Help:Editing
From Tech-Help
Contents |
Logging In
In order to have access to all editing options, to get access to a personal page in a Wiki, to sign the changes you made, you must first create a user account, and then have one of the wiki administrators add you to a special group with full editing privileges.
- In the upper right corner click on the link “create an account or log in”.
- Under “Your user name,” enter your name, then select and retype “Your password.”
- Click on “Create new account” – Welcome!
Next time you log in, you only enter your user name and password.
Editing the Wiki
Once you are on the page, you can edit anything on the whole by clicking on the "edit" tab at the top of the page, or by clicking the "edit" link on the right of the section you wish you edit. No information is lost in a wiki because all changes are archived and can be found either through the "history" tab at the top of the page, or through the navigation bar on the left under "recent changes". There you can even compare line by line any two selected versions of the page.
When people work together on a page there might arise occasions for clarifications regarding content, page structure, or misunderstandings. Those are all issues that are important for development of communication and common knowledge base but can be tedious for the actual article created and go far from the topic. That is when we use "discussion" page. Discussion can be easily edited as any other page, while "+"function is used to introduce new issues or ideas in the discussion.
If you wish to try out working in the Wiki, click on the Go to the Sandbox link.
See also: Quick Reference Sheet
Simple Editing Rules
- If you want to see how your edit looks like, use "Show Preview" at the end of the page. You can use the preview function as many times as you like.
- If you decide not to save any of the changes, click on the "Cancel" link, next to the “Show Preview” and “Show Changes” buttons.
- When you are satisfied with the changes you made, type the summary of changes made, or check in the "Minor Changes" box, and use "Save Page". This way it would be easier to track previous versions of the text (if needed).
Formatting
No space between lines (ie, 1 return) runs them together:
a b
A single return between lines (ie, 2 returns) puts a new line in between:
a
b
Putting text in bold or italics can be done either through the toolbar on the top of the edit area (which won't appear if you are using some browsers, such as Apple's Safari 2.x browser, btw), or by putting two apostrophes both before and after the selected text for italics:
''Text will appear in italics'' - Text will appear in italics
or putting three apostrophes both before and after the selected text for bold:
'''Text will appear in bold''' - Text will appear in bold
Bullets and boxes
Adding an asterix "*"at the beginning of a line will add a bullet before the text:
- text
Adding a single space at the beginning of a line will place the text in a box:
text
You can also add numbers to items to create a list by placing a number symbol "#" at the beginning of a line (the number sign will automatically be replaced by a number)
- a
- b
- c
Headings
heading 1: (bracketed by single =) =Emphasis=
heading 2: (bracketed by double ==) ==Emphasis==
heading 3: (bracketed by triple ===) ===Emphasis===
Placing more than 4 sections on a page automatically produces a table of contents.
Additionally you can add dividing lines (like the one below) to pages to separate sections if you wish: add four dashes or use the formatting tool bar button.
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Creating Links in the Wiki
New Article
"[[New page]]" creates a link to a page entitled "New Page" (displays page name as a link; red if there is no content, blue if there is content)
You can also create a new article by simply using this form:
Creating titles
Make sure that the titles you create are short and describe pages in the most accurate way. Use single words or short sentences.
External links
If web address is typed without one square bracket on both sides of the address
- "http://www.gmpdc.org" it shows the full URL: http://www.gmpdc.org
If web address is typed with one square bracket on both sides of the address
- "[http://www.gmpdc.orgi]" it shows a number with an arrow leading to that address: [1]
If you wish to change the visible name of the link, after the end of an external web address between the brackets we add either a space or a straight line | and type the text you wish to appear as the hyperlink instead the address:
- "[http://www.gmpdc.org | GMPDC]" it looks like this: | GMPDC
Existing Wiki links
If you wish to point to another page in the Wiki anywhere in the text, you only have to put two square brackets around the exact name of that page:
- [[Data Projectors]] - Data Projectors
If you wish to change the visible name of the link, after the end of the existing Wiki link in between the two square brackets, we add a straight line | and type the text you wish to appear:
- "[[Data Projectors|more…]]" it looks like this: more…
You may want to find out what pages already exist in the wiki, so you will know what you might link to and to avoid making a duplicate article with a similar but not identical name, check the list of all pages.
Creating Categories in the Wiki
Add a Page to a Category
To add a page to a category, include this at the top:
- "[[Category:Open Source]]"
This will add a link at the bottom of the page to the list of categories. If the catagory does not already exist, it will be a red link. You can add as many categories to a page as you like.
To Create a New Category
Click on a red category link, add some content and save it to create the Category.
To Links to a Category
If you wish to link to a category from within the text of a page, include it this way (note the colon at the beginning):
- "[[:Category:Open Source|Open Source]]" looks like this Open Source.
Subcategories in Categories
Within a Category you wish to make a subcategory of another Category, include this at the top:
- "[[Category:Open Source]]"
