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Staff note: while not official, the Guide to writing Guides and Ye Olde Guide to Guide Writing have been put together in this thread and stickied to assist guide authors when planning, researching, creating and organizing a guide. Thanks to both indizle and wurmskin for this helpful information! To ask questions, please see the discussion topic http://forum.tip.it/viewtopic.php?t=626070

 

Guide originally posted Fri Nov 17, 2006 1:46 am

 

Original Guide by wurmskin, edited:

 

titlevm5.png

 

Table of Contents

 

1.0. Introduction

2.0. Content & picking a topic

3.0. Dividing your guide into sections

4.0. Images

5.0. Font

6.0. Acknowledgments and Credits

7.0. Some rules to remember

8.0. Closing Words

 

1.0. Introduction

 

For those of you who just can't take a hint, this mini-guide will be bent on trying to give a few of those first-time guide makers some tips. Hopefully this guide might actually help SOME people when they make their very own guides. I myself have been a very big fan of them and have learned quite a considerable amount over the time I have spent looking at and making them and I think some of the knowledge I've gained can actually help a few people out there.

 

2.0. Content and picking a topic

 

Choosing a suitable topic

 

Choosing a topic is the first and foremost thing as a guide maker that you should be looking at. In my opinion, this is the part in which the guide makers will ponder about the most. The reason being is that they'll usually end up worrying about whether their guide topic will satisfy the guide readers.

 

If there's one thing I've learned throughout my time on Tip.it Forums its that a suitable topic would preferably be something that you know a lot about or if not, then at least the topic you are choosing must be something that you are willing to research and put your time into. If it's not then you might as well kick it in and then pick another one. Also, a suitable topic would be one that most people want to know more about. If it is something that has got people scratching their heads over then it will most likely become popular. One thing that strikes me is that most of the more popular guides are somewhat unique in their own way. If you make a guide about how to chop wood then its obvious it won't be that good as others as it is basic common sense. I mean come on! Who needs an instruction manual about how to walk? If you make a guide about something a bit more sophisticated then the more confusing the better. Take "Leveling Herblore" for example. Lots members are absolutely clueless when they begin to level Herblore and there aren't many guides out there. I think the reason being is that many things affect Herblore training. Time, money, supply and demand for the herbs, seconds and the finished products and the difference between potions. Therefore, I think that if a guide was made about a few methods of leveling it then it would be a sure-fire hit. The reasons being...

 

1. It'll be original. Not that many people know decent Herblore leveling techniques.

and

2. It'll be interesting. Unlike other guides which teach you how to do basic things.

 

Content

 

ANY content that is in your guide should be correct. If your guide is comprised mostly of incorrect information then prepare to be flamed and shamed. Guides are supposed to be something that teaches you how to do something specific right or if not, better - it is not in any circumstances something to mislead other players with. It is also important that you make your content as understandable as you can by using proper grammar and punctuation in every piece of writing that you may include in your guide. Make sure to also avoid using internet language such as "lol". While keeping all this in mind, you must also remember that your content must be thorough as well. Explain every single thing about your topic inside you guide - explain strategies, what you get as a reward, how much cash/exp/etc... you get per hour and things like that. A good comprehensive guide would include most and if you can, everything about the chosen topic. This will make your guide longer, and make it even better for the guide readers. Lastly, when reading a guide you want to be interested in the writing that the author has left you with. Think about things that keep you reading on when you come across pieces of literature. Do pictures matter to you? Does color? Does font? Think about that and try and implement those to your guide as much as possible. The best way to make a guide of a greater quality is to hook the people who read it. At the end of it all, remember to proof read it thoroughly and look for mistakes in spelling and grammar. But please, do not despair if you need to be corrected half a dozen of times. Nobody is perfect and likewise, no guide is perfect. Lastly, try and present your information in a conclusive but simple and neat manner; don't go Confucius on your readers.

 

3.0. Dividing your guide into sections

 

When making a guide, it is important to divide your guide into separate sections. To do so will stop people from getting mixed up when they read every paragraph that they read in your guide, it will also help people when they look through your guide twice or more so that they will know which specific section they need to go to if they only need a small piece of information. It'll even, believe it or not, help the readers read for longer as people usually tend to stop reading if a whole lot of writing is crammed in one place. The mind tends to think of it as longer if it is crammed into one space so it is indeed important to divide it into sections. Here are a few commonly used sections guide makers classify their paragraphs or bits of information into. (excluding your guide's main content body)

 

Table of Contents

 

I would count this as a small part of an actual guide. This is something more like a directory in which people will go to see where specific topics regarding the guide are situated. Usually a Table of Contents will have an indicator code and will be at the very top of the guide before the Introduction. An example would be the ToC I have used at the start of mine.

