Guide to writing guides

That's right. It's a guide for writing guides, in the hopes that you'll write a guide that's better than this guide at the competition.

Format shamelessly stolen from Densetsu9000 and his nicely formatted and well written Japanese guide

Choosing a Subject

Before writing a guide, you must consider what you want to write it on! Consider these points as you ogle over my genius idea for writing a guide.

Is it an issue that matters?: There's no point writing a guide on something that isn't consistently a problem. For example, I chose to write this guide because of all the poor formatting I've been seeing in guides lately. It was a pressing issue. Choose something that you find is not well covered and important on the forum.
Is there enough to write it on?: Guides are mostly just looking beefy. If you have a guide with all of five lines, it'll look like a poor subject. Even if you just add a bunch of fluff to it, it's the content that counts! It's better to go too much into a subject than too little!
Can it be well explained?: There's some things that just are just hard to explain. Maybe it's a subject that's expansive and matters, but if people won't have an idea in the world what you're talking about, it'll be completely useless.
IF THERE IS A GUIDE FOR IT, IT DOESN'T MEAN IT'S OFF LIMITS! There's plenty of guides around here, new and old. A lot of guides can be considered outdated or their holders are inactive. Don't be afraid to tackle a guide that's already been done. Thanks to Rydian for this useful tip in another thread.

Now that you have your idea, it's time to move on to writing it!

Writing Your Guide

When writing your guide, there's a few things to remember...

Your demographic: For GBAtemp, assume that we're all on the level of third graders. I'm not saying that we are (well, some of us are), but you want to make a guide as easy to understand as possible.
Remember your terminology!: For most any subject, there's terminology that's really only used inside that subject, and can be confusing to anyone outside of it. Trust me, I've entered a few threads around the internet about some subjects that are completely Greek to me. Try to avoid using terminology, and if you need to, explain what it is thoroughly.
Write concisely!: No one wants to read a lengthy wall of text. Make your steps short and sweet.
Stay largely unbiased: While you have a right to an opinion, it's better to keep it out (for the most part) in guides. You can definitely say what method you personally prefer or what not, but don't bring trashing and fanboyism into it.

Well, it seems like you've just written your guide! Now it's time to publish it!

Formatting Your Guide

What seems to be the big issue here is the presentation of guides. They often seem sloppy, rushed, and have the quality of an average forum post, not something that a guide should have.

USE PROPER GRAMMAR!: One of my biggest peeves on the internet is grammar. I'll forgive it if I'm still able to decipher it, but for something that's supposed to be professional and concise, poor grammar and editing is NOT acceptable. Uppercase when needed, use periods and proper punctuation, spell things right, and don't use abbreviations unless it's needed in the subject at hand (like no one wants to spell out Random Access Memory for RAM).
Break down the info!: As I said before, walls of text are boring. People will often look for a different guide or abandon the subject completely if the guide is just a big eyesore. Break down the info with bullet points, sections, and spoilers. This will also allow people to easily jump to whatever stage they need to see for the subject at hand.
Use visual aids!: Some people say a picture is worth a thousand words. So if your subject permits, you may as well save yourself from writing a thousand words and readers from reading a thousand words and use some pictures! There's plenty of times that just showing a picture of something is far easier than explaining it. With almost everyone having a camera somewhere (whether it's an actual camera, a cellphone, your DSi/3DS, whatever), it's inexcusable. Plus you have a forum full of friendly faces who I'm sure will be able to use their ultra pro photography skills to get you some good pictures. Well, ask some people before you make your guide, of course.
Make it look good!: On top of having an organized guide, you should add some visual flash to it. Make things stand out, make it flow and colorful. Whatever you need to make it look like more than just a bunch of words.

