This page aims to describe some of the basics of Wiki Editing to make sure that everyone is able to add whatever they want to all of their pages. For more detailed advice about all of the work that you may need to do (if you want to get technical!) the company that runs this and other Wikis has a complete Wiki dedicated to helping Wiki writers. It can be found here: Wikia Help.
Register[]
The whole editing process is much easier if you are a registered user. As well as having more editing options available to them, users also have an easier time of keeping track of what it is they are working on. Wiki can remember which pages you have edited over the past, and can list them for you. If you have used a number of different computers (one in the Library, one at School, one at Home etc.) Wiki will think this is a number of different people editing the documents so will not be able to work out that all of the good work is yours.
Editing Standards[]
Don't use conversational style[]
This is an information site. It should read like Wikipedia, not like your diary.
- Check your spelling and grammar. Don't use internet slang (ex. "How r u?" or "c u 2nite"). If you're not 100% sure about the way a word is spelled, type it into Google or Dictionary.com. If you know that you're not the strongest speller, compose your edits in a word processor like Microsoft Word or use an Internet browser like Mozilla Firefox or Google Chrome, which have spell-checking built in.
- Don't use "smileys" or "emoticons".
- Don't "reply" to content others have posted. If you think a particular point warrants discussion, there is the "comments" box below the category links. If you're 100% sure that something should be changed and don't think a discussion is necessary, just change it. Dialogue goes only in articles' comments sections or the forum.
Use the Minor Edit button[]
If you are making a minor edit (e.g. fixing a spelling error or tweaking formatting), check the "This is a minor edit" button below the Summary box before saving the page.
Use the Preview Button[]
The preview button is right next to the publish button, and is there for a reason. It is your own personal spell checker, link checker, whatever-else checker. Use it. It will minimise the need to re-edit the page which will clog up the system.
Do not link to the current page[]
In other words, a page should not link to itself. If it is attempted, the link will simply turn into bold text.
Link once[]
A given page should only contain one link to any other page. If a page links to United States in one place, then that should be the only link to United States on that page. Typically this link should be the first instance of the term in the article.
Stubs[]
If you don't know enough information on a topic, or you know there's more, add a stub to it. To do so, try this:
- {{stub}}
And people will know that it's a stub by looking at the stub category. Generally the {{stub}} template is put at the bottom of the page. All of the Country pages are automatically stubs. The {{stub}} template should only be applied to new pages.
Don't sign your edits[]
All contributions are appreciated, but if every user left their mark on every contribution they made, the Wiki would be nothing but signatures. If you've made an edit that you're particularly proud of (such as a transcript or screenshot), the correct place to take credit is on your own user page. If you do not have a user account, we respect your anonymity, but your edits will remain anonymous, too.
Do sign your talk posts[]
If you make a post on a discussion page, please sign it. If you have a user account, this is as easy as typing ~~~~ at the end of your post. If you don't have a user account, just sign it with your name or nickname so everybody can tell who's who when reading long conversations. Even better, create an account anyway and use the signature method described. There really is no reason not to if you're going to stick around.
External links[]
External links are links that point to sites other than the Wiki. The links should be in the form of a bullet list. External links typically look like this:
*[http://www.wycliffe.co.uk '''The Wycliffe Website''': ''Title of the article'']
History and Undo[]
At the top of any page (in the drop down menu on the "Edit" button) is the "History". Clicking on this will show a much more detailed version of the page's revision history for every single edit that has taken place, including information about who made the edit and how many characters were added or taken away from the page.
Whilst looking at this feature, users also have the power to "Undo" any previous changes that have been made. The system is able to perform an Undo if the edit that needs undo-ing would not interfere with any other edits. If the edit you wish to remove is the most recent one then this can obviously happen straight away, but the system may not be able to undo some earlier edits.
Templates[]
Templates are a very clever way of putting a set item into any page that you want without having to type it out all over again. Instead of using double squared brackets: [[ ]] templates use curly brackets: {{ }} . The templates make it very easy to include lots of information, but are very complicated to set up and they will only work if everything is written out correctly with them. With this in mind, it is not advisable to edit anything that you find in a page that is in curly brackets - unless you put it there!
Here is a list of templates that are currently on this Wiki for you to use:
Flag[]
The Flag template will automatically find the flag of the country or NGO that you type.
{{Flag|Country=Panama}}
|
will show:
|
The template will also make sure that clicking on the picture of the flag will link users to that country's page.
Country Infobox[]
This template is an Information Box that will appear in the top right hand corner of any page that uses it. It gives the option of including (or not including) information about a country such as its Government, Religion and Capital City. This is a really useful template because making that box on each and every one of the 193 country pages (with the colours, font sizes, the picture of the flag etc.) would take over one hundred lines of computer code. As it is all you need to do is copy this section:
{{Infobox Country
|width=206px
|Country Full Name=
|Continent=
|Capital=
|Government=
|Head of State=
|Language=
|Language2=
|Language3=
|Language4=
|Religion=
|Religion2=
|Religion3=
|Religion4=
|Established=
|IGO=
|Latitude=
|Longitude=
|Zoom=
}}
and fill in the relevant information after the = signs.
When you save the page or use the preview option, a nice colourful box full of the country's infomation will be shown, such as on any page in the List of Countries.
User Information[]
This template provides a short bit of info about the users that we have here at WyMUN. Copy the following and paste it into your userpage (your userpage can be found by clicking on the "My Home" option in the top right hand corner of the page).
{{User
|width=200px
|Username=
|School=
|Delegate/Adviser=
|FavouriteCountry=
|FavouriteCommittee=
|NumberOfConferences=
}}
If there are any other pieces of information hat you think would go well with this template, leave a message on Vaas13's Talk Page.
Resolution[]
When in the Resolution Archive, you'll notice that each resolution is listed in a very specific manner. The title of each resolution is shown, as well as the country who submitted the resolution, and a flag for the country. Each one is properly spaced out so that it lines up with the ones above and below. The most interesting feature is that if you click on a title of a resolution (for example Climate Change) it will not take you to a page named for the resolution (there is no page called 'Climate Change) but one named for the resolution and its submitted (the actual page is Climate Change, Mauritania). This is because of a template.
All you need to do is add this block of code under the appropriate committee:
{{Resolution
|Question of=
|Submitted by=
}}
and the template will automatically generate the correctly formatted page name, put in a flag and space out the columns correctly.
Categories[]
These categories help organise the pages on this Wiki into sections that are easy to find and search through. The category system is an excellent way of finding pages that are similar to the page that you are currently looking at.
- To add a page into a category, click on the "Add category" button at the bottom of the page. You can start typing the name of the category and the Wiki should automatically recognise it. Press "Enter" to add the category that you have typed.
- Once a page has been created, its categories will be shown at the bottom of the screen. Clicking on any one of the categories will take you to a list of other pages that are in the same category. For example, this page is in the "Help Pages" category. Clicking on the "Help Pages" text at the bottom of this screen will take you to a list of other "Help Pages", which could be very helpful.