Difference between revisions of "Wiki style guide"

Revision as of 17:16, 4 August 2016

This article provides styling guidelines for the contents of the SciComp wiki.

Structure

Keep the structure of a page clean, simple and well balanced. In principle an article should not have more than 4 levels. The page title is level 1 and the current section is level 2

Level 3

This is an example of level 3...

Level 4

... and of level 4.

Level 5

As you can see, things become messy down here because level 5 is hard to distinguish from level 4. As a consequence, level 5 should be avoided at all cost.

If a part of an article is much more complicated than the rest, then perhaps you should consider moving it into a wiki page of its own.

Voice

Avoid the 3rd person and the passive voice. Consider:

• BAD: ssh must be used to access the cluster, and authentication must be done using NETHZ username and password

• BAD: one must use ssh to access the cluster, and authenticate oneself using one's NETHZ username and password

• BAD: users must use ssh to access the cluster, and authenticate themselves using their NETHZ username and password

• GOOD: please use ssh to access the cluster, and authenticate using your NETHZ username and password

Of course, there are cases where a passive form is better. Use your best judgement.