WikiPages

This page is an extension of the Help:Editing page and gives common guidelines for writing and updating the LabRPS wiki documentation. It summarizes several discussions and brainstorming sessions

Before starting

• This wiki documentation is based on MediaWiki, the same software that powers Wikipedia. If you have contributed to Wikipedia, editing LabRPS wiki pages should be easy.
• Contrary to Wikipedia, the LabRPS wiki is write-protected to avoid spam. You must request an account on the forum.
• If you have never used wiki software before, please read Help:Editing to become familiar with the markup that is used.
• For advanced use of the wiki software, see MediaWiki Help:Contents. Not all features of MediaWiki are available in this LabRPS wiki, but many are.
• We like to keep the documentation easy to read, so avoid using complex features. Keep it simple.

General guidelines

Concise descriptions

When describing LabRPS try to be concise and to the point and avoid repetition. Describe what LabRPS does, not what LabRPS does not do. Also avoid colloquial expressions such as 'a couple'. Use 'some' when dealing with an indeterminate number, or specify the correct quantity.

Bad description

WindLab Plugin: the WindLab Plugin is a plugin for wind velocity that aims to provide tools for the simulation of wind velocity.

Good description

WindLab Plugin: aims to provide tools for the numerical simulation of random wind velocity.

Centralized information

Avoid duplicating the same information in different places. Insert the information in a new page, and link to this page from other pages that require this information.

Styling

Templates are used to style the help pages. They give the documentation a consistent look and feel. There is a template for menu commands, File → Save, a template to style keys to be pressed, Shift, to show a Boolean value, true, etc. Please get familiar with the #Templates section before writing help pages.

Temporary flags

If you are working on a large page it is advisable to mark the page either as a work in progress or as unfinished. This assures that wiki admins don't mark your page as ready for translation while you are still changing it.

To flag a page add either {{Page in progress}} or {{UnfinishedDocu}} as the first line. With {{UnfinishedDocu}} you invite others to join you in finishing the page, while {{Page in progress}} indicates that you will do the work yourself and others should give you some time.

Once the work is done, please don't forget to remove the flags!

Examples

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Structure

The User hub provides a Table of Contents. This is used as the main reference for automatically building the offline help you can reach from LabRPS, as well as the offline PDF documentation.

The Template:Docnav is used to sequentially link pages, following the structure of the Table of Contents. See #Templates for a list of all templates.

Page names

Page names should be short and they should use title case: every word should begin with a capital letter, unless they are articles, prepositions, conjunctions, or other grammatical particles (f.e. 'of', 'on', 'in', 'a', 'an', 'and').

Bad page name

Simulation of sea surface

Good page name

Simulation of Sea Surface

The names of top level plugin pages must have this format: XYZ Plugin, where XYZ is the name of the plugin, for example WindLab Plugin. And the names of pages describing the commands (or tools) belonging to a plugin must have this format: XYZ Command, for example WindLab Spectrum. Note that you should use the command name as it occurs in the source code.

Headings

Paragraph headings should be short and use sentence case: all words except the first one and proper names, should be in lowercase. You should not use H1 headings (= Heading =) in your wiki markup since the page title is automatically added as the main H1 heading.

Links

You should use the original link name for links whenever possible. This clarifies the referenced page in printed or offline documentation. Please avoid non-meaningful words for the link.

Bad link

For more information on the implementation of the kaimal Spectrum click here.

Good link

For more information on implementation of the kaimal Spectrum refer to the WindLab Plugin.

The preferred format for a link is:

[[Name_of_Page|Name of Page]]

Note that for the part before the | character, the actual link, case is relevant. If your page name is Name_of_page the link will fail if you type Name_of_Page (upper case P). Before the | character all spaces should be replaced by underscores (_). This is to assist translators using translation software, without the underscores the link would be translated by the software which is undesirable.

To link to a certain paragraph add a # sign and its headings to the page name. Example:

[[WikiPages#Links|WikiPages]]

Within the same page you can omit the page name. Example:

[[#Links|Links]]

To link to the top of the page you can use:

</translate>{{Top}}<translate>

This template should automatically display the correct text depending on the language of the page. A link to the top of the page is especially useful for long pages as it allows the user to quickly jump back to the table of content. You can put it at the end of each paragraph. Make sure there is an empty line before and after the template.

