Welcome to the Ultimate Guide to Making a Superb Guide!
Foreword:
This is a guide written by me, Chris!, for the purpose of providing a guide to posting superb guides for the community of Villavu/SRL. Please try to keep all posts on topic. Thank you and enjoy. Also remember to +rep me if you liked the guide.
Table of Contents:
- Introduction
- What makes a good guide?
- Grammar
- Paragraph spacing
- Usage of bold, underline and italics
- Proper use of text sizing
- Detail
- Colour
- Pictures
- Thread Structure
- Formatting
- Do's and Don'ts
- Reputation
- Guide Sections (SRL Forums)
- FAQ
- Author's Notes
- Thread Statistics
Introduction:
Hello members of SRL and welcome to the guide. I, for one, am tired of seeing poorly formatted, 5 minute jobs on guide's which look like an alpaca spat it out. Things that contribute to a bad guide include:
- Walls of text.
- Poor grammar.
- No pictures.
- No colour.
- No effort put into the contents and overall appeal of the guide.
- No detail.
I will be explaining throughout this guide how to fix these and hopefully at the end of reading this guide, you will learn what separates horrible guides and superb guides.
What makes a good guide?
There are many different things that contribute to a good guide, varying from great grammar to the use of neat text sizing. Also:
- Grammar
- Paragraph spacing
- Usage of bold, underline and italics
- Proper use of text sizing
- Detail
- Colour
- Pictures
Grammar
Correct use of grammar is an integral part of any post you ever make on ANY forum! Not having grammatical errors throughout posts allows readers to fully understand what you're trying to convey.
An example of BAD grammar:
Quote:
0mg 1337 1 ju$t g0t 799 coinz @t g3.
An example of GOOD grammar:
Quote:
Good day to you sir, how are you?
By displaying bad grammar, you also come across as someone who does not like to put any effort or thought into posts and sometimes, depending on how bad it is, it makes you look like a seven year old.
Paragraph Spacing
Paragraph spacing means the breaking up of text so that it does not look like a gigantic wall of plain, black text. It is useful in organisation of your thread and making it look better and easier to read.
An example of BAD paragraph spacing:
Quote:
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmodtempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam,quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodoconsequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit essecillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat nonproident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.
An example of GOOD paragraph spacing:
Quote:
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam,quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.
Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit essecillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non
proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.
Usage of Bold, Underline and Italics
Knowing when to use these enhances the look of your thread. Normally, important information is bolded and section titles are italicised/underlined. Over using these should not be done and will only hinder your thread.
An example of BAD usage:
Quote:
Usage of bold, underline and italics
Knowing when to use these enhances the look of your thread. Normally, important information is bolded and section titles are italicised/underlined. Over using these should not be done and will only hinder your thread.
An example of GOOD usage:
Quote:
Usage of bold, underline and italics
Knowing when to use these enhances the look of your thread. Normally, important information is bolded and section titles are italicised/underlined. Over using these should not be done and will only hinder your thread.
*sorry for the horrible examples for this category*
Good usage of this allows members to see important information while looking over/skimming through threads.
Text Sizing
Text sizing is predominantly used for title/section headers so that they stand out. These used in conjunction with some vBCodes/BBCodes make for good headings!
An example of BAD text sizing:
Quote:
Text Sizing
Text sizing makes threads so sexy! It's a shame when used wrong it gives everyone an eyesore -.-
An example of GOOD text sizing:
Quote:
Text Sizing
Text sizing makes threads so sexy! It's a shame when used wrong it gives everyone an eyesore -.-
*sorry for the horrible examples for this category*
The correct usage of text sizing allows members to easily navigate between sections of a tutorial.
Detail
Detail is incredibly important in any thread/guide. The more detail you put into it, the easier it is to come to terms with it and learn and will overall improve your thread/guide. Instead of quickly getting to the point in a thread, put some time into explaining every step/method to get to that point.
An example of BAD detail:
Quote:
Chop big trees until ## wc
An example of GOOD detail:
Quote:
From levels ##-##, you want to cut yew trees as you will net a nice profit. Good places to cut these are here, here and here. You will average around ###xp/hr using a rune hatchet in a low-population server.
