GoodStyle
Last updated at 3:13 pm UTC on 14 January 2006
All pages here are editable, and we encourage you to edit them. Try to write casually but factually, and in the third person where possible. Expect others to elaborate or complete your work.
These pages need not be chronological. If something isn't complete or quite right, correct it in place. To provide an opposed view, parenthetically cite a new page, giving it a name that plays off the original title. For more page naming ideas, see
Use idiom carefully, even sparingly, only when it clarifies. Idiom can be funny and part of your style, but what will Wang Shu Tong, in Hiaban City, China, make of it? How will an English-Russian dictionary translate your wordplay? Help make these pages clear and useful all over the world.
As an author, you can type pretty much what you want to see. But, we have some formatting rules:
- Use a blank line to separate paragraphs. Normally, lines are run together to fill the page.
- Don't indent unless you want to use one of the special formatting rules below.
- Use a line of 4 or more dashes to separate sections. This displays a horizontal rule.
- Highlight text by enclosing it in multiple single-quotes. Italicize by using two/double single-quotes. Bold face by using three/triple single-quotes. Use no more than one per line. Highlight sparingly, only when it clarifies information. Too many highlights confuse readers.
Some special formatting rules for things that aren't supposed to flow together:
- Make bullets by starting a line with a star indented with one or more tabs. If you can't type tabs, use eight spaces instead. Use a digit instead of a star for numbered lists. Keep everything on a single line which can be as long as you want.
- Any other whitespace will be preserved in front of preformatted text. Use a few blanks in front of listings, tables, addresses and such to have them appear as-is.
Some tips for linking pages together:
- Type web URLs out fully. Include all http... stuff at the start. Wiki makes the whole thing a hyperlink. Ftp and mailto are other kinds of URLs you may use.
- Type web URLs for Pictures the same way. If the file is an image (.gif, .jpeg or .jpg) Wiki includes it inline.
- Make your own pages by simply refering to them with short phrases all run together. The kind of link you get depends on whether the page is already in the repository. First see
For more ideas try editing interesting pages to see how they were typed. We also share
