Here are a few "rules of the road", the basic rules of building. I'll add to them as I think of more.

• Area Concepts

  Think of building as building a story. Your area should reveal itself by showing the visitor this story. Put the story in everything they see. The rooms, mobs, and objects. They should all contain, for the most part, what a person sees when they look at them.

  If you must tell some overt history, try to use a sign or a book or someone saying something. (That said, I sometimes break this rule, as in the Hatter and Lady Vinca. But for the most part I try to keep room descriptions following it.)

• Spelling counts. Grammar counts. Check your work in an editor if you're not perfect. MS Word checks both spelling and grammar. It also helps to have a build-buddy check your area.
  
  
• Keep your work in an external file. Things Happen (tm). You wouldn't want to lose it all.
  
  
• When building, here's the rules for the various constructs that describe a room, mob, or object:
  
  
  • long or desc:
    ROOM: The desc is what you see when you walk in.
    OB/MOB: The long or desc is what you see when you look at something.
    In any case, it's a *short* paragraph - at least two 70-char lines for a mob/obj and I'd aim for about 4 max for those, unless it's a special thing and then maybe up to 8. MAX!!!! and at least 4-6 for rooms, and I would really consider using extra descriptions if you're going over 8 lines for a room. Use color sparingly if at all. Most rooms should not use any. Hopefully we'll have terrain colors some day.
    
    
  • short:
    OB/MOB only: The short is what you see when the ob/mob is in a room. It is a sentence. Sentences start with capital letters, end with punctuation, and convey complete ideas. Normally short descs end with a period. They should rarely if ever have color in them.
    
    
  • name:
    ROOM: The name is what you see when you walk into a room, before the desc. It should be a title, and follow the rules of a title as far as capitalization. Initial word always cap'd. Cap the big words. Lowercase for the little words like "the" and "of" and "and". Usually there's no punctuation at the end. Example: The Foyer of the Grand Mansion
    OBJECT/MOB: The name is what gets plugged in when the thing is used. You get "name". You are in battle with "name". As such it should not begin with a capital letter *unless* it is a proper name. And it should never end with a period. Otherwise you get sentences like, "You pick up A green book.." which is just plain ugly. Or "You hit A little dog. in the head." ick.
    
    
  • keywords:
    MOB/OB only: These are the words you can use to interact with the thing, that is, pick the thing up, look at it, fight with it, kiss it, etc. It should be a list of words. Do not ever put the word "the" or "a" in it because then you end up with several objects all called "the". Ugh. Also, make SURE that the keywords include at least one word from the short and, if that word isn't in the name, at least one word from the name. One OBVIOUS word. Two if you like. I usually put a second word in if the first word is common, such as rusty dagger vs shiny dagger. That way someone can "wield rusty" if they have both in their inventory. Make life easy for people, please!
    
    
  • Extra Descriptions:
    Read all about using these in the section on using redit. If you are heading for over 6-8 lines in a room desc, seriously look at your desc and think ... if one item in the room could be pulled out into an extra desc and mentioned as "unusual" or "peculiar" or "sticking out" somehow, so the people walking in will look at it... that might really help. Try to keep room descriptions brief. They're a glance around the room, not a microscopic detail of every nook and cranny.