This page documents the Official GTA Wiki Manual of Style on links.
Formatting
Links are used to provide additional context and navigation between articles or to other types of content.
- Links will automatically open the page from the very top.
- Links open in the same tab.
- Letters and other non-punctuation text immediately (i.e. without a space) after the closing brackets of a link becomes part of the label (meaning it is shown in the same colour as the label) without changing the target. This is useful for plurals and verb forms which only add something at the end. For example,
[[Pistol]]swill display as "Pistols".- As this applies to non-punctuation text, this does the right thing for possessives. For example,
[[Lucia]]'sproduces "Lucia's".
- As this applies to non-punctuation text, this does the right thing for possessives. For example,
When creating links:
- Do not do not place multiple links next to each other, to avoid appearing like a single link. For example,
[[Grand Theft Auto]] [[controversy]], which appears as "Grand Theft Auto controversy". - Do not unnecessarily make a reader chase links: if a more specific page or source exists, link to that instead. For example, "There are over 300 vehicles in GTA V", not "There are over 300 vehicles in GTA V".
- Use a link when appropriate, but as far as possible do not force a reader to use that link to understand the sentence. The text needs to make sense to readers who do not or cannot follow links. For example, avoid "See here for more information on vehicles in GTA V".
- Avoid coloring links, as they may impede user ability to distinguish links from regular text, or clash with the background color on different themes.
- A link's label does not need to match the exact title of the article being linked. For example,
[[Mobile and PC Differences|differences between the mobile and PC versions]], which produces "differences between the mobile and PC versions".- Avoid "submarine links", which are links that unexpectedly hide relevant information underneath the link's label. For example, "Later, Michael has his boat stolen during Father/Son", not "Later, Michael has his boat stolen".
What generally should be linked
The priority in which links to other pages should be included is as follows:
- Any piece of in-game content (such as specific vehicles, characters, organizations, gameplay, etc).
- Any general gameplay mechanics (such as Wasted, Busted, Involuntary Ejection, Carjacking, etc).
- Any real-world articles (such as controversies, people, companies, etc).
Repeat linking
Generally speaking, a subject should be linked at most once per major section. Major sections depend on the specific article layout, but generally include:
- The lead section
- The description
- Any galleries (via captions)
- Any lists or tables.
Alongside sections, any subjects (additional to those already linked) may be linked at most once in:
- The infobox
- The "See Also" section
- The navigation box.
In some cases, it is difficult to avoid repeat linking due to the use of templates.
What generally should not be linked
Due to the nature of GTA Wiki and its coverage of the GTA series almost entirely exclusively, the worry of overlinking or linking terms unnecessarily is less of a concern. However, there are still cases in which a page does not always need linking to:
- Topic-based articles (such as Vehicles, Weapons, Money, Plot, etc)
- Categories (with the exception of in the infobox)
- Game titles and DLCs (with the exception of in the infobox and lead section)
- Disambiguation pages (with the exception of in disambiguation tophats).
As mentioned above, sometimes it is not always possible to avoid linking to pages, such as when using templates.
Types of links
Internal links
An internal link (also known as a "wikilink") is a link which points to another page (an article, template, category, etc) within GTA Wiki.
It is not necessary to use the URL of a page within GTA Wiki to link to it.
Internal links can be direct or piped:
- A direct link can be created by enclosing the page title with doubled square brackets (
[[]]). For example,[[Motorcycles]]produces Motorcycles. - A piped link can be created by enclosing the page title and an optional label with double square brackets. The page title and label are then separated with a vertical bar (
|). For example,[[Motorcycles|Electric scooters]]produces Electric scooters.
When creating internal links:
- Do not link to pages that redirect back to the page the link is on (MOS:REDIRECT).
- Do not create labels that match the page title. For example,
[[Motorcycles|Motorcycles]]. - Do not apply text formatting (bold, italic, etc) to labels exclusively.
- Consider whether it may be easier to use a shorthand template to make typing the same link on numerous pages easier. These templates automatically create text and links (optionally) to some of the most common pages and phrases.
- In the Source editor, page suggestions will appear once the first four characters are typed. This behavior can be turned off in Editing Preferences.
Linking to specific parts of a page
It is possible to produce a link which will navigate the user to a specific part of a page. This may be necessary when only a specific section is relevant to the current text. It is important to remember that if the ID or text used to link to a specific section is changed on the target page, these links will no longer link to a specific part of the page, instead opening the page at the very top.
