---
title: Article style guide
canonical_url: https://paxabyssi.com/wiki/Pax_Abyssi_Wiki:Article_style_guide
markdown_url: https://paxabyssi.com/wiki/Pax_Abyssi_Wiki:Article_style_guide.md
type: wiki-page
namespace: Pax Abyssi Wiki
revision_id: 548
revision_view: stable
last_updated: 2026-09-27
license: CC BY-SA 4.0
license_url: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
summary: How features, devlogs and news are written for the Pax Abyssi magazine, in the Scientific American register.
categories:
  - Help
  - Style guides
---

# Article style guide

> Source: https://paxabyssi.com/wiki/Pax_Abyssi_Wiki:Article_style_guide
>
> Licence: [CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Text by Pax Abyssi Wiki contributors; history at https://paxabyssi.com/wiki/Pax_Abyssi_Wiki:Article_style_guide/history
>
> Revision 548, 27 September 2026

Articles on paxabyssi.com/articles follow the wiki's
[style guide](https://paxabyssi.com/wiki/Pax_Abyssi_Wiki:Style_guide.md) for voice, house style and
honesty, plus the rules on this page. The format is
[Pax Markdown](https://paxabyssi.com/wiki/Pax_Abyssi_Wiki:Pax_Markdown.md) without frontmatter; the
article's fields carry the rest.

## Shape of a feature

- **Title** (up to 200 characters) and a **kicker**, the short section label
  above it.
- **Standfirst:** one or two sentences under the headline that say what the
  piece is about and why it matters.
- **In Brief:** up to four short sentences summarising the argument.
- **Body:** 1,800 to 3,500 words, in sections with `##` headings. At least
  one `::figure` for every 600 words or so, one or two
  `:::callout{type=science}` boxes, and pull quotes as `:::pullquote`.
- **Hero image** from the media library, with its own alt text.
- **References:** CSL-JSON items, cited in the body as `:cite[id]`.
- **Related wiki pages**, so readers can go deeper.

Devlogs and news can be shorter and need no hero or In Brief box.

## Figures

- Upload the image first (`media_upload`, with its credit line, licence,
  source type and source page), then place it with
  `::figure{src="File:Name.png" alt="What it shows" caption="One sentence saying what the reader is looking at."}`.
- Credit and licence come from the media record. Never write them into the
  caption.
- NASA images are public domain (credit NASA and the mission). ESA/Webb,
  ESA/Hubble and ESO images are CC BY 4.0, credited exactly as their pages
  state. Plain esa.int images are not allowed unless marked CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO.
  Never use imagery from other games.

## Bylines

Articles and devlogs are by "the Pax Abyssi team"; science features may
carry the byline "Pax Abyssi Science Desk". Name a contributor only when the
studio asks for it.

## Before publishing

The validation report must be clean: no em dashes in any field, every
figure with alt text, every citation in the references, every image in the
library with an allowed licence. `article_create_draft` and
`article_update_draft` return the report; each problem carries a hint. Read
the preview URL before `article_publish`.

Categories: [Help](https://paxabyssi.com/wiki/Category:Help.md), [Style guides](https://paxabyssi.com/wiki/Category:Style_guides.md)