Register | Sign In


Understanding through Discussion


EvC Forum active members: 65 (9162 total)
4 online now:
Newest Member: popoi
Post Volume: Total: 915,821 Year: 3,078/9,624 Month: 923/1,588 Week: 106/223 Day: 4/13 Hour: 0/2


Thread  Details

Email This Thread
Newer Topic | Older Topic
  
Author Topic:   Style Guides for EvC
Adminnemooseus
Administrator
Posts: 3974
Joined: 09-26-2002


Message 17 of 77 (106181)
05-07-2004 2:47 AM
Reply to: Message 1 by Sylas
04-21-2004 9:48 PM


Re: Proposed Style Guide for EvC
New topic page - Time to repeat message 1:
Sylas writes:
This thread is intended to be a gentle introduction to the art of writing a readable post for this on-line forum. The suggestions here are intended to be helpful for anyone, regardless of their views on the topics we discuss.
A well presented post will help you communicate your views better. Skill in good writing for an international on-line forum takes time to learn, and the way to learn is to dive in and try things out. The following steps are given in order of importance. You don't need to get everything perfect the first time. Start with the basics, and build up from there.
Step 1. Check the Forum Rules.
This speaks for itself. There are some basic standards in this forum, and all users are expected to follow them. There is some active enforcement of these guidelines, and this is described in the rules document.
Step 2. Preview the post.
If you have a look at your posts before submission, then you are likely to pick up various errors. Check your basic use of language, like spelling and grammar. Most people are relaxed about a few slips up now and again; but a post that is filled with errors is not giving the message you want.
There is a preview button in the window where you enter new articles. Click on this button, and you get to see what your post will look like. You may then make any corrections, and try again. When you are happy with the result, you can submit.
Step 3. Use paragraphs.
A readable post is broken up into paragraphs. Each paragraph is a chunk of text about 3 to 10 lines long, and separated from the next paragraph by a blank line. A browser will fit text naturally to the width of a reader's page, as long as you let the browser decide where to break the lines.
This means that all the words and the sentences in a paragraph should be separated by spaces, not by pressing the "Enter" key. As you enter text into the little box provided, it will automatically fit what you enter to the width of the box. You should just keep typing each paragraph as one long continuous line of text, and let the browser "wrap" that line up to fit the available width.
To see the difference,
consider this paragraph.
Here I have pressed the "Enter" key at natural breaking points in the text,
but the result looks quite ugly.
Compare with the next paragraph,
where each line is broken at just the right distance to fit on the page.
To see the difference, consider this paragraph. Here I have not pressed the "Enter" key at all, and the result looks very professional. Compare with the previous paragraph, where each line is a different length.
Press the "Enter" key twice to get a blank line between your paragraphs. A continuous block of text, with no white space to help the eye break it into manageable chunks, is much harder for someone to read and follow.
Step 4. Use UBB Codes.
Now we are getting a bit more advanced. You can use special tags to give some additional formatting to your text. Do not use these too heavily. Too much special formatting can be distracting, but a little bit of formatting can help enhance the presentation of your post.
There is a link to a description of available UBB codes just to the left of the box where you enter text.
The simplest formatting codes allow italic and boldface text. The first sentence of this paragraph was actually entered as follows:
The simplest formatting codes allow [i]italic[/i] and [b]boldface[/b] text.
Step 5. Quoting.
When you quote from other posts, or from other sources, you should let the quoted text stand out from your own original text. My favourite way to quote from another user is with the [qs=user] and [/qs] tags. For example, suppose you type
[qs=Sylas]Quoting in little blue boxes is cool![/qs]
The result will come out like this:
Sylas writes:
Quoting in little blue boxes is cool!
This feature can also be used to present quotes from other sources. However, I often simply indent material from other sources. For example, suppose I type
[indent]Indented quotations are hot!
[indent]-- Sylas, in [i]Style Guides for EvC[/i][/indent][/indent]
The result will come out like this:
Indented quotations are hot!
-- Sylas, in Style Guides for EvC
There is a lot more that could be said on how to present your material effectively. These five steps are just the beginning, but they are a very useful beginning. You can try out ideas for formatting posts in the Practice Makes Perfect forum.
As one more little hint, I personally don't much like the little box in which we enter text for new articles. I will write up an article in some other program, like a word processor or text editor, and then cut and paste it into the article entry box. This also gives some protection from losing your entire article if something happens with the browser.
Cheers -- Sylas
Added in edit. You can also edit a post after submission, but this feature should be used sparingly. Fixing a few typographic errors is fine, but changes to content are very irritating to other uses who may have read the original version. You should indicate any significant changes made in edit. If you really need to add a new point, indicate it clearly, as I have done with this additional paragraph.
[This message has been edited by Sylas, 04-21-2004]
Adminnemooseus

