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.

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.

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 to other articles in FamilySearch wiki
interwiki

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&amp;SWEView=GPEA+Product+Detail+-+Features+View+FFO&amp;SWEHo=eservices.archives.gov&amp;SWETS=1199728061&amp;SWEPostnApplet=GPEA+Product+Form

https://eservices.archives.gov/orderonline/start.swe?SWECmd=GotoView&amp;SWEView=GPEA+Product+Detail+-+Features+View+FFO&amp;SWEHo=eservices.archives.gov&amp;SWETS=1199728061&amp;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 {tl|RecordSearch}} template for these links will allow the links to be easily updated if the web address changes.

Wikipedia
Using the {tl|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.