WikiPages/en

This page is an extension of the Help:Editing page and gives common guidelines for writing and updating the FreeCAD wiki documentation. It summarizes several discussions and brainstorming sessions

Before starting

 * This wiki documentation is based on MediaWiki, the same software that powers Wikipedia. If you have contributed to Wikipedia, editing FreeCAD wiki pages should be easy.
 * Contrary to Wikipedia, the FreeCAD wiki is write-protected to avoid spam. You must request an account on the forum.
 * If you have never used wiki software before, please read Help:Editing to become familiar with the markup that is used.
 * For advanced use of the wiki software, see MediaWiki Help:Contents. Not all features of MediaWiki are available in this FreeCAD wiki, but many are.
 * We like to keep the documentation easy to read, so avoid using complex features. Keep it simple.
 * Use a sandbox to test your code, for example, FreeCADDocu:Sandbox or a particular page with your name Sandbox:Yourname. Sandbox pages must be placed in the Sandbox category. This is done by adding  at the bottom of the wiki code.
 * Please be aware of the translations. The FreeCAD wiki uses automated translation support to provide pages in many languages. For every page multiple language versions can exist. On many pages you will see tags like  and many single tags like  . The latter mark so-called translation units and are created by the translation system, you should never create them manually. They link the headings and paragraphs to their translated versions. You should not change them as that would destroy those links. It is however fine to move paragraphs or change wording as long as the tags stay with them. If you remove a heading or a paragraph you should also remove the tag belonging to it. Please be aware that changes to existing headings and paragraphs affect the current translations. Your changes should be worth it. Do not worry when adding new material because the system will add new tags automatically after your edits. For more information see Localisation and the original Mediawiki:Extension:Translate page.

Concise descriptions
When describing FreeCAD try to be concise and to the point and avoid repetition. Describe what FreeCAD does, not what FreeCAD does not do. Also avoid colloquial expressions such as 'a couple'. Use 'some' when dealing with an indeterminate number, or specify the correct quantity.


 * Bad description
 * PartDesign Workbench: the PartDesign Workbench is a workbench for part design that aims to provide tools for modelling complex solid parts.


 * Good description
 * PartDesign Workbench: aims to provide tools for modelling complex solid parts.

Centralized information
Avoid duplicating the same information in different places. Insert the information in a new page, and link to this page from other pages that require this information.

Do not use transclusion of pages (Help:Editing#Templates and transcluding pages), as this makes the wiki difficult to translate. Use only the templates described below in #Templates.

Styling
Templates are used to style the help pages. They give the documentation a consistent look and feel. There is a template for menu commands,, a template to style keys to be pressed, , to show a Boolean value, , etc. Please get familiar with the #Templates section before writing help pages.

Temporary flags
If you are working on a large page it is advisable to mark the page either as a work in progress or as unfinished. This assures that wiki admins don't mark your page as ready for translation while you are still changing it.

To flag a page add either  or   as the first line. With  you invite others to join you in finishing the page, while   indicates that you will do the work yourself and others should give you some time.

Once the work is done, please don't forget to remove the flags!

Examples
To quickly get familiar with the structure and style of the FreeCAD wiki look at the model page: GuiCommand model.

Structure
The User hub provides a Table of Contents. This is used as the main reference for automatically building the offline help you can reach from FreeCAD, as well as the offline PDF documentation.

The Template:Docnav is used to sequentially link pages, following the structure of the Table of Contents. See #Templates for a list of all templates.

Page names
Page names should be short and they should use title case: every word should begin with a capital letter, unless they are articles, prepositions, conjunctions, or other grammatical particles (f.e. 'of', 'on', 'in', 'a', 'an', 'and').


 * Bad page name:
 * Construction of AeroCompany airplanes


 * Good page name:
 * Construction of AeroCompany Airplanes

The names of top level workbench pages must have this format:, where   is the name of the workbench, for example PartDesign Workbench. And the names of pages describing the commands (or tools) belonging to a workbench must have this format:, for example PartDesign Pad. Note that you should use the command name as it occurs in the source code.

Headings
Paragraph headings should be short and use sentence case: all words except the first one and proper names, should be in lowercase. You should not use  headings  in your wiki markup since the page title is automatically added as the main   heading.

Links
You should use the original link name for links whenever possible. This clarifies the referenced page in printed or offline documentation. Please avoid non-meaningful words for the link.


 * Bad link
 * For more information on drafting 2D objects click here.


 * Good link
 * For more information on drafting 2D objects refer to the Draft Workbench.

The preferred format for a link is:

Translated:

Note that for the part before the  character, the actual link, case is relevant. If your page name is  the link will fail if you type   (upper case P). Before the  character all spaces should be replaced by underscores. This is to assist translators using translation software, without the underscores the link would be translated by the software which is undesirable.

To link to a certain paragraph add a  sign and its headings to the page name. Example:

Translated:

Within the same page you can omit the page name. Example:

To link to the top of the page you can use:

This template should automatically display the correct text depending on the language of the page. A link to the top of the page is especially useful for long pages as it allows the user to quickly jump back to the table of content. You can put it at the end of each paragraph. Make sure there is an empty line before and after the template.


 * Image link
 * [[Image:Draft_Wire.svg|24px|Optional text that is shown when you hover the image|link=Draft_Wire]]

To use an image as a link:


 * Image link + text link
 * [[Image:Draft_Wire.svg|24px|link=Draft_Wire]] Draft Wire

If you leave out the optional text the link itself will be shown when the image is hovered, which is preferable, and you should also add a text link after the image link:

Workbench pages
A top level workbench page should start with:
 * A description of what the workbench is used for.
 * An image to illustrate the description.

