Help:Style guide

InfoVis–Wiki uses MediaWiki's open–source Wiki–engine. All present InfoVis–Wiki articles implement a certain layout and style that makes them easily readable and fit into the glossary–framework. To maintain this coherent style we strongly encourage you to stick to the following guidelines and use only native Wiki–syntax.

Layout

There are basically two types of pages in this reference, each having its own structure :

• Overview pages
• Glossary/Reference–articles
• News articles

Overviews

Overviews — like the Main page — provide for quick information about and navigation–aids through a thematically coherent section. They need to present a lot of information on a few screens; therefore these pages shouldn't display the automatically created table of contents:

__NOTOC__
<pre>

=== Glossary articles ===

Glossary articles may be seen as the core content of this reference. Their most remarkable feature is the ''definition''–section at the top of the page — in case of further structuring even before the first section title. This paragraph should provide a short quotable description of the article presented below.

<tt>{{Definition|... text ...}}</tt> results in
{{Definition|... text ...}}

=== News articles ===

News articles are built in a way that enables ''InfoVis–Wiki'' to deliver them as newsfeeds vie RSS. They have to belong to the News–Category and their title should deliver the respective headline therefore. Recent articles are linked in the news listing on the [[Main Page]] using the form ''Date: Article–Title''. A pictogramme can be added right hand side.

Remember not to add ordinary lines to the news listing; only links can be added: ''InfoVis–Wiki'' won't feed the listing but the respective article titles.

== Typesetting ==

Many characters ([[Glyph|glyphs]]) appear to be interchangable at first sight; when used in typesetting however, they can have completely different meanings. Consistent use of correct punctuation and typefaces builds a harmonic and clear impression for readers.

=== Typefaces and Punctuation===

In all reference articles the title should be mentioned in the first sentence or at least within the first paragraph and set in bold letters.

To allow for uninterrupted reading, links to internal pages are given a title fitting into the context.

External links should be given the title of the respective webpage instead of being left to automatic enumeration:

<tt>[http://infovis.ifs.tuwien.ac.at ''InfoVis–Wiki'']</tt> results in
[http://infovis.ifs.tuwien.ac.at ''InfoVis–Wiki'']
while <tt>[http://infovis.ifs.tuwien.ac.at]</tt> results in
[http://infovis.ifs.tuwien.ac.at]

The ''-'' sign is obsolete: Use – or — instead. The only apostrophy is ', don't use ´ or `.

=== Emphasis and quotation ===

Sequences within a sentence can be emphasized by setting them in italic letters. Technical terms, names (the name ''InfoVis–Wiki'' itself), or terms in foreign languages should also be set in itlaic. If such terms are already linked to a definition that is part of the glossary they must not be emphasized further by using italic fonts.

Inline quotation is done by adding a refernce number in brackets at the end of the passage. The ''quotation''–template is used for citing complete paragraphs:

<tt>{{Quotation|... As soon as wolf began to see that he qould like a decent meal, he went and knocked on grandma's door. When grandma opened it she saw the sharp white teeth, the horrid grind and wolfie said ...| Little Red Riding Hood}}</tt> results in
{{Quotation|... As soon as wolf began to see that he qould like a decent meal, he went and knocked on grandma's door. When grandma opened it she saw the sharp white teeth, the horrid grind and wolfie said ...|Little Red Riding Hood}}

Alternatively — if a quotation is not crucial for understanding an article and presents some sort of additional information — it can be put in a ''floatingquote''–template. Quotations like these will dynamically adjust their position and let the text flow around:

<tt>{{FloatingQuote|... As soon as wolf began to see that he qould like a decent meal, he went and knocked on grandma's door. ...| Little Red Riding Hood}}</tt> results in
{{FloatingQuote|... As soon as wolf began to see that he qould like a decent meal, he went and knocked on grandma's door. ...|Little Red Riding Hood}}

[[Category:Help]]