Zwielicht
Elite Member
- Aug 31, 2013
- 21,128
- 40,595
So let's say you have a method or know something interesting that you want to turn into a guide for other Black Hat World members to read. That's great! Unfortunately, people are less likely to read your guide if it looks like this.
Because there are more and more members sharing information here each day, I thought it was finally time to create a short Black Hat World guide for creating Black Hat World guides to help some of you get started. To begin, let's start with a few things to keep in mind when you create a guide for this forum.
Basics
Formatting
This issue is the one I illustrated in the gif above and it's an issue some new members have when they post a guide here. When you don't add paragraphs or separate sections with headings, the text becomes difficult to read. This will lead to some people either highlighting the text to make it easier to read or giving up entirely, with the latter usually happening.
I personally use size 5 bold coloured text for my section headings and size 4 bold coloured text for my subheadings. Additionally, you can use any guide posted by Tommy, Macdonjo3, lightningblitz, myself, or any other member as an example.
Colours
I usually pick 1 or 2 colours and use them throughout the guide. Anything more and you'll end up with a ceosam-esque colour vomit thread. For similar reasons mentioned under "Basics", It's best not to use very bright colours such as yellow in your guides as users using the white and gold theme will have a problem reading it (my rule is if I can't see it well in BHW's editor, it's too bright).
Images & Videos
If you want to give user's something to look at, include images and videos in your guides. You can create these images and videos yourself or find them on another website. However, adding images to your BHW guide isn't necessary. Sure, I add a few to my guides and Tommy adds images to his guides, but other members here such as lightningblitz can still write interesting guides without using images.
Sources
I like to try to link back to quality sources throughout my guides. There are 2 reasons for this: the first is that it prevents combat noobs(**) from derailing your posts and it gives members here additional content to read if they have any further questions.
Spelling & Grammar
I know it's difficult for those of you who don't speak English natively to write guides on a forum that only allows English, but at the very least try to find someone who can quickly proofread your text or use a grammar and spell checker online.
Additional Tips
Save your work in Notepad as you type it up. If your area is prone to power outages or BHW goes down, you can easily just copy and paste your text back into BHW's editor. Believe it or not, I received the following error while I was typing up this guide and I was able to just copy and paste the content that didn't save back into BHW's editor.
BHW's editor also has an issue where when you leave it open too long and try to insert an image, div tabindex won't load (in other words, an overlaid semi-transparent screen for the insert image tool won't load completely you won't be able to copy and paste your work). To recover your work, simply use your Inspect Element tool and delete this line of code:
You should be able to copy and paste your content in a new editor from there.
Finally, stick to what you have experience in. Anyone can post a guide using a bunch of sources, but your unique perspective can provide others with valuable information they wouldn't be able to acquire through your sources alone.
**Sorry about the neologism. Combat noob is my term for both new members who come here and derail threads by pointing out any factual errors without reading the entire thread and for new members who are aggressive to senior members.
Because there are more and more members sharing information here each day, I thought it was finally time to create a short Black Hat World guide for creating Black Hat World guides to help some of you get started. To begin, let's start with a few things to keep in mind when you create a guide for this forum.
Basics
- Avoid using advanced vocabulary. Not everyone's first language is English, and for those members whose first language is English, they most likely do not want to read, "Indubitably, the malfeasance of the indignant pugilist outwardly manifested in a..." for any extended period of time.
- There are 2 themes on Black Hat World: a white and gold version and the default black and gold version. Most members use the default theme but there are some members who prefer the white and gold theme. Because of this, always use the "Automatic" colour option for the bulk of your text.
- I don't believe this has ever been a problem, but always adhere to the forum rules when posting a guide.
Formatting
This issue is the one I illustrated in the gif above and it's an issue some new members have when they post a guide here. When you don't add paragraphs or separate sections with headings, the text becomes difficult to read. This will lead to some people either highlighting the text to make it easier to read or giving up entirely, with the latter usually happening.
I personally use size 5 bold coloured text for my section headings and size 4 bold coloured text for my subheadings. Additionally, you can use any guide posted by Tommy, Macdonjo3, lightningblitz, myself, or any other member as an example.
Colours
I usually pick 1 or 2 colours and use them throughout the guide. Anything more and you'll end up with a ceosam-esque colour vomit thread. For similar reasons mentioned under "Basics", It's best not to use very bright colours such as yellow in your guides as users using the white and gold theme will have a problem reading it (my rule is if I can't see it well in BHW's editor, it's too bright).
Images & Videos
If you want to give user's something to look at, include images and videos in your guides. You can create these images and videos yourself or find them on another website. However, adding images to your BHW guide isn't necessary. Sure, I add a few to my guides and Tommy adds images to his guides, but other members here such as lightningblitz can still write interesting guides without using images.
Sources
I like to try to link back to quality sources throughout my guides. There are 2 reasons for this: the first is that it prevents combat noobs(**) from derailing your posts and it gives members here additional content to read if they have any further questions.
Spelling & Grammar
I know it's difficult for those of you who don't speak English natively to write guides on a forum that only allows English, but at the very least try to find someone who can quickly proofread your text or use a grammar and spell checker online.
Additional Tips
Save your work in Notepad as you type it up. If your area is prone to power outages or BHW goes down, you can easily just copy and paste your text back into BHW's editor. Believe it or not, I received the following error while I was typing up this guide and I was able to just copy and paste the content that didn't save back into BHW's editor.
BHW's editor also has an issue where when you leave it open too long and try to insert an image, div tabindex won't load (in other words, an overlaid semi-transparent screen for the insert image tool won't load completely you won't be able to copy and paste your work). To recover your work, simply use your Inspect Element tool and delete this line of code:
Code:
<div tabindex="-1" style="position: fixed; z-index: 10000; top: 0px; left: 0px; opacity: 0.5; width: 1316px; height: 1065px; background-color: white;" class="cke_dialog_background_cover"></div>Finally, stick to what you have experience in. Anyone can post a guide using a bunch of sources, but your unique perspective can provide others with valuable information they wouldn't be able to acquire through your sources alone.
**Sorry about the neologism. Combat noob is my term for both new members who come here and derail threads by pointing out any factual errors without reading the entire thread and for new members who are aggressive to senior members.
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