Help:How to plan a new Guide

From SN Guides

Introduction

There are two approaches you could take to writing a Guide:

1. Just start writing and improve it as you go along
2. Do the basic planning before you start and work on the guide methodically.

Both approaches work but the second is likely to result in a better-constructed Guide.

This Guide suggests how you might go about building a Guide using the second approach.

Check for Existing Material

There is no point in spending time duplicating what someone else has done so check to see if there is already a Guide covering your topic - maybe you should add your new material to an existing Guide.

1. Check for relevant entries using the Categories navigation tool in the toolbar on the left of the screen
2. Follow up with some searches using the Search tool which is also in the toolbar on the left of the screen
3. Make a note of relevant Categories and Guides so you can add links to them later in the process

Plan the structure of the Guide

1. Plan what you are going to include:
   • Sketch out what you want to include on paper. Although This is not essential, but organising your material will save time on changing it around later.
2. Decide if you are going to include:
   • Images or photographs
   • Links to other SN Guides
   • Links to SN threads
   • Links to other websites

If you are going to provide links to any of the above, assemble of list of the items in preparation so you don't have to go digging around for them when you start building the Guide.

Create the structure of the Guide

Start by adding the headings for your Guide

1. Always start with an Introduction section
2. Add a note saying something like "Work in progress - Guide started on 06/10/07" so readers realise the Guide is incomplete
3. Add a section towards the end for References to list books, websites etc. quoted in the Guide
4. Add a section towards the end with a list of images and photos stating their titles and where they came from

Create the basic Guide Entry

1. Add the basic text - you may wish to type this in using a Word Processor and copy it into the Guides from there
2. Add any data - you may wish to put this in a table - see How to add a data table to a Guide

Note: It is advisable to regularly check progress by pressing the Show Preview button, and saving work in progress using the Save Page button. There is nothing more annoying that to lose a page of work because you failed to save it regularly.

Add images and links

After you are satisfied with the basic Guide you can add the extras.

1. Add images
   • Images have to be uploaded before you can use them.
   • See How to upload an image and use it in a Guide
2. Add links to SN Guides
   • See How to add links to other SN Guides
3. Add links to SN threads and other websites
   • See Help:How to add links to SN threads and other web pages

Polish and finalise your Guide

1. Check the overall look of the Guide - is it neat and well laid out?
2. Check spacing betwen paragraphs and images
3. Add Categories - see How to use Categories to help users find entries
4. Consider using a template to provide standard links to other Guides if this is one of a group of Guides (e.g. for sister ships). See How to use a simple template to add standard links to a group of Guides

Good luck - it really is quite straightforward and help is on hand via site Moderators.