Minecraft Wiki:Style guide/Redstone

Redstone circuit write-ups should be …

This style guide should be considered a recommendation, not a requirement. It describes …

Description
Each circuit should be described by some combination of text, schematic(s), and screenshot(s).


 * Circuit Name: Circuit names should be descriptive and unique, but it is not necessary to create unique names for circuits which are topologically similar (they perform the same action with the same components but vary in the exact position of the blocks).
 * Screenshots and Schematics: Although screenshots and schematics can be essential to illustrating a circuit, it is important that they not overwhelm the text of the circuit's description (and potentially push into the next circuit's space).
 * Use thumbs for all screenshots and schematics.
 * Placement: If there are only one or two screenshots and schematics accompanying the circuit's description, add them vertically, aligned to the article's right edge. If there are more, or if even or two would overwhelm the circuit's text, add them as a gallery below the circuit's description.

In addition, consider adding any of the following elements to the circuit's description: usage, terminology, construction, how it works, and considerations.

Usage
Describe the purpose of the circuit. Explain why it's used to control mechanisms or what function it serves as part of a larger circuit.

When writing up a number of circuits which all provide the same function, consider writing the usage section only once to cover all of them. For example, if you are writing up a number of AND Gates, you could use a single usage section to discuss the purpose of AND Gates and then move on to describing the different ways to build an AND Gate without having to duplicate a discussion of their usage with each circuit description.

The usage section is the only part of the description that should be considered required for every circuit (or for a set of circuits which provide the same function).

Terminology
Explain any new terminology used when naming or discussing this circuit. If explaining the terminology would be complicated enough to overwhelm the discussion of the circuit itself, consider linking to an explanation of the terminology provided somewhere else.

Like the usage section, this part of the description may be needed only once for a set of circuits which provide the same function.

Examples:


 * 1) Edge Detector Circuits are named for the length of the pulse they generate and for whether they detect the rising or falling edge of a pulse (or both). For example, a "1-tick Rising Edge Detector" would generate a 1-tick pulse output whenever the its input changes from OFF to ON. To further differentiate edge detectors of the same type, add more descriptive terms to the beginning of the name -- for example, "Repeater-Piston 1-tick Rising Edge Detector".
 * 2) The T Flip-Flop is a bistable circuit (its output doesn't change until it receives new input).

If no new terminology is used, you can omit this part of the description.

Construction
Explain any construction details not obvious from screenshots or schematics.

Also explain whether there are issues that may arise due to the order in which you build a circuit. Some circuits will not work correctly unless certain blocks are placed in the correct order, others may (undesirably) start operating like a clock if some blocks are placed before others, etc.

If there are no important issues with the circuit's construction, you can omit this part of the description.

How it works
Some circuits may benefit from an explanation of how they work. For example:


 * Circuits which depend on the piston-connectivity feature
 * Circuits which depend on the timing of their elements working together

If operation is obvious, you can omit this part of the description.

Considerations
Discuss any important issues with the circuit.

Possible considerations include:
 * Comparisons to other circuits which provide the same function
 * material cost
 * compactness
 * Behavior as a sub-circuit
 * signal delay
 * pulse length modification
 * Dependence on, or compromises due to, bugs or glitches which might be patched later
 * Noise of: buttons, levers, pressure plates, tripwire hooks, pistons, doors, trapdoors, fence gates, dispensers, etc.
 * Possible interference with other circuits

If there are no important considerations, you can omit this part of the description.

Schematics
Do not use animated GIFs to show multi-layer schematics. The speed of animated GIFs cannot be modified by the viewer, and not everyone can read schematics quickly as they appear and disappear.

Screenshots
Along with redstone schematics and written explanations, screenshots illustrate the correct way to construct redstone circuits. When creating screenshots, circuits should be built and shot in a consistent way so that users can quickly learn to identify which blocks in an image are part of the circuit and what they do, and which blocks are there to help explain it, etc.

A screenshot can contain multiple circuits if that would help to illustrate differences between different circuits, or to illustrate variations of the same circuit.

This part of the style guide is based on an initial proposal by Supuhstar.

Building the circuit

 * Background
 * Circuits should be built and shot in front of a plain, non-distracting background.
 * The preferred background is a sandstone superflat world (like the Redstone Ready superflat preset), with no other blocks or mobs in the picture. Other possible backgrounds might include: the void, the sky (for under-shots, with clouds turned off), or other superflat worlds made from grass block, iron blocks, glass, etc.


 * Positioning
 * Build circuits off the ground (free-floating in the air) so that they can be shot from any direction and so that it's clear exactly which blocks are part of the circuit.


