This is an example of a Sandbox. This page can be used to write out drafts for new pages or used to experiment with new templates and features. It uses templates from the wiki, but does not override or conflict with wiki content.

Categories

Categories are indexes containing a list of pages. This wiki uses categories to help with both navigation and sort pages into relevant subject matter. This page is intended to help explain category implementation, how they are organised, policies related to them, and provide a category tree to present how we've implemented them.

An Overview of a Category

A category is a select group of pages or items that relate to each other. These are often sorted by what is relevant to the page and what is relevant to other pages, such as gameplay features, starship types, ship systems, crew departments, stars, planets, alien species, et al. Categories help break up the wiki, making pages more manageable and helping simplify navigation.

Categories are added as pages, where they can be viewed. They are often created with the namespace "Category:", with this implementing code needed to turn them into a category page. Categories will begin with a description, then implement a list of pages and media that have been added to it. Clicking each object in the list will take you to the page that has been added to the category.

On a page, the categories it has been added to will appear at their bottom. When these are clicked, the browser will take you to the category. A general rule is that pages can fit into multiple categories, but no two categories must be the same in terms of contents.

Category Help

Creating a Category

Categories are created like pages through the "Create New Page" function. However, they require the "Category:" namespace in the title. The category will require a small description for what goes in it, for example "Category:Starships" will require a short description to say that this page is intended to be starships.

Sub-Categories

Sometimes, there is too much to go into a category and adding pages may over-clutter it. As such, the better option is to create a new category which features as part of the existing category and move relevant pages into it. This is called a sub-category, and it is used to break up categories where many pages can fit into it. For example, Category:Technology can refer to any form of device developed in the game, so this is broken up further into various categories such as Category:Vehicles, Category:Power Systems, Category:Robots and Androids, and so much more.

Adding Categories to Pages

Categories are added to pages by typing in [[Category:Category name]]. We put these at the bottom of pages as they will often appear on the footer when they are added to the pages, therefore making it more neater to look at. When added, the category will appear at the bottom of the page. If the category is recognised on this wiki, it will appear in Blue text. If it is not, it will appear in Red text. The latter means that either the category will need creating or has been spelt wrong.

Linking to Categories

It is possible to create a link to a category in a page's text. To do so, you need to type in [[:Category:Category name]]. Like our linking policy, it is possible to add a mask by adding |mask name to the link. For example: [[:Category:United Nations Space Fleet|a link to "United Nations Space Fleet" category]] will create a link to "United Nations Space Fleet" category.

Category Policies

Break up categories: Generally, categories can sometimes get too large and become excessive. As such, it is sometimes necessary to move pages into another category spawning from it. Only create a sub-category if there are multiple pages relevant to it.
No duplicates: Duplicate categories can lead to confusion. As such, we'd ask that duplicate categories are avoided and please check whether there is a similar category before you create a new one.
Overlapping: Categories can overlap if a page or another category fits into it. However, if the page fits into two categories in the same hierarchal structure, we'd ask that it be removed from one depending on how relevant it is to the category.
Category limit: There are currently no limits on how many categories can be added to a page.
Relevancy: To be added to a category, the page must be relevant to the category. For example, "Communications" is relevant to "Category:Gameplay features" because it is a gameplay mechanic, but not relevant to "Category:Starships" because that category is for starships only.
Page limit: A category must have more than one page to feature on this wiki. A category should be a collection of objects, not a description for just one of them. Any pages which have one or less will be considered irrelevant and deleted.

Hierarchy

Categories are often part of a hierarchal structure. This means that multiple categories can be members of another category, with this category possibly being another member of another category. This helps with organisation, as it can mean that we can manage the categories better and reduce the possibility of duplicate categories.

Our top level category is the Starship Simulator Wiki category. All categories feed into this one at some point, either directly as a subcategory of it or as one of the lower end categories within many other categories. As our top level category, please do NOT edit it or add it to any other category. This would affect our category hierarchal structure massively if this does get added.

The following are the top level categories and their main sub-categories:

Category:Starship Simulator - This category is for the game's content, such as gameplay features, lore and other objects you can find in the game.
- Category:Gameplay - This category is for gameplay features, including mechanics, world generation and other materials that the game uses.
- Category:Lore This category is for societal information in Starship Simulator, such as locations, technology, organisations, and pre-set alien species you encounter.
- Category:Game Versions - This category is for versions of Starship Simulator available to the public, such as demo versions, early access builds, and full releases
- Category:Development - This category serves as a location for anything related to the development of Starship Simulator, such as people and studios involved with the creation. This category is shared with the Real Life category.
Category:Real Life - This category relates to pages and information that relates to outside of the game.
- Category:Development - The same category as before, since it covers information regarding real world people. This category is shared with the Starship Simulator category.
- Category:Community - This relates to the game's community.
Category:Help pages - This category is for the Wiki's policies, game tutorials and other pages intended to help you with Starship Simulator or on this wiki.
Category:Lists - This category is for list pages, where objects are placed in a list. These often link to other pages which fit into other categories.
Category:Wiki Media - This category is for media files used on the wiki, such as images, videos and audio clips.
Category:Templates - This category is for templates used on the wiki, often for formatting information or objects that can be viewed on multiple pages.