How to Use a Wiki

From Common Energy UVic

How to Use a Wiki is a tutorial for Wiki Help, and is the first module for Wiki Training. The second tutorial/module is How to Use the Common Energy Wiki.

Before I you start to edit any wiki, you should be aware that you will be submitting information into the public eye and that anything you submit is open to editing. In the case of this wiki, be aware that you are releasing your work under a "copyleft" license. For what this means, please read our copyright notice. Be assured, however, that Common Energy will not share personal information, which you provide via email, with third parties. For more information, see our privacy policy.

[edit] Getting Started

[edit] General functionality

Mediawiki, the wiki software used by Common Energy, was developed for Wikipeida, the online encyclopedia. It functions as a website, with internal and external links and multiple pages, but it is also editable and has features suited to function as an encyclopedia or database. For example, the wiki features a search tool and a system of categories. These tools are key for a site that doesn't have the same structured browsing path as can be enforced with a conventional website. Since users are constantly changing and updating link paths and page content, a wiki can easily become unnavigable if not handled carefully. The tools mentioned help, but page writers must remember to define categories and pay special attention to appropriate linking patterns.

[edit] Editing the wiki

The wiki uses its own language - wiki markup - do allow users to specify what they want to see displayed (each code in wiki markup is called a "tag"). This can seem daunting at first, but once you get into it, entering content into the wiki will seem natural and seamless. In addition to wiki markup, Mediawiki recognizes HTML code, which can be useful in some situations (HTML tags are surrounded by chevrons (<,>) and tags have an opening and closing half). For example, the scrolling announcements pane on the front page uses HTML to make it scroll.

For pages that contain headings (see below) you will be able to click an "edit" link beside each heading. This will let you edit only the contents of that heading, making the editing process less confusing than it would be otherwise.

[edit] Formatting text

Now, once in the editing window, you can start entering text. Once you input some text, and you want to post it on the wiki, you can click the "Save page" button at the bottom. It is often a good idea to "Preview" you contribution beforehand - it makes mistakes easier to fix before they are posted.

When saving any changes you have made, please either indicate why you made the changes (as opposed to what changes you made) or that the changes were minor. This helps other users of the wiki see what you have done - more on this later.

Any plain text you enter, once saved, will show up formatted to fit the monitor on which it is viewed. It will however, show up as one big block of text, unless you are aware of a few simple wiki commands, or tags.

[edit] Line breaks

First, to start a new paragraph, you can't simply start a new line; the wiki doesn't recognise that. You need to leave one blank line if you want text to start on a new line. Alternatively, you can use an HTML <br> tag. With the HTML tag, it is possible to start a new line directly below another line of text. Let's look at an example:

this will show up 
on one line

this will be separated

by a blank line

this will show up <br>on two consecutive lines

[edit] Headings and rules

To separate sections of text, Mediawiki has convenient, built-in heading styles. These are handy, because they do not require any additional formatting, and because they show up as sections or subsections in the table of contents at the top of a page. Headings are bordered by a number equal signs (=). Be careful, unless the heading (with its equal signs) is on its own line, it won't show up as a heading.

==Main Heading==

===Subheading===

====Further Subheading====

----

==Heading== more text on the same line

[edit] Typeface

Within a body of text you may wish to use different typefaces (bold or italic). For this, text is bordered by a number of apostrophes (').

''Italic''

'''Bold'''

'''''Bold and Italic'''''

[edit] Special characters and "nowiki"

Sometimes it is useful to use uncommon characters or super- or sub-scripts, and sometimes you may want to type something that is wiki code but not have it behave as wiki code. Here are some examples:

¼ Æ Ø € ™

How much CO<sub>2</sub> in one m<sup>3</sup> of air?

<nowiki>===Common Energy===</nowiki>

Here is a list of HTML character codes.

[edit] Lists

Lists are a handy thing to be able to create. They are often used in minute- and note-taking.

*Buy groceries
*Paint house
*Buy pants

#Buy groceries
#Paint house
#Buy pants

*Buy groceries
*#carrots
*#salmon
*#prunes
*Paint house
**red
**brown
**pink
*Buy pants

Now, try using some of what you have just learned, and write something about yourself on your user page. For example, if you write:

Hi!<br>
My name is Curtis.<br>
I am a new user of the Common Energy Wiki.

I'll tell you a bit about myself.
==Hobbies==
In my spare time, I like:
*cycling
*skiing
**downhill
**cross-country
*rowing

and then save the page, your use page will look like this:

[edit] Linking

Here's where the wiki gets interesting. Creating links, both internal (within the wiki) and external (to the internet at large), is what turns the wiki into a browsable website. Internal links use double square brackets around the link text, and external links use single square brackets. For internal links, you need only put in the page name, while external links require the URL (web address - exactly copied from your browser address bar).

