Below are some basic guidelines we try to follow for this WIKI so that we can have a level of consistency. We will be creating/updating these guidelines as needed.

The page index, is what would be used to link to the page from another page in the WIKI. The index will match the end part of the URL for that page as well. For instance, the URL for the page you are currently viewing is:

http://geodesicsolutions.com/support/wiki/wiki/guidelines

And the page index for this page is:

wiki/guidelines

The index, in most cases, will closely match with the page's title.

The index should use underscore _ as the word separator.¹⁾

Only alpha-numeric and underscores _ in the index. Note that things like & can be used in the page title, but cannot be used for the page index.

Index should be something simple and short ²⁾. The page title can be longer (although long titles should be avoided if possible), and prone to change over time, but the index will always stay the same so should be short and simple.

Keep things that are more likely to change over time out of the index, such as "for_version_5".

First, you need to know how to make a page title. It's very simple, the first headline on the page is used as the page title. If you look at the top of this page you'll see the first heading is Guidelines, and that is what the page title is used for as well.

The page title is used for the link to the page, and in the page breadcrumb listed at the top of the page. Keep this in mind when making a title for your page.

Including keywords in the title is great³⁾ since it makes the page show up in relevant searches better, but not at the expense of making sense. Make sure you are not over-doing keyword usage. A good rule of thumb is to try to make the title as short as possible, while still being descriptive enough so that people know right away what the page is for without having to open the page and read the contents.

Put what it is at the beginning of the file. If you must add a few extra keywords to the title to make the page show better in searches, word it so the secondary keywords are at the end. For example "Performance Tips for Classified and Auction Software" instead of "Classified and Auction Software Performance Tips", the former is easier to spot when you are skimming the menu for a page.

In this WIKI, there are folders, and there are pages inside those folders. There is a special page that should exist in every folder, with the index of "start". This special start page is not displayed in the menu on the left⁴⁾, but the contents of that start page will display when you click on the folder that the start page is in. For instance, if you were to click on Admin Menu folder which has an index of admin_menu, it would actually display the page admin_menu/start.

Some folders only contain the start page. Such folders display in the left menu as a click-able empty folder, a folder without any sub-pages⁵⁾.

The index for empty folder pages will always end in /start. For instance, a page with the index of server_issues would be a normal page, while a page with an index of server_issues/start would be an empty folder page.

You will need to use an empty folder page for any page in the Admin Menu section. Outside of that section, you would use an empty folder page for any page that has a high likelihood that it will need to contain sub-pages in the future.

Changing, or more accurately, moving, from an empty folder page to a normal page or visa versa, is not easy. This is especially true for a page that contains media in it such as screen shots or the like. For this reason, it is important to make sure when you create a new page, to decide carefully whether it should be a normal page or an empty folder page.

In the admin panel, there can actually be "hidden" sub-pages⁶⁾. On every page in the admin panel, there is a help link that links to this WIKI, directly to the WIKI page specific to the admin panel page currently being viewed. The link is automatically created, based on the admin panel page's breadcrumb, and each link always ends in /start to account for the ability to have hidden sub-pages.

All pages in the Admin Menu section must be Empty Folder Pages, due to the way automatic admin panel to WIKI page linking works as it is described above. In other words, the index for every page in the Admin Menu section must end in /start.

The index for a page must match exactly with the link that is automatically generated for that page in the admin panel. Click on the help link in the admin panel for that page to make sure you are using the correct index when you create a new page.

For admin menu categories, on the start page for the section: Directly below the page title, add the following line, adjusting the breadcrumb as appropriate:

Admin Menu Category: **Category > Sub Category**

Then below it, give a brief explanation of what type of things can be done in pages located in that section of the admin panel. See Admin Menu > Admin Tools & Settings > Messaging as a good example of this.

For Admin Pages, directly below the page title, add the line

Admin Page: **Category > Sub Category > Page**

Then below it, give a brief explanation on what this page in the admin panel is generally used for. See Admin Menu > Site Setup > General Settings as a good example of this.

For hidden sub-pages⁷⁾, the page title should end in [S].

For any Acronym, the case matters! Make sure you always use the proper case for the acronym⁸⁾, usually this will be all uppercase⁹⁾. This WIKI will recognize common acronyms and add a hover that tells what the acronym means, for example the acronym WYSIWYG. If improper case is used, the WIKI will not recognize it and will not show what it stands for, for instance if you used wysiwyg¹⁰⁾ instead of WYSIWYG.

A few common Acronyms that are recognized by the WIKI: URL, WYSIWYG, WAMP, PHP, plus a ton others. If you find that an acronym is not recognized by the WIKI and you have used the proper case, let us know and we can add it.