# Authoring Guide [ExCl](https://docs.excl.ornl.gov) → [User Documentation](https://docs.excl.ornl.gov/~/revisions/tgK4OWTltCS04RkJelGW/readme) → [Contribute](https://docs.excl.ornl.gov/~/revisions/tgK4OWTltCS04RkJelGW/excl-support/contributing) → [Authoring Guide](https://docs.excl.ornl.gov/~/revisions/tgK4OWTltCS04RkJelGW/git-contributing/authoring-guide) ## Authoring Guide for ExCl Perhaps you've got some how-to documents tucked away in folders that you'd like to share with the community. Or maybe you've discovered a way of doing things that would benefit other users. You can submit your user guides for publication within the [ExCl documentation site](https://docs.excl.ornl.gov)! See the [contributing](https://docs.excl.ornl.gov/~/revisions/tgK4OWTltCS04RkJelGW/excl-support/contributing) page for instructions. We've assembled here the fundamental authoring guidelines for ExCl user documentation. ### Document and Content Preferences * Documents should be created using [markdown](https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/user/markdown.html) using the [CommonMark](https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/user/markdown.html#transitioning-to-commonmark) syntax. * Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) uses the [*Chicago Manual of Style*](http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/home.html) (*CMOS*) as a basic style guide. * Define the first instance of every acronym in each document. Ensure that the long-form is not repeated after it is defined. * Buttons and links that the user should "click" should go in `code`. For example, "Next, click the `Manage Rules` button." * Put `📝` in front of NOTES. Renders: 📝 * Use `▾` for those "carrot" drop-down menus. Renders: ▾ * For headings: only use title case for the first three heading levels, `#`, `##`, and `###`. The remaining header levels should be sentence case. ### Pictures and Images Screenshots and images cannot be resized using markdown. Therefore, we embed `.html` that is rendered when we publish the tutorial to the documentation site. * Images and screenshots should be stored in a folder`assets`. Images and screenshots added from the gitbook interface are stored in `.gitbook/assets`, but issues seem to occure if this folder is modified externally from gitbook. * Files should be named descriptively. For example, use names such as `adding-IP-address.png` instead of `image03.png`. * To remain consistent with other images in tutorials, please use the following `.html` code to resize, add a border, and open in a new browser tab when clicked. Note that you'll need to change the file name twice in the following code. ```html ``` ### Other Considerations * Have you redacted sensitive information from text and images? * Have you removed information that is protected by copyright? * Are you using a specific version of your software and have you included in the documentation? ### Related Topics * Using a [Git Workflow](https://docs.excl.ornl.gov/~/revisions/tgK4OWTltCS04RkJelGW/git-contributing/git-basics/git-workflow) for creating user content.