Tutorial Writters Tutorial
Some people have written really good tutorial on here. Some people have written complete crap. There are quite a few, though, that would be better if they were written better. This is just a quick idea of how to make your tutorial look better, so it is more useful. The Format Options at the end are good for everyone though, because I have seen a few posts where someone tried to do a formatting command, but had no idea what they were doing.
Format
Make your tutorial look nice. Don't be afraid to use Bold for section titles. Use an underline now and then if you want to convey emphasis. Place code in a code box. The abilities are there, don't be afraid to use them. Just don't over use them. Yes, the end of this post is definitely an overuse off formatting codes, but in this case, it has to be done.... Remember, if you are going to copy and paste something, put it in a quote box, and site your source. Don't copy/paste an entire tutorial, and don't claim credit for things you didn't write.
Readability
Make sure that everything is readable. Run it through a spell checker before you post it. Make sure that everything flows in a decent order. There have been a lot of tutorials posted that required no thought. Someone just typed everything they knew about a subject and clicked post. Topics jump around. There is no order to anything. If you have to, write an outline first. Take some time to decide exactly what you want to say and how you want to covey it. A short, well-written tutorial is better then a long-winded tutorial that gives a lot of information, but can't be read.
Format Options
This is a general overview for all posts. Many people seem to be having problems using the PHP codes that JP has included for special text formatting. Especially since most people use the "Quick Post" link instead of the "New Post" section. Remember that everything is done in brackets.... [] so the format is.... [option]text[/option]
I Italics
B Bold
U Underline
Size=1 Small
Size=4 Huge Size options are 1 to 4
FONT=arial font change options are arial, times, courier, century
COLOR=#1166aa color by hex, or
COLOR=blue color by name...options are blue, sky blue, royal blue, dark-blue, orange, orange-red, crimson, red, silver, teal, chocolate, sienna, sandy brown, burlywood, indigo, purple, coral, tomato, deeppink, sea-green, limegreen, green, dark red, firebrick
[glowpurple]glowpurple purple glow[/glowpurple]
[gloworange]gloworange orange glow[/gloworange]
[shadow]shadow shadowed text[/shadow]
[pong]pong moving....[/pong]
[blur]blur blurry [/blur]
[flip]flip mirror image [/flip]... that was flip
website....in brackets, place URL=http://www.whatever.com after ] place the text to be seen
contact ...in brackets, place [email protected] after ] place the text to be seen
Code:
CODE for code...keeps formatting and spaces...
PHP Code:
PHP php code, gives colors...
- list= lists
- 1 numbered list
- a alphabetical list
- just list (no =) bulleted list
- * for items...for each item, put an * in brackets
Quote:
QUOTE quoted text....
To insert an image, use IMG after the ] give the url for the image
