Editing Meta:How to contribute (section)

== What good practices should I apply? ==

=== Naming conventions ===

First, page titles should respect MediaWiki's [https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Manual:Page_title#Naming_restrictions naming restrictions]. In particular there are some forbidden characters, and the title should be at most 255 bytes long.

In addition:
* Page titles should be singular nouns.
* '''Don't capitalise the titles (even for the very first letter)!''' The only capitals should be in front of proper nouns (''Church-Rosser theorem'') or mathematical symbols (''W-type'').
* You can't use math commands, but Unicode is allowed if used parsimoniously. To translate TeX to Unicode, see for example [https://www.unicodeit.net/ UnicodeIt].
* If there are obvious and widespread synonyms of the page title, you can create other pages with [https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Help:Redirects redirects] (''e.g.'' [[lambda-calculus]] could redirect to [[λ-calculus]], or the converse).

=== Structure of a page ===

The structure of most pages should look like [[Template:Page structure]]. To start a new page with this structure, write <code><nowiki>{{subst:Page structure}}</nowiki></code> and save the page.

Of course, this is only a suggested template that will not fit some subjects. Feel free to adapt it as much as needed!

=== Use the talk pages! ===

Each page comes with its [https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Help:Talk_pages talk page]. You should write on the talk page:
* If you want to make significant edits to a page, to explain what you are going to do and why.
* If you disagree with something on a page.
* If you would like to make an edit but you aren't sure of it.
* If you have a question about the content of the page.
* For any other possible reason!

To start discussing:
# Go to the talk page (by clicking on the ''Discussion'' link below the page title).
# Click on the ''Add topic'' button in the top right corner.
# Don't forget to sign your messages, by adding <code><nowiki>--~~~~</nowiki></code> at the end!

=== If you need help, do look for it ===

Remember that:
* All templates will eventually be documented on their [[Template:Template name]] page.
* You can ask for specific help on the talk page of any page.
* You can ask for anything in the [[Meta:Coffee room|Coffee room]].