Manual of style/Section order

'''--THIS PAGE DISCUSSES HOW THIS WIKI OPERATES. IT SHOULD NOT BE CHANGED WITHOUT CONSENSUS--'''

As a page grows, it may need to be broken into sections. For consistency, they should appear in the order outlined on this page.

Note that not every page will have (or need) every section. Some subjects lack the need for a particular section, or there is not enough information to warrant a separate section. In this case, fit the information into a larger section, in the order laid out here. The exceptions to this rule are the See also, Notes, References, Bibliography, and External links sections. If information for these sections is present it must always appear in its own, labeled section.

Also note that articles are not limited to the sections discussed here.

Lead
The lead is the first part of the page. It functions as an introduction to and an encapsulation the page, similar to the abstract of an article in a professional journal. The lead should enable the reader to decide if they want to read the entire article.

Note that, unlike every other section, the lead is untitled. It should also be able to stand on its own. Similarly, the rest of the article (the article proper) should not need the lead section to be understood. This means that information in the lead will be repeated, and expanded upon, in the article proper.

Table of Contents
The wiki software automatically generates a table of contents (TOC) for articles with three or more sections, so generally this section does not need to be created by an editor. Occasionally, the software places the TOC in an undesirable location; in this case an editor can force it to be in a different location using the appropriate templates (once they've been generated).

Background
If background information is needed to understand the main subject of the article, that information should be the first section of the article proper.

History
Where the history of a tool is discussed, this section comes next. An article may have just a background section, just a history section, both, or neither.

Description of tool
The description of the tool follows discussion(s) of background and/or history. This should focus on a discussion of the common tool.

Tool variations
Once the common tool is discussed, variations can be discussed. When there are several variations, they should be ordered, to give a sense to the whole.