New Style

I would like to make a new citation style but it seems my basic HTML and CSS skills do not suffice. I tried to find some documentation in order to program the CSL file from scratch by writing the XML code myself but haven't been able to produce anything.

Here are a few examples of how I want the citation to look like, with short and long versions:


L A S T: title, year

First L A S T: title, city: publisher, year.


H A W K I N G: Properties of expanding universes, 1966

Steven H A W K I N G: Properties of expanding universes, Cambridge: University of Cambridge, 1966.


P O P P E R: Conjectures and Refutations, 1963

Karl R. P O P P E R: Conjectures and Refutations: The Growth of Scientific Knowledge, London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1963.


W O R R A L L: "Thomas Young and the 'Refutation' of Newtonian Optics", 1976

John W O R R A L L: "Thomas Young and the 'Refutation' of Newtonian Optics: A Case-Study in the Interaction of Philosophy of Science and History of Science", in: Method and Appraisal in the Physical Sciences: The Critical Background to Modern Science 1800-1905, edited by Colin H O W S O N, Cambridge, London, New York, and Melbourde: Cambridge University Press, 1976.


Any help would be much appreciated!
  • edited November 17, 2021
    You don't want to start from scratch.
    Use this tool to find a style that matches your required guidelines of at least 80%: https://editor.citationstyles.org/searchByExample/

    You can then use the visual editor or just the code editor available there as well to edit.
    To quickly get you started search on YouTube. There is a good video by Sebastian to get your started.
    The CSL specs for specific questions are here: https://docs.citationstyles.org/en/stable/specification.html

    For specific questions you cannot solve you can then also just ask here in this thread. Ideally, by also providing your code via PasteBin or a similar service.
  • edited November 17, 2021
    Thank you @damnation for your recommendation.

    I already tried that but I cannot seem to find one that is a good enough match. Amsterdam University Press is kind of close, but not close enough.

    How can I make adjustments to the style (as in add new code)? Because it never does what I tell it to. I added the name-part command but nothing happens, it only shows the family name not the given name or capitalizes both…
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