Difference between revisions of "Help:Wiki Editing Style Guide"
m
typo fix (or spell?)
imported>DragoonWraith (a simple guide to how the Wiki works - in Tutorials and Getting Started - any idea where might be better?) |
imported>Juharfalvi m (typo fix (or spell?)) |
||
| Line 1: | Line 1: | ||
This is an introductory guide to contributing to the Wiki. It will describe what should be Wiki'd, how to do so, and what a good Wiki article should contain. This is a very important thing to read, if you aren't familiar with the Wiki concept. Also of note is [[Welcome to Wiki Syntax]], which is all about how you do different things in a Wiki. | This is an introductory guide to contributing to the Wiki. It will describe what should be Wiki'd, how to do so, and what a good Wiki article should contain. This is a very important thing to read, if you aren't familiar with the Wiki concept. Also of note is [[Welcome to Wiki Syntax]], which is all about how you do different things in a Wiki. | ||
First of all, know that you are very strongly encouraged to contribute to the Wiki - this resource is only as useful as we make it! There is no reason for anyone to be shy about | First of all, know that you are very strongly encouraged to contribute to the Wiki - this resource is only as useful as we make it! There is no reason for anyone to be shy about editing a page and sharing some insights - this is very helpful to us all. | ||
Never worry about "breaking" the Wiki - there's nothing you can do that can't easily be fixed. There are several people who check the [[Special:Recentchanges|Recent Changes]] page regularly, and they'll fix any mistakes you've made. | Never worry about "breaking" the Wiki - there's nothing you can do that can't easily be fixed. There are several people who check the [[Special:Recentchanges|Recent Changes]] page regularly, and they'll fix any mistakes you've made. | ||
| Line 7: | Line 7: | ||
That said, never expect anything you write on the Wiki to remain as you wrote it - it completely defeats the purpose of the Wiki if there is anything that can't be rewritten, expanded upon, and improved. By the same token, you should feel free to edit anything you see here. | That said, never expect anything you write on the Wiki to remain as you wrote it - it completely defeats the purpose of the Wiki if there is anything that can't be rewritten, expanded upon, and improved. By the same token, you should feel free to edit anything you see here. | ||
Always remember that this Wiki is about modding Oblivion - all the information here should be about helping us all make better mods, and all information on making better mods should be here. Keep contributions relevant, and contribute everything | Always remember that this Wiki is about modding Oblivion - all the information here should be about helping us all make better mods, and all information on making better mods should be here. Keep contributions relevant, and contribute everything relevant that you know and we don't. That way, we can create the ultimate Oblivion modding resource possible! | ||
==Wiki Ettiquette & Style== | ==Wiki Ettiquette & Style== | ||
| Line 15: | Line 15: | ||
===Keeping Things Civil=== | ===Keeping Things Civil=== | ||
The most important thing is to never take things personally. Your contributions '''will''' be | The most important thing is to never take things personally. Your contributions '''will''' be edited, changed, perhaps even removed - it's all for the sake of making this guide as useful as possible, none of it is ever meant personally. | ||
That doesn't mean that you always have to agree with an edit someone else has made. Every page in this Wiki has a Talk page for this purpose - it's a convenient place to discuss possible changes to the page in question. If you think an edit was made that shouldn't have been, bring it up in the Talk page. If you make a particularly large change to an article, start a discussion of it in the Talk page, explaining why you've made the changes you did. Communication makes a community, and if we all discuss things | That doesn't mean that you always have to agree with an edit someone else has made. Every page in this Wiki has a Talk page for this purpose - it's a convenient place to discuss possible changes to the page in question. If you think an edit was made that shouldn't have been, bring it up in the Talk page. If you make a particularly large change to an article, start a discussion of it in the Talk page, explaining why you've made the changes you did. Communication makes a community, and if we all discuss things civilised, we'll always be on good terms here. | ||
===Making a Professional Looking Guide=== | ===Making a Professional Looking Guide=== | ||
| Line 29: | Line 29: | ||
===The Summary Bar, Minor & Major Edits=== | ===The Summary Bar, Minor & Major Edits=== | ||