 

[u][b]Table of Contents[/b][/u]

1.0. Introduction
2.0. Content & picking a topic
3.0. Dividing your guide into sections
4.0. Images
5.0. Font
6.0. Extras & a couple of tips
7.0. Acknowledgements and Credits
8.0. Closing Words

 

As you can see, my ToC specifically mentions each guide section with their specific code. You can use any code you would like but this one is one of the most popular. This is so that guide readers will have an easier time navigating through your guide as they will only have to look at one thing when rummaging through it - note that this kind of format would be easier for those guide readers who use Ctrl+F.

 

Introduction

 

The introduction is a very important component to a guide. It will basically introduce what the guide is all about and mention anything that is needed to be mentioned before the readers begin reading the guide. Thing such as notes, disclaimers etc... are usually placed here as well...

 

Acknowledgments and/or Credits

 

Usually, if not all the time, guides need corrections or receive additional bits of information to be added into the guide. The main point of this portion is to acknowledge those who have contributed to the guide after reading it.

 

F.A.Q.

 

This stands for frequently asked questions. As the name suggests, this section would be dedicated to questions asked by your readers. This section will usually fill up as the more readers come to read your guide and it is helpful in the way that people will not be asking the same questions over and over again. This section will be usually presented in a Q & A format such as...

 

Q: ...

 

A: ...

 

 

Closing Words or Conclusion

 

This is basically an overall summary of what has been discussed and talked about within the guide. There is not much to put into this section but I guess it really depends on the writers style.

 

Others

 

Other sections would include...

 

About me (the writer)

 

Glossary

 

Price Guide (if the guide can)

 

Editorial History/History/Guide History etc...

 

4.0. Images

 

Although images aren't necessary when a guide comes together, you'll be amazed at how much it increases the quality of one. A picture is worth a thousand words... Images are naturally things that keep readers glued to your piece of literature. Most readers might be turned off by long paragraphs of text without any visuals. Images should be in .PNG format for the best quality. If images are very large, then the use of Hide tags will prevent page stretching. Use images in moderation, too many will overwhelm the written part, too little will make it boring. Be sure to give credit to the creators of the images if any, and block out the names of the people in it for security reasons etc...

 

5.0. Font

 

Font, like images keep the guide interesting by varying it; whether it be font color, font type and font size. An example is what I've done with my section titles... As you can see its been highlighted in bold, underlined and colored differently to help it stand out. You should feel free to play around with your post interface in the forums.

 

[hide=Posting Interface on the Tip.it forum skin]foruminterfacehq2.png[/hide]

 

The red square in this image is the bold button. Bolding text will make the font darker:

 

The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog

 

[b]The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog[/b]

 

The yellow square in this image is the italics option. This will make your text slightly slanted to the right:

 

The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog

 

[i]The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog[/i]

 

The green square in this image is the underline option. This will of course underline your text:

 

The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog

 

[u]The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog[/u]

 

And last but not least, the blue square in this image is the font size modifier. This will make font bigger or smaller:

 

The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog

 

[size=6]The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog[/size]

 

Using font enhancers will make certain parts stand out more than others. Usually, titles have bigger font, important words are bolded, etc. Decide how you will use these to your advantage. Combining these will produce a better effect, but as with images, use in moderation.

 

The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog

 

[b][u][color=red]The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog[/color][/u][/b]

 

The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog

 

[color=blue][size=6][b][u]The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog[/u][/b][/size][/color]

 

6.0. Acknowledgements and Credits

 

Tipit Forums - For allowing me to post this guide.

 

The Tipit Community - For welcoming me as part of the forums.

 

You - For reading.

 

Indizle - For inspiring me :3> to write something about the topic. Thanks mate :^_^: .

 

7.0. Some rules to remember

 

-Quality over quantity

-Plagiarism is a big no no

-Information must be thorough, clear, and well presented

-Guide is divided into different sections

-Credits and Acknowledgements is a must - to recognize those who have helped you make your guide what it is now

-Remember to keep those in mind along as the many other aspects of guide writing when editing or making your guide.

 

8.0. Closing Words

 

And that concludes my brief mini-guide to guide writing. Good luck making guides and remember not to rip anything from anybody else's work.

 

Best Wishes,

 

Wurmy

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Guide originally posted Sun Sep 17, 2006 2:51 pm

 

By Indizle, edited:

 

Many people have amazing tips and insights into certain aspects of RuneScape which deserve to be shared. Guides are excellent for this. A well written guide not only helps others with their game play, but can serve as a reminder for you when doing the same thing. Many people feel writing a guide is hard, while others try but write something that, while packed with useful information, isn't clearly written or accessible. Having written a few guides, I decided to compile a little guide to writing guides so we can see more of these useful topics. I originally wrote this guide for a clan forum, but I thought it might be useful to share here as well.

 

Table of Contents:

 

This guide uses a tag system. Use the search function (Ctrl+F) and type in the capitalized tag inside the brackets to quickly find the section you wish to read.

