Practical Electronics/Manual of Style
From Wikibooks, the open-content textbooks collection
The aim of this section is to lay down basic rules for the systematic and organised construction of this book.
Contents |
[edit] Diagrams
[edit] Image Formats
All diagrams in this Wikibook should be in SVG format. PNGs are acceptable only if it is not practical to make an SVG image. If you do not have the software to make SVG diagrams, then get it. Inkscape is a small, effective program for making SVG diagrams and is easy to install and use. Not having the software is not an excuse to submit diagrams in inappropriate image formats.
Please see the page on SVG Conventions for information about how to make SVG render correctly on Wikibook servers.
JPG images are never acceptable for diagrams, as they tend to make thin lines look untidy, and cannot be easily changed.
[edit] Colour Scheme
All digrams should have a white, or better, transparent background.
Most lines and components should be drawn in black. If other colours are needed, they should be added according to the table below. Colours should be used according to the position in the table - red should be used before dark blue, for example.
This order is not set in stone - large fills probably should be Light Blue, so as not to produce a result that is unpleasently full of colour. Generally stick to this order, and only deviate if you deem it better to do so. If at all possible do not use any other colours as this way we can make all the diagrams in this book match.
| Colour | RGB | Hex | Sample | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Black | 0,0,0 | 000000 | |
| 2 | Red | 255,0,0 | ff0000 | |
| 3 | Dk Blue | 0,0,102 | 000066 | |
| 4 | Green | 51,204,0 | 33CC00 | |
| 5 | Orange | 255,102,0 | FF6600 | |
| 6 | Purple | 102,0,102 | 660066 | |
| 7 | Lt Blue | 102,153,255 | 6699FF |
[edit] Image Sizes and Scaling
Images should be made in "px" as this is the standard used to set the sizes on WIkibooks. Always use a multiple of 25px for the dimensions, and aim for hundreds if you can.
For example, an image that is 143x212 px is not good, whereas an image that is 150x200 is good.
Certain kinds of images have set sizes that should be used. Examples of these are Pinout Diagrams and Functional Diagrams.
When drawing a diagram, draw it at the size you will put it at on the page. So, for a circuit diagram that you will make 500px wide, make the original file 500px wide. If you have to scale an image down or up, do it by twos - either double or halve the size. Not doing this will mean that some lines of the diagrams will be thicker than others and there may be fuzzy edges.
[edit] Margins
Try to leave a small margin around all diagram - between 25px is good for larger diagrams. If possible try to make the margins all the same or similar (while keeping the image size a good number). At the least, make the left and right margin the same and the top and bottom the same.
[edit] Advanced Guidelines
Some types of diagram have special rules regrading their sizes, forms, etc, and these cases are give individulally on the pages below:
[edit] Photographs
Photographs should be in JPG format, with the quality set as high as is practical. Please do not submit low-res images or image that are blurred, suffering from compression artifacts, etc.
If you only have a blurred image of a common component or item, leave a message here. If you really want, upload your blurred image and ask me to try to take a similar picture. Otherwise just tell me what you want.
[edit] Uploading
Photographs and diagrams should be uploaded to Commons, unless they are fair use, then they must be put on Wikibooks.
They should always be put into a category. Put the images in categories as deep as you can get them.
