Skip to:
Content
Pages
Categories
Search
Top
Bottom
Codex HomeParticipate and Contribute → Codex Standards & Guidelines

Codex Standards & Guidelines

If you are considering contributing to the codex this simple guide is here to help you with the formatting of pages and standards & conventions to follow to keep a set appearance to pages.

The Codex is curated by a team of volunteers they will check and verify articles for accuracy and adherence to Codex Standards, this is in order to maintain a consistent quality of article and standard throughout the codex. If you notice any articles of concern or think something is outdated or needs checking please contact one of the team members, if you are sure an article contains content that needs attention you may edit it and add a warning to the top of the article – please see the bottom of this page for markup to be copied and used in such circumstances.

Please note: All entries to the Codex are covered by the GNU General Public Licence. All entries may be edited or altered by other contributors.

Sections

How to Create a New Codex Article

  1. Log in using your WordPress username and password.
  2. Click on the “Create New Page” link under the header or click on the “+New > Page” link on the WP Toolbar
  3. Add the Title of your article
  4. Add the article metas: Versions, Components, Types and Context. Meta boxes are located on the screen’s right sidebar
  5. Add your article in the appropriate codex section in the Page Attributes meta box under the Context box.
    For reference, please go to the BuddyPress Codex Table of Contents which is updated regularly to guide you where to place your article
  6. Add content of your article. Check that it follows the Codex General Guidelines, Codex Conventions, and Formatting guides posted below for your reference
  7. After you’re done, click on the “Publish” button

How to Edit/Update an Article in the Codex

  1. Log in using your WordPress username and password
  2. Navigate to the page you want to edit/update
  3. Click on the “Edit Page” link under the header of the page or click on the “Edit Page” link on the WP Toolbar
  4. After you have made the edit/update, please double-check that the Versions, Components, Types and Context are correct and updated as well
  5. Click on the “Update” button in the Publish meta box

General Guidelines

Broad guidelines on writing for the BuddyPress Codex

Codex Conventions

With thanks to WP codex guidelines for borrowed bullet points: WP Codex:Guidelines

Formatting Guide

If writing a technical guide please use the template format provided in this draft document ( copy paste to new page ) Codex template – technical examples layout

1. Heading Tags:
Use h3 – h6. For example, on this page h3 is used for “Sections” above and for the title of this Section, “Style and Formatting“.

2. Code examples: Surround your code with the appropriate shortcodes
[php] your PHP code [/php]
[html] your HTML code [/html]
Also available are bash, shell, css, diff, patch, js, javascript, plain, text, sql and xml and are used in the same format as the previous examples.
N.B: When adding code examples please escape angle brackets < > with Numeric/Decimal entities rather than ‘Named ones, so use &# 060; and  &# 062;

3. Lists: Use unordered and ordered lists where appropriate.

4. File names: Surround file names with the code tags

<code>index.php</code>

5. The structure of a technical guide

[Intro]
a brief intro to the guide
[/Intro][Functions]
List the functions, location, params etc.
[/Functions][Your Content]
The content body – explanation/guide.
[/Your content][Example Usage]
Provide a simple example of code use – using pre/code tags.
[/Example Usage][Additional Resources]
Add any links to off site or internal pages that might help further.
[/Additional Resources]

Flagging articles – adding article header messages

Page may be tagged in the body with two ‘Notes’

1/ This page is a legacy document (at top of page)
if a page is deemed to be outdated or superseded by BP versions, or changes then it may be marked with this code block


<p style="color:#D9531E;font-size:16px;">This is Legacy Document</p>
<p style="color:#D9531E;font-size:16px;border-bottom:1px solid #8f8f8f;margin-bottom:1em;padding-bottom:1em;"><em>The details in this page have either been updated or are deprecated completely. Legacy Docs are retained for historic reference.</em></p>

and the page would be re-assigned under the parent section ‘legacy’

2/ This page is in need of updating

A page is considered incomplete or needs to be verified for detail.


<p style="color:#D9531E;font-size:14px;">This page is incomplete or needs checking and verifying.<p>
Skip to toolbar