Style Guide

From CruisersWiki

Revision as of 07:53, 30 June 2011

The Cruisers Wiki Style Guide - a primer for new editors.

Firstly, let me say "thanks" for being here and adding new material to the wiki, without you this resource would be worth very little.

The purpose of this guide is to (hopefully) avoid some of the styling mistakes of the past. This keeps editing time to a minimum, which means more actual content can be added, making it a better resource all round. Since you'll want to get on with it, I'll make these simple-to-digest bullet points.

• There is no need to attempt a scholarly treatise on any place. That means that you should simply write what you know about it, in clear English. If English isn't your first language that's all right, we can clean it up later. The main thing is to get across your passion for the place you're writing about. That means NO CUT-AND-PASTE from Wikipedia. None at all. This is a separate entity and the style should reflect those matters relevant to a yachtsman planning to visit the area today, not some boring diatribe about ancient history.

• If Wikipedia links are added (e.g. for a town's history) they should go in the External Links section at the end, not in the Overview section at the top. No inline links should ever be made to Wikipedia on any subject.

• Do not use "funny characters" in page names. Example: Use Sao Tome and Principe, not São Tomé and Príncipe. You can use the correct characters in descriptions but not in the actual page names. There are two reasons for this - (1) Sometimes the database can't handle it, and (2) Most editors won't know how to use such characters. So keep it simple.

• When adding new places, use the name they are known by in English-speaking countries. e.g. Use Athens, not Athina or (heaven forbid!) Αθήνα.

• The Table of Contents needs to be at the TOP of the page. This can be by itself, or with text wrapped around and photos opposite, it doesn't matter. So long as we don't have to scroll down to find it. The position of the Table of Contents can be varied using the {{TOCleft}} macro.

• Use the templates provided for new pages. They can be found on the Templates Page, along with heaps of excellent code snippets for all occasions.

• When adding Offshore Islands, keep it sensible. Those adjacent to the land mass or port being written about are the only ones relevant here. If editing the main page for a country, islands belonging to that nation but physically remote should be listed as External Territories.

• When adding islands, don't immediately create links to new pages for each one. Often an island in a lake or bay (for instance) is a bare, uninhabited, guano-covered rock and of little interest to cruisers, and so won't warrant having its own page. In fact it's best not to create links to new pages at all until you're ready and willing to fill them with new contents.

• Always check the name of a port or island to ensure that it is unique, and use a name that specifies exactly which one you mean. You'd be surprised how many places called Long Island we have in the world. This is especially true for religious names like St. Something. Here's a link to Wikipedia - San Fernando to give you an idea what I mean.

• If you don't have time to add all the marinas in an area, add links to their webpages. Later someone can come back and fill in the template, and at least they will know where to get the data. Marinas should be categorized by Region, not Country, because there are so many of them.

• When trying to make text appear in red, don't make the text into a link. Yes, this works but then we have loads of "pages" listed that don't really exist. The correct way is to use this code: <font color=red>Your Text</font>. A red link should only tell us that there's a missing page in the wiki.

• Try to use the correct terms for the region of country you're editing. Some places use the word State, while others use Prefecture, County, Province or even Oblast. If you don't know, maybe it should be left to someone who knows the place better.

• If you don't know how to do something, first run a Google search on it. If you're still stuck, ask an Admin. There's a list of them here

• Unless a country comprises a single island, please don't try to tell us everything on the front page, keep some for the regional and port pages too!

• Marina owners are welcomed—and even encouraged—to enter their details (on a Marina Template, of course) but should be warned that blatant advertising on higher level pages (port, region or country) will be mercilessly edited out.

• Convert GIF graphics to PNG or JPG format first. They don't look very good when shown in thumbnail sizes.

• Use abbreviations correctly. Prefer them to the longwinded versions. Common ones are: km for kilometres, mi for miles, km² for square kilometres, mi² for square miles (and try not to use these too much, since statistics are boring), nmi (or NM) for nautical miles, and kn (or kt) for knots.

• Links to other pages in the wiki should only be made on the first instance that an opportunity occurs. Linking to the same page over and over is pointless.

OK, that's my little rant for now, feel free to add new data or comments. --Haiqu 07:07, 12 June 2011 (BST)

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