From Tech Solutions Documentation
What is a Wiki
A wiki is a website that uses wiki software, allowing the easy creation and editing of any number of interlinked Web pages, using a simplified markup language or a WYSIWYG text editor, within the browser. Wikis are often used to create collaborative websites, to power community websites, and for note taking. The collaborative encyclopedia Wikipedia is one of the best-known wikis. Wikis are used in business to provide intranet and knowledge management systems.
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Navigation
When viewing any page on a MediaWiki wiki, you'll find three main navigation elements:
- The sidebar on the left gives you access to important pages in the wiki such as Recent changes or Upload file.
- At the top of the page are links (often called tabs) which relate to the page currently displayed: its associated discussion page, the version history, and—most notably—the edit link.
- In the top right corner you'll find user links; as an anonymous user, you'll see a link to create an account or log in (they are the same page). As a logged-in user you have a collection of personal links, including ones to your user page and preferences.
Sidebar
The sidebar is displayed on the left edge of the page below the site logo (if using the default MonoBook skin). This sidebar gives you access to important pages in the wiki such as Recent changes or Upload file.
Navigation
Clicking on the logo brings you back to the main page of the wiki. The links in the navigation section just below will take you to important pages of the wiki. These links can be configured by site administrators.
Some entries call for separate MediaWiki: pages, e.g. to change the automatic link to the Main Page you would change MediaWiki:Mainpage (target page) and MediaWiki:Mainpage-description (displayed text). You can find a list of such pages via Special:Allmessages. For more information see Manual:Interface/Sidebar.
Toolbox
The toolbox contains a selection of links which change depending on what type of page you are viewing.
- On all pages (except special pages)
-
- “What links here” takes you to a special page that lists the pages on this wiki which contain a link to the current page. This is helpful when you are looking for pages of related information. The “what links here” information can also be useful when you are refactoring wiki pages and need to check whether links to this page are still relevant after changes in the current page.
- The “related changes” tool lists all recent changes in the pages linked to from the current page. Recent changes to all relevant template pages are included in the resulting page list. The "Hide minor edits" option that can be set in the user preferences applies, among other things, to “related changes”.
- On all pages (including special pages)
-
- “Upload file” displays a special page that allows logged-in users to upload images and other files to the wiki. Uploaded files can be linked from or embedded in wiki pages. Uploading files, viewing files on the server, including them in wiki pages and managing the uploaded files is discussed in the managing files section of this manual. This is not displayed if file uploading has been disabled or not enabled in the first place.
- The “special pages” tool lists the MediaWiki special pages. In MediaWiki terminology, a special page is one that presents information about the Wiki and/or allows access to administration activities for the wiki. For example, a list of users registered with the wiki, statistics about the wiki such as the number of pages and number of page edits, system logs, a list of orphaned pages, and so on. These special pages are commonly generated when the special page is loaded rather than being stored in the wiki database.
The function and use of the default special pages can be found in the special pages section of this manual.
Page Tabs
The page tabs are displayed at the top of the article to the right of the site logo (if using the default MonoBook skin). These tabs allow you to perform actions or view pages that are related to the current article. The available default actions include: viewing, editing, and discussing the current article. The specific tabs displayed on your pages depend on whether or not you are logged into the wiki and whether you have sysop (administrator) privileges on the wiki. On special pages only the namespace tab is displayed.
- Default for all users
- “namespace” (article, help, special page, template, user page etc.)
- “discussion”
- “edit” (may read “view source” if anonymous editing is disabled, the page is in the MediaWiki: namespace, or the page is protected)
- “history”
- Extra tabs for logged-in users
-
- “move”
- “watch”
- Extra tabs for sysops
-
- “protect”
- “delete”
Administrators can add or remove tabs by using JavaScript or installing extensions, so the tabs you see may be different depending on which wiki you are using.
