Thank you for your interest in editing Chrysalis and contributing to our growth. To make sure you know what you're doing when editing, please read the guidelines below. This page also acts as a first reference for when you're not sure on how to do things. If you can't find an answer to your problems here, try asking at the Chrysalis help forums.
General
Editing
To be able to edit Chrysalis, you first must be a member. You can easily become a member from the sidebar to the left or from the top of the page. To be able to join, you first need an account at Wikidots, who handles the account data and memberships of Chrysalis. Our managers and editors do not see your account data at any point, other than the data you choose to make public.
Once you have created your account, you can join. Be aware, however, that your membership will be swiftly revoked if you constantly feed wrong information or otherwise troll the wiki.
Commenting
Posting at the forums is enabled for all Wikidots members, you do not need to be an actual member of Chrysalis to post. However, anonymous (non-signed in) users cannot post.
Editing
General
The first rule of thumb to keep in mind while editing is not to do whatever you feel like doing in whatever way you feel like doing. To preserve ease of access and use, you should always check similar pages for a guide on how to create the one you want, and to use the templates provided when available. For example, if you want to add an area page you will be wanting to look at other area pages, if you want to add a character page you should be looking at other character pages.
Incomplete pages are generally marked with the tag 'incomplete'. These pages need more content than what is already available. Sometimes the missing content is marked with Coming soon, sometimes it is not marked at all and you have to figure out what's missing or ask someone who knows. Sometimes, incomplete pages don't even fit with already existing templates. In these cases, please try to fit the page to the template before further editing it.
Another type of incomplete pages are the ones missing all their content, tagged with 'missing'. In this case, be sure to check for a template or for examples of the type of page it is before adding any content.
If you are at a loss as to what to do, an easy way to find something to do is to check the 'incomplete' and 'missing' tags. Another way is to check the thread Completion count, that lists what is complete for certain games and what is not.
Yet another, more time-consuming way, is to browse around the wiki and look for brown links. If you see a brown link insted of a blue or black one, it means the page it links to doesn't exist yet.
Creating Pages
When creating a new page, you should always make sure to create it in the right category and tag it with what it needs. This is because a good portion of the navigation at Chrysalis relies on categories and tags. Should you, for example, create a page for a weapon but place it in the category Item instead of Equipment, it is likely that you can't find your page afterwards as it won't be linked to from anywhere, even if you tag it with the right tags.
The same applies for tags. If, for example, a monster's page doesn't list its family and the letter it starts with (eg B for Bomb), it will not be listed in the all-FF bestiary pages.
If you're unsure of what category and tags you need, check similar pages to the one you're about to create, or ask at the Chrysalis help forums. You can also do the research yourself and check the list of categories or the tag cloud.
Please understand when tagging that unless your tag is a pre-approved one, it won't appear on the page. If you want to use a tag that doesn't exist yet, please ask about it in the help forums. Another thing worthy of note is not never delete any tags that already exist on a page, unless the tag in question is 'missing' or 'incomplete' and you've made the necessary changes to the page that the page is indeed no longer missing or incomplete.
Note when creating pages that when creating from the side bar on the right you must always add the category name yourself. If you create from the bottom of the page, the page will be automatically placed in the same category as the current page is, and will be made a child of the current page as well.
Child-parent relationships are another way to navigate Chrysalis. If you're unsure what 'child page' and 'parent page' mean, please do not use the new page creation button at the bottom of the page.
All-FF Game Order
On Chrysalis, many pages exist that list data from multiple Final Fantasy games. On these pages, the order of the data presented is always the same.
First comes a general description, including Japanese name and alternate translations. This is followed closely by a description of the real-world lore behind the name, if any exist. Then come the FF-specific data. It goes first through all the main series (numbered) FFs and their direct sequels, in a way that, for example, any sequel to FF4 will be listed before FF5. After main series will come Tactics series, Crystal Chronicles series and Dissidia series, all in the same order as the side bar. In general, this order is the same as the chronological order. Lastly come the miscellaneous FF products.
Pictures and media
Please only upload pictures of good quality to Chrysalis. If one is not available, you should not update a picture with bad quality instead, and just leave the page without a picture. Also note that newer versions of a game always have priority unless used to illustrate a point in how the game has changed, so don't be surprised if your picture from FF1 (NES), for example, is replaced with a picture from FF1 (PSP).
On a related note, please only add official art or screenshots. Chrysalis is not a resource for fanart, as fun as it can be. However, in the case of maps or other such guides, fan-made content is allowed.
Any picture you upload must be somehow relevant to the page you add it to. Chrysalis is an information resource, not a picture archive. Pictures are always used to illustrate a point, be it the changing appearance of a game's character or a landscape shot of a location.
