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.


 * Unique titles. No two articles may have the same title.
 * A wiki search should be done for the proposed title to ensure that there is not an existing article with that title.
 * Avoid duplication of articles. If an article already exists for the same topic, contributors should edit the existing article rather than create a new article.
 * Specific but short titles. Titles should be as short as possible but specific enugh that users can identify the topic of the article when it appears in the search results. Avoid clever but unclear titles. Remove any unnecessary words or punctuation.
 * Common terms. Titles should use common terms that users might search for. A well formatted name for a new article can be very helpful to users and make it easier for search engines to guide users to the most relevant wiki article.
 * You may want to run it by experienced wiki contributors.

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

Punctuation
Do not end the title with punctuation.

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.

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

Bold
In rare cases, if a word must be emphasized, use bold.

Italics
Use italics if a word must be emphasized. List book titles in italics. Do not use italics for quoted text.

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

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

 * FamilySearch Wiki:Linking
 * Help:Create an internal link
 * Help:Create an external link
 * Help:Advanced Linking
 * Help:Section - the content under "Section linking" appears to be incorrect. A review is needed.
 * Help:Wiki markup

Linking through the use of page section templates

 * Dablink - the disambiguation template
 * Details
 * Further
 * Main
 * See also

Other possible templates to create include:


 * Subarticle - see Wikipedia's Template:Subarticle for details
 * Cat also - see Wikipedia's Template:Cat also for details

Linking through the use of metatemplates

 * See Category:Metatemplates for a list of metatemplates available for use

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.

"For pay" web sites
If you refer to a subscription website or one which has a charge to obtain information, use the "$" to indicate that there may be a fee for the site.

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.

Draft Pages or Sandboxes
Major editing work on a page that will not be finished for an extended time may confuse visitors to the page. To avoid this, it is recommend that lengthy or long term editing preparations are worked on in a sandbox you create. Be sure to add a link in the "Discussion" page of where the planned changes will be posted, to the sandbox where the planned changes are being worked on. This will allow comments on the new content until it is moved from the sandbox page to the page that needs the changes.