WikiClass for Editors

From FiranMUX

Welcome to tonight's Wiki Web Class. There's several different points that I need to cover tonight so please be patient with me as we go through them all.%r%rWikifying the Webpages is probably one of the easiest processes out there, and it benefits the entire game to have all of our Wizards able to do this, since it'll allow us all to add new pieces of information to the web far easier than going into the server and changing things.%r

While we discuss things tonight, there are two resources that you'll probably find incredibly useful. The first is the Basic Wiki Editing Guide. The basic guide will have many of the same commands that I'll be reviewing tonight, and other commands that you might find useful, but are better aspected toward an advanced Wiki class. The second is the FiranWiki Editing Standards. These are the basic standards that everyone will be expected to follow while Wikifying the various webpages.

Before we begin, we need to make sure everyone has a FiranWiki account. Please go to http://firan.legendary.org/wiki and if you need an account @request asking for one -- or log on if you already have one created. All Wizards are required to use their Wizard name for their account, everyone else will be required to use their Firan Invision Board account as their login. If you've already got one created but forgotten your password, there is a Wiki utility to have it send you a new password. It's on the same page as the login screen, at the bottom. Click that button after specifying what your account is, and it'll send you a new password.

Now that that's settled, please look over the @job I assigned you which is one of the Wiki Projects. It's better for me to teach and do stuff as we go along. That way you can see how it works and how easy it is to do, and I can troubleshoot questions along the way. You'll want to open two different web windows; one to the Wiki link that's provided in your @job and one to original web page where we'll be copying the text from.

Internal Links and External Web Links

There are two types of links that you'll be working with when doing the Newsletters, however there are several types of links that you'll see. I'll go over how to add internal links and how to add web based links to the game in this section.%r%rRed Internal links are links that have been created within the text, but have not had any text added to them. When you click on a red link it'll start a new Wiki Web page for you. Blue Internal links are links that already have text created for them. You can click on the link and it'll take you to the associated text.%r

Anyone who has an account has the ability to add links in their Wiki code. They also have the ability to edit and correct other Wiki Webpages, even if they were not the original author. To add a new link, you simply include the name of the link that you want to use between a set of double brackets [[]]. IE: [[Cockatrice Newsletters]]. Every Wiki link created can be referenced within the text just as though you were adding the link. So, say you wanted to reference the Cockatrice Newsletters somewhere? You'd just type: [[Cockatrice Newsletters]] and it would link back to that page.

If you want to add a webpage link to any of the pages, to reference an outside source, you'd use single brackets []. You'd insert it in this fashion: [webaddress alias]. IE: [http://firan.legendary.org/forums Firan Discussion Forums], and as you can see you can use multiple words for an alias. It will only show the alias, not the web address, when you add it that way.

Creating and Editing Wiki

Once you open a Red Internal link you'll be directed to an editing box. The easiest way to move Wiki stuff over is to directly copy it from the original webpage, and paste it into the editing box. This is why I've asked you to open two separate windows for the web pages we'll be working with. However, the best way to describe the Wiki editing box is it's much like using your LiveJournal account to add things, if you have LiveJournal, with the exception that some of the commands are slightly different.

Because of the nature of the newsletters, they're going to require some fiddling and editting. Not all newsletters were written in the same fashion or style, so while we move things over, we're going to be making heavy use of the SHOW PREVIEW button, which is located at the bottom of the editing box.

There will be two things that go at the top of every newsletter page. The first thing is which stands for No Table of Contents. For the __ around the NOTOC you use double underscores _'s. If you have more than one category in a Wiki page, which is defined by the type of header code you use, it'll automatically create a table of contents for you. We're not using those for the newsletters. The second thing is [[Category: Cockatrice Newsletters]]. This will link all Cockatrice Newsletters to the Cockatrice Newsletters category, making them somewhat easier to find.

If you haven't already, go ahead and start with the first of the two newsletters in the @job, and start by copying/pasting things over. Click on the link to the original newsletter that you'll be working with, and just copy/paste everything into the editing box. The first thing you're going to want to do is remove all the custom borders created by players. They do not look very good in the Newsletters, and we've abolished them. The second thing you'll want to do is make sure the beginning of each line is where it should be, that there are no extra spaces. Leaving in the extra spaces causes boxes to form around the text, which we don't want.

If people have bullets or numbered lists in their newsletters, you'll want to make sure you're using the FiranWiki Editting Standards. Don't add numbers, use the number # symbol instead and it'll automatically number things. Don't create different types of bullets, use the * symbol and it'll automatically create the bullets for you.

If they have headers or titles within their newsletter we're using the following format == TEXT == (two ='s) this is a two point header. It'll automatically add a break line underneath of it. IE: == OOC: News == if someone has a news header. To create spacing between paragraphs you need two hard returns, or you can make use of the HTML command
for line break.

So, now say that you made a mistake, saw something misspelled that you wanted to correct, or something messed up? What you would do is click on the link to go back into the newsletter, and at the top of the newsletter you'll see several tabs. One of those tabs is EDIT. To fix something, you'd just click on edit and it'll open the page again complete with all the already entered text. You'd go ahead and make your edits and save it. Now, there's one thing I forgot to mention though. At the bottom of the editing box is also a summary line, just above the SAVE and SHOW PREVIEW buttons. Whenever you enter a new page or do repairs/fixes/changes to the page, you'll want to make sure you add a line about what it is you're doing. If it's a minor edit, click the minor edit box. It's very important we keep a trail of what we're doing and what was done. It's much like how we keep track of things in CVS.

At the top of the newsletter page you'll also see the HISTORY tab. Clicking on this tab shows you the history of who made what changes and allows you to look back at all past versions, to see where exactly the changes were made, and if necessary, to revert back to older versions if the newer version is not correct.

There may be some cases where you'll want to add additional things to your Wiki design and you'll find that you might have a need for tables. The easiest way to add tables is to use the Basic HTML code for it. This is more for a lay out or design issue than anything else. It's also something to be discussed in an a more advanced Wiki class :) But it's being mentioned here because it's something you should know that you can use if it becomes nessesary. And, of course, you can add images to the Wiki Web pages as well, like our Logo or the Maps that are on the Maps pages. Also for discussion in a more advanced class.