See the difference? People will think: What the hell is a big tree? What the hell is wc? Doing this in all parts of your thread will make it very easy to understand and classed as a very good thread!
Colour
The use of colour throughout paragraphs in your thread will either make it look aesthetically pleasing or just an eyesore. To do this, do not overuse colours, especially colours that do not suit each other (Example: Red/Grey).
An example of BAD colour:
Quote:
Colour
The use of colour throughout paragraphs in your thread will either make it look aesthetically pleasing or just an eyesore.
An example of GOOD colour:
Quote:
Colour
The use of colour throughout paragraphs in your thread will either make it look aesthetically pleasing or just an eyesore.
Pictures
Pictures allow you to show media that applies to what your thread is about. For example, showing a screenshot of a good fishing location for a fishing guide. Pictures should always be cropped to fit inside the dimensions of a post on the forums so it does not glitch up the page.
An example of BAD pictures:
*insert any massive image here*
An example of GOOD pictures:
*insert any good sized image here*
^ Just imagine it.
Thread Structure
Thread structures are useful for any guide category, from Runescape skill guides to forum guides to AutoCAD tutorials. Any good guide will have a certain structure that the contents are based off. An example of a text structure:
- Title
- Table of Contents (Optional)
- Introduction
- Body (Sections)
- Conclusion/Author Notes
As you can see in this guide, it follows the structure that is displayed in the Table of Contents but it has a title and a foreword. The benefits of using thread structures are:
- Organisation.
- Quick-access through anchors (place an anchor at the start of the section and then link it to the section name in your Table of Contents).
- Easier to help members: Go to ### thread and view ### section or view ### for help with your issue/question.
So, as you can see, it's not hard to create a decent thread structure and use it throughout your thread. No excuses now.
Formatting
Formatting is the second most important thing for ANY guide, behind detailed information. Formatting allows you to show members highly important information with the use of any of the vBCodes (Also known as BBCodes) supplied with the forum. You can view the default codes given from the vBulletin install
here! There are more vBCodes that you have access too because the Administrators have installed some helpful addons! These include: Banana, YouTube embedding, Simba Code, SCAR code and report code. Here are the custom vBCodes that have been added via addons/custom codes:
http://i50.tinypic.com/oibytz.jpg
- Banana - Puts text in a sign above a banana.
- YouTube - Embeds a YouTube player into your thread.
- Simba - Puts whatever text in between the tags into SIMBA code (bolded if's, then's etc.)
- SCAR - See Simba.
- Report - Put your progress reports in between these tags to show that it's a progress report.
So, in your guides if you wanted to show some Simba code, you would use the SIMBA tags. Same with report, SCAR etc.
Do's and Don'ts
Do:
- Be original
- Provide detailed information on everything in your guide
- Provide links to outside sources for extra information
- Credit people where necessary
- Answer questions asked on your thread
- Make it as easy to understand as possible
Don't:
- Write about things you don't know anything about
- Use horrible grammar (see: Section 2 - What Makes a Good Guide? Subsection 1: Grammar)
- Use words no-one will understand
- Steal
- Use information from another source without crediting them
- Have walls of text
Reputation
You can view the rep you have been given here:
http://villavu.com/forum/usercp.php
Reputation is a point system aimed toward allowing members of the community to see what users think of you. Your reputation can be viewed under your cups in any post you make, by the bars. When giving reputation, the amount of rep power you have is added to the receiver's reputation points.
Reputation power is calculated with the following formula: Join date in years + Posts/1000 + Reputation/100. As an example, if you have been here for 3 years, made 3000 posts and have 200 rep then you will give 3+3+2=8 rep. Credits to JJ for that information.
You can see a person's reputation (round to the hundreds) by the reputation boxes in posts. These appear under the cups of a user in any post they make. One bar is equal to 100 reputation points. This means 100 rep = 2 boxes, 200 rep = 3 boxes and so on. For negative reputation, -1 rep is 1 red box, -100 is 2 red boxes and so on. Not sure if this effects your rep power.
Guide Sections (Updated)
There are
6 7 different sections that guides can be posted in on the SRL forums (
http://villavu.com). These sections can be found under the 'Help and Tutorials' category and include:
I will break down each section and tell you what guides you will find/should post in there.