Image link

Optional text that is shown when you hover the image

To use an image as a link:

[[Image:windLab_Spectrum.svg|24px|Optional text that is shown when you hover the image|link=windLab_Spectrum]]

Image link + text link

File:WindLab Spectrum.svg WindLab Spectrum

If you leave out the optional text the link itself will be shown when the image is hovered, which is preferable, and you should also add a text link after the image link:

[[Image:Draft_Wire.svg|24px|link=Draft_Wire]] [[Draft_Wire|Draft Wire]]

Plugin pages

A top level plugin page should start with:

• A description of what the plugin is used for.
• An image to illustrate the description.

See #Screen capture for conventions on including images.

Tutorials

A well written tutorial should teach how to achieve certain practical results quickly. It shouldn't be too long, but should include sufficient step-by-step instructions and images to guide the user. As LabRPS evolves, tutorials may become obsolete, so it is important to mention the LabRPS version used in, or required for, a tutorial.

For examples visit the Tutorials page.

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Templates

Styling of the LabRPS wiki pages is achieved through the use of templates (Help:Editing#Templates_and_transcluding_pages). They ensure a standardized look and feel across all pages, and also make it possible to re-style the wiki. You can see the complete list of defined templates by accessing Special:PrefixIndex/Template:. But please only use the templates listed in the tables below. Only in very special cases should you use HTML tags directly.

Click on the template link to see the usage instructions for a template, and to see its implementation. Templates are a powerful feature of the MediaWiki software. You should be an experienced wiki user if you wish to propose additions and modifications to existing templates. If implemented incorrectly, templates make it difficult to translate pages into other languages, so their use should be limited to text formatting, page transclusion should be avoided. See MediaWiki Help:Templates to learn more.

Simple templates

These templates accept a simple text parameter, and format it with a particular style.

Template	Appearance	Description
Top	Top	Use it to add a link to the top of the page.
Emphasis	emphasis	Use it to emphasize a piece of text.
KEY	Alt	Use it to indicate a keyboard key that needs to be pressed.
ASCII		Use it to indicate a ascii key in a image (.svg) that needs to be pressed. You must give the character desired or the number of the code ascii of the character.
Button	Cancel	Use it to indicate a button in the graphical user interface that needs to be pressed.
RadioButton	Option	Use it to indicate a radio button in the graphical user interface that needs to be Selected or Not.
CheckBox	Option	Use it to indicate a checkbox in the graphical user interface that needs to be Checked or Not.
SpinBox	1.50	Use it to indicate a spinbox in the graphical user interface that needs to be modified.
ComboBox	Menu 1	Use it to indicate a combobox in the graphical user interface that needs to be modified.
FALSE, false	false, false	Use it to indicate a False Boolean value, for example, as a property in the property editor. This is a shortcut. Since it is a value, prefer Template Value false
TRUE, true	true, true	Use it to indicate a True Boolean value, for example, as a property in the property editor. This is a shortcut. Since it is a value, prefer Template Value true
MenuCommand	File → Save	Use it to indicate the location of a command inside a particular menu.
FileName	File name	Use it to indicate a name of a file or directory.
SystemInput	Type this text	Use it to indicate user typed input text.
SystemOutput	Output text	Use it to indicate text output from the system.
Incode	#include "RPS.h"	Use it to include in-line source code with a monospace font. It should fit in one line.
PropertyView	ViewColor	Use it to indicate a View property in the property editor. Examples of View properties include Line Color, Line Width, Point Color, Point Size, etc.
PropertyData	DataPosition	Use it to indicate a Data property in the property editor. Data properties are different for different types of objects.
Properties Title / TitleProperty	Base	Use it to indicate the title of a property group in the property editor. The title will not be included in the automatic table of contents.
Obsolete	obsolete in version 0.004	Use it to indicate that a feature became obsolete in the specified LabRPS version.
Version	introduced in version 0.003	Use it to indicate that a feature was introduces in the specified LabRPS version.
VersionMinus	version 0.001 and below	Use it to indicate that a feature is available in the specified LabRPS version and earlier versions.
VersionPlus	version 0.002 and above	Use it to indicate that a feature is available in the specified LabRPS version and later versions.
ColoredText	Colored Text	Use this template to color the background, text, or background and text. (ColoredText page for more examples)
ColoredParagraph	Colored Paragraph	Use this template to color the background, text, or background and text of an entire paragraph. ColoredParagraph page for more examples)

Complex templates

These templates require more input parameters, or produce a block of text with a particular format.