 

1. Develop your idea [DEVI]

2. Research Research Research! [RESR]

3. Divide your info into subtopics [sBTP]

4. Write a table of contents [TBCT]

5. Picture Perfect [PICS]

6. Proofread! [PROF]

7. Final Notes [FINN]

8. Edits [EDIT]

 

1. Develop your idea [DEVI]

 

This is very important. Not only do you need to determine the topic of your guide, but also which parts you wish to highlight, and show to your audience. For instance, lets suppose you are writing a guide for crafting. You have a lot of information you need to condense. You should strive to include everything, but elaborate more on the aspects that aren't common knowledge or easy to find via the in game "guide". For instance, when listing the different types of crafting (pottery, weaving, glass blowing, jewelry), give a general description for each, listing the items one can make with each type. Then, you should elaborate on aspects such as ease of acquiring items, experience received, and the speed in crafting the items. This will more useful to the reader than just listing the items that can be made. Include tips that may not be obvious to make a truly useful guide!

 

2. Research Research Research! [RESR]

 

When you include any information in your guides, research as much as you can! Try you the methods you list if you can; don't just rely on word of mouth. For the crafting guide, check exp per item, how fast it takes to get the required material and process it, etc. Do it multiple times to check for fractional experience values (like 88.5 exp points). Be thorough; the better the research, the better the guide.

 

3. Divide your information into subtopics [sBTP]

 

Do not slam all of your guide into one paragraph. Such guides are hard to read and less likely to be used. Make subtopics and sections for each major idea. You may wish to divide sections even further for clarity. Find a good system that is clear to understand. For instance, in our crafting guide, you may wish to split the types of crafting into sections; one each for weaving, pottery, jewelry, leatherwork, and glass blowing. Then, you may wish to divide some into more specific areas. For instance, you may split up the jewelry section into Gold, Silver, and Gem items. Subdivision is a good practice for almost any type of guide!

 

4. Write a table of contents [TBCT]

 

This is one of the most important things that I feel many guides forget to include. The table of contents is especially important for larger guides packed with information, allowing the users to quickly find the section they need. This is helped with a system of tags like the one used in this guide. This provides the reader with a short tag to use with the Find function to quickly find a section without typing the whole title in. In the table of contents, next to each section's title, enclose a 3 or 4 letter capitalized tag into brackets (i.e. [TBCT] for this section). Copy this tag to the actual section's title as well. Its a fast and useful system that takes a little time to add but makes the guide much more easy to use.

 

5. Picture Perfect! [PICS]

 

Pictures are great visual aids when used properly. They provide further clarity and make the guide much more accessible. Often, you may wish to slightly edit a picture to emphasize a particular aspect. This can be done simply with a program like MS Paint, using arrows or circles to show where the emphasis should be. Here are some guidelines to using pictures in guides:

 

1. Use a low memory format such as .PNG, .GIF, or .JPEG. PNG are the easiest to make a quality image for (MS Paint makes great PNG's). GIF's and JPEGs require better software to save an image without quality loss.

2. Provide links and/or thumbnails instead of large pictures. This allows people with lower quality internet connections to view your guide without waiting for the images to load.

3. Use pictures to emphasize a point or for an effect. Don't just post pictures without a purpose, these are dead weight for the guide.

4. Unless people specifically gave you permission, block out the names of all other players who may be in the picture.

 

For people who have to use MS Paint as their image editing program, pokemama has provided some links to a few guides that may help you out quite a bit:

 

A couple of links that may be helpful for MSPaint users with no better graphics software:

 

Guide to Cropping Pictures

 

Guide to Converting BMPs to GIFs and Making Transparent Pics

 

Hope these help.

 

After you get your screen shots into MS Paint, first I crop them to whatever size I need it, then I save it as a .PNG file (which retains good quality but takes less size than a .BMP). I then use an online host, such as http://www.imageshack.us, to upload the file. You get a bunch of links on a page after you upload the pictures, including code for forums. Just copy and paste it, and you got your picture!

 

6. Proofread! [PROF]

 

Spelling and grammatical mistakes tend to lower the quality of guides. While some errors will surely stay in the guide, try to remove as many as you can. Use a word processor with a spellchecker and grammar-checker, or have someone else read your guide (people tend to find mistakes more easily in other people's work). It takes a little extra time, but the clarity it gives your guide is definitely worth the effort.

 

7. Final Notes [FINN]

 

I'll wrap up on a few last tips. First, if you do use another guide for some information (never just copy or paraphrase another person's work!), be sure to give credit, with footnotes or asterisks. Also, if you do make changes to a guide, its a nice feature to provide a history so people who reference your guide know what changes or new information has been added. Remember, welcome feedback, and keep editing your guide as necessary to make it as useful as it can be!

 

I hope this guide was useful to you! Have fun writing your own guides, and happy Scaping!

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