Creating a How-To on WrenchXD
How to How-To
If you're interested in learning how to create a great How-To on WrenchXD, you've come to the right place!
Why WrenchXD?
We want to make great automotive repair info accessible for everyone by giving people the tools they need to share their knowledge. It’s our mission to:
- Help you save time and money.
- Connect like-minded enthusiasts and mechanics, and provide them a platform to share their rides and work.
- Help everyone repair instead of replace to reduce environmental waste.
Introducing New Categories!
Whether you're working on a Boat, a Bike, or even an Aircraft, we support it all!
Recommended Formatting
How-Tos on WrenchXD follow a very simple structure as follows:
- Category (Cars, Trucks, & SUVs, Heavy Equipment, Boats etc...).
- Vehicle (year, make, model, trim) trim is optional PLEASE NOTE: Vehicle is only available for the Cars, Trucks, & SUVs Category.
- Title Be sure to create a long descriptive title as this is how your content will be found from Search Engines.
- Tags (particular parts and/or components for repair, modification).
- Introduction (a brief 1-2 sentence summary of the job).
- Estimated Time (a rough estimate of how long a job takes).
- Tools / Parts Required (if applicable).
- Instructions written in clear, complete sentences with helpful visual aids (photos and/or embedded videos).
1. Selecting a Vehicle
Our vehicle selector has a wide array of automobiles whether its Domestic, European, or Japanese. We encourage you to select the vehicle that you are working on in the How-To. The order of our selector is Year, Make, Model and Trim. If you're having difficulty locating the trim, select the "unsure" option.
2. Write an accurate Title
Choose a title that summarizes the repair or modification in a single sentence. Remember to make your title accurate so that it's easy to find. Unless you are specifying a range of applicable vehicles, if you already selected a vehicle, there’s no need to include it in the title.
3. Select some Tags
Tags are designed to capture the parts and/or components for the repair or modification. This allows others to easily find your How-To.
4. Write an Introduction
Writing a few sentences at the beginning of your How-To to explain what it's about is useful for the reader and makes it easier for search engines to find it. An appropriate introduction will help more people find your How-To.
5. Estimated Time
If you can, provide a rough estimate of how long it will take someone to do the job.
6. Provide Tools / Parts Required
If applicable, list each of the tools that are required to complete the job.
An example is shown below!
7. Instructions with Photos or GIFs
For each part of your instructions, you should add both written instructions and photos demonstrating those instructions. This will help people visualize those steps.
Extra Information: Posting Videos 🎥
Videos make great additions to How-To's. Here's a great example of a video being used effectively in a How-To. Notice that there's still a step by step breakdown with important screenshots from the video used.