How to Make a Good Guide

Hey Guys

Ok this is attempt two. You wouldn't know this but the first guide was lost when my firefox closed randomly . So now that 4 hours of work are down the drain, you can read the new copy.

Making interesting, enjoyable, helpful, funny, exciting, and good guides is not that hard. That's why its surprising that so many people make terrible guides that are not bad, just uninteresting and poorly scripted. Hopefully, those of you who think this sounds familiar learn how to write properly and how to make silly guides like "How To Eat A Banana" seem witty and funny. Enjoy mates.

Back To The Basics

Section 1: gramer

I guid iz nuthin withote gramer. It r reilly anoyin 2 read gidez tat do nat uze grummar proprly. It makez ur guidez soe much bettr ifn u usez gremmur prprly. It reilly bugz ppl 2 reed guyds licke tis 1. A150, pl0x d0 n07 U53 1337 5P3AK at a11, as u sound licke a reetard. Proophreed ur w0rk after it r done. after ur proofred it get ur frend 2 red it 2.

Example Paragraph:

T3h weerd thingies r poot teh floopy disk in t3h drive. 1 bend 2 chek it and teh dizk pops out and he r lose hiz head! LOL! teh other weerd thing skreems an he r run away. R0F1!!!!1111!!

Section 2: Breaks

Phew! Now that we know how to spell once again, we can continue.

The simplest part of making your wall of uninteresting text intriguing is to add breaks. It hurts people's eyes, literally and figuratively, reading one giant sea of white that is seemingly never ending.

Adding breaks is easy and seemingly obvious but somehow its escapes people's grasp like smoke. By entering breaks it makes the page easier to look at, easier to read, and much more cosmetically appealing.

To add breaks simply press
Enter, and watch your text
start one line below.


Breaks aren't just for guide cosmetics, they also help the organization of the page and its topics.

Example Paragraph: The weird things put a floppy disk into the drive. One bends to check it, and the floppy disk pops out and chops of his head.

The other weird thing screams and runs away.

Section 3: Adding Color

After adding breaks, you can further emphasize the difference between topics by adding color. If you are talking about walruses in blue, and add a few lines break, and start talking about turtles in red, it is clearly obvious that a new topic has began. It is also much nicer looking than all white.

To add color, simply press the drop down arrow of the A button next to the sizes box, select your color, and type between the COLOR and /COLOR brackets that appear. When you submit the thread, all text in between the code will be your chosen color. For editing, you can highlight blocks of text, select your color, and the code will appear on either side of the highlighted text. Much more expedient than re-writing your guide in between brackets. Color is also useful for easily distinguishing sections when used in combination with titling (as long as the title is the same color).

Example Paragraph:

The weird things put a floppy disk into the drive. One bends to check it, and the floppy disk pops out and chops of his head.

The other weird thing screams and runs away.

Titling and Size

On Sythe, I prefer not to give my guides large titles, as when a user click's the thread, he already knows (usually) what he's about to read, rather I always start with Hey Guys. You may choose to do whatever you want, but remember, there is no need for a flashy title.

I like to use titles to start new sections, as I have been doing so far. Also, if you are going to use color, make the title the same color as the section it details, as it makes it much easier for readers. Titles also allow readers to skim, and only read what sections they want.

To add size, click the sizes down arrows and select your size. Then type between the brackets that appear. You can highlight large bodies of text and change them to a different size the same as you can do with color.

Example Paragraph:

When Good Floppies Go Bad

The weird things put a floppy disk into the drive. One of them bends to check it, and the floppy disk pops out and chops off his head.

The other weird thing screams and runs away.



Picking Up Your Game: Write The Best Guides You Can Write.

Language and Detail

The language you use is very important in a guide. Using sophisticated language makes the guide more intelligent and also makes it more professional.

Detail is extremely important. The more depth you cover, the better your guide will be [to some extent].

Example Paragraph:

The Day Some Guy Tried To RickRoll Another Guy By Playing the Rickroll Video Off a Floppy Disk but The Floppy Disk Killed Him. Karma?

Two strange figures (they seem to be humanoid) traversed the floor, floppy disk in hand. One of the ungainly couple pushed the floppy disk into the floppy drive on the computer. However, when he bent down to check it, it came flying out and severed his head from his body!

The other strange humanoid opened his mouth in horror and the decapitated head at his feet. He let loose a shrill scream that split the silent air and sent a chill down the spine of every sentient being within earshot. Still screaming, he ran as fast as he could, not once looking back.

