All users are permitted and encouraged to participate in contributing to and editing the Bodhi Wiki. Only a few key pages are restricted from editing by normal users. We use DokuWiki software to run this wiki. Refer to the DokuWiki site for information on its usage, particularly the Dokuwiki Syntax Page.

To ensure consistency throughout the wiki, follow this style guide when creating or editing wiki pages. Feel free to add to the style guide whenever you think of a word or style choice that should be used consistently across the wiki pages.

You can create and test pages in the Playground.

When creating a wiki article, give some thought to the pagename you are creating for that article. The “primary” or “most significant” word in the title should be the first word. In nearly all cases this will also be a noun.

For example, an article about running Bodhi in VirtualBox should have the pagename “VirtualBox - Running Bodhi in”. While this sounds a ittle “unnatural” it will be much easier for a user to find the article because they will normally be looking for the keyword “VirtualBox” and not “Running”.

Note that the pagename and title do not have to be the same. See pagenames and namespaces for further explanation.

If you would like to see what pages have been created / edited recently, just go here.

When writing, assume users have minimal knowledge of how to use Bodhi Linux; add enough detail for a novice to understand you and, where possible, use non-technical language.

Avoid jokes and convoluted, conversational language; jokes aren't universally funny, and even less so if a user wants to quickly find the information that they need! Do not interpret this as meaning that your writing will be cold or unfriendly; in the context of a wiki, the user will appreciate neutral and concise language more than “personality” that you want to display.

Apart from spelling and grammar, which is to be in the American English style, when choosing between styles to use, give preference to the style that is already most used in existing wiki pages so that as few pages as possible need to be updated. This rule can be broken if there is a good reason why a new style or word should be used over the dominant style or word. If a style decision can't be reached through this method, then use common sense.

Use American English spelling and grammar.

Generally speaking, try to avoid using contractions.

This is an alphabetized list of preferred words and styles that aren't covered by the rule of using American English as a preference:

• “Bodhi Linux” the first time it's referred to on a page, “Bodhi” thereafter unless it appears after another top level heading on the same page.
• “display” rather than “screen” when referring to anything to do with the operating system environment; screen should only refer to the physical screen of the computer.
• double quotation marks (”) rather than single quotation marks (')
• En dash (–) rather than em dash (—)
• “forward slash” (rather than “solidus”)
• forward slashes have no space on either side of them, unless needed for a code to work.
• “Internet” always capitalized
• “press” (rather than “touch” when referring to performing actions with a touchscreen.
• “touchscreen” (rather than “touch screen”, “touch-screen”, or “TouchScreen”)

With a few exceptions, all words in a title of an article or the title of a section should be capitalized.

The only types of words in titles that should not be capitalized are articles, prepositions, conjugations and the particle “to” when it is used with an infinitive unless they are the first or last word of a title.

Apart from in titles, only capitalize proper nouns. There is no need to capitalize a generic reference to an element of the Bodhi operating system, but you should capitalize an element of the operating system if it is the proper name of the element. For example, you shouldn't capitalize a reference to a terminal, but you should capitalize a reference to Bodhi's default terminal, LXTerminal.

Number each step of a procedure and place each step on a new line.

Only include one instruction per step unless the step is simple or related enough to the next step to make it appropriate to join the steps.

For a closely-related string of steps, it is appropriate to use the → arrow (inserted by writing a hyphen and then a closing angle bracket, e.g., - > without a space) to link steps with only one initial verb. For example, “Click Terminal → Set Character Encoding → Add or Remove…”. Put a space on either side of the arrows and don't bold them.

If the result of a correctly executed step has a visible result, such as a window opening, include the result on the line below the step, but don't number it.

Try to reserve the bold character style for buttons and windows. For example, “Click Ok.” Otherwise, it may be confusing whether bolded text is referring to a button or window, or whether it's being used for another reason, like to add emphasis.

When writing about multiple buttons to be pressed simultaneously, use an addition symbol seperated by a space between the buttons, and bold the buttons and the addition symbol: Alt + Esc.

Images can be uploaded via the Add Images and other files button on the top bar of the Edit Window on any page. Browse through your system to find the file you want to upload and select it. Once it is uploaded, you can then just click on the file you just uploaded and it will appear in your text where you last had the cursor.

If you want to “manually” add an image, the syntax is:

{{:someimage.png}}

Technically, the leading colon is not required in the default namespace, but it is required in other namespaces. Since it may cause confusion when a page is translated but the image does not appear it is highly recommended to use the leading colon.

