How to write a HOWTO

From Alpine Linux
Revision as of 18:36, 12 December 2025 by Prabuanand (talk | contribs) (revised HowTo page, removed redundant information, aligned and linked to existing content)

If you are reading this, it probably means you are interested in contributing a Howto or Tutorial to Alpine Linux Wiki. This is great! Just follow those simple steps and you will end up with a great howto in no time.

Prerequisite

  • Refer to Help:Editing to understand the Text Formatting Rules. Lookup Cheatsheet for quick reference.
  • Follow Help:Style guidelines at all times.
  • Learn to format Wiki text.
    • By clicking the Edit page button on Alpine Linux Wiki articles to read the source. Do not accidentally modify them.
    • By experimenting in Sandbox.

Writing the HOWTO

  1. Login to Alpine Linux Wiki. If you have never logged in, click the Log in / create account on the top-right, and then click the Create an account link.
  2. Pay proper attention to name your page. Changing the name of pages in Wiki is not trivial. If you are new to Wiki editing, use a subpage of your User namespace like Username/Learning to Use Wiki or use Sandbox to create a Temporary page first.
  3. Paste the [Help:Style#Sample_page_layout|Sample_page_layout]] into your new Temporary page.
  4. Follow the instructions in the template.
  5. Pay attention while creating Heading/subheading, as they can be linked within the page and from other wiki pages.
  6. Try as much as possible to refer existing wiki content for standard tasks like installation, partitioning, formatting, user management, managing repositories etc.. instead of repeating the same in your page. This avoids confusing users and prevents content fragmentation.
  7. Always update existing wiki pages so that information with existing wiki links also gets benefited. New pages must be created sparingly, i.e only if it is absoultely needed.
  8. Finally move your temporary page or create a properly named HOWTO page as explained in Help:Editing and paste your content from the temporary page. Moving a page captures the change log from the original page.

Quick guidelines for a Howto

  1. Know your readers and what you are trying to tell them to do and
  2. Write the summary
  3. Write the background info/prerequisites readers need.
  4. Answer the following three questions, at least in your head.
    1. What do I explain how to do?
    2. How do I do that?
    3. What do HOWTO readers already know about doing that?
  5. Write up the steps to do it.
  6. Clean up your work.
  7. Revise, revise, revise.

See also

Retrieved from "https://wiki.alpinelinux.org/w/index.php?title=How_to_write_a_HOWTO&oldid=31784"