 * Blocks
 * Use the following blocks to build the circuit and then remove all unnecessary blocks:
 * Redstone components: Use redstone torches, wire, and repeaters, as needed.
 * Opaque blocks: Use a gold block for all opaque blocks that are necessary to the circuit (to support redstone torches, wire, and repeaters or to provide power to another element of the circuit, etc.). For complicated redstone structures, consider using different colors of wool (instead of gold blocks) to distinguish different functional parts of the structure.
 * Moving blocks: Use a diamond block for all blocks intended to be moved by a sticky piston (they're easily distinguishable from gold blocks and stone slabs). This helps to illustrate the moving parts of a piston-based circuit in a static screenshot.
 * Upside-down slabs: Use a stone slab for upside-down slabs required by the circuit.
 * Only use upside-down slabs when they are necessary to the circuit (because they can act as diodes, to avoid cutting redstone below, to avoid powering a block in that location, etc.).
 * Where an upside-down slab, upside-down stair or glowstone can be used interchangeably in a circuit, use a stone slab (by shape and color it provides the greatest contrast to surrounding gold blocks, making it easier to identify its purpose in a circuit).
 * Other blocks: Use any additional blocks required by the circuit (such as pistons) or necessary to illustrate the purpose of the circuit (for example, a circuit intended to control a door should include the door in the screenshot).


 * Input/Output Lines
 * When it would be helpful to understand the circuit, include additional blocks outside of the circuit to illustrate how signals enter and exit the circuit.
 * Input lines should consist of at least two blocks of lime wool with an unpowered lever on top of the first and redstone wire on the other(s) leading into the circuit.
 * Output lines should consist of at least two blocks of pink wool with redstone wire on the first block(s) leading out of the circuit to a redstone lamp on top of the last block.
 * Buses (wire lines between circuits) should be laid on white wool. Other colors may be used for multiple buses if that would improve clarity.

Taking a screenshot

 * Preparation
 * Before taking a screenshot, take the following steps:
 * Remove or deactivate mods that would affect the screenshot (unless they're specifically about a mod, all Minecraft Wiki screenshots should represent Minecraft "out-of-the-box"). Mods that wouldn't affect the screenshot, or would get cropped out later, are fine.
 * Set Texture Pack to Default (see above).
 * Set Graphics to Fancy.
 * Set FOV to Normal (the lowest setting, to minimize perspective distortions).
 * Set Particles to Minimal (to remove particles from redstone torches which might obscure or be mistaken for redstone wire).
 * Set Smooth Lighting to ON (to remove distracting block shadows).
 * Set Clouds to OFF (only if you're intending to use the sky as a backdrop).
 * Set view to first-person (you shouldn't be in the shot). Use F5 to switch to first-person.
 * Turn off the GUI by pressing F1.


 * Taking the Shot
 * Angle: Make sure the entire circuit is in the picture, including input/output lines and other illustrative blocks if present. Make sure there is additional space around the circuit in your framing so that it has a nice border and you have room to do some cropping later. Try to find an angle that illustrates all important elements of the circuit, but some circuits may require multiple angles/shots to illustrate everything.
 * Stand on a block rather than flying over the circuit. Flying expands your FOV which increases perspective distortion, so standing is better for taking pictures. The block can be in any position that gives you a good shot, and if you need to take the picture again the block will make it easier to get back in position.
 * Make sure no mobs have wandered into frame, and that there are no other stray entities (such as dropped items) that would clutter the shot.
 * Lighting: Take screenshots in the daytime, unless necessary to illustrate a feature of the circuit (if you have command privileges, use /time set 6000 to set the time to noon right before the shot).
 * Press F2 to take the screenshot (or use your own screen capture software).

Finishing up

 * Editing
 * Screenshots may need clean-up to improve clarity, but this may require some knowledge of image editing software. If you don't know how to do this, or can't, go ahead and upload your image -- hopefully someone will fix your image later (yay, wikis!).
 * Cropping: Crop the image so that the circuit takes up most of the picture, but leave some border so the circuit isn't crowding the edge.
 * Color Adjustment: Some screenshots may need their color adjusted to improve clarity (especially screenshots of oscilloscopes while the game is paused and dimmed).
 * File Type: All uploaded screenshots should be of type .png (Portable Network Graphic). F2 screenshots are PNGs by default, but if you use other screen capture software you may need to convert the image to a PNG with image editing software.


 * Upload the image to the Minecraft Wiki.
 * Start at the Upload File page.
 * Use the Browse button to find the image on your computer.
 * Add a description!
 * Set the Licensing menu to "This file is a screenshot of/uses textures from Minecraft".
 * Check everything and then hit the Upload File button.


 * Add the screenshot''' to an article.
 * Images that aren't used by articles may get deleted after a while.
 * To add a default thumb like the example screenshot above, use.
 * is the name of the file (e.g., ).
 * is the text to appear under the image.