When you edit a page, you will be given a box in which to type a summary - '''please''' make use of it! These summaries appear on the [[Special:Recentchanges|Recent Changes]] page, and allow us to know what you | When you edit a page, you will be given a box in which to type a summary - '''please''' make use of it! These summaries appear on the [[Special:Recentchanges|Recent Changes]] page, and allow us to know what you edited. | ||
Under this, there is a checkbox for a Minor edit - Minor edits are typo fixes, formatting changes, and spelling corrections - any and all additions or changes to the content of a page should ''never'' be marked Minor. If in doubt, leave it unchecked - it's better for someone to check a Minor edit than for someone to miss a Major edit! | Under this, there is a checkbox for a Minor edit - Minor edits are typo fixes, formatting changes, and spelling corrections - any and all additions or changes to the content of a page should ''never'' be marked Minor. If in doubt, leave it unchecked - it's better for someone to check a Minor edit than for someone to miss a Major edit! | ||
| Line 41: | Line 41: | ||
Wiki articles should be '''full''' of links. This is the Internet - nothing should be isolated. Wikis are designed to allow and encourage the use of internal links - an article should link to many other relevant articles. Every time you use a term which has further info on it - link to the article (it is not necessary to link to the same article over and over, of course). An article on setting up a quest will undoubtedly talk about NPCs at some point - and at that point, it should link to an article about how you make your own NPCs. | Wiki articles should be '''full''' of links. This is the Internet - nothing should be isolated. Wikis are designed to allow and encourage the use of internal links - an article should link to many other relevant articles. Every time you use a term which has further info on it - link to the article (it is not necessary to link to the same article over and over, of course). An article on setting up a quest will undoubtedly talk about NPCs at some point - and at that point, it should link to an article about how you make your own NPCs. | ||
In general, huge, scratch-to-finish guides should avoided on the Wiki - keep articles short and focussed, and if it is a part of a process, link to the next step. This allows people to find information far more quickly, without having to scrounge through a long article. It also makes it easier to link to a given piece of information if it's not part of a huge mega-article. | In general, huge, scratch-to-finish guides should be avoided on the Wiki - keep articles short and focussed, and if it is a part of a process, link to the next step. This allows people to find information far more quickly, without having to scrounge through a long article. It also makes it easier to link to a given piece of information if it's not part of a huge mega-article. | ||
===Categories=== | ===Categories=== | ||
All pages on the Wiki should be in one or more Categories - it makes | All pages on the Wiki should be in one or more Categories - it makes them much easier to find. Remember, you don't '''just''' want users to find your article - you want them to be able to find all the information they need, and the easiest way for them to do that is if things are categorized together neatly. This is another reason why articles should be short and focused - Categories show the title of an article, and if you have a large article that covers a lot of topics, it's impossible to write a succinct title that will let users know everything you have in that article. If you split up the article into separate articles for each topic, users will be able to find exactly what they are looking for just by reading the titles. | ||
===Collaboration=== | ===Collaboration=== | ||
| Line 53: | Line 53: | ||
==The Community Here at TESCS Wiki== | ==The Community Here at TESCS Wiki== | ||
The people here are friendly, helpful, and absolutely want '''you''' to join us! If you would like to join here, contribute, and help maintain the Wiki, then you'll get along just fine. If you just want to learn something, that's OK too! It is, | The people here are friendly, helpful, and absolutely want '''you''' to join us! If you would like to join here, contribute, and help maintain the Wiki, then you'll get along just fine. If you just want to learn something, that's OK too! It is, after all, what we are here for. But we encourage everyone to sign up, to create a User Page, and to check out the [[Special:Recentchanges|Recent Changes]] - to see what's happening! Add your opinion to discussions, make some articles better, and have a good time - that's what this Wiki is about. | ||
===User Pages=== | ===User Pages=== | ||