Difference between revisions of "Clicklaw Wikibooks Contributor Guide"

#Click on the "Edit" tab or click on the "edit" link beside a particular section (if you only want to edit the text for a certain section of a page).<br /><br />[[File:Editing_a_page_on_the_wiki.png | border|800px | link=]]<br /><br />

#You can make changes to the text in the edit window, and click on the “Save page” button to save your changes.<br /><br />[[File:Editing_a_page_on_the_wiki_2.png |border| 900px | link=]]

==Basic editing tools and formatting==

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Account holders, including all editors and contributors, have the option of adding pages to a watchlist so they can follow content that they are responsible for and receive a notification when the pages are altered. You receive email notifications (see [[Clicklaw Wikibooks Contributor Guide#Email notification | setting up email notificaiton]]) or be shown an overview of the changes from the [[Special:Watchlist | Watchlist]] page.

[[File:Email_notification_watchlist.png  |border| 900px | link=]]

Terms that appear along with their definitions on the [[Terminology]] page will automatically be detected the first time they appear on any article in the Clicklaw Wiki. In general, this saves work, since no manual coding is required to ensure that a legal term will include a definition. The automatic nature of this process, however, will result in false-positives in cases where a defined term also has a common meaning in addition to a legal one (the terms "hearing", and "order" for example).

To exclude defined terms from appearing with their pop-up definition (and where it is the first time the term has been used on a page), you should bracket the term with the HTML element:

at the end of the text of a page.

Brian Garner, from ''Legal Writing in Plain English,'' 2001, pp xiv:

<blockquote><tt>A word about "plain English." The phrase certainly shouldn't connote drab and dreary language. Actually, plain English is typically quite interesting to read. It's robust and direct—the opposite of gaudy, pretentious language. You achieve plain English when you use the simplest, most straightforward way of expressing an idea. You can still choose interesting words. But you'll avoid fancy ones that have everyday replacements meaning precisely the same thing.</tt>

</blockquote>

We are writing with the public reader in mind, not lawyers or other legal advocates. Depending on the wikibook, you may need to aim for a very low reading level. For example, [[Legal Help for British Columbians]] serves very basic information so people can take the first step towards finding help for their common legal problem. [[JP Boyd on Family Law]], on the other hand, presumes a higher reading level, since it offers motivated self-represented individuals a slightly more detailed description of family law. Both groups of readers benefit from plain language writing methods.   

Some tips to consider when writing or reviewing legal information for the public:

# Ask another reader to evaluate your writing.

* [http://www.cba.org/cba/practicelink/cs/plainlanguage1.aspx CBA PracticeLink: Plain language legal writing]

* [http://www.plainlanguage.gov/examples/before_after/index.cfm Before and After Comparisons from www.plainlanguage.gov]

* [http://www.plainlanguage.gov/whatisPL/definitions/Kimble.cfm Joe Kimble, ''The Elements of Plain Language'' in the ''Michigan Bar Journal'', October 2002]

=== Note about updating resources in Legal Help for British Columbians ===