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By MasterC at 2003-08-21 18:52
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The following How-To/LinuxAnswer describes, how to create and/or think of a topic, and carry out some of the basic steps on formatting one.
How To create a LinuxAnswer:
The Heading
The Heading or Title should be appropriate for the content of the How-To, it does not need to be super creative, a simple header is easier to understand overall as we do have readers from all over the world.
Some ideas for the body and construction
In the body it is likely you will come across at least 1 point where you will describe a command. The use of the BB/VB codes can be appropriate for such an occasion. These codes can be found in the FAQ of the site, or
some common ones include:
* [ b ] [ /b ] for bolding
* [ i ] [ /i ] for italics
* [ code ] [ /code ] For presenting the lines in the same order/line and tabbing that would be presented on the users screen, such as a set of commands in a terminal (this will be very benificial for presenting lines of output as well)
* [ quote ] [ /quote ] for presenting quotes, you can give credit where credit is due this way, as well as break out a point of a paragraph to show importance where bold might not be enough.
All of the above examples have spaces between the brackets and the first character of the code, this is to show you the code without actually using it, as it would be parsed accordingly if I didn't space it. You will of course remove the spaces in your own articles so the coding will be used properly. See the FAQ mentioned above for more info on BB/VB code.
Distro Specific or not
If your FAQ is titled "How to setup a working firewall using IPTables" it is likely going to be in your best interest to be Distro neutral. Meaning, that anyone on any distro, using the standard set of tools (in this case a kernel with IPTables compiled in, or as module) could follow the instructions and successfully have a working firewall. On the flip side, if your How To is titled "How to use the Mandrake Control Center to create new users" then giving distro specific answers would be expected.
Content
It is very thoughtful of you to go that extra mile to create a LinuxAnswer. However, a LinuxAnswer that contains things that are straight out of the TLDP and has very little else, something that is distro specific and the distro has already written an excellent how-to on,
or is simply 'too newbie' to really even be considered helpful (such as a how-to on how to turn on your computer) might not be accepted and published. Before writing a LinuxAnswer you may wish to contact the site via the contact form to ensure that the subject you would like to use is not already being worked on. Here are some general guidelines to help you when deciding what to write:
* Be as distro neutral as possible (with the obvious, above mentioned exceptions)
* If you copy someone else's work, give them credit, include links, and possibly even ask the original author permission.
* If you are outlining another how-to that is already available and updated at The Linux Documentation Project's website, do your best to 'newbi-ize' your version, refer to the portions you are 'newbi-izing' as much as possible, and elaborate. Give as much explaination as one would expect if they were in the same position (a newbie).
* Present things that are of value. As mentioned above, if you give instructions on how to turn on your computer, this would likely not be beneficial to a single reader, or very few anyway.
Summary
Providing a summary is not always necessary, but helps for those how-to's that are extremely long, or cover a lot of ground. A summary should be short, to the point and be as general as possible. You should do your best to refer only to your own document at this point, and provide references in a follow on section titled "References" or something along those lines, or "For More information,
see...".
Summary
In the above LinuxAnswer I hope that some of the ideas will assist you when creating your own LinuxAnswer(s). This should not be considered all inclusive but rather simply be used as a 'guideline'. Have fun, enjoy, and most of all:
Learn everything you can while you are here ;)
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Thanks all around, to all contributing to knowledge.
--jeremy
If there isn't, it might reduce confusion, and double submissions. The only thing that howto left out about writing a howto is the whole process behind it ... ie the fact that there actually is a submission process (seems obvious) and how long it will take, etc)
--jeremy
Is there any affirmation that your submitting process was successful, not that your article has been approved, but that the "answer" was received. I'm asking because maybe people, when submitting, stay on the page for quite awhile before they submit, and then their credentials for the forums have timed out so they click submit, but maybe nothing really happens. Im just thinking that maybe the system could send a private message to the person. Also, if a person's LQ answer submission is denied, is that user notified?
Thanks for your patience
~Erik
--jeremy