User talk:Megadardery/Writing Guidelines

=Signatures= Your signature is automatically created for you when you create an account. It should be used when writing comments on talk pages, voting on deletions, etc, and is left by typing after your comment. ~ leaves your signature and datestamp ( leaves just a date). Signature and datestamp are preferable.

Personalized signatures are allowed, by
 * 1) editing the designated field on Special:Preferences,
 * 2) creating a userspace subpage at Special:Mypage/sig (it must be /sig, and just one subpage), then following the instructions Help:Signature to "include" the subpage in your signature field.

However, some rules must be followed when doing so:

Appearance and color

 * Your signature must include your username, or a shortened or altered version of it, or a nickname, as long as it is still instantly recognizable as pertaining to you.
 * Your signature can be one or more different colors, provided they are readable. A background color should come with a defined text color (even if it is the default, black, users with different skins will also be able to see the text by defining this).
 * Any such background must be confined to the immediate text area. Borders or blinking (or anything else that gives undue salience to a signature) are not allowed.
 * You may only have one signature page. You may use signatures other than the one on your signature page, but they cannot be custom sigs (i.e. only, Myname , etc.).
 * Some users also change their sigs during certain holidays. Though allowed, these sigs must also conform to all previous rules, and it is suggested to only do this a couple of times a year at most.
 * You can change your signature according to your liking, as long as it is readable. If your signature appears to be unreadable, you may be warned. (See: Warning Policy )

Links

 * Your signature must link to your talk page. It can also have links to your userpage, contributions, etc., but never to other users' pages.
 * You may have a maximum of five word links, internal or external, including the mandatory talk page link.
 * Do not include links to mainspace articles in your signature. This interferes with knowledge of where a page is linked from.
 * Do not include links to external websites in your signature. Use your userpage for such things.

Transclusion/template

 * Your signature must be visible on your signature subpage. Posting signature coding directly onto a page is not allowed, unless your signature is a single, basic link (i.e. Myname ). Raw coding that is added to talk pages will be stripped down to a basic link, or removed completely and replaced with.
 * Parser functions can be used in your signature. However, using too many can lead to much lag, and should be avoided.

Size

 * Your signature cannot exceed around 200 pixels in width.
 * Certain types of formatting and spacing, such as,   and  , are not allowed, as they disrupt the normal spacing between rows of text. Font sizes of more than the default are therefore not allowed.
 * Your signature can only be single-lined.

To test your signature's size, use the template (or see the personal check).

Images

 * One or two small images may be used, both limited to 20 pixels in height. One animated gif can be used instead of two static images, although it is strongly discouraged.
 * The images must not interfere with line spacing or collide with either of the lines above and below it, and if they are found to be too distracting, you will be asked to remove it.
 * You are not allowed to use mainspace images as your signature image, instead upload one and tag it with . (See: Personal Images Policy) Or you can use an external image as long as it is smaller than 20 pixels in height.