Guidelines

Thank you for your interest in helping complete the Toronto Street Furniture Database - we can use all the help we can get! The first steps in contributing to this site are taken by signing up and signing in. Having done that, here are the rules...

## Adding Data

### Adding info

Any and all pertinent information regarding a given piece of furniture is welcome on this site. There are, however, three main facts we seek to find above all others, namely: WHERE a particular type of furniture can be found; WHEN that particular type of furniture was installed; and WHO was responsible for installing said furniture.

In answering the first question - WHERE? - please be as specific as possible and as general as necessary. If the piece is only found in one or two particular locations, give an exact address, intersection, and/or neighbourhood. If the piece is more widely distributed, on the other hand, it may be sufficient to simply state that it is "*found across Etobicoke,*" or "*found city-wide.*"

In answering the second question - WHEN? - we are mainly interested in when the furniture first began physically appearing within the public realm. Information regarding when it was first conceived of, designed, and approved, however, would also be quite appreciated. Dates can be as specific as the resources available, ie: "*This bench first appeared sometime around the 1950s,*" or "*These bus shelters first went up on July 21st, 1983, at 2:45 PM.*"

As to the third question - WHO installed the furniture? - it is, of course, the city (or any previous municipality) who is ultimately responsible for installing official street furniture (or a contracted company in the case of certain furnishings). Often, however, they are installed at the behest of a community organization, business improvement association, private institution, or some other interest group. Please list any and all parties responsible.

Apart from these three main lines of inquiry, additional information that one might include are things like the persons involved in modelling the furniture, the company involved in manufacturing the furniture, and any specific design details such as the material(s) or dimensions. A brief physical description of the furniture is also helpful, especially if no image is available.

In any case, regardless of the information being added, you should always remember to cite your sources, *italicizing* any direct quotations within the article.

### Adding images

Images can be uploaded to the site here, or by clicking the "Add Image" / "Add Photo to Gallery" button on any given page (should one appear). Please try to add photos that are at least 640x480 pixels in size (the bigger the better), and do not replace any existing image file unless that file was originally uploaded by yourself.

Ideally, primary furniture images should show a clear, unobstructed, close-cropped, full-on view of the piece. If no other photos of a furnishing exists, however, a substandard picture may serve as a placeholder until a better one can be found. All primary images must be default thumbnail size and embedded left of the main article. The applicable wikitext source code should look as follows:

`[[File:*YourImage1.jpg*|thumb|left]]`
`[[File:*YourImage2.jpg*|thumb|left]]`
One, or two pictures from different angles, should do the trick. Any further images, depicting such things as close-ups and subtle variations between different examples of the same model, should be added as a gallery (if one does not already exist) below the main article in the Source Editor, like so:

`==Gallery==`
`<gallery>`
`*YourImage.jpg*`
`</gallery>`
If the differences are more than just subtle, though, you may consider adding a whole new, separate furnishing to the database.

## Adding a New Furnishing

### What should be added

The TSFDB is a database of Street Furniture, meaning those items of furniture which appoint the outdoor public realm - hence, any furniture found indoors or on private property should not be added to the database. Please refer to the Type categories in the Navigation Bar above to see specifically what manner of furniture is accepted.

As the TSFDB is a database of furniture types, and not of every individual piece of furniture in the city, please do not add multiple instances of the same model/form of furnishing. One page covers all examples of a given model - unless there happens to be another version of that particular design, in which case it may be added as a new page. What distinguishes a different version of the same model, as opposed to a mere anomaly, is not always clear. Generally speaking, the difference must be deliberate and substantial - a new shape, new material, new graphics, etc. - and must be applied over multiple examples (unless it is known to be some sort of special one-off, made for some particular purpose).

Having said all that, if you think you know of a different version of a furnishing - or entirely new piece of furniture - not already listed in the database, you might be ready to add a new page. However, as there are quite a lot of pieces already catalogued here, chances are you could still be mistaken. To be absolutely certain, make sure to visually browse each category for similar examples as the furnishing you want to add may already be listed under a name that wouldn't necessarily show up through a standard search.

### Naming

The first step in adding a new furniture page (after clicking the "Add New Page" button in the top right corner of the current page) is naming it.

If an official name is know please add it in its entirety. If it is not known, the name may be left to your discretion. We only ask that, in naming, you be as descriptive, yet succinct, as possible. Include a location, colour, shape, and/or material so as to aid other users in identifying the piece. Also be sure to include the type of furnishing it represents (bench, fountain, shelter, etc.) so as to further differentiate it. If similar furnishings are already listed on this site we then ask that you follow whatever pre-established naming convention they currently subscribe to - unless, of course, you are aware of an actual official name, in which case be sure to rename the page itself.

### Page design

After a name has been decided upon, creating a page is a fairly easy process. Simply place the following wikitext code into the Source Editor and save the page:

`{{subst:Furn}}`
This will produce a generic template into which all further information can then be added.

### Categorization

Adding categories to a furniture page is accomplished simply enough by clicking the "Add Category" button at the bottom of the page.

You should add at least two categories to every furniture page: (1) the main furniture Type category to which it belongs, ie: Communications, Disposal, Lighting, Media, Plumbing, Seating, Shelter, or Transportation, and (2) the District(s) in which the furnishing can be found, ie: East York, Etobicoke, North York, Scarborough, Toronto, or York. A furnishing may also belong to one, or many Furniture Sets or Furniture Families. You can click on any of the aforementioned categories to learn more details about each.

Unfortunately, categories cannot be renamed. If the name of a category needs to be changed it must be added as a new category, and re-applied to all applicable pages.