Be careful, some internal pages are part of their own section of the wiki - another "namespace." This namespace is part of the page name, and must be included in a link. Namespaces include: User, Special, Template, and others

Examples are the best way to see how links are coded. Try putting some links into your user page as you learn how they work. For ease, copy the ones used here, or find your own.

[[Events]]

[[Events|good times]]

[[User:New.User]]

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Wikipedia]

One important point is that creating an internal link to a page that doesn't exist will create that page on the wiki. Following the new (red) link created will allow you to edit the new page. Once the new page has some content, its link will appear blue.

[edit] Headers and reciprocity

As mentioned earlier, a wiki can become quite unruly if good linking practice is not employed. To allow users to orient themselves in the wiki, each page has a header. This is the slightly odd-sounding first couple of sentences seen in many pages. The header starts with a link to the page itself and mentions sections of the wiki that the page is part of or related to. Check out the header of this page if you need clarification. To keep navigation straightforward, if one page links to another, that page should link back. This is reciprocity.

For more on headers, especially their format on the Common Energy wiki, check out the Header Style Guide.

[edit] Moving pages

If, for any reason, you want to change the name of a page, it's easy - move it. The move tab is at the top of the page; just follow the instructions, and remember to say why you are moving the page. Once the page has been moved, remember to go back and change links that point to the old page name. Mediawiki helps you out by redirecting those links to the new page name, but it is good practice to have the links point to the apropriate page so that confusion doesn't arise in the future. To find what pages link to a page, click the "what links here" link on the bottom of the left-hand panel of the wiki (in the toolbox).

Now that you know a little about linking, try putting some links on your user page. Try one internal and one external link. Here's an example:

Just to try, this is the [[Welcome to uvic.commonenergy.org |welcome page]].

One of my favourite websites is [http://www.wikipedia.org/ Wikipedia].

Curtis' page now looks like this:

[edit] Citing Sources

The Common Energy wiki uses a handy plugin for citation. It is the same plugin used by Wikipedia, and makes citing your sources almost fun. As you type, wherever you would like to cite a source, type <ref>text of the citation</ref>. Once you get to the references section of the document, all you need to do is type <references/> and voila - perfect references. The citations in text even link to the references section, and vice versa.

There is also a way to have multiple in-text citations link to the same reference. When you first cite a source you plan to cite multiple times, the first reference tag should include an identifying name for the reference, for example <ref name="identifying">. Fill in the reference information normally. Now, each time you want to cite that source, simply write the same initial reference tag (<ref name="identifying">), and follow it immediately with </ref> (any text you put between the two tags has no effect). For example:

Napoleon was French<ref>A reliable source</ref>
.
.
.
<references/>

Napoleon was French<ref name="reliable">A reliable source
</ref> ... but he was a dirtbag<ref name="reliable">this 
won't show up anywhere</ref>
.
.
.
<references/>

Here is some more information on sources.

[edit] Tables

Sometimes you will need to display tabular data. While Mediawiki recognises HTML table coding, there is a much more elegant way to code tables using wiki markup. This uses a system of pipes (vertical bars) to define rows and cells. "{|" defines the start of a table, "|+" specifies the table caption, "|-" starts a new row, "!" starts a header cell, "|" starts a standard cell, and "|}" ends the table. Tables are constructed as shown below:

{|border="1" cellspacing="0" rules="all" 
|+Caption
|-
!Header 1
!Header 2
|-
|Row 1 Column 1
|Row 1 Column 2
|-
|Row 2 Column 1
|Row 2 Column 2
|}

{|border="1" cellpadding="10" cellspacing="0" rules="all" 
|+align="right"|caption
|-
!colspan="2"|Header 
|-
|bgcolor="red"|Row 1 Column 1
|bgcolor="yellow"|Row 1 Column 2
|-
|bgcolor="green"|Row 2 Column 1
|bgcolor="blue"|Row 2 Column 2
|}

To quickly add a table to your user page, try copying the examples of "what you type" above. Here is some more information on using tables.

[edit] Uploading Images

Images make a nice addition to any wiki. They add a break from the text and add visual interest. Luckily, Mediawiki makes it easy to upload and manipulate images. This is a great thing to add to your user page; just find a photo of yourself or any non-copyrighted image (any of the images on uvic.commonenergy.org will do). This wiki accepts most widely-used image formats - jpg or png is your best bet. Adding an image is a little like creating an internal link.

The code looks like: [[Image:name.extension]]. For example, if you try to add an image called "Dad.png" to your user page you would enter the following code:

[[Image:Dad.png]]

When you save the page, you wont yet see the image; in it's place will be a text placeholder in red (unless an image by the same name already exists on the sight). Click this placeholder to go to the image upload page:

Click the "Browse..." button to search your hard drive for the image you want to upload, and select it. Next, add a comment (why are you uploading this image?) and click "Upload file." After you upload the image, you will come to the discussion page for that image and will have to click the "back" button in your browser to get to the page you were editing. The image will now show up on the page you were editing (you may have to reload the page).