Tools

Honestly, everything you need for a well formatted guide can be found when making your post. Use the toolbar up top for your basic text and content management. Use the Quick Access to your left for your organization. Here's some that aren't readily available though:

CODE

- [P= ]Insert text here[/P]: It's what you find most User Submitted News posts use for their body text. It looks better than quote tags or code boxes.
- [h]Insert header here[/h]: Adds the nice header you see above.
- [spoiler][title:Insert title here]Insert text here[/spoiler]: Spoilers are nice for making long sections just short. It allows people to open and close that section of text at will. If you don't want a title, then you can omit it.
- [code]Insert code here[/ code] (take away the space): It's a place for code, obviously. It negates normal coding.
- [list][*]Entry 1 [*]Entry 2 [*]Entry 3 [/list]: A list is just a great organization tool. It's what I've been using for this guide.
- [m]Username here[/m]: Great for linking to specific users, it's useful for citing work (like I did with Densetsu9000). You only put the person's full GBAtemp username. Like for our commander-in-chief Costello, you'd link to him by putting [m]Costello[/m] on a page.
- [link="Insert word(s) here"]Insert title here[/link]: This is a great tool for creating a table of contents. Put the set of words in the "Insert word(s) here" and then wrap the words you want to link to in [a]Insert word(s) here[/a]. Thanks to KingdomBlade for the heads up.

And please, don't abuse smileys. Adding an overabundance of smileys just makes your guide look amateur and annoying. It's like handing in a college essay with a bunch of stickers on it. It looks unprofessional and is really annoying.

Examples

Here's some nice examples of guides done right! I decided to just choose some older guides since they were submitted a while ago and not for the competition.

Converting PSX games for the PSP. A nice guide written my Jamstruth. Uses good visual aids, spoilers, and section division.
Pandora/MMS guide for PSP CFW. A guide by esteemed staffer ProtoKun7. Great section division (nice headers as well as a table of contents), good use of emphasis (colors and italicizing), and includes a video tutorial!
Wii mod guide. Great guide by xzxero. Good section division, great use of spoilers to break down content, good emphasizing, and contains numerous visual aids.
Spyware/Adware/etc removal guide. Awesome guide by megaposter Rydian. Spoilers make the information very manageable, good use of emphasis (particularly on the "FORMATTING IS A LAST RESORT!" bit), and overall a very clean cut and great guide.

Those are just a few, you can look around in almost any section and find a guide to see for reference.

Guide Sections

Just links to all the respective guide areas so you can post yours.

GBAtemp's 2011 Tutorial Competition: Rules for GBAtemp's first official tutorial, FAQ, and guide competition!
Official GBAtemp Guides and FAQs: Official GBAtemp guides/FAQs only! Regular members should post in the other sections!
NDS Tutorials and FAQs: For all DS related tutorials/FAQs.
3DS Tutorials and FAQs: For all 3DS related tutorials/FAQs. Looks like it could use some more entries!
Wii Tutorials and FAQs: For all Wii related tutorials/FAQs.
PSP Tutorials and FAQs: For all PSP related tutorials/FAQs.
NGP Tutorials and FAQs: For all NGP related tutorials/FAQs. Useless until the NGP is released.
PS3 Tutorials and FAQs: For all PS3 related tutorials/FAQs. Could use more entries as well!
Xbox 360 Tutorials and FAQs. For all Xbox 360 related tutorials/FAQs. Could use a lot more entries!
General Tutorials and FAQs: For all your non-console related tutorials/FAQs. It's a broad subject and could always use more!

Now that your guide is complete, you can post it and thank me for making this guide 'cause I'm awesome.

I'll be waiting for that flashcart in the mail, Costello. ~~Well, this isn't really a serious entry unless people want it to be.~~ NOW IT IS!

