FamilySearch Wiki:Manual of Style

A style guide or style manual is a set of standards for design and writing of documents, either for general use or for a specific publication or organization. Web site style guides focus on a publication's visual and technical aspects, prose style, best usage, grammar, punctuation, spelling, and fairness. The consistent use of style guidelines provides uniformity in style and formatting of wiki articles, which makes the articles easier for readers to understand and use.

Naming

Name a new article

Main article: Name a new article

Before creating a new article, take the time to think of a name that clearly explains in a few words the content of the article. Remove any unnecessary words or punctuation. You may want to run it by experienced wiki contributors. A correctly formated name for a new article can be very helpful to users.

Place names

Unlike most genealogy software place name conventions, Include the word "county" in the title of an article about a particular county.

Abbreviations

Abbreviations, including US postal codes, should not be used in article titles or text because abbreviations can mean different things in different parts of the world. For example, the abbreviation CA could mean either California or Canada, depending on the reader's nationality.

For more information about naming conventions, see also Help:Naming conventions.

Rename an existing article

Main article: Renaming pages

Formatting

Character Formatting

Font

Regardless of the font you paste into the wiki edit screen, your work will be saved in the system's default font.

Underline

Because the use of underline frequently indicates text with a hyperlink that can be clicked to learn more, do not use underline as a way to emphasize text.

Geographical Names

A proposed style guideline Naming Conventions for Geographic Names is being discussed. Once a consensus is reached a guideline will be adopted.

Linking

Main article: FamilySearch Wiki:Linking

Linking to other articles in FamilySearch wiki

interwiki

Linking to other Websites

Links should not display the full URL

Many URLs (website addresses) are long and not reader-friendly. For readability's sake, links should not include the full URL of the destination page. There may be extremely rare instances where displaying the full URL is desirable, but this should be the exception, not the rule, and should be done only if there is a compelling reason.

Example 1: a link by itself

Correct: FamilySearch

Incorrect: http://www.familysearch.org/eng/default.asp

Example 2: a link in context

Correct: Order United States military records online.

Incorrect: Go to https://eservices.archives.gov/orderonline/start.swe?SWECmd=GotoView&SWEView=GPEA+Product+Detail+-+Features+View+FFO&SWEHo=eservices.archives.gov&SWETS=1199728061&SWEPostnApplet=GPEA+Product+Form

https://eservices.archives.gov/orderonline/start.swe?SWECmd=GotoView&SWEView=GPEA+Product+Detail+-+Features+View+FFO&SWEHo=eservices.archives.gov&SWETS=1199728061&SWEPostnApplet=GPEA+Product+Form to order United States military records online.

Click here to order United States military records online.

Clearly, the first link is much easier to read, takes less space, and helps users understand what they will find by clicking the link.

OCLC/WorldCat

Using the {{WorldCat}} template for these links will allow the links to be easily updated if the web address changes.

FHLC

Using the {{FHL}} template for these links will allow the links to be easily updated if the web address changes.

Record Search

Using the {{RecordSearch}} template for these links will allow the links to be easily updated if the web address changes.

Wikipedia

Using the {{Wikipedia}} template for these links will allow the links to be easily updated if the web address changes.

Box layout: columns vs. portals

Authors desiring to display a wiki page's content in boxes should use tables within columns instead of using sub-pages within portals. To see the code that allows one to layout columns and tables, go to the Maryland page, click Edit, and switch to Wikitext view. To see an example of portal code, go to the India portal on Wikipedia and click Edit this page. For more about this topic, see The Un-Portal Page.