Guidelines for Creating an Example Page

The term “example page” has been adopted to refer to any reference on the site that is not a technical guidance document, training, or best practices resource. These will typically consist of case studies or other real-life narratives that are illustrative of the technical topic being addressed. This type of content is important to incorporate in the Dam Safety Toolbox; many people learn more from examples or experiences than from technical reports, and these real-life examples help demonstrate the concepts described in such reports. Such pages may include links to case studies on ASDSO’s DamFailures.org website, links to YouTube or other online streaming platforms with pertinent videos, or “dead end” pages within the Technical Library itself that share case studies or other similar content.

Example pages can be accessed via a hyperlinked image and caption that can be included on the right side of any topic page as appropriate. One or more examples can also be linked to a single topic page by listing them under the “Examples” heading. Links may go directly to another website (e.g., DamFailures.org or YouTube.com). When the creation of example pages within the wiki is needed, these pages are formatted differently from the rest of the website. They typically feature an image carousel that can be used to share example photos and text in an interactive fashion.

A listing of all example pages created on the Dam Safety Toolbox can be access at

Naming a New Example Page

Care should be taken when naming a new example page. Avoid simplistic titles or terms that can mean multiple things or apply to more than one discipline. Rather, names of example pages should be as specific as possible. For example, if creating an example page with examples of spillway gate failure mechanisms, the page should be called "Examples of Spillway Gate Failures" or "Spillway Gate Mechanisms". If it was simply called "Gates" or "Gate Failure", these generic page titles may inadvertently auto-link to other pages on the website where a link is not appropriate. In general, the inclusion of terms like "examples", "samples", and "case studies" is encouraged in example page titles.

Typical Example Content

At a minimum, an example will consist of an external link to a video, website, or other informative resource. An example page developed on the Dam Safety Toolbox site may include any and all of the following items:

Title of example (this item is included in the title of the page)
Source for content (organization, author, collection, etc.) and publication/release date
Summary of content
Content (gallery of images, link to video, etc.)

New Example Page Template Code

The following template code should be copied and pasted into the editor when creating a new example page to facilitate the process of creating, formatting, and reviewing new content. Users should add or delete sections, pictures, and code as necessary for a specific example.

Revision ID: 6377
Revision Date: 12/23/2022