You can also add other media than just pictures to the site. However, do be considerate to people with slow internet connections and do not place multiples of videos on a single page (several are fine). In the case of music (remixes with the creator's permission. Distribution of game soundtracks is of questionable legality and should not be done) please only link to the files.
File names and sizes
When uploading pictures to the site, be sure to be aware of naming conventions for the files. These are listed below. A picture should in most cases be a .jpg of a reasonable quality or a .png. Gif is the wrong file type to use for most pictures. Unless you know what you are doing, never upload a .gif or some other format. The file size will be too big. In confirming to these guidelines you will help Chrysalis stay a an informational easy to use resource.
Title Logos
The logos of games are the most simple pictures to name. It can be either ff0.jpg (with ff0 being the shortening for the game the logo is from) or ff0_logo.jpg. Either is acceptable. However, please always use the latest version of the logo for the game. If a new version of the game is released, replace the old logo with the new one.
A logo picture's width should be around 320 pixels, although it can be bigger if the picture in the logo is too big for that width. Use your own discretion.
Character Pictures
The main character pictures should be named fullcharaname_ff0.ext, for example cloudstrife_ff7cc.jpg. If other picture are uploaded, like a portrait, please modify the file name with an appropriate word - for example cloud_portrait_ff7.jpg. The main character picture's heighth should be 340-360 pixels, depending on the character's heighth and pose they are drawn in. A child or a midget would more likely be at the smaller end of the picture size.
For pictures including multiple characters, use your own discretion. cloudzack_ff7cc.jpg would be acceptable, friendly.jpg would not. The latter does not have any kind of identifying information about the picture. However, should you add modifiers to it - eg friendlygroup_ff7cc.jpg - it would be perfectly acceptable. For the size, please use your own discretion, although 200 pixels in width would be a nice standard width.
Screenshots
The naming convention for a screenshot is screenie_ff0_shortdescription.jpg. This is used for all screenshots, be they to illustrate characters, game mechanics, plot points or anything else. There will be no exceptions.
The width of a screenshot picture should not exceed 400 pixels. That is an acceptable width for most screenshots. However, you can upload screenshots with width as small as 250 pixels should you not find any of a better quality. Please do not upload screenshots of anything less than 250 pixels in width. The picture will be too small to see clearly, and this would defeat the purpose of uploading a picture at all.
In addition, you may find yourself in need of banner-type pictures from time to time. These can be up to the page's width, but in this case be sure to have a banner type picture, meaning the length of the picture is much shorter than its width.
Maps
A picture of a world map should be called map_ff0.jpg, where ff0 is the shorthand for the name of the game or other title the map is from. Continuing from that, an area map should be called map_locationname_ff0.jpg. Please use a partial location name if the whole name is too long. For example, map_tahrongi_ff11.jpg instead of map_tahrongicanyon_ff11.jpg.
The size of the map can be anything required to display it clearly. However, if displaying it clearly means that inserting it in a page would break that page, you should link to the file instead. If you want go have a graphic link, you can either create and upload a smaller picture of the map or determine its display size on the page within the picture embedding code.
OST and Book Covers
Naming osts and book covers is very simple. Use the format ost_ff0.jpg for soundtrack covers and ff0_book.jpg or book_ff0.jpg for a book cover. The former is used for guidebooks, the latter for novels and stories, although you can use the latter format for guidebooks too.
The size for an OST cover should be 200x200 pixels, or close enough if the picture isn't a perfect square. Book covers should be 200 pixels in width. The size of the book itself will determine the heighth of the picture.
Others
When naming other files, please use your own discretion. A good filename will include the game or other title it concerns, as well as a short identification what it's about. The size can be anything required for the picture to display properly, although a generic 200 pixels in width is good for most pictures. Never upload a picture that would break the page, there is no need to ever have a picture that big.
Disambiguation
Disambiguation means being able to differentiate between different concepts with the same title. For example, the spaceship Ragnarok, the sword Ragnarok, and the event Ragnarok. In a case like this, you first need to differentiate by category - Ragnarok the sword goes to the category Equipment, and Ragnarok the spaceship and the event both go to Encyclopedia. Since two concepts with the same name would be going to Encyclopedia, we differentiate further. The spaceship becomes Ragnarok (spaceship) and the event Ragnarok (event).
Note that only the Encyclopedia category uses differentiation by (concept), other categories differentiate by (title). As such, we get Cid (FFII), Cid (FFX), Cid (FFXI), etc. In general, even if a character's name doesn't yet have another use in another game, if they have only a common first name you will be wanting to use the (title) modifier in the page name to make future page adds and editing easier.
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