Template	Appearance	Description
Prettytable	This table	Use it to format tables such as this one. Additional table properties can be added.
Caption	Some caption for an image	Use it to add an explanation below an image. It can be left aligned or center aligned.
Clear		Use it to clear columns. Follow the definition of the template for a detailed explanation. It is often used to stop text from flowing next to unrelated images.
Code	#include "RPS.h"	Use it to include multi-line code examples with a monospace font. The default language is Python, but other languages can be specified. Python code should adhere to the general recommendations established by PEP8: Style Guide for Python Code. In particular, parentheses should immediately follow the function name, and a space should follow a comma. This makes the code more readable
Fake heading	Heading	Use it to create a heading that will not be automatically included in the table of contents.
GuiCommand	See GuiCommand model	Use it to create a box with useful information to document workbench commands (tools).
TutorialInfo	See for example Basic modeling tutorial	Use it to create a box with useful information to document tutorials.
Docnav	Previous: Online Help Startpage Next: Feature list Index	Use it to create a bar with the words 'next', 'previous', and 'index', and the appropriate links, which is useful for putting pages in a particular sequence.
VeryImportantMessage	Important Message	Use it to create a highlighted box with a very important message. Use sparingly, only to indicate major problems in the functionality of the software, discontinuation of tools, and similar.
Page in progress	This documentation is a work in progress. Please don't mark it as translatable since it will change in the next hours and days.	Use this for pages that are still in progress or that are currently being reworked. Don't forget to remove this when the page is ready.
UnfinishedDocu	This documentation is not finished. Please help and contribute documentation. See WikiPages to learn about editing the wiki pages, and go to Help LabRPS to learn about other ways in which you can contribute.	Use it to create a highlighted box indicating an unfinished documentation page.
Softredirect		Use it instead of the normal redirect, when you are redirecting to a special page (such as Media: or Category:), in which cases the normal redirect is disabled.
Quote	Cry "Havoc" and let slip the dogs of war. —William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar, act III, scene I	Use it to create a box of text with a literal quote and reference.
Userdocnavi, Powerdocnavi		Use them to create navigation boxes for the user documentation, the power user documentation, and the developer documentation. This allows quickly jumping between different sections of the documentation. They also place the corresponding page in the proper category.

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Graphics

Images and screenshots are necessary to produce a complete documentation of LabRPS. They are particularly useful to illustrate examples and tutorials. Images should be shown in their original size, so they present sufficient detail and are readable if they include text. Bitmap images should not be resized.

Avoid animated pictures (GIF) in the general help pages. Animations and videos should be reserved for tutorials not intended to be used as offline PDF documentation.

Images can be uploaded through the Special:Upload page.

Name

Give meaningful names to your images. If you have an image that showcases the characteristics of a particular function, you should use the name of that function with _example at the end. For example for the command WindLab New the image should be called WindLab_New.svg.

Screen capture

Recommended sizes for screen captures are:

• Native 1024x768 (or width=1024 and height<=768), only for full screen images.
• Smaller sizes are possible when showing details.
• Avoid images with larger resolutions, as they won't be very portable to other kinds of displays or the printed PDF documentation.

You shouldn't depend on a custom configuration of your desktop or operating system when you create screenshots and you should use the visual defaults of the LabRPS interface whenever possible.

To create a screenshots you can use the options provided by your operating system.

Create, rename and delete pages

Create pages

Before creating a new page you should first check if a similar page already exists. If that is the case it is usually better to edit that existing page instead. When in doubt please open a topic in the forum first.

To create a new page do one of the following:

• Visit the URL with the desired page name, for example: https://wiki.labrps.com/My_new_page, and click on 'create this page'.
• Do a wiki search for the page name, and click on the red text in 'Create the page "My new page" on this wiki!'.

Rename pages

Since LabRPS is a project under permanent development, it is sometimes necessary to revise the content of the wiki. If the names of commands are changed in the source code, the wiki pages documenting them have to be renamed as well. This can only be done by wiki administrators. To inform them, open a topic in the wiki and list the necessary renaming operation in this form:

old name         new name
Old_page_name_1  New_page_name_1
Old_page_name_2  New_page_name_2
...

Delete files and pages

In case you need to delete a file, go to its page (https://www.labrps.com/wiki/File:***.***) and edit it. No matter if the page is blank or not, add this as the first element: {{Delete}} and directly below it describe why the page should be deleted. Additionally, open a topic in the forum.

For pages the procedure is the same.

Discussion

The subforum in the forum provides a dedicated space for discussing wiki topics, the wiki appearance and anything else related to the wiki. Direct your questions and suggestions there.

Terminology - naming policy

English

See Glossary.