User Links
The user links are displayed at the top far right of the article (if using the default MonoBook skin). These tabs allow the logged-in user to view and edit their user page and wiki preferences. Additionally, the user links allow the user to quickly access their contributions to the wiki and logout.
For anonymous users the user links is replaced by a link to the wiki login page or, if enabled, a link to your IP address and your IP address's talk page.
- “<username>”
- This links to your user page which is where you can put information about yourself, store bits of information you want to remember or whatever else you fancy.
- “my talk”
- This links to your discussion page, where people can leave messages for you.
- “my preferences”
- Allows you to change your personal site preferences.
- “my watchlist”
- A list of all pages that you are watching. Pages can be added to this list by clicking “watch” at the top of the page.
- “my contributions”
- A list of all contributions you have made to the wiki.
- “log out”
- Click this link to log out of the wiki.
Template:Languages How to edit a page Template:PD Help Page It's very easy to edit the contents of a wiki. It only takes a few clicks.
- Click the “Edit” page tab at the top of the page.
- Make changes to the text.
- Click the “Save page” button.
Simple as that!
Video
Access Media Wiki Videos here.
Editing Pages
Editing rules, editing conventions, and formatting
The number one rule of wiki editing, is to be bold. Dive in and make changes. Other people can correct mistakes later, so have confidence, and give it a try! There can be all kinds of editing conventions, rules, and philosophy governing the editing of wiki pages, but the "be bold" rule overrides these!
In general try to write clearly and concisely and make sure you are always aiming to do something which improves the wiki contents. An edit might be to contribute whole paragraphs or pages full of information, or it could be as simple as fixing a typo or spelling mistake.
When you need to use some type of formatting e.g. new headings or bold text, you do this using wiki syntax. See Help:Formatting for some of the common types of formatting used.
Edit Summary
Before you save a change, you can enter a short note in the Summary: box describing your changes. Don't worry too much about this, or spend too much time thinking about it, but try to give a little description of what you just changed e.g. "fixed typo" or "added more information about sunflowers".
The summary gets stored alongside your edit, and allows people to track changes in the wiki more effectively.
Preview
It's a good idea to use the “Preview” button to see what your change will look like, before you save it. This is also related to tracking changes because every time you save, this is displayed to others as a separate change. This isn't something to worry about too much, but it's good to get into the habit of eliminating mistakes in your own work, by using a preview before saving, rather than saving several minor corrections afterwards.
Starting a new page
Template:PD Help Page There are several ways to start a new page. These can vary based on the type of page started, as well as the wiki and namespace.
Using Wikilinks
MediaWiki makes it very easy to link wiki pages using a standard syntax (see Links). If you (or anyone else) creates a link to an article that doesn't exist yet, the link will be coloured red, like this.
Clicking a red link will take you to the edit page for the new article. Simply type your text, click save and the new page will be created.
Once the page has been created, the link will change from red to blue (purple for pages you've visited) indicating that the article now exists.
Usually this is the best way to create a new page, because it means that right from the start, the page will be linked from at least one other place on the wiki (and typically you will want to mesh it into other related pages later). If you are creating a new page without creating any link to it, you may need to ask yourself: Does this page really fit in with the topics already covered in the wiki? Also, how are you expecting visitors to find this page? Normally there is no reason to create a page without first creating a red link to it.
Using the URL
You can use the wiki's URL for creating a new page. The URL to an article of the wiki is usually something like this:
http://www.example.net/index.php/ARTICLEorhttp://www.example.net/wiki/ARTICLE
If you replace ARTICLE with the name of the page you wish to create, you will be taken to a blank page which indicates that no article of that name exists yet. Clicking the "Edit" page tab at the top of the page will take you to the edit page for that article, where you can create the new page by typing your text, and clicking submit.
From the search page
If you search for a page that doesn't exist (using the search box and “Go” button on the left of the page) then you will be provided with a link to create the new page. (Note that this technique doesn't work if you use the “Search” button).
