Dogcraft Wiki
Guides
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A guide on the Dogcraft Wiki is a content page that teaches users how to perform a task. This can range from explaining how to link your Dogcraft account to how to sell items at the Server Mall. They differ from articles in terms of purpose and style in that their purpose is not to showcase as much as it is to explain a topic thoroughly. This section of the Guidelines will cover the best practices for writing guides.
Guides vs Articles
Guides differ from articles in a number of ways outlined by the table below.
| Articles | Guides |
|---|---|
| Describe and showcase a topic | Teach users how to use/do something |
Use the (Main) namespace. |
Use the Guide: namespace.
|
| Provide trivia and information; showcases interesting details | Focus soley on how the user can complete something; ignores irrelevant details. |
Guide Titles
Guides should make use of the Guide: namespace and so should be given a simple title to explain what the guide is about and don't need to say that they are a guide itself (as that is clear through the namespace). For instance, "Guide:Account Linking" rather than "Guide:Guide to Account Linking".
Main Namespace Redirect
Because pages on other namespaces can be hard to search for, it's a good idea to make a redirect in the main namespace to the guide, so that players can more easily find it. For instance, "Guide:Account Linking" has a redirect in the form of "Guide to Linking".
The "Guides" page accessible from the Main Page contains a list of important guides for players. Some, but not all guides will be accessible from this location to help players find out how to complete important tasks like linking or getting started with the economy.
Guide Structure
Each guide on the Wiki will need to be structured in its own way that suits the content of the guide itself; there's no blanket format for a guide that will explain something perfectly no matter the topic. However, there are a number of good practices to take when writing guide articles.
- The introductory paragraph should introduce the topic and explain what the guide will teach the user.
- Assume the player knows how to play Minecraft, but doesn't know anything about Dogcraft; e.g the guide doesn't need to explain to apply pressure to the right mouse button to click in order to view the contents of a chest, but should tell the player that they need to open the chest for it to work.
- Break down the topic or tackle the topic step-by-step; explain each feature individually or explain to players how to carry out the task one step at a time. Breaking it down is a good way to avoid walls of text that can confuse and intimidate players wanting to try something new.
- Use pictures as you would in an article, however more closely tie them into the content of the text - use them to visually show (almost as if they are a diagram) how to do something.
- Limit the usage of links to helpful pages to not distract or overwhelm the user.
- Use the Guide navbox at the bottom and don't bother with an infobox; limit the usage of templates in this case to avoid clutter.