The head sat on the ground, the mouth still grinning sickly from the last laugh he'd had with his friend, moments before the disk killed him. The grin no longer contained any warmth though, it was now a cold, hungry grin that sent a tingle down any living thing's spine on sight. A grin of pure evil.



As you can see this story use all of the above devices, and also uses a lot of detail. The mood set by this story is also much different, so be aware that the level of detail and the way you describe could make your guide funny or serious.

Bolding, Italicizing, and Underlining

Bolding is generally used to highlight something. For example: You can find this guide is the User Submitted Guides section of Sythe. Implement bolding by pressing the B up above and typing between the brackets.

Underlining is used in the same way bolding is, sometimes in conjunction with bolding. Underlining is also used to add an invisible exclamation mark in a sentence. Example: Before you can do this, you must do that. It conveys a mandatory command.

Italicizing is used for names of people and objects. For example: My favourite book is Seven Deadly Wonders, by Matthew Reilly. Italicizing is also used to "stretch" conjunctions. Example: I have to write this guide and make dinner. It conveys the same kind of feel as "I have to write this guide AND make dinner" as if the writer was under pressure, did not have much time, or is over worked etc. Another use for italics is the unseen exclamation mark like I talked about with underlining. Its almost as if the text speeds up. See the example paragraph below. Use the I for italics.

Example Paragraph:

The Bodiless Head

Two strange figures (they seemed to be humanoid) traversed the floor, floppy disk in hand. One of the ungainly couple pushed the floppy disk into the floppy drive on the computer. However, when he bent down to check it, it came flying out and severed his head from his body!

The other strange humanoid opened his mouth in horror and the decapitated head at his feet. He let loose a shrill scream that split the silent air and sent a chill down the spine of every sentient being within earshot. Still screaming, he ran as fast as he could, not once looking back.

The head sat on the ground, the mouth still grinning sickly from the last laugh he'd had with his friend, moments before the disk killed him. The grin no longer contained any warmth though, it was now a cold, hungry grin that sent a tingle down any living thing's spine on sight. A grin of pure evil.



Smileys :sick: :idea: >_<

Not really an intermediate tool but smileys can be used to enhance your guides slightly. The most commonly used smiley in the world is the smiley, closely followed by the : D smiley. The smiley is , the tongue out smiley, which usually means its to be taken humorously. Example: I was so scared I almost pissed my pants!

The : D smiley is a smiley. This smiley conveys outright happiness, like "Woot, I just got a flying house!!! ". Variations of this smiley on online games like Runescape fly around, like =), XD (I totally thing XD is gay), =], , =-), and all the happy face combinations you can think of.

Many other smileys are popular, like :O meaning the person is shocked (many variations as well, like ). Smileys can be used for metaphors too, like :sick: I hate doing work.

Don't use these too often in guides as they wreck sophisticated literature, but you can definitely use them to highlight emotions (like ":sick: For step 3, you will spend about 36 hours fixing this" etc.) .

Literary Devices

Literary devices are things like metaphors, similes, hyperbole, etc.

These really enhance your guides.

Example Paragraph:

The Headless Humanoid

Two strange figures (they seemed to be humanoid) traversed the floor, floppy disk in hand. One of the ungainly couple pushed the floppy disk into the floppy drive on the computer. However, when he bent down to check it, it came flying out and severed his head from his body!

The other strange humanoid opened his mouth in horror and the decapitated head at his feet. He let loose a shrill scream that split the silent air and sent a chill down the spine of every sentient being within earshot. Still screaming, he ran as fast as a cheetah, not once looking back.

The head sat on the ground, the mouth still grinning sickly, like a hyena's grin, from the last laugh he'd had with his friend, moments before the disk killed him. The grin no longer contained any warmth though, it was now a cold, hungry grin that sent a tingle down any living thing's spine on sight, like a hungry predator waiting to devour its prey. It was a grin of pure evil.

Pictures

An extremely important part of a good guide. To take a screenshot, press the Print Screen key. Then, if you plan on modifying the image in any way, upload it into Adobe Photoshop CS3 (recommended), or a similar program. Make the changes you would like.

Now head to http://www.tinypic.com, and click browse. Select your photo then hit ok, and then click Upload Now!

Now copy and paste the "IMG Code For Message Boards And Forums" into your thread. Voila! When you post the thread, the image will be where you pasted the code!

Now none of you knew what I was talking about the whole time with the floppy disk killing a guy. Well, a picture tells a thousand words, and what I've been saying will be made clear with one simple image.

