This article is classified "Real"
This article contains the bare minimum needed to correctly format Project
Galactic Guide articles. Read it! Read it again!
Width: 76 columns:
1234567890123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890123456
Header And Footer
=================
This is a number of consecutive lines each starting with one of the
following fields:
%t = Title. All Words Begin With Capitals, no period, short, covers the
article contents.
%n = Article number: editor/reality/number= erxxx = unique number.
Reality: Real/Semi-real/Unreal. During the submission process status
information gets put into this field, eg "awaiting author approval".
%s = Subtitle or summary. As %t, but gives subtitle or summary.
%a = Author: real name, two spaces, then (email address in brackets).
Updates are the author's responsibility. Pseudonyms are not
disallowed, but their use is not recommended.
* = comments. All comments and out of use %-tokens follow an asterisk.
%d = Date (yyyymmdd). Updates create a second or third %d field.
%i = Alternative title; not titles of paragraphs, but a title that would
cover the whole article just like %t. Purpose: index browsing made
easier. If alternative titles start with the same few letters as
another index or the title, then there is no point in adding it.
%x = Cross references. Which articles (make sure the spelling of the titles
is correct) are interesting when you read this one?
%p = Appendices. Points to pictures or text files that go with the article.
As with %n: erxxxx.gif (or jpg or txt; for instance 2R641.GIF). Use
the rest of the line for a small description of the contents.
%k = Keywords. Each keyword in a new field. Create as much useful ones as
possible.
* %e = Begin of article. Body of article should begin on next line. The
asterisk indicates that this particular article doesn't end here.
Article text here.
* %e = End of article. Only %e, no further text on this line.
*EOA* = End of article. Needed for browser purposes.
Body
====
Punctuation
-----------
Comma (,) followed by one space. Read your article out loud to see
whether to add/delete some commas.
Period (.) followed by two spaces, except in abbreviations.
Colon (:) followed by two spaces.
Semicolon (;) followed by one space.
Apostrophe (') used only for "Roel's" etc. Preferably not to use to
abbreviate nouns. Plurals of acronyms or decades don't have
apostrophes (eg. "CDs" and "the 1990s".)
Quote (") for quotations and "special" words.
Footnotes [1] or [2,3].
Hyphens (-) single. Used to connect words only. Don't break off a word
that is hyphened. Put the whole word on the next line
however-ugly-it-may-seem.
Dashes (--) double. I am not sure what the actual rules are...
Ellipses (...) triple. I'm not sure about the rules here either -- a
wiser man than myself might now -- so don't confuse the
editors too much with them.
Lists And Paragraphs
--------------------
Paragraph titles are underlined with "="; subparagraphs with "-". Use
Capitals just like in the header titles. Titled (sub)paragraphs are
seperated by two empty lines, as opposed to the untitled paragraphs within
(one empty line). Lists in texts are indented 10 spaces, unless the list is
longer than the "normal" body of text and/or generally doesn't look right. Sublists are indented a
nother 10 spaces. Items are indicated as follows:
1) With numbers. After a number we use a bracket. Ten and
hundred are indicated as:
10) and
100) but if you want you can also begin with 001).
a) With a small letter. Only 26 items can be used here.
* An asterisk goes without a ")". A small
o can also be used. Try and be consistent in your article.
Further
-------
Accentuation: don't accentuate by ALL UPPERCASE WORDS or with *asterisked
words*, just surround the words with underscores.
Book titles: underscored.
Things Needed To Be Decided Later
---------------------------------
How to handle lists beginning with (long) keywords.
How to handle dates in article (eg. yyyymmdd, dd-mm-yy, mm/dd/yy, etc.).
[1] This is a correct footnote. Add them one space behind the word it
refers to, and only after that (if necessary) a period.
[2] The second footnote should be right beneath the first. The next line
should be indented as far as the first. The end of the text in the body
and the beginning of the footnotes are separated by one line.
[3] Two or more footnotes on one location are noted like this.