Help:Page Organization

This page provides some basic guidance for formating an article on WeRelate

Sections Headings

The use of section headers helps organize the information in an article, and makes it easier for the reader to find what they want. Headings can be created using "WikiText" format or standard "HTML Heading tags" format (not discussed here, except in passing)

In WikiText formating, Section headers are inserted using two or more "=" signs

Notes:

• Single equal signs give the highest level heading, the page title; This is reserved for the system
• Start with a second-level heading (==); don't use first-level headings (=).
• Don't skip levels (for example, second-level followed by fourth-level).
• A table of contents will automatically be added to an article that has four or more sections.
• Writing Tip: Its usually helpful if the section headings are placed in some logical order. For genealogy that order is often chronological; e.g.,

== Parents and Ancestry ==

== Early Life ==

== Marriage and Children==

• If you want to keep headings out of the TOC you have to use HTML heading tags and close them without using a slash e.g. <h4>heading too low level to be in the TOC of large page<h4>.

Underscores and Subsections

While you can use multiple "=" signs to create subsections to any depth you choose, it is inadvisable to use this technique deeper than three subsections. If there is a need to have addition subsections, or you don't want the subsections to appear in the TOC, consider using the underscore to establish subsections. For example:

Notes:

• Underscoring can be used in combination with 'bold' and 'italics' to help further distinguish these headings from the rest of the text.

Indenting

Indenting is useful to separate out a portion of text from what comes before and after. There are two basic approachs

• Paragraph Indents using ":"
• Block indents using <block quote>

Paragraph Indents

Inserting a ":" at the front of a paragraph will result in a one-step indent along the left hand edge of the paragraph. Two ":"'s results in an two-step indent, etc. Here is an example:

Research should be thorough. Conclusions made before all relevant sources are consulted are highly prone to error.

Every statement of fact should have its own explicit statement of source. The validity of no piece of information can be weighed if one does not know exactly where it came from and the circumstances under which it was created.

Researchers should seek the best-quality sources (original records rather than derivative works, to every extent possible) and the best-quality information (firsthand information being generally more reliable than secondhand).

Conclusions should rest upon a correlation and analysis of all existing evidence, not just one document that makes a direct (explicit) statement of fact. Any one document can err.

Elizabeth Shown Mills, 27 August 2008, APG Rootsweb Mailing list (fair use).

This was created with the following coding:

:''Research should be thorough. Conclusions made before all relevant sources are consulted are highly prone to error. :''Every statement of fact should have its own explicit statement of source. The validity of no piece of information can be weighed if one does not know exactly where it came from and the circumstances under which it was created. :''Researchers should seek the best-quality sources (original records rather than derivative works, to every extent possible) and the best-quality information (firsthand information being generally more reliable than secondhand). :''Conclusions should rest upon a correlation and analysis of all existing evidence, not just one document that makes a direct (explicit) statement of fact. Any one document can err.
:::''Elizabeth Shown Mills, 27 August 2008, APG Rootsweb Mailing list'' (fair use).

Block Indent

A "Block Indent" produces a onestep indent on both the left and right hand margin. As an example consider this quote:

It is advisable for any of us, when using a published abstract or transcription of--say--a will, to seek out the original will to verify the accuracy of the transcription. But there is a vast difference in the degree of *authority*--and, consequently, reliability--between (a) John Doe's published version of a will and (b) legal statutes published under the direction and authority of the commonwealth. There's a difference in quality control that went into the publication. There's a difference in the consequences that would arise from errors in the publication.

Elizabeth Shown Mills APG List June 24 2008 (fair use).

which was produced by the following coding:

<blockquote>''It is advisable for any of us, when using a published abstract or transcription of--say--a will, to seek out the original will to verify the accuracy of the transcription. But there is a vast difference in the degree of *authority*--and, consequently, reliability--between (a) John Doe's published version of a will and (b) legal statutes published under the direction and authority of the commonwealth. There's a difference in quality control that went into the publication. There's a difference in the consequences that would arise from errors in the publication.</blockquote>
::::Elizabeth Shown Mills APG List June 24 2008 (fair use).

• Note the use of italics to distinguish quoted material.

Lists

Using lists (e.g., a list of children) helps make the information easier to follow.
Lists can be created in

• Bullet Format
• Numbered format

Bullet formats with a single indent from the left, are created by inserting a single "*" at the start of a line.

Using ":*" or "**" will indent a bullet twice

Number formats are created by inserting a single "#" at the start of a line.

Using ":#" or "##" will indent a numbered bullet twice.

Centering

It is often useful to set off a title at the top of an article by centering it on the page. This is done with the <center>Some text</center> commands.

Blank Lines

Blank lines can be used to break up text for various purposes. Various symbols, some visible (e.g., <BR>, or <p>, some not (e.g., a "carriage return). All produce the same basic result, but each has its own peculiarities and applications.

Carriage Return The invisible carriage return is the most ubiquitious way of inserting a blank line. One CR will truncate a line, and you'll start typing the next passage on the line immediately next. (No blank line in between.) Two CR will give you a blank line between the two passages. A CR, however, is equivalent to an "end of paragraph" mark, and this aspect can affect the display in non intuitive ways. Ff you have a long passage that you want to show in italics or bold but use the CR to end a line, in the middle of the passage, only part of the passage will appear in bold or italics. For example, the following code does not behave as you might expect it to:

'''It seems that perfection is reached not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away. Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. Wind, sand and stars, 1939'''

Instead of having the entire passage showing in bold, only part is bolded, as follows:

It seems that perfection is reached not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away. Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. Wind, sand and stars, 1939

The reason for this is the invisible carriage return following "...to add," which terminates the bolding function. To avoid this, you need to remove that carriage return:

'''It seems that perfection is reached not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.''' Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. Wind, sand and stars, 1939

which produces

It seems that perfection is reached not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away. Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. Wind, sand and stars, 1939

So, if you are having a problem with rendering an entire passage in bold or italics, check for errant carriage returns.

Html Paragraph Mark

Another way to insert a blank line is with the use of the html <p> "Paragraph Mark". The following illustrates the code for this:

'''It seems that perfection is reached not when there is nothing left to add,<p> but when there is nothing left to take away.''' Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. Wind, sand and stars, 1939</p>

Which generates the following:

It seems that perfection is reached not when there is nothing left to add,

but when there is nothing left to take away. Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. Wind, sand and stars, 1939

• Note the terminal </p>. This is necessary to prevent anything following the </p> from merging with the preceeding text. Not including this results in odd behavior in the resulting behavior.

HTML Break

The standard HTML nowiki>
</nowiki> can also be used to create a line break.

<blockquote> '''It seems that perfection is reached not when there is nothing left to add, <BR>but when there is nothing left to take away.''' Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. Wind, sand and stars, 1939 </blockquote>

Creates the following

It seems that perfection is reached not when there is nothing left to add,
but when there is nothing left to take away. Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. Wind, sand and stars, 1939

• Here, a terminal </BR> , though theoretically optional, will produce odd behavior in the resulting display. That's exactly opposite to what happens using the </p>