If you want to draw attention to a piece of particularly important or useful text, use the Note plugin by enclosing the text in the suitable note tags:

<note tip></note>

<note></note>

<note important></note>

<note warning></note> 

If you want to consecutively add two unrelated pieces of information formatted as the same type of note without non-note text between them, enter them as seperate notes rather than entering all the information using one note code. For example, do this:

Rather than this:

When linking to other material contained within this wiki, it is recommended to avoid linking directly to another page. Instead, refer to one of the 7 main sections (About Bodhi, Getting Started, Customizing, Using Bodhi, Hardware, Resources, Getting Involved. This should, to some degree, prevent broken links if things move.

To refer to this page, for example, use: “Please see the Wiki Editing Guide in the Getting Involved section.”

When creating a link contained in a section of text, enclose it in 2 asterisks to make the link bold. For example:

Go to **[[Start]]**

Will look like this: Go to Start

Links that appear in a list of links do not need to be highlighted by bolding. A good example of both is the Getting Started page.

Apply usual grammar rules to sentences with links, including placing a period after a link. But don't make the period part of the link unless the period is usually part of the link anyway.

The main title page should be surrounded by 6 equals signs, like this:

====== Wiki Editing Guide ======

Following sub-sections can be marked with any number of equals signs fewer than 6. Unless the page you're working on has many sub-sections (like this one) please try to avoid using 5 equals signs which creates a horizontal line.

A Section Heading with 4 or more equals signs surrounding it on each side will create a standalone editable section. That is, if you are logged in to the Wiki you will see an Edit button to edit just that section and not the entire page.

Another feature that can be utilized with Section Headings is to create links directly to that section. Simply use the same name that is enclosed in the equals signs preceded by a pound sign:

[[#Section Heading]]

You can even refer to particular Sections on other Pages and use an “alias” by referring to the pagename#section | alias, like this:

**[[using_lxterminal_as_your_file_manager_part_1&#seeing_your_files | Seeing Your Files]]**

This will create a link to that section on that page, and will appear like this: Seeing your files.

When referring to a filename or a short command that is inside a block of text, please surround it with 2 single quotes. It will look like this: filename.txt

''filename.txt'' 

When including a long command and/or path, start a newline and indent 2 or more spaces to create a “quote box” (This is how the boxes for the above syntax examples have been created). Alternatively (sometimes the first character in the text you are quoting will be misinterpreted by Dokuwiki), surround it with the tags

<code> </code>

References to another application or those that are to a keyword for another topic should be styled in bold text. Menu Selections or Buttons that are pressed in an application should also be in bold text.

Make text **bold** with asterisks

References to actions that you are instructing a user to do should be in italics. Some examples would be: click, navigate, type, etc

Make text //italicized// with forward slashes

You may leave comments in the page source for yourself or other authors which is not visible when viewing a page normally.

This is the syntax:

Text /* between */ is hidden

Becomes:

Text is hidden

This also works across multiple lines:

You can have /* long-winded
comments that are on more 
than one line on */ multiple lines.

Becomes:

You can have multiple lines.

Please add a User Feedback Poll to each page that is of an instructional or how-to nature so that we can collect feedback on how useful an article is to our users. Add this bit of code WITH ONE IMPORTANT EDIT (see below) to the bottom of these type of pages:

----
==== User Feedback ====
<vote vote_test3 check=ip>
Did you find this article helpful?
* Yes, right on the money!
* Somewhat. Needs work.
* Not really
* Not at all.
</vote>
If you would like to comment or make further suggestions, please leave a note on our **[[Comments]]** page (you will have to **[[http://www.bodhilinux.com/wiki/doku.php?id=using_bodhi&do=register|Create an Account]]** if you haven't already).

You will edit the 3rd line:

<vote vote_test3 check=ip>

Change the ”vote_test3” to the pagename of the article, substituting any spaces with underscores(_). For example, this page would be:

<vote wiki_editing_guide check=ip>

That text is the “name” of the poll. If it isn't changed all votes will go to the same poll, not what we want.

— mark 2011/06/11 13:39

The very basics of doing translations are in the Wiki Translating Basics page.

If you are translating, ensure that you have a thorough understanding of pagenames and namespaces. The short version is that for the translation plugin to work correctly all the pages in each language must have the same pagename. It is the namespace (think of them as a folder/directory) that keeps them distinct.

When you are creating a link to a page in most cases you will want to take advantage of the feature that allows you to create a link that displays substitute text. It takes the form of

[[actual link | visible text]]

Here's an example of it in use from the German Using Bodhi page:

[[user - add new | Benutzer hinzufuegen]]

The link goes to the page “user - add new” but displays the link as “Benutzer hinzufuegen”.

If you have questions just ask on the Documentation sub-forum.