Steve's Wikitext editing introduction

This is Steve's Wikitext editing introduction.

This is not a complete introduction, for two reasons. First, I just want to get you enough information that you can start editing now. Second, some features we'd like aren't enabled yet.

This is fairly easy stuff, but there's just so much of it that really only Administrators need to know how to do it..

Saving your work

Everything in an article is actually plain text - so you can open a page as if to edit it, select the Wikitext button, select all, copy all, and paste the whole text (including formatting) into any word processor (such as Wordpad) to save it to your hard drive.

By the way - it's smart to copy all your revised text just before hitting the Save button. Sometimes Save doesn't work, and you'll lose your text unless you've just copied it. Simply open the page again to edit it and paste the text you copied over whatever's there, and you're back in business!

When disaster strikes and you've accidentally trashed an article - DON'T SWEAT IT! Either revert it yourself (if you know how) or post a message on any Administrator's Talk page. This is an EASY fix for any experienced person. For now you can also contact me - go to Steve's Talk.

If you need help as fast as you can get it, both contact any administrator or me AND edit the article and put {{help me}} (including the brackets) at the very top and then Save the article.

Temporary work spaces

You can make "holding places" for articles you're working on by typing in user:yourname/filename and choosing to Edit it.

I created User:Shollingsworth/examples. You can have any number of these "holding places" of any legitimate name.

Bolding/italicizing

You bold text by entering '''text''' as here: text.

You italicize text by entering ''text'' as here: text.

You bold and italicize text by entering '''''text''''' as here: text.

Headers

You can have as many levels of headers as you want. Have enough headers, and a Table Of Contents will automatically appear.

You make a first-level header by entering ==text==.

You make a second-level header by entering ===text=== as here:

Second-level header

You make a third-level header by entering ====text==== as here:

Lists

Lists are made by putting * and # at the start of a line.

If you use * in a list, you get:

• any normal text or linking
• any normal text or linking
• any normal text or linking

If you use # in a list, you get:

1. any normal text or linking
2. any normal text or linking
3. any normal text or linking

Wikilinks, Wikipedia links, and links to internet pages

You make a wikilink to an article inside Wikidelphia by entering [[article-name]] as here [[Nonprofit Technology Resources]] which becomes Nonprofit Technology Resources. (Capitalization is important!)

You make a wikilink to an article inside Wikipedia by entering [[Wikipedia:article-name]] as here RTENOTITLE.

If you've already accessed the article, the wikilink gets dark. If the article doesn't exist yet, the text will be red.

You make a link to an article on the internet by entering [url] as here [http://www.cnn.com] which becomes [1].

Renaming links

Wouldn't it be nice if the wikilink and external link names were more descriptive? Well, you can have that, and it's very easy also.

Rename an external link (a link to an internet page) by using the following format: [url text] as here [http://www.cnn.com CNN] becomes CNN.

For the next part you need to know where the | key is. It's in the lower-right of your keyboard, on the \ key which is below the Enter key.

Rename a Wikidelphia wikilink by using the following format: [article-name|text] as here [[Nonprofit Technology Resources|NTR]] becomes NTR.

Rename a Wikipedia wikilink by using the following format: [Wikipedia:article-name|text] as here [[Wikipedia:Camara (charity)|Camara]] becomes Camara.

References

We don't have the References capability enabled yet. And it can (in Wikipedia's new form) be very complicated to use.

Making a "See also"

It's traditional to have a See also section of wikilinks at the end of an article. It's not required, just traditional.

Example:

• Stan's Introduction
• RTENOTITLE
• User's Guide

(This last is an external link, and belongs in an External links section.)

Templates

Templates are complicated, and I've only made two simple ones and fixed another.

First, if you're going to have the Template list tagged pages in a Category, you have to create that Category. You do that by entering in the search box Category:New name and putting some text into that page.

Okay, now you can go to Special pages and Templates and then Create a template. That will get you into the Template wizard.

Talk/Discussion pages

Signing your name

It's very good etiquette to sign your name on posts you make on Talk or Discussion pages.

You do that by, after your message, typing four tildes (the shifted-character in the upper left of your keyboard) like this: ~~~~

If you have an account here and are signed in, your username will appear in the text after you hit Save.

This is an example:

Hi, John! I'm glad you joined us! ~~~~

for me becomes:

Hi, John! I'm glad you joined us! Shollingsworth 14:48, 14 January 2011 (PST)

Indenting

It's also correct to indent your response to someone's Talk post. You do that by using one or more colons ( : ) at the start of your response.

For example,

This is a post. ~~~~

:This is a reply. ~~~~

::This is a second reply. ~~~~

becomes

This is a post. Shollingsworth 15:01, 14 January 2011 (PST)

This is a reply. Shollingsworth 15:01, 14 January 2011 (PST)

This is a second reply. Shollingsworth 15:01, 14 January 2011 (PST)

Hidden comments inside text

Another thing you can do is to leave "hidden" notes in an article by typing <!-- text --> as here

Another way to do this is to format the text as white, but that's more complicated and will leave big white spaces in the article.

Redirects and disambiguation pages

Redirects

Redirects are a simple way to make key words or phrases automatically take readers to appropriate articles.

Make a new page of any desired name (try using Xyz) and on that page type in #REDIRECT [[Block captain]] and save it. Then type in Xyz in the Search box. You'll be jumped to Block captain.

Disambiguation pages

Disambiguation pages are similar tools but give choices. They're right now beyond the scope of simple editing, but if you post on my Talk page I'll be happy to tell you how to do them. Go to Steve's Talk