At their core, user-generated guides are simply a detailed article covering a topic in particular depth, for example, how to run an ancient game on modern systems.
However, to encourage contributions and help aspiring guide writers, you can create a standardized format for guides that can automate various tasks, such as categorizing the guides or summarizing their contents.
Ingredients[]
Creating a basic user-generated guide system requires the following pages:
- Example guide
- Template:Guide infobox
- Guide/preload
- Guide/editintro (optional)
- Create a guide
How to set it up[]
- Always start with an example guide. Writing one will help nail down the basic page layout and presentation. Choose a topic, determine the basic information that would be most helpful in a guide for players, and consider which elements could be included in all guides. An infobox template can come in handy and help automate categorization, linking, and other elements useful for wiki work.
- Once you have both, create Guide/preload. This will be a blank guide that will be automatically placed in the edit field when a user creates a new guide. Basic instructions can be included in commented format, though keep in mind that many aren't familiar with how these are supposed to work, so placing a quick explanation within the preload text can be of great help.
- An optional set of instructions can be created as Guide/editintro. This text will appear above the edit field when a user creates a new guide. Like this page, the most effective format is bulletpoints or numbered entries. Walls of text are rarely given more than a glance.
- Create the launch page at Create a guide to complete the process. This page utilizes the InputBox extension that is standard on all Gamepedia wikis. This page can be transcluded where ever the Create a Guide option is appropriate.