Guild McCommunist	Post #1 Posted 11 May 2011 - 10:53 PM
Attack with your Cudgel Troll! Group: Reporters Posts: 11,130 Member No.: 177,066 Joined: 06-May 09 Location: The Danger Zone	That's right. It's a guide for writing guides, in the hopes that you'll write a guide that's better than this guide at the competition. Format shamelessly stolen from Densetsu9000 and his nicely formatted and well written Japanese guide Choosing a Subject Before writing a guide, you must consider what you want to write it on! Consider these points as you ogle over my genius idea for writing a guide. Is it an issue that matters?: There's no point writing a guide on something that isn't consistently a problem. For example, I chose to write this guide because of all the poor formatting I've been seeing in guides lately. It was a pressing issue. Choose something that you find is not well covered and important on the forum. Is there enough to write it on?: Guides are mostly just looking beefy. If you have a guide with all of five lines, it'll look like a poor subject. Even if you just add a bunch of fluff to it, it's the content that counts! It's better to go too much into a subject than too little! Can it be well explained?: There's some things that just are just hard to explain. Maybe it's a subject that's expansive and matters, but if people won't have an idea in the world what you're talking about, it'll be completely useless. IF THERE IS A GUIDE FOR IT, IT DOESN'T MEAN IT'S OFF LIMITS! There's plenty of guides around here, new and old. A lot of guides can be considered outdated or their holders are inactive. Don't be afraid to tackle a guide that's already been done. Thanks to Rydian for this useful tip in another thread. Now that you have your idea, it's time to move on to writing it! Writing Your Guide When writing your guide, there's a few things to remember... Your demographic: For GBAtemp, assume that we're all on the level of third graders. I'm not saying that we are (well, some of us are), but you want to make a guide as easy to understand as possible. Remember your terminology!: For most any subject, there's terminology that's really only used inside that subject, and can be confusing to anyone outside of it. Trust me, I've entered a few threads around the internet about some subjects that are completely Greek to me. Try to avoid using terminology, and if you need to, explain what it is thoroughly. Write concisely!: No one wants to read a lengthy wall of text. Make your steps short and sweet. Stay largely unbiased: While you have a right to an opinion, it's better to keep it out (for the most part) in guides. You can definitely say what method you personally prefer or what not, but don't bring trashing and fanboyism into it. Well, it seems like you've just written your guide! Now it's time to publish it! Formatting Your Guide What seems to be the big issue here is the presentation of guides. They often seem sloppy, rushed, and have the quality of an average forum post, not something that a guide should have. USE PROPER GRAMMAR!: One of my biggest peeves on the internet is grammar. I'll forgive it if I'm still able to decipher it, but for something that's supposed to be professional and concise, poor grammar and editing is NOT acceptable. Uppercase when needed, use periods and proper punctuation, spell things right, and don't use abbreviations unless it's needed in the subject at hand (like no one wants to spell out Random Access Memory for RAM). Break down the info!: As I said before, walls of text are boring. People will often look for a different guide or abandon the subject completely if the guide is just a big eyesore. Break down the info with bullet points, sections, and spoilers. This will also allow people to easily jump to whatever stage they need to see for the subject at hand. Use visual aids!: Some people say a picture is worth a thousand words. So if your subject permits, you may as well save yourself from writing a thousand words and readers from reading a thousand words and use some pictures! There's plenty of times that just showing a picture of something is far easier than explaining it. With almost everyone having a camera somewhere (whether it's an actual camera, a cellphone, your DSi/3DS, whatever), it's inexcusable. Plus you have a forum full of friendly faces who I'm sure will be able to use their ultra pro photography skills to get you some good pictures. Well, ask some people before you make your guide, of course. Make it look good!: On top of having an organized guide, you should add some visual flash to it. Make things stand out, make it flow and colorful. Whatever you need to make it look like more than just a bunch of words. Tools Honestly, everything you need for a well formatted guide can be found when making your post. Use the toolbar up top for your basic text and content management. Use the Quick Access to your left for your organization. Here's some that aren't readily available though: CODE - [P= ]Insert text here[/P]: It's what you find most User Submitted News posts use for their body text. It looks better than quote tags or code boxes. - [h]Insert header here[/h]: Adds the nice header you see above. - [spoiler][title:Insert title