Create redirects to your new page
Don't forget to setup redirects when you create a page. If you think another person may search for the page you've created by using a different name or spelling, please create the proper redirect(s). See Help:Redirects
Protecting your new page
Normally a new wiki page can be edited by other people (that is one of the main ideas of a wiki!) However, a sysop could 'protect' the page, if desired, to prevent normal users from editing it.
Moving a page
Moving (renaming) a page means giving it another name. This is done by using "Move" tab at the top. Then simply enter the new name and click 'Move Page'. Normally you would want to leave "Move associated talk page" option ticked.
If you move page "A" to a new title "B", this operation will do the following:
- Creates the new page "B", with contents from page "A"
- Replaces the contents of page "A" with Redirect to "B".
- Moves all the editing history from page "A" so that it appears under "B"'s history tab.
The third point is important. By using the 'Move' feature, you also move the editing history, which is desirable in most situations. The editing history allows people to see how the contents of the page were built up, and who contributed what. If you move contents around by copying and pasting (not using the move feature), you do not achieve this (see also Help:Tracking changes).
Because the move operation leaves behind a redirect (see Help:Redirects), it should not result in any broken links, however you might want to hunt down pages or other redirects which link in to the redirect, and change their text to link directly to the new title. The 'What links here' toolbox feature (bottom left) is useful when doing this.
Proposing a move
Deciding on a page title can be a difficult aspect of wiki organization, and one which can often provoke debates. If the move you have in mind is one which might cause upset or could be considered controversial, you should propose the move first. Do this by leaving a note to give your reasons on the talk page. You might also establish a system for labelling the page itself, with a move proposal template, to make everybody aware of your intentions.
Undo a move
As with all wiki editing, a move operation can be reversed (by any user). To reverse a move operation, simply move the page back, e.g. move page "B" back to "A".
The page title "B" will still be left behind, as a redirect from "B" to "A". Any user can remove the redirect and propose that the page be deleted. However the final deletion will require sysop privileges (see Help:Deleting a page).
Deleting a page
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When not to delete a page
Typically you would delete a page if the contents are entirely inappropriate and do not match the purposes of the Wiki. In other situations, you would take a less extreme course of action, for example:
- The page should have a different title -- See Help:Moving a page
- The contents should have been placed on a different page -- Add the contents to the other page, and then supply a redirect. See Help:Redirects
- The contents are already on a different page -- Delete the duplicate content and leave a redirect. That way, the page title, which made sense to somebody, will helpfully redirect to the information. See Help:Redirects
- The page is out-of-date -- Re-word sentences to be in the past tense, to make the page an historical record. Alternatively, label the information as out-of-date, with a warning notice.
An actual delete is generally necessary only if the title of the page is inappropriate. In other situations, a merge and redirect is more appropriate.
Proposing changes
Deciding on appropriate content/page titles can be a difficult aspect of Wiki organization, and one which can often provoke debates. If the merge or deletion you have in mind is one which might cause upset, you should propose the change first. Do this by leaving a note to give your reasons on the talk page. You might also establish a system for labeling the page with a delete/merge proposal template, to make everybody aware of your intentions.
Unlinking a page
The 'What links here' toolbox feature (bottom of left sidebar) will tell you which other Wiki pages link to the current page. Always use this feature to check before proceeding with deleting. These related pages will need to be edited for their links to reflect the change.
Deletion itself
Normal users cannot permanently delete a Wiki page. This is a deliberate design feature, and is an important part of why wikis work. Every kind of editing operation can be reverted by any other user, and that includes resurrecting deleted content. It doesn't cause significant wasted space; and with nothing but a 'delete' label, the page is effectively deleted anyway.
'Sysop' users are able to delete a page semi-permanently. See Help:Sysop deleting and undeleting. Typically 'sysops' might look for delete labels, and do a proper delete on these pages, after a period of time. If for some reason you need a page to be deleted more quickly than that, you will need to contact a 'sysop' to request this.