.
 * Each character's name is bolded by surrounding it with three apostrophes (<tt> ''' </tt>).
 * Each character name is fully capitalized (i.e., uppercase every first letter) and is followed by a colon outside the bolding.
 * Optional context lines are italicized by surrounding them with two apostrophes (<tt> '' </tt>). The text itself is surrounded by [brackets]. They should be complete sentences whenever possible. Context lines do not describe what the quotes are about, but rather describe the setting. They should be short, and be used sparingly. In general, the quotes should speak for themselves.
 * Optional stage directions (like [quietly]) are like context lines, except they should be as short as possible and are never complete sentences. They are used to indicate a speaking style or gesture that is crucial to understanding the quote.


 * Regular characters and some recurring characters may have embedded Wikipedia links, so readers can click on them to read the corresponding Wikipedia articles. They look like this while editing:
 * <tt> :Wash: Hello? </tt>
 * and look like this when displayed by Wikiquote:
 * Wash: Hello?
 * They should only be used for the first quote in which the character appears in each episode, to reduce the formatting effort. See Character list below for a copy-and-pasteable list of common characters.

Shortcuts
The most important element of Wikiquote articles is, of course, the quotes themselves. If you are just getting started contributing to these highly formatted quote pages, or you feel it's too much work, you can add a quote or dialog segment with only a slight amount of formatting and no context or stage directions:
 * <tt>:Mal: This is my part of the dialog.</tt>
 * <tt>:Niska Henchman: And this is my response.</tt>
 * which will look like this:
 * Mal: This is my part of the dialog.
 * Niska Henchman: And this is my response.

In additional to the quoted text, this minimal formatting ensures that each dialog line is on a separate physical line, and each line is attributed to a character. The editors who regularly monitor this article can add the rest of the formatting at a later date. But we encourage you to learn the basic rules as you get comfortable, and use the character-list text to provide readers with links to the characters' Wikipedia articles.

What quotes to add
The purpose of Wikiquote is to provide quotes that are memorable as presented in text form on a page. It cannot do justice to quotes that are interesting because of accompanying visual imagery or sounds that cannot be briefly and usefully described. It is also not a source for full transcriptions of programs or even of entire scenes. (The former is the province of fan sites; both it and the latter are technically copyright violations, which Wikiquote does not accept.) Please bear in mind when considering adding a quote whether the quote would be interesting to someone who has never seen the show, and has no means to see it. In other words, make sure the quote's "interest factor" can be demonstrated by the quote itself, with at most only a little contextual information. One exception may be notorious one-line or similarly short quotes that somehow exemplify the show itself, like a motto or a catch phrase. Consider, in this case, if someone might think of an odd expression (like "Hi-keeba!") and wonder where it comes from (Mystery Science Theater 3000, taken from Women of the Prehistoric Planet).

Verifying quotes
Editors providing quotes for TV shows and films should note that the vast majority of quote websites are notoriously inaccurate. Even well-respected sources like IMDb are plagued with quotes that people add as they remember them, not as they observe and verify by examining the program from which the quotes are taken. Even reviewing the program, one must consider how it may have been edited for telecast or presented in some form other than a canonical version (e.g., edited for time and/or content, deleted scenes from a DVD, alternate endings). And different people may watch the same scene and think they heard different words. Because of this, please be careful about using quotes from sources other than the original program. If there is any dispute about the accuracy of a quote, please bring it up on the talk page of the main article.

Character list
Below is a set of preformatted character names that can be copied and pasted into quotes to provide full formatting and linking to Wikipedia articles. They are separated into regular and recurring characters.


 * REGULAR CHARACTERS
 * :Mal:
 * :Zoë:
 * :Wash:
 * :Inara:
 * :Kaylee:
 * :Jayne:
 * :Simon:
 * :River:
 * :Book:


 * RECURRING CHARACTERS
 * :Badger:
 * :Niska:
 * :Saffron:

As mentioned above in Basic quote formatting, these fully linked character attributions should only be used once per episode for each character, whenever the quoted character first enters the dialog. (If you find yourself adding a quote before the first dialog segment in an episode, you can add the fully linked version or not if you wish. Someone will likely come along and tweak it if necessary.)

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure
JoJo uses a format based off of the general TV series formatting scheme, but due to the nature of the series, deviates slightly from it.

Adding Quotes
The page is divided into parts, and from there, into story arcs. Dialogue, monologues, and the like should be put in their respective arc or episode, while phrases a character may be known for can be included in Catchphrases (i.e. muda muda, wry, or eat shit, asshole! Fall off your horse!. Be sure to put everything where it belongs, and if adding a new section for a spin-off, add it underneath the main parts (Phantom Blood through JoJolion.)

Typical TV formatting is used for quotes.
 * :Jonathan: Dialogue should be typed like this. The apostrophes bold the character's name, while the first colon indents the quote.
 * :[Actions and context look like this. Apostrophes italicize the text, while the colon indents it.]

Use <hr width=50%/> to separate quotes within a single story arc or episode.

Verifying Quotes
Whenever possible, verify them! You can use existing references where possible (check the references to see if the one you need is already named!), or, if adding new references, use these formats:

Replace 'sdc' and 'Stardust Crusaders' with the appropriate abbreviation. PB should be used for Phantom Blood, BT for Battle Tendency, and DiU for Diamond is Unbreakable. Include the year(s) that the anime sesdon aired.

Use the total volume or chapter number, rather than the volume number of the actual part. (i.e. Vol.87, instead of Vol.11.)

Naming Conventions
Because of inconsistent translations into English as well as copyright issues, different variations of names exist out there. We'd like to have only one form of the same name used consistently throughout the article. The names used should be the ones the characters are called throughout the series; not necessarily their first names. If you aren't sure which name is correct, refer to this article.

Veronica Mars
Most of the guidelines in Firefly (TV series)/Format apply. The only substantially different thing is the character list:


 * MAIN CHARACTERS
 * CURRENT
 * :Veronica
 * :Logan
 * :Wallace
 * :Dick
 * :Parker
 * :Piz
 * :Mac
 * :Weevil
 * :Keith
 * FORMER
 * :Ms. Dent
 * :Duncan
 * :Beaver
 * :Jackie
 * :Lamb


 * RECURRING CHARACTERS
 * FAMILY
 * :Kendall
 * :Terrence
 * :Aaron
 * :Lynn
 * :Trina
 * :Alicia
 * :Celeste
 * :Jake
 * :Lilly
 * :Lianne
 * NEPTUNE HIGH
 * :Clemmons
 * :Butters
 * :Corny
 * :Gia
 * :Hannah
 * :Ms. James
 * :Meg
 * :Madison
 * :Felix
 * :Troy
 * HEARST COLLEGE
 * :Tim
 * :Mercer
 * :Landry
 * :Dean O'Dell
 * RESIDENTS OF NEPTUNE
 * :Leo
 * :Liam
 * :Woody
 * :Abel
 * :Cliff
 * :Mindy
 * :Vinnie
 * :Clarence