We all know how many articles look completely off the elementary required format, and basically are written in free form. Some of them stay in the “Format” app for a long time and personally, if I am unfamiliar with a topic and uncomfortable to edit it I will not mess with it. I just thought of something… Remember how we get a prompt before starting the Tip Patrol?? I think it would be good to add a PROMPT, a clickable LINK to “How to format a wiki article” manual. A new author possibly reads the instructions prior to creating an article and likely do it right. As much as I hate to place an “nfd|not” tag I absolutely have to. An article looks like just rambling , chaotic thoughts about a topic, and nothing else. LOL What do you think??
system
2
I actually think that is a great idea! I have seen some users who ask myself as well as a bunch of admins, “what should I write about”, “how do I insert a new section”, “why is my one about to get deleted! I only copied another article?!?!?”, way too many times!! I think a prompt like that would save us so much of a hassle! Laura, you definitely have my vote;)
system
3
Good idea. I don’t think a manual would be ideal since it would be long and boring to look at, but perhaps a visual guide that points out how to use the #s
, that *s make bullet points, and so on.
Hailey
4
I think this idea would actually work. Then users would know how to format an article, so they would create an article without any broken links, etc.
Hi @IsabelleZita
, yeah, I agree a visual guide would serve well. I really, really think we need this pop-up prompt. Thank you and @Mdk3442
. This visual guide WOULD answer a lot of questions people have in mind.
It would save a lot of time and hassle to the editors.
I agree with you @Hailey
Girges . Like I said, this guide would answer a lot of questions people have in mind.It’s up to the admin. to get this thing added.
Anna
7
Hey guys! We’re definitely always looking for ways to help new editors figure out the wikiHow basics - formatting is an especially tricky one! The Guided Editor (which new editors are defaulted to) does have some guidelines available to help them find their feet (see here: http://screencast.com/t/gZJ849mj
), but I think a lot of people are eager to share their ideas right away, regardless of links or popups. People want to publish!I know it can be frustrating. I get a bit overwhelmed with those intense re-formatting jobs, too! I think you’re right that there may be more ways we can help people along with their formatting. We’ve been experimenting more with things like the Guided Tours, which is a little bit like what you’re talking about - some prompts and pointers to get people started in formatting/editing articles. I like the pop-up idea, too, although I don’t know if we can guarantee people will actually read the guidelines anyway. I wish they would
This is a good time to give a heads-up about a new feature we have coming! I think it’ll help address some of this problem - Check out the announcement here: http://forums.wikihow.com/discussion/10015/heads-up-on-a-new-article-creation-tool-coming-soon-for-testing