Linking to specific parts of a page can be done in several ways:
- Linking to specific headings on a page when clicked. This is done with the number sign (
#). For example,[[Adder#Performance]]will link to the "Performance" section of the Adder article. This works for all heading levels.- If a page contains multiple headings or sub headings of the same name, a number can be appended to the link to offset it. For example,
[[Pistol#Grand_Theft_Auto_IV_2]]will link to the second header titled "Grand Theft Auto IV" on the Pistol article.
- If a page contains multiple headings or sub headings of the same name, a number can be appended to the link to offset it. For example,
- Linking to an element which has been assigned an ID.
<div>and<span>classes can be assigned IDs usingid="name", which can then be linked and navigated to using internal links. This can be useful when it is necessary to link to a specific part of a large paragraph or single section. - Linking to an anchor. The {{Anchor}} template can be used to assign an ID to a specific part of a page and functions in the same manner as the above. This can be useful when it is necessary to link to a specific part of a page which is not placed directly underneath a heading.
Linking to headings or anchors with multiple words or unique characters may require some additional formatting. For example, underscores (_) must be used in place of spaces (such as "#Performance_Overview"). Most special characters, such as : ; ! ? will be automatically corrected in the browser's URL when the link is clicked and do not require manual intervention
Example of linking to a specific heading on a page:
{{Disambiglink|For information on trains in the HD Universe, see [[Trains#HD_Universe]].}}
Example of linking to text that has been assigned an ID:
For information on a test span class, click [[#test1|here]]. <span id="test1">Here is the information on a test span class</span>.
For information on a test span class, click here.
Here is the information on a test span class.Example of linking to an anchor point:
For information on a test anchor point, click [[#test2|here]].
{{Anchor|test2}}
Here is a section on anchor points. Anchor points are sections of an article which can be reached to with internal links. The page will automatically scroll down so this section is at the top of the screen, making it easier for you to navigate.
For information on a test anchor point, click here.
Here is a section on anchor points. Anchor points are sections of an article which can be reached to with internal links. The page will automatically scroll down so this section is at the top of the screen, making it easier for you to navigate.
Red links
Internal links to pages that do not exist yet will turn red (known as "red links").
As GTA Wiki is an ever-evolving project, red links are an inevitable and necessary component of its structure. Most red links functions as placeholders for future content, guiding editors and readers toward topics that have been recognized as important but are not yet documented, and thus do not need to be removed.
It is accepted, however, that some red links do not need to exist. As a general rule of thumb, red links can be removed or corrected if:
- They are wrong (for example, the link was mistyped or links to an article that was moved)
- They link to a non-existent article via redirect (MOS:REDIRECT)
- They link to an article that doesn't need to exist (MOS:NOARTICLE and MOS:NOTWIKIPEDIA).
While red links are a necessary component, an excessive number of red links may affect the readability of the article. If an article contains an excessive amount of red links, it may be necessary to use the {{Redlinks}} maintenance template. This will also add the page to a list of pages containing red links.
Depending on the page's namespace, a list of red links found on at least one page across the GTA Wiki can be found here:
- Special:WantedPages - main namespace (articles)
- Special:WantedCategories - category namespace (categories)
- Special:WantedFiles - file namespace (images and videos)
- Special:WantedTemplates - template namespace
External links
Linking to external sources can usually be done using the {{URL}} template.
Links to other Fandom wikis
It may sometimes be relevant to link to a page on another Fandom wiki. This can be done using the {{Fandom}} template. It is not necessary to use the full URL to link to a specific page in such cases.
Example of linking to the "Armadillo" page on the Red Dead Wiki:
This is a reference to the town of {{Fandom|reddead|Armadillo}} in the ''Red Dead'' series.
Links to Wikipedia
Links to YouTube videos
Links to Google Maps
Interwiki links
| GTA Wiki Manual of Style | |||||||||
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| General practices |
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| Article layouts | Animals | Buildings | Businesses | Vehicles | ||||||||
| Other practices | We're not Wikipedia | Ignore the rules | What needs a Manual of Style | ||||||||
| Category:Manual of Style (shortcuts) • Category:Policy • Category:GTA Wiki | |||||||||