As you can see, Curtis now has a nice new picture of his dad loaded to his user page.

Images can be aligned left, right, or center; they can be resized, and they can be given a caption. Below are a few examples of things you can do with images.

What it looks like	What you type
text appears to the left of the image	[[Image:tulip.jpg|right]]
a tulip! Text appears to the right of the image	[[Image:tulip.jpg|frame|left|a tulip!]]
a tulip! Image appears as a thumbnail of specified size. Default is 180 pixels. Note that cations only work in framed or thumbnail images.	[[Image:tulip.jpg|thumb|150px|a tulip!]]

Here is some more information on using images.

[edit] Using Templates

Templates are a useful tool to ensure that pages have a consistent look. Templates are also used so that the work of creating a complicated page feature doesn't have to be reproduced every time it should be used. The Common Energy site uses two types of templates: actual wiki templates and copy-and-paste templates (called skeletons).

[edit] Wiki templates

Wiki templates are a feature of Mediawiki. They allow previously formatted text (or tables or images) to be inserted into a page. This can save a great deal of time; when you use a template you don't have to format anything yourself.

Another application for templates is when one piece of information appears in multiple places on the wiki. Using a template for this information (instead of tying it out on every page) means that if the information ever changes, the only thing you need to update on the wiki is the template. All pages where the template is used will automatically be updated. Common Energy uses templates in this way to post meeting times.

To insert a template in a page, surround the name of the template with two curly brackets. The example below shows how to insert the meeting time for the wiki team.

{{WikiMeetingTime}}

Some templates include information that can be specified when the template is called. This type of template is used for "quickfacts" boxes in the Knowledge Map For example, There is a template called "Hello," for the purposes of this demonstration. See the example:

{{Hello|name=Curtis|like=ponies}}

{{Hello}}

[edit] Skeletons

Skeletons (cut and past templates) are easy to use. They are found in Style Guides on the wiki. You can simply copy a skeleton from the associated style guide, paste it into your page, and enter content.

[edit] Using categories

Categories, discussed earlier, are an important part of the wiki. They locate pages within the wiki, allowing users to see what other pages are related.

If you are working on a page that is part of a certain project, or area of the wiki, you should include a category at the end of the page. For example, the wiki markup that makes this page part of Wiki Help is as follows:

[[Category:Wiki Help]]

Be sure to check the list of already available categories before you specify one. If you start working on a page that needs a new category, simply put the appropriate category tag at the bottom of the page, and save the page - the wiki will automatically create the new category. Click on the category link at the bottom of the new page (which will appear in red), and write a short description of what common thread relates pages in that category. To include a page in multiple categories, simply add, at the bottom of the page, a category tag for each desired category. For example, to make a age part of the Wiki Help and Events categories, you would include the following:

[[Category:Wiki Help]] [[Category:Events]]

[edit] Helpful features

These features help users keep track of what is happening on the site, and are important to be aware of in order to make participation as easy as possible.

[edit] Talk pages

Talk pages are used for discussion of the content on the main article page of the wiki. Each article page has a talk page associated with it that can be accessed by clicking on the "discussion" tab at the top of the page:

Once you click on the discussion tab, the top of the page will begin with at "Talk:" so that you know you are on the discussion page.

[edit] Page history

You can view the history of edits made to a page by clicking on the "history" tab at the top of the page. Once you are in the history page, you will see a list of changes made by all the users who have edited the page. You can compare any two versions, or browse through versions in order, to get a feeling for how the page has evolved or what edits have been made.

[edit] Comments

When you save edits to a page, you will see a "Summary" field that can be filled, along with two boxes that can be checked.

For minor edits (spelling or grammar fixes) simply click the "minor edit" box. If the edit is more substantial (i.e. if you added or changed content) fill in a a summary of why you made the changes that you did (and possibly what they were). The changes themselves can always be found out from the page history.

Making sure to fill in these fields makes it far easier for other users to see what you have done. The comments show up in the page history as well as in the recent changes portion of the site.

[edit] Watch list

If you would like to keep track of what happens to a page as it is edited, you can add the page to your user watch list. This can be done at the time of editing, by checking the "watch this page" box, or at any time, by clicking on the "watch" tab. To see a list of the pages you are watching, click on the "my watchlist" link at the top right of the page. The watchlist page will keep you up to date on changes that have been made to pages you are watching.

[edit] Other resources/further reading

How to edit a page, from Wikipedia
A list of HTML character codes
A list of some common HTML tags
Image syntax explained by Wikipedia
Table help from Wikipedia
How to use the citation tool