Help:Posting rules

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This article outlines the rules and guidelines for posting an article on OpenTutorial. Note: The words article and tutorial are used interchangebly.

Posting Rules for OpenTutorial

Page Naming

Capitalization Do not capitalize any letter other than the 1st letter of a page name.
[[How to Brush your Teeth]] does not equal [[How to brush your teeth]]
I don't like this but there's no other acceptable option as of yet

Name the page with the assumption of "How to" in front of the title do NOT use the phrase "How to" in the title

   "Change a tire" is GOOD
"How to change a tire" is BAD
"Tire changing" is BAD

Page Structure

This is an extermely loose interpretation of Wikipedia:Guide_to_layout

Lead Section

The lead section is the section before the first headline. It contains breif overall description of what the tutorial is all about. The title of the tutorial should be mentioned here with the prefix "How to" all in bold letters in Title Case. Example: How to Brush Your Teeth You may use an expanded title such as in it is done the article Change a tire How to Change an Automobile Tire


Body

Structure of the article

The number of single-sentence paragraphs should be minimized, since these can inhibit the flow of the text. By the same token, paragraphs become hard to read once they exceed a certain length.

Articles generally comprise prose paragraphs, not bullet points; however, sometimes a bulleted list can break up what would otherwise be an overly large, grey mass of text, particularly if the topic requires significant effort on the part of readers. Bulleted lists should not be overused in the main text, but are typical in the reference and reading sections at the bottom.

Headings help to make an article clearer, and populate the table of contents; see Help:Section, which users can choose under 'Preferences' to view (the default) or not to view. Headings are hierarchical, so you should start with == Header == and follow it with === Subheader ===, ==== Subsubheader ====, and so forth. The 'second-level' == Header == is overly large in some browsers, but that can be fixed for individual viewers with a style sheet more easily than a nonhierarchical article structure can be fixed (see style help:User style).

Just as for paragraphs, sections and subsections that are very short will make the article look cluttered and inhibit the flow. Short paragraphs and single sentences generally do not warrant their own subheading, and in these circumstances, it may be preferable to use bullet points.

The degree to which subtopics should appear in a single article or be given their own pages is a matter of judgment and of controlling the total length of the article.

Between paragraphs and between sections, there should be only a single blank line. Multiple blank lines unnecessarily lengthen the article and can make it more difficult to read.


Standard appendices

Certain optional standard sections should be added at the bottom of an article.

Common appendix sections (in the preferred order) are:

  • See also
  • References
  • Bibliography
  • External links
  • Glossary

All succession boxes should go at the very end of the article, following "Glossary" but preceding the categories.

See also

Put here, in a bulleted list, other articles OpenTutorial that are related to this one.

It should be a heading of level 2 so that it appears in the table of contents. For example:

==See also==
* [[Brush your teeth]]
* [[Floss your teeth]]

which produces:

See also

References

Put under this header, again in a bulleted list, any books, articles, web pages, et cetera that you used in constructing the article and have referenced (cited) in the article.

  • Pooh, W. T. & Robin, C. (1926). "How to catch a heffalump" in A. A. Milne (Ed.), The Karma of Kanga, pp. 23–47. Hundred Acre Wood: Wol Press. ISBN 999999999

The most important thing is to include the complete citation information, just as you would for any other bibliography; the precise formatting is still debatable and can be fixed later. See also: sources Wikipedia:Cite sources and Wikipedia:ISBN.

Bibliography

Put under this header, again in a bulleted list, any books, articles, web pages, et cetera that you recommend as further reading, useful background, or sources of further information to readers.

External links

Put here, in list form, any web sites that you have used or recommend for readers of the article. Describe it if possible.

Glossary

At the bottom of your page just above the category links create a Glossary section in a level two heading.

It can be very distracting to read an article with a ton of links in the main text. This is now Wikipedia and therefore not appropriate to create a ton of links throughout a tutorial. That's why OpenTutorial has a policy of keeping excessive article links to a minimum by the use of a glossary, see Change a tire for an example.

The Glossary should be either a bulleted list with the term then a link to the most relevant definition. Preferable a link to Wikipedia, Wiktionary, The Free Dictionary or some other authorative site

== Glossary ==
* term [http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/term] 
* glossary [http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/glossary] 

Produces:

or a definition list with a the most relevant difinitions

: Glossary
:: A list of specialized or technical words with their meanings.
: term
:: A word or phrase, especially one from a specialised area of knowledge.

Produces:

Glossary
A list of specialized or technical words with their meanings.
term
A word or phrase, especially one from a specialised area of knowledge.

It is preferable to use the linked list method.

Category

Place Category links at the very bottom of the article.
Spend a little time to find the proper Category to put the article in See Special:Categories
If a proper category doesn't exist then make one, try to be organized about it.


BTW spam will not be tolerated, being the Hawaiian I am I like to eat Spam but that's it. Spamming will result in banning. Please do not spam.

--Hapa 15:54, 17 March 2006 (MST)