here]Insert text here[/spoiler]: Spoilers are nice for making long sections just short. It allows people to open and close that section of text at will. If you don't want a title, then you can omit it. - [code]Insert code here[/ code] (take away the space): It's a place for code, obviously. It negates normal coding. - [list][]Entry 1 []Entry 2 []Entry 3 [/list]: A list is just a great organization tool. It's what I've been using for this guide. - [m]Username here[/m]: Great for linking to specific users, it's useful for citing work (like I did with Densetsu9000). You only put the person's full GBAtemp username. Like for our commander-in-chief Costello, you'd link to him by putting [m]Costello[/m] on a page. - [link="Insert word(s) here"]Insert title here[/link]: This is a great tool for creating a table of contents. Put the set of words in the "Insert word(s) here" and then wrap the words you want to link to in [a]Insert word(s) here[/a]. Thanks to KingdomBlade for the heads up. And please, don't abuse smileys. Adding an overabundance of smileys just makes your guide look amateur and annoying. It's like handing in a college essay with a bunch of stickers on it. It looks unprofessional and is really annoying. Examples* Here's some nice examples of guides done right! I decided to just choose some older guides since they were submitted a while ago and not for the competition. Converting PSX games for the PSP. A nice guide written my Jamstruth. Uses good visual aids, spoilers, and section division. Pandora/MMS guide for PSP CFW. A guide by esteemed staffer ProtoKun7. Great section division (nice headers as well as a table of contents), good use of emphasis (colors and italicizing), and includes a video tutorial! Wii mod guide. Great guide by xzxero. Good section division, great use of spoilers to break down content, good emphasizing, and contains numerous visual aids. Spyware/Adware/etc removal guide. Awesome guide by megaposter Rydian. Spoilers make the information very manageable, good use of emphasis (particularly on the "FORMATTING IS A LAST RESORT!" bit), and overall a very clean cut and great guide. Those are just a few, you can look around in almost any section and find a guide to see for reference. Guide Sections Just links to all the respective guide areas so you can post yours. GBAtemp's 2011 Tutorial Competition: Rules for GBAtemp's first official tutorial, FAQ, and guide competition! Official GBAtemp Guides and FAQs: Official GBAtemp guides/FAQs only! Regular members should post in the other sections! NDS Tutorials and FAQs: For all DS related tutorials/FAQs. 3DS Tutorials and FAQs: For all 3DS related tutorials/FAQs. Looks like it could use some more entries! Wii Tutorials and FAQs: For all Wii related tutorials/FAQs. PSP Tutorials and FAQs: For all PSP related tutorials/FAQs. NGP Tutorials and FAQs: For all NGP related tutorials/FAQs. Useless until the NGP is released. PS3 Tutorials and FAQs: For all PS3 related tutorials/FAQs. Could use more entries as well! Xbox 360 Tutorials and FAQs. For all Xbox 360 related tutorials/FAQs. Could use a lot more entries! General Tutorials and FAQs: For all your non-console related tutorials/FAQs. It's a broad subject and could always use more! Now that your guide is complete, you can post it and thank me for making this guide 'cause I'm awesome. I'll be waiting for that flashcart in the mail, Costello. ~~Well, this isn't really a serious entry unless people want it to be.~~ NOW IT IS!
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The Pi	Post #2 Posted 11 May 2011 - 10:58 PM
Lurker Group: Members Posts: 1,584 Member No.: 248,402 Joined: 18-March 10 Location: Scotland	One of the best guides I've seen here really. I'm not even joking.
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Rydian	Post #3 Posted 11 May 2011 - 11:01 PM
Resident Furvert Group: Members Posts: 15,815 Member No.: 244,492 Joined: 04-February 10 Location: Virginia	QUOTE(The Pi @ May 11 2011, 05:58 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}> One of the best guides I've seen here really. I'm not even joking. This. So hard.
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Issac	Post #4 Posted 11 May 2011 - 11:01 PM
Over the Distance ♥ Group: Members Posts: 2,934 Member No.: 22,068 Joined: 10-April 04 Location: Sweden	Nicely written guide! Why not use it for the competition? I think it's a really good read. One thing though: "What seems to be the big issue here is the presentation..." is aligned to the right, unlike all the previous short texts directly after a header which are aligned to the left. Is it intentional or just a code typo?
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soulx	Post #5 Posted 11 May 2011 - 11:03 PM
GBAtemp Guru Group: Members Posts: 6,562 Member No.: 171,835 Joined: 04-April 09	Great guide. This should be a mandatory read before anyone submits a guide.
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Guild McCommunist	Post #6 Posted 11 May 2011 - 11:04 PM