Forum Guides
Board description: Need help using a feature on our forums? Look in here!
What threads will I find?: In this board, you will find information regarding the usage of the forum. These range from introductions to the forum to reputation guides and beyond.
Botting Help and Guides
Board description: Can't figure out how to make things run? This is the place for you!
What threads will I find?: In this board, you will find important information that is absolutely necessary to begin botting using Simba. In here you will find threads such as, "Setting up RS to Auto", "SMART error fixes" and "How to install/setup Simba". Basically, if there's a thread in this section, it's about helping you get your characters into the game with the scripts/SMART working.
Scripting Help and Tutorials
Board description: Want to learn how to script? Having troubles getting your script to run?
What threads will I find?: In this board, you will find tutorials and information that will set the base for all your scripting endeavours that you embark upon. There are five subsections, which are (words in brackets are the board description):
- Scripting Help (Post a thread here to get help with your scripts.)
- Beginner Tutorials (Never programmed in pascal before? This is the place to start.)
- Intermediate Tutorials (Wish to know how to code your own script from start to end? This is the place to find out all about Simba and SRL.)
- Advanced Tutorials(Behind the scenes of SRL and Simba. This is where we separate the men for the boys.)
You will start in the beginner section and eventually move your way up to advanced. If you have any issues you can post a thread in the Scripting Help section for help.
Programming Help and Tutorials
Board description:General programming tutorials not related to SRL.
What threads will I find?: In this board, you will find tips, tricks and tutorials regarding programming of any sort, including a variety of different languages. There are six boards in this section, which are:
- C/C++ Help and Tutorials
- Delphi/FPC Help and Tutorials
- Java Help and Tutorials
- Python/Perl Help and Tutorials
- C#/Visual Basic Help and Tutorials
- Other Language Help and Tutorials
You can find almost anything regarding programming in these sections. For the Pascal language, see Scripting Help and Tutorials.
Education Help and Tutorials
Board description: Need some help with your studies ? Feel like lending a hand in your area of expertise ? Then this is the section for you!
What threads will I find?: In this board, you will find tutorials regarding the education system. These include subjects such as:
- General
- English/L.O.T.E
- Mathematics
- Science
- Social Studies
Other Guides
Board description: Guides that don't fit in any of the above categories.
[B}What threads will I find?:[/B] You will find any guides that do not fit in any of the other sections in here.
Outdated Tutorials
Board description: For those old-school ones who remember these times. Things are different now, but it's always good to learn.
What threads will I find?: In this board, you will find tutorials that do not currently apply to the current forum/Simba revision. You can not and should not post anything in here. If a thread gets outdated due to an update, it will be moved into this section.
FAQ
Here you can find frequently asked questions to do with guides, the Tutorial Island section or this guide.
Q: I can't post a thread in any section of Tutorial Island? I don't have permission to access the page when I try to create a thread?
A: You must be a Junior Member or higher in order to post in any of the sections of Tutorial Island. This rank requires you to have a post count of over 300 and your account must be older than 6 months. You can see all ranks
here.
Q: Do you really need all of these things in order to make a good guide?
A: You don't need ALL of them, but think of it like this: The more you have = The better it is, or like this: Quality > Quantity.
Q: I don't know where to post my guide?
A: You can either contact a member of staff (See:
http://villavu.com/forum/showgroups.php NOTE: Not all are active), or you can post it in one of the sections that you think it should go in and if it does not belong there, a staff member will move it. Just make sure it's in the Tutorial Island section and you're fine!
If you have a question that could be added into this section, please reply with one! They are always welcomed!
Author's Notes
Thank you for reading this guide and I hope it wasn't too boring to read. ;) My overall goal for this thread was to show the members of the community how to post good guides with quality information and layouts, now, you guy's can tell me if this was a success or not! A side goal is to get this thread stickied at one stage, we'll see how that goes.
If you find any grammatical issues in any part of this thread, PLEASE alert me too it! Oh dear it'd be bad if there was one in the grammar section :redface:.
I am always looking for suggestions on what to add to this, so please do not hesitate to let me know! I don't care what it is, anything! :D
