How the Knowledge Base works TB

The Thunderbird Knowledge Base is a site that contains articles intended to help people use Thunderbird. These articles are translated into multiple languages. We encourage volunteers to help with the site, both by writing or editing articles or by helping to translate articles.

The site is a wiki that runs on the "Sumo" platform, the same platform used (and developed) by the Firefox folks. While we share common goals and belong to the same company, the Firefox and Thunderbird teams are separate. If you are looking for Firefox help, try the Firefox support site .

How our wiki is different from others

• Wiki markup
  • We use MediaWiki markup syntax (like Wikipedia) for most things. However, our wiki is designed specifically for Firefox and Thunderbird help and uses some custom markup for displaying instructions. See our markup chart for a list and examples.
• Review system
  • Because we want to ensure that Thunderbird users get correct and up-to-date information, edits to our articles are reviewed and approved before they are made live.
• Translations
  • We have a system for translating the English articles in our Knowledge Base into other languages. Translations are tied to their English source article and localizers are notified when the source article changes. For more information, see How to contribute to article localization.

Things to consider before creating a new article

Before you create a new article, there are a few things to consider. If you have questions, you can ask them in the Articles Forum.

• What topics do we cover in the Knowledge Base?
  • Using Thunderbird features like tabs, email and contact list.
  • Fixing problems like crashes or passwords.

• What topics don't we cover in the Knowledge Base?
  • Tricks or hacks for modifying Thunderbird (including advanced settings that can only be accessed via the Config Editor).
  • Using or recommending specific Add-ons and Plug-ins. (There are a few exceptions for add-ons that Mozilla is heavily involved with in one way or another, but in most cases add-on support is completely the responsibility of the add-on developer.)

• Do we really need this article? – There are all kinds of things we can write about in the Knowledge Base but we want to balance how much work goes into an article (writing it, maintaining it, localizing it) with how many people it could potentially help. Our top 20 articles account for about 50% of our traffic. Often, effort is best spent making one of those articles better. Maybe what you are thinking of documenting would work best as an addition to an existing article.

• Is this article published elsewhere? - People often write Thunderbird articles on their own personal blogs or on their organization's Knowledge Base. There are also community-run sites that document Mozilla products (such as the excellent MozillaZine). We never publish content from other sites without the permission of the content owner. Also, we prefer not to re-publish an article that is published elsewhere, simply because it means that there are two sources of the article that need to be maintained and periodically updated. This is a suggestion rather than a rule. If the original author of the content would prefer to have it published on this Knowledge Base, we are happy to do so assuming the content otherwise fits our guidelines. (Make a note in the original article that the content has been moved.) Another approach is to write a short article stub on this site that describes the content and links to the original post on the other site.

Creating a new article

If you think there's an article that we need to add to the Knowledge Base, here's how to do it.

1. Go to the Articles Forum and propose creating the article.
   • Create a new thread, title it [Proposed] Name of article, and explain what the article will cover.
2. Wait for comments on your proposal. This is optional but if you intend to draft the article yourself you might want to hear what others have to say before you do it.
3. Create and draft the article.
4. When you've finished drafting the article, add a link to it in the article thread in the forum and change the title of the thread to [Needs Review] Name of article.
   • Doing this helps to let people know that the article is waiting for review.
   • The article won't be public until it's been reviewed and approved.

Improving existing articles

With nearly 100 Knowledge Base articles, there's always something that can be made better. Here are three main ways to improve an article:

• Make articles easier to understand
  • Find a better way to explain something that is too complex or not very clear.
  • Add screenshots to help people understand the article. For example, most people don't know the difference between the location bar and the search bar.
  • Add screencasts. This is the next best thing to actually grabbing the mouse out of someone's hand and doing it for them.

• Keep articles up-to-date – Major updates to Thunderbird always bring new features and changes to how existing features work. It is always helpful to review the Thunderbird release notes and make sure articles in the Knowledge Base describe current functionality.

• Proof-read – Some of you have the eye to spot the mistakes that spell-check misses. We need your help.
  • Correct spelling, grammar and punctuation.
  • Fix issues with style and formatting. See How to write Knowledge Base articles TB for some guidelines.