Attack with your Cudgel Troll! Group: Reporters Posts: 11,130 Member No.: 177,066 Joined: 06-May 09 Location: The Danger Zone	QUOTE(Issac @ May 12 2011, 12:01 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Nicely written guide! Why not use it for the competition? I think it's a really good read. One thing though: "What seems to be the big issue here is the presentation..." is aligned to the right, unlike all the previous short texts directly after a header which are aligned to the left. Is it intentional or just a code typo? Actually you just won part one of my intricate game of BBCode hide-and-seek. Actually, I accidentally put it in there since I was fooling around the the text. My bad, and thanks for pointing it out I may just take out the expletives and ship it off to the guides section if it's really that good.
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Issac	Post #7 Posted 11 May 2011 - 11:08 PM
Over the Distance ♥ Group: Members Posts: 2,934 Member No.: 22,068 Joined: 10-April 04 Location: Sweden	No problems. I didn't know if it was intentional since it was under the part of "Formatting Your Guide", maybe it was a way to show a different way to play with the layout. (Being a fan of books like Raw Shark Texts and House of Leaves, I enjoy when people play with the text layout). Maybe even making a Template would be good? (to add to the end of the guide).
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junkerde	Post #8 Posted 11 May 2011 - 11:12 PM
GBAtemp Fan Group: Banned! Posts: 483 Member No.: 271,338 Joined: 03-January 11	this is like guide inception, "a guide within a guide"
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Issac	Post #9 Posted 11 May 2011 - 11:15 PM
Over the Distance ♥ Group: Members Posts: 2,934 Member No.: 22,068 Joined: 10-April 04 Location: Sweden	QUOTE(junkerde @ May 12 2011, 12:12 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}> this is like guide inception, "a guide within a guide" Is it not the purpose of a guide to contain a guide?
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Guild McCommunist	Post #10 Posted 11 May 2011 - 11:24 PM
Attack with your Cudgel Troll! Group: Reporters Posts: 11,130 Member No.: 177,066 Joined: 06-May 09 Location: The Danger Zone	QUOTE(Issac @ May 11 2011, 11:08 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Maybe even making a Template would be good? (to add to the end of the guide). I was thinking about that but if people really started using this guide, then almost every guide would look the same. I want the guides to sorta look dynamic. Just piece together the tools (like headers, fonts, whatever) to make something exciting and somewhat unique.
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Vulpes Abnocto	Post #11 Posted 11 May 2011 - 11:47 PM
Why we can't have nice things Group: Global Moderators Posts: 5,485 Member No.: 129,148 Joined: 24-June 08 Location: The Mun	This just might be the most important guide contributed to the tutorial competition thus far.
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Densetsu	Post #12 Posted 12 May 2011 - 12:07 AM
GBAtemp Ninja Group: Moderators Posts: 2,676 Member No.: 116,738 Joined: 02-February 08 Location: 臨兵闘者皆陳列在前	QUOTE(Guild McCommunist @ May 11 2011, 05:53 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Format shamelessly stolen from Densetsu9000 and his nicely formatted and well written Japanese guide I swear I saw it as the recommended format somewhere, so I just copied it. For some reason I can't find the topic where I saw it, but if I'll do I'll let you know. Just saying I can't take credit for this format is all. And thanks for the plug! It's far from what I want it to be at the moment though. It's not meant to be an entry for the competition because I wasn't planning to finish it until I start my summer break (which will be at the end of this month).
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KingdomBlade	Post #13 Posted 12 May 2011 - 03:30 AM
Blade v3+ (I R SHMEXY) Group: Members Posts: 2,862 Member No.: 175,179 Joined: 24-April 09 Location: In Vulpes' Fur	Nice guide. I mean, I'm not really going to use it but, nonetheless good guide. I don't think it's eligible due to the fact that it doesn't really fit into any of the given categories though. You also forgot to mention anchor tags. If you click this it will go over here. CODE [link=over there]If you click this it will go[/link] [a]over there[/a]over here. Edited by KingdomBlade, 12 May 2011 - 03:38 AM.
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CannonFoddr	Post #14 Posted 12 May 2011 - 06:56 AM
Regular GBATemp Lurker Group: Members Posts: 4,032 Member No.: 49,779 Joined: 23-September 06 Location: Sitting by computer	^ The anchor tag ?? - I knew about that one but didn't it 'stop working' for a while - glad it's back up & running..... That's definitely one that'll be handy in some guides - handy to 'jump' to specific sections
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Guild McCommunist	Post #15 Posted 12 May 2011 - 12:24 PM
Attack with your Cudgel Troll! Group: Reporters Posts: 11,130 Member No.: 177,066 Joined: 06-May 09 Location: The Danger Zone	I'll let the staff decide if this is competition-worthy or not. And thanks for the anchor tags reminder KingdomBlade, added it to the guide.
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Guide to writing guides

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