See #Screen capture for conventions on including images.

Command pages
Command pages describing workbench tools should not be too long, they should only explain what a command can do and what it can't, and how to use it. You should keep pictures and examples to a minimum. Tutorials can expand on how to use the tool and provide step-by-step details.

Please refer to the GuiCommand model page for more details.

Tutorials
A well written tutorial should teach how to achieve certain practical results quickly. It shouldn't be too long, but should include sufficient step-by-step instructions and images to guide the user. As FreeCAD evolves, tutorials may become obsolete, so it is important to mention the FreeCAD version used in, or required for, a tutorial.

For examples visit the Tutorials page.

Templates
Styling of the FreeCAD wiki pages is achieved through the use of templates (Help:Editing). They ensure a standardized look and feel across all pages, and also make it possible to re-style the wiki. You can see the complete list of defined templates by accessing Special:PrefixIndex/Template:. But please only use the templates listed in the tables below. Only in very special cases should you use HTML tags directly.

Click on the template link to see the usage instructions for a template, and to see its implementation. Templates are a powerful feature of the MediaWiki software. You should be an experienced wiki user if you wish to propose additions and modifications to existing templates. If implemented incorrectly, templates make it difficult to translate pages into other languages, so their use should be limited to text formatting, page transclusion should be avoided. See MediaWiki Help:Templates to learn more.

Simple templates
These templates accept a simple text parameter, and format it with a particular style.

Complex templates
These templates require more input parameters, or produce a block of text with a particular format.

Graphics
Images and screenshots are necessary to produce a complete documentation of FreeCAD. They are particularly useful to illustrate examples and tutorials. Images should be shown in their original size, so they present sufficient detail and are readable if they include text. Bitmap images should not be resized.

Avoid animated pictures (GIF) in the general help pages. Animations and videos should be reserved for tutorials not intended to be used as offline PDF documentation.

Images can be uploaded through the Special:Upload page.

Name
Give meaningful names to your images. If you have an image that showcases the characteristics of a particular command, you should use the name of that command with at the end. For example for the command Draft Offset the image should be called.

Screen capture
Recommended sizes for screen captures are:
 * Native 400x200 (or width=400 and height<=200), for command reference pages, to allow the picture to fit in the left part of the page, and for other standard snapshots.
 * Native 600x400 (or width=600 and height<=400), for command reference pages, when you really need a bigger picture, and still allow the picture to fit in the left part of the page, and for other standard snapshots.
 * Native 1024x768 (or width=1024 and height<=768), only for full screen images.
 * Smaller sizes are possible when showing details.
 * Avoid images with larger resolutions, as they won't be very portable to other kinds of displays or the printed PDF documentation.

You shouldn't depend on a custom configuration of your desktop or operating system when you create screenshots and you should use the visual defaults of the FreeCAD interface whenever possible.

To create a screenshots you can use the options provided by your operating system, or one of these macros: Macro Snip and  Macro Screen Wiki.

Text
To ease documentation translations, try to avoid screenshots that contain texts. If you cannot avoid this, consider taking separate screenshots of the interface and the 3D view. The image of the 3D view can be reused in every translation, while a translator can take a screenshot of the localized interface if necessary.

Icons and graphics
Refer to the Artwork page for all artwork and icons that have been created for FreeCAD, and which can also be used in documentation pages. If you would like to contribute icons, please read the Artwork Guidelines.

Translations
As per general consensus, the reference page in the wiki is the English page, which should be created first. If you want to change or add content to a page, you should do it to the English page first, and only once the update is completed, port the modification to the translated page.

The FreeCAD wiki supports a translation extension that allows managing translations between pages easier; for details, see Localisation Translating the wiki.

Other useful resources are:
 * ISO language codes to identify the two-letter code for a particular language that you want to translate to.
 * Google Translate for help with translations.
 * Deepl translator for help with translations.

Translate GuiCommand
Translated:

Translate navi
Translated:

Translate link
Part Module

Translated:

Atelier Part

Translate Docnav
Translated:

Example with icons:

Translated:

Create pages
Before creating a new page you should first check if a similar page already exists. If that is the case it is usually better to edit that existing page instead. When in doubt please open a topic in the Wiki forum first.

To create a new page do one of the following:
 * Visit the URL with the desired page name, for example:, and click on 'create this page'.
 * Do a wiki search for the page name, and click on the red text in 'Create the page "My new page" on this wiki!'.

Rename pages
Since FreeCAD is a project under permanent development, it is sometimes necessary to revise the content of the wiki. If the names of commands are changed in the source code, the wiki pages documenting them have to be renamed as well. This can only be done by wiki administrators. To inform them, open a topic in the Wiki forum and list the necessary renaming operation in this form:

old name        new name Old_page_name_1 New_page_name_1 Old_page_name_2 New_page_name_2 ...

Delete files and pages
In case you need to delete a file, go to its page and edit it. No matter if the page is blank or not, add this as the first element:  and directly below it describe why the page should be deleted. Additionally, open a topic in the Wiki forum.

For pages the procedure is the same.

Discussion
The Development/Wiki subforum in the FreeCAD forum provides a dedicated space for discussing wiki topics, the wiki appearance and anything else related to the wiki. Direct your questions and suggestions there.

English
See Glossary.

Other languages

 * Italiano
 * Français
 * Deutsch
 * Polish