TITLE: How to make your protocol more reproducible, discoverable, and user-friendly
AUTHORS: Lenny Teytelman, protocols.io team, Anita Broellochs

[DESCRIPTION]
<div class = "text-blocks"><div class = "text-block">protocols.io offers extensive flexibility in entering and presenting detailed methods. However, simple suggestions in here can help to make your protocol more useful to you and others. Importantly, easy steps outlined here can greatly increase the visibility of your protocol and ensure that scientists who need can find it.</div><div class = "text-block">If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to the protocols.io team by e-mailing us at  info [at] protocols.io. </div></div>

[STEPS]
?. [How to make your protocol easily discoverable]
Title: Try to make your title descriptive, as you would for a manuscript. This helps for searches on Google & protocols.io.
?. [How to make your protocol easily discoverable]
Thumbnail Picture: Having a picture to identify the protocol helps you and other users find it in the lists of protocols they use.
?. [How to make your protocol easily discoverable]
Groups: You can add your protocol to any relevant groups that you joined so that the members of these groups will receive a notification and be able to look at your protocol. It will enable you to show your protocol to the right audience.
?. [How to make your protocol easily discoverable]
Keywords: When enter your protocol,  you can add keywords on the 'description' tab. The keywords will be visible under the 'metadata' tab of you protocol and your protocol will appear in the search results for queries with these keywords.
?. [How to make your protocol more reproducible]
Components: For each step you can add any of these components to provide the important details, by clicking on one of the boxes on the right side:
?. [How to make your protocol more reproducible]
Wetlab Components: Specifying the reagents and equipment with vendor names, catalog numbers, links, RRID, etc. is crucial. Just naming the antibody you used is not enough, as vendor-to-vendor and even lot-to-lot variability can make or break the experiment. Use the 'reagent' component inside steps or in the 'materials' section.
?. [How to make your protocol more reproducible]
Bioinformatics Components: Use the "command", "software package", "dataset", and "external link"components to specify the code, version of software, and location/version of the datasets used in the analysis.
?. [How to make your protocol more reproducible]
Pictures/Videos: You can add pictures or videos for any step of your protocol (or in the guidelines). This often makes all the difference when someone is trying your method for the first time.
?. [Making your protocol "runnable"]
When doing an experiment, the protocols on this platform can be followed step-by-step in "run" mode.
?. [Making your protocol "runnable"]
Single Step Instructions: Break up the method details into recipe-like checklist format. Instead of "incubate for 4min, then centrifuge at RT for 5min" separate as follows:
?. [Making your protocol "runnable"]
Repeated Steps: Instead of "wash 3 times" or "repeat steps 8-13", spell out the individual steps.
This helps when "running" the protocol. Very frequently, we lost track when repeating the same thing of how many times we've done it. Am I on wash step 2/4 or 3/4?Wash too much, and you lose the sample; wash too little, and there's contamination...
?. [Making your protocol "runnable"]
Be concise: Too much text in the instruction step makes it hard to follow. Move comments and tips to the "annotation" component.
?. [Making your protocol "runnable"]
Timed steps: Use the "Duration/Timer" component in the individual steps as appropriate. This makes it possible to use the timer when "running" your protocol.Running the protocol:
?. [Other tips]
Sections: Group related steps together into sections by giving sequential steps the same "section title".
?. [Other tips]
Guidelines, warnings, before start: Use the "Guidelines & Warnings" tab for adding "before start" instructions, warnings. Also in "Guidelines & Warnings" tab is the "Guidelines" field for information about the method, references, tips, etc as well as an option to label the protocol as confidential or containing sensitive content.
?. [Other tips]
Safety: In the "Guidelines & Warnings" tab there is a "Safety Warings" field. You can also add step-level safety information for specific reagents and equipment using the "Safety information" component. It's good to be redundant with these warnings, so consider putting them into relevants steps, "warnings", and Guidelines.
?. [Other tips]
See the Guidelines for more on making your protocols reproducible.Also, see some of the detailed protocols from our users, used in the examples above:Staining protocol for unicellular protists: Mitotracker and Dapi, by Maria RubioIron Chloride Precipitation of Viruses from Seawater, Matthew Sullivan labQIIME:Moving Pictures of the human microbiome, Bonnie HurwitzHigh quality DNA from Fungi for long read sequencing e.g. PacBio, Benjamin SchwessingerNear-Infrared (NIR) Western Blot Detection (PVDF membrane), LI-COR BiosciencesFunctional calibration for trunk and lower limb fixed inertial sensors, Benedikt Fasel