This message is a reply to:
 Message 1 by Sylas, posted 04-21-2004 9:48 PM Sylas has not replied

  
Adminnemooseus
Administrator
Posts: 3974
Joined: 09-26-2002


Message 19 of 77 (162440)
11-22-2004 9:05 PM


Bump for bencip19
bencip19 just posted the "Suggestion and Questions" topic Pre-Proposal Thread Refining. bencip19 - Yes that was the right place to post such things.
This topic, especially message 1, is the closest thing has to a "How to propose a topic" guide.
We really do need to get this information stored at a better place.
Adminnemooseus
This message has been edited by Adminnemooseus, 11-22-2004 09:07 PM

  
Adminnemooseus
Administrator
Posts: 3974
Joined: 09-26-2002


Message 22 of 77 (209080)
05-17-2005 3:41 PM


The "shift key impaired" are starting to piss me off!
Arachnophilia is not the only culprit, but a series of his messages (here and the following) has just jumped out at me.
Sylas does not include this in his fine message 1, but it should be obvious - Use the shift key to capitalize words if they are at the beginnings of sentences and/or if they are proper nouns. Doing such makes for nicer reading and is just plain a good thing.
If there is an end of a sentence, there should be a period at the end of the sentence, and the next letter should be a capital letter!
Don't be a jerk - Use the shift key when it should be used!
Adminnemooseus
ps: The content of message 1, with whatever needed modifications, should be a separate page here at , with a link at the top of the various pages. For example, at the top of the "All Topics" page, should be:
Profile | Register | FAQ | Rules | Style Guide | Search | Members | Forums
This message has been edited by Adminnemooseus, 05-17-2005 03:42 PM

Replies to this message:
 Message 24 by lfen, posted 05-17-2005 4:03 PM Adminnemooseus has not replied
 Message 28 by Adminnemooseus, posted 05-17-2005 9:37 PM Adminnemooseus has not replied
 Message 56 by coffee_addict, posted 05-20-2005 12:05 PM Adminnemooseus has not replied

  
Adminnemooseus
Administrator
Posts: 3974
Joined: 09-26-2002


Message 28 of 77 (209181)
05-17-2005 9:37 PM
Reply to: Message 22 by Adminnemooseus
05-17-2005 3:41 PM


Re: The "shift key impaired" are starting to piss me off!
OK, the theme is getting buried under blather and chit-chat.
All I am asking is that if you have the intelligence and ability to do proper writing, you exert the courtesy of actually doing it.
Writing without the proper capitalization is bad writing.
Adminnemooseus

This message is a reply to:
 Message 22 by Adminnemooseus, posted 05-17-2005 3:41 PM Adminnemooseus has not replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 29 by lfen, posted 05-17-2005 11:07 PM Adminnemooseus has not replied