Example Paragraph:

The Day Frank Lost His Head

Two strange figures (they seemed to be humanoid) traversed the floor, floppy disk in hand. One of the ungainly couple pushed the floppy disk into the floppy drive on the computer. However, when he bent down to check it, it came flying out and severed his head from his body!



The other strange humanoid opened his mouth in horror and the decapitated head at his feet. He let loose a shrill scream that split the silent air and sent a chill down the spine of every sentient being within earshot. Still screaming, he ran as fast as a cheetah, not once looking back.

The head sat on the ground, the mouth still grinning sickly, like a hyena's grin, from the last laugh he'd had with his friend, moments before the disk killed him. The grin no longer contained any warmth though, it was now a cold, hungry grin that sent a tingle down any living thing's spine on sight, like a hungry predator waiting to devour its prey. It was a grin of pure evil.


As you can see the picture made things a lot clearer. Obviously It doesn't explain everything but it gives you an idea of the characters, what happened, and how it happened.



Editor Mode: While writing your guide, you can click the button in the top right of the white box that you type in. It looks like two A's, one is underlined and is purple and one is blue. If you hover your mouse on it it will say "Editor Mode". Clicking this will show your guide as it will be shown when its posted. Click it again to go back to normal mode. Useful for seeing what some colors or photos look like in the guide.

Breaking Down Your Guide

Your guide should get broken down into:

-The Title (Optional)

-Sections----->Sub-sections ----->Sub-Sub-Sections (I.E a, b, c, or I, II, III, IV, etc.)

- Additional Notes: Special Thanks, etc. (At the bottom)




In conclusion, your guides will be much nicer when you add all of these things. Some people have told me before, Well italicizing one word won't make my guide any better. Actually it will. If you italicize where it makes sense to italicize, it adds a lot to your guide. The reader won't notice it consciously, but his sub-conscious has already made the jump from [for example] 6/10 to 7/10. All the little things add up, so make sure you pay attention to them. I wish you all luck writing your guides, thanks for reading this mates.

Cheers,
Antchak

 

very elaborate, good guide, might use in future 5/5

 

Great Guide dude.. very elaborated and understandable this is great for all the new people who want to become a UE. Will really help them learn how to not post bad guides with just a paragraph.

 

Sweet guide Antchak! Though guides like this have been posted on Sythe in the past, I think that if you talked to somebody and collaborated (ie; Unb4nn3d's guide on meaningful posts, Sythe's rules, w/e), this should definitely become a sticky in some section of Sythe just not sure where. Great usage of colors, graphics [that video? LOL!], examples, etc. 9.5/10.

 

Very nice guide! this will help any new people who want to become UE's. and color is good.

9/10.

 

I believe Macroman has already made a delightful guide about this already...
http://www.sythe.org/showthread.php?t=416969

But, good work anyway shows how a guide should be made. People should always add their own twist to their guides as well to make it unique, not just abide to the information that you provide. Good stuff though, 8/10.

 

Yea, I read macroman's guide, but I found it a bit indescriptive. For people like us, who've written guides, its fine, but I thought it might be a bit hard for leechers. So I've taken the liberty of making a bit easier to understand guide that takes a user step by step through writing their guide. And quite obviously, you make your guide unique, this guide isn't law.

And everyone, thank you for your kind comments. Really appreciate it. Actually I only decided to start UE after reading some of Unb4ann3d and MatthewGor123's stuff, I was actually going to stick to RS2 Guides, but thanks to them I've broadened my horizons. Cheers!

 

Quite an enjoyable read I must admit, I loved the way you put a twist on this guide, I found it very easy to read and understand. You really broadened it out to touch every detail on what the standards of a well written guide should be, and supplied a good amount of information. I really enjoyed reading this peace. Well Done.

 

I liked the guide. It was descriptive, but I think you should stick to brighter colors. That black made me squint and a guide shouldn't do that. Otherwise, very good.

 

Great guide, very helpful.

Easy to read and understand, even for me! xD

 

That, is pro guide
I love the smileys bit lol
But im thinking of writing a few guides so i might think of using this!
Thanks a bunch

EDIT: I agree with the person above who mentioned about the colours.. The red is quite hard to see, so stick with greens/whites pretty much just bright colours

 

http://sythe.org/showthread.php?t=433077

Guide fail.

 

Thank you for the great guide!!!!
Dude know i know how to write a guide
thanks 10/10

 

Thanks for the guide. Its very helpful, and now i know how to write a guide 10/10