Help:Creating and Editing Articles

Here are some guidelines for creating and editing articles on this site.

Before You Start

 * Briefly search the wiki and make sure that an article about the subject doesn't already exist.
 * Spend time researching and gathering info before you create the page. Preferably, a new article should contain about a paragraph of text, and at least one image if possible. Understandably, new pages are prone to being short and not very fleshed out, but the more you can start out with, the better.

Creating Articles for Products with the Same Name
When two JumpStart products have the same name, the usual way of differentiating them is to add text in parentheses after the title, which specifies some kind of difference. Here are the general methods of differentiation:
 * When two games have the same name, the year of release is used. For example: JumpStart Preschool (1995) and JumpStart Preschool (1999).
 * When two activities have the same name, the name of the game that they come from is used.

Game Articles
Game articles generally contain the following sections: It is also customary to use infoboxes for games. (See below)
 * Introduction - An introductory paragraph is standard, and should appear at the very beginning of the article. The introductory paragraph should ideally include the game's release date, what educational subjects and age group it pertains to, and a brief summary of the game's theme or concept.
 * List of Activities - A list of activities, or individual mini-games, is customary for most JumpStart games. Activities should include a brief description of game play.
 * Gallery - This is where to add images, such as screenshots or promotional artwork.

Character Articles
Character articles generally contain the following sections: It is also customary to use infoboxes for characters. (See below)
 * Appearance - This is where you briefly describe what the character looks like.
 * Personality and Characteristics - This is where to describe the character's personality, behavior, and mannerisms.
 * In Games - This is where to describe the character's role in each game they have appeared in.
 * Gallery - This is where to add images of the character.

Infoboxes
Infoboxes are used to categorize information about a character. The code for an infobox must be inserted in Source mode when editing. The code for infoboxes on this wiki is written below, although lacking curly braces. You must include two left pointing curly braces at the beginning and two right poitning curly braces at the end of your infobox code. That is, these:

Infobox


 * Box title =


 * image = Image:


 * imagewidth =


 * caption =


 * Row 1 title =


 * Row 1 info =


 * Row 2 title =


 * Row 2 info =


 * Row 3 title =


 * Row 3 info =

Each title row specifies what information goes in that row. Then the info goes next to the info row directly below the title row it goes with. For example:


 * Row 1 title = Release Date:


 * Row 1 info = 2008

You can add more rows to the infobox, such as Row 4, 5, e.t.c. Make sure each row has both the title and info parts.

Each infobox is expected to have one main image, which goes in the image row. When choosing the main image for an infobox, these are preferable traits:
 * An infobox image should ideally have a transparent or white background.
 * An infobox image should be at least 90x90 pixels large.
 * An infobox image should be of high quality, i.e. not blurry or grainy.

Character Infoboxes

 * In the Box Title row, write the name of the character.
 * In the image row, place the main infobox image.
 * The character's infobox image should ideally be an iconic one. The infobox image should preferably be from a game from one of these series:Classic series, Updated series, the Advanced series, or the 3D Virtual World series.
 * Next to imagewidth, specify a width by typing a number. For example, if you type in 300, the image will be displayed at 300 pixels wide. Try to use a width that isn't too small or large; a number between 200 and 300 will work for most images.
 * Optionally, you can add a caption next to the caption row. Captions usually only specify which piece of media the image came from.
 * The first through third rows almost always contain the following information:
 * First Appearance - This displays the title of the game or other media that the character first appeared in.
 * Species - Since JumpStart characters tend to be many different species, this row is for which species they belong to.
 * Gender - This contains the character's gender.

Game Infoboxes

 * In the Box Title row, write the name of the game.
 * In the image row, place the main infobox image.
 * Next to imagewidth, specify a width by typing a number. For example, if you type in 300, the image will be displayed at 300 pixels wide. Try to use a width that isn't too small or large; a number between 200 and 300 will work for most images.
 * Optionally, you can add a caption next to the caption row. Captions usually only specify which piece of media the image came from.
 * The rows usually contain the following information, in the following order:
 * Release date - This specifies when the game was released.
 * Genre - This is where the game's genre belongs. Nearly all JumpStart games fall into the Educational genre, although some may contain sub-genres such as Adventure pr Sports.
 * ESRB Rating - This is where the game's ESRB rating belongs.
 * Available on - This specifies what type of software the game belongs to, i.e. CD-Rom, a video game console, online, e.t.c.