  
Adminnemooseus
Administrator
Posts: 3974
Joined: 09-26-2002


Message 31 of 77 (209446)
05-18-2005 5:17 PM


brennakimi from another topic
brennakimi writes:
see. paragraphs are made of sentences. sentences are supposed to have a subject, a predicatory verb, and then modifying words which describe either how the verb predicates or how the noun exists. i distinctly recall a few exceptions in his post. four leaf clover or no.
Source
Off-topic there, but on-topic here ("pot calling the kettle black" department?).
I say: Sentences are supposed to have a subject, a predicatory verb, and then modifying words which describe either how the verb predicates or how the noun exists, and should start with capital letters.
The capital letter part is so easy. Why not be courtious and use them?
Adminnemooseus
ps: Subtitle starts with lower case, because brennakimi chooses to have her ID to start with lower case. I have no problem with that, although I often upper case such IDs anyway. Someday I may even alias minnemooseus into Minnemooseus.
Edited to fix link to correct message number.
This message has been edited by Adminnemooseus, 05-18-2005 05:19 PM

Replies to this message:
 Message 33 by arachnophilia, posted 05-18-2005 7:57 PM Adminnemooseus has not replied
 Message 36 by macaroniandcheese, posted 05-18-2005 8:29 PM Adminnemooseus has replied

  
Adminnemooseus
Administrator
Posts: 3974
Joined: 09-26-2002


Message 42 of 77 (209720)
05-19-2005 3:29 PM
Reply to: Message 36 by macaroniandcheese
05-18-2005 8:29 PM


Re: brennakimi from another topic
see but it's a style thing. artistic licence.
I could also invoke "administrative artistic licence". But wouldn't need to, because I have forum guideline #1:
Follow all moderator requests.
My request that members use proper capitalization is most reasonable. The vast majority of forum members do such, without requiring any special request. Even Brad does.
Bottom line: Right now I could go to most any message from any of the "shift key impaired", and do a suspension because of a forum rule violation. RAZD might first need a formal warning, but both brennakimi and Arachnophilia have obviously already seen my request.
Adminnemooseus

This message is a reply to:
 Message 36 by macaroniandcheese, posted 05-18-2005 8:29 PM macaroniandcheese has replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 43 by arachnophilia, posted 05-19-2005 3:50 PM Adminnemooseus has replied
 Message 45 by macaroniandcheese, posted 05-19-2005 4:14 PM Adminnemooseus has not replied
 Message 46 by Ooook!, posted 05-19-2005 7:11 PM Adminnemooseus has not replied
 Message 50 by purpledawn, posted 05-19-2005 8:36 PM Adminnemooseus has not replied

  
Adminnemooseus
Administrator
Posts: 3974
Joined: 09-26-2002


Message 44 of 77 (209726)
05-19-2005 4:02 PM
Reply to: Message 43 by arachnophilia
05-19-2005 3:50 PM


Re: brennakimi from another topic
Absolutely fair.
Adminnemooseus
Added by edit: Correct the above to "Absolutely fair for messages posted after the admin request was made". I'm certainly not going to charge you for messages posted prior to the request.
This message has been edited by Adminnemooseus, 05-19-2005 04:15 PM

This message is a reply to:
 Message 43 by arachnophilia, posted 05-19-2005 3:50 PM arachnophilia has not replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 52 by RAZD, posted 05-19-2005 9:12 PM Adminnemooseus has not replied

  
Adminnemooseus
Administrator
Posts: 3974
Joined: 09-26-2002


Message 65 of 77 (210150)
05-21-2005 4:42 AM
Reply to: Message 64 by macaroniandcheese
05-20-2005 11:44 PM


Re: brennakimi from another topic
Fine - The majority seem to have spoken.
If you want your posts to have the offhand look of having been done by a six-year-old - Go for it.
Adminnemooseus

This message is a reply to:
 Message 64 by macaroniandcheese, posted 05-20-2005 11:44 PM macaroniandcheese has not replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 66 by CK, posted 05-21-2005 5:26 AM Adminnemooseus has not replied

  
Newer Topic | Older Topic
Jump to:


Copyright 2001-2023 by EvC Forum, All Rights Reserved

™ Version 4.2
Innovative software from Qwixotic © 2024