Clicklaw Wikibooks Style Guide
This style guide is for pages on the Clicklaw wiki, including the guide Legal Help for British Columbians.
See the Clicklaw Wiki Cheatsheet for shortcuts for commonly used commands.
Page titles and in page headings
Page titles
The title of a page should be in plain language (as a description of the topic or, for Legal Help for British Columbians, a question), concise, and consistent with the titles of related pages.
The following points are critical:
- Use "sentence case", not "title case"; that is, the initial letter of a title is capitalized. Otherwise, capital letters are used only where they would be used in a normal sentence.
In page headings
Headings within a page are produced by typing multiple equal signs. A primary section heading is written ==Words in heading==, a subsection below it is written ===Words in heading===, and so on (a maximum of five levels is possible). Spaces between the equal signs and the heading text are optional, and will not affect the way the heading is displayed. The heading must be typed on a separate line. Include one blank line above the heading, and optionally one blank line below it, for readability in the edit window. (Only two or more consecutive blank lines will add more white space in the public appearance of the page.)
The following points apply to in page headings:
- Use "sentence case", not "title case"; that is, the initial letter of a title is capitalized. Otherwise, capital letters are used only where they would be used in a normal sentence.
- Headings should not normally contain links, especially where only part of a heading is linked.
- Section and subsection headings should preferably be unique within a page; otherwise section links may lead to the wrong place.
Lists
Bulleted lists
When making a bulleted list, put an asterisk before each item to make it a bulleted list item:
*Bullet point.*Bullet point.
This will appear as:
- Bullet point
- Bullet point
Where the bulleted list has items that are less than a full sentence, you can use commas between the items. For example:
- To qualify for PWD benefits, you must:
- be at least 18 years of age,
- have a severe mental or physical impairment, and
- need help or supervision because of the disability.
Where the bulleted list has one or more items that are a full sentence or longer, use periods between the items. For example:
- Your best bets are:
- Family Law in BC, for forms, self-help materials and other legal information about family legal issues.
- Family Justice Centres, to make an appointment with a Family Justice Counsellor to discuss custody, guardianship, access or maintenance.
- Family Duty Counsel (Provincial or Supreme), for some assistance on the day you have to appear in court.
Where a heading for a bulleted list item is appropriate, use a colon after the heading, and a period at the end of the item:
- Common Experience Payment: A CEP is payable to all former students of Residential Schools.
- Independent Assessment Process: Under this process, a victim of abuse at a Residential School may apply for additional compensation.
Numbered lists
When making a numbered list, put a pound sign (#) before each item to make it a numbered list item. Note that you should have no space between the pound sign and the beginning of the item, and no spaces between list items.
You can nest a bulleted list within a numbered list. Use the syntax #* for the bulleted items within the numbered list:
#First numbered item.#Second numbered item.#*Bullet point.#*Bullet point.
This will appear as:
- First numbered item
- Second numbered item
- Bullet point
- Bullet point
References
Publications
When referring to a publication that is a book or a manual, put the title in italics:
- Law Students' Legal Advice Program Manual
When referring to a publication that is not a book, put the title in quotation marks:
- "Your Welfare Rights: A Guide to BC Employment and Assistance"
For publication titles, use title case - where the first letters of all words are capitalized, except articles (e.g., a, the), coordinating conjunctions (e.g., and, for, or), prepositions (e.g., in, of), and the words to and as.
Links
Internal links
Make links only where they are relevant and helpful in the context: Excessive use of hyperlinks can be distracting, and may slow the reader down.
To make an internal link, use two square brackets to open the link, followed by the name of the linked page, followed by two closing square brackets:
[[Name of page here]].
Use a vertical bar "|" (the "pipe" symbol) to create a link while labeling it with a different name than the linked page. The first term inside the brackets is the name of the linked page (the page you would be taken to), while anything you type after the vertical bar is what that link looks like on the original page. Here is an example:
[[I want to write a will | writing a will]].
External links
Minimize using external links in the main body of a page; include only external links that are to essential resources or information. For other external links, look to include those in an external links section at the end, pointing to further information outside the Clicklaw wiki. The standard format for making an external link is:
[http://www.courthouselibrary.ca Courthouse Libraries BC][http://www.clicklaw.bc.ca/helpmap Clicklaw HelpMap]
These will appear as:
Where there is an external link that has a Clicklaw page, then link to the Clicklaw page. For example:
[http://www.clicklaw.bc.ca/resource/1082 "Your Welfare Rights: A Guide to BC Employment and Assistance"]
This will appear as:
Numbers
- In general, write whole numbers one through nine as words, and write all other numbers as numerals: one to five; 21 to 30.
- For currency, don't use numbers after the decimal point: $25.
- In general, use a comma to delimit numbers with four or more digits to the left of the decimal point: 1,050.
- Write 3% or three percent but not three % or 3 % with a space.
- Write telephone numbers with dashes: 1-866-565-4526.
Punctuation
Hyphens between words
Put spaces between the hyphen and the word - like this.
Word Usage
This alphabetical list features the preferred usage for words:
- Aboriginal child
- Aboriginal parent
- Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada (AANDC)
- BC
- Clicklaw wiki
- Clicklaw wikibook
- court (as in "go to court"), but "Small Claims Court"
- court registry (but "Supreme Court Registry")
- Crown Counsel
- duty counsel (but "Family Duty Counsel Program" when it's a specific program)
- Employment Insurance benefits
- Family Court
- federal government
- Government Agent office
- Government of Canada (but government when used generically)
- Guide (as in "this Guide")
- homepage
- Indian band
- Indian reserve
- Internet
- lawsuit
- legal aid representation ( but "Legal Aid Representation" when it's a specific program)
- Lower Mainland
- Ministry of Social Development (MSD)
- online
- Residential School
- Resource List (as in "see the Resource List in this Guide for helpful resources")
- Small Claims Court
- Supreme Court
- toll-free
- tribal council
- trustee in bankruptcy
- website
- workers' advisers
- Yellow Pages
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