PaulSank's Step-By-Step Guide to Wikidelphia Editing
This step-by-step guide to Wikidelphia editing will guide you in making or modifying pages according to the uniform Wikidelphia format developed by your fellow editor PaulSank in 2015.
Note: This page is still being written, but it has a lot to offer now, so here it is. PaulSank 10:56, 5 November 2015 (EST)
To Begin Editing
When you click an "Edit" tab and get to a compose window on a page you want to update, or you're looking at a blank window while making a new page, Wikidelphia has put you in one of two modes: Rich Editor or a plain text window. In these instructions, we'll be using the plain text window for almost everything.
Look at the top of the window above the buttons for a link that says either "Disable Rich Editor" or "Rich Editor". If you see "Rich Editor", it means you can go to that mode, but right now you're actually in the plain text window, so do nothing. If you see "Disable Rich Editor", click it, and then you'll be in the plain text window. It is also possible that you will not see either because we've had some trouble with the Rich Editor, and when you read this it may be offline.
Line 1: URL
For example:
[http://www.glassplategame.com/ glassplategame.com]
At each end is a square bracket. Inside the brackets, the first half is the full URL. In the example we assume a website for the Glass Plate Game. The first half has the whole "http://www." in the front, and maybe it ends with a forward slash, "/". (If it has "https://", delete the "s", otherwise you'll see a lock icon instead of the external-link icon at the end of the link.)
The second item inside the brackets is the URL simplified. This is only what the reader will see, so it doesn't have to be complete as if the computer were going to use it. You cut off the "http" stuff in the front, and if there's a slash at the end of the full URL, you leave that off. All letters are in lower case. No capital letters. In the example above, the reader will only see "glassplategame.com" in blue letters with a little icon at the end that means it's an external link, in other words, a link to somewhere outside Wikidelphia.
Line 2: Blank
This is important for a consistent page format. The second line should be a plain blank line. There must be nothing else. Often, you'll see an angle-bracketed "br" (carriage return) that somebody else or the computer inserted. Delete that. There must be only one plain blank line between the URL above and the description below.
Line 3: Description
First: The name of the subject of the entry. For example, if the page is titled, "Glass Plate Game", then Line 3 should begin:
The '''Glass Plate Game'''
The three single quotes (or apostrophes) mean "bold". Yes, the bold description should usually match the page title exactly.
Exception: If the page title has an acronym in parentheses at the end, e.g., "Pennsylvania Horticultural Society (PHS)", then put the acronym outside the three single quotes, e.g.:
The '''Pennsylvania Horticultural Society''' (PHS)
Second: A phrase that introduces the description. Examples:
The '''Glass Plate Game''' gives the following descriptive information: '''Nonprofit Technology Resources''' describes itself this way: '''Invisible River''', which uses the tagline, "Celebrating our local rivers through live public performance and river advocacy" gives the following description:
Third: The descriptive information. First, put
<blockquote> </blockquote>
These two angle-bracketed words ("tags") will tell Wikidelphia to make a long quotation in a more indented format from the other text. Now you want to go find some descriptive information from the subject's website. Maybe a good paragraph or two can be found under:
- "About Us",
- "Mission",
- "Vision",
- "Who We Are",
- Or, "What We Do".
- Good descriptions can often be put together from the subject's home page itself.
When you find some good descriptive words, copy them and paste them in between the "blockquote" tags. If the text you found has more than one paragraph, add two "br" tags in the spaces between paragraphs. See them in this full example:
'''Niche Recycling''' gives the following description: <blockquote>Niche Waste Reduction & Recycling Systems, Inc. or Niche Recycling, Inc. was previously known as Maurice M. Sampson Associates, sole proprietorship founded in 1988. The company was built on the considerable experience of its founder, Maurice M. Sampson II, one of America’s first urban, municipal recycling coordinators for the Cities of Newark, New Jersey (1982) and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (1985).<br><br>Niche Recycling was incorporated in May 1995 in conjunction with a Bar and Tavern Glass Bottle Recycling Pilot Project spearheaded by Anheuser-Busch Recycling Corporation. Well-received by 50 establishments, the effort generated a baseline of information critical to commercial expansion. Commercialization was not achieved due to an unexpected corporate decision by Anheuser-Busch to divest of its recycling operations nationwide. Subsequent efforts by Niche Recycling to secure start-up financing from other sources were unsuccessful.<br><br>Since then, Niche Recycling has completed numerous projects on a city, state and national level. The company has an established record of success that has led to client savings in multiples of initial project investment. Niche Recycling is certified as a minority business enterprise by the City of Philadelphia.</blockquote>
Sections
You may wish to add one or two additional sections. Each section should have a Level 2 heading, meaning you add two equals signs before and after, like this:
==History== The museum gives the following history:<blockquote>[The historical info you find.]</blockquote>
Additional Descriptive Sections
Some additional section headings might be:
==Mission Statement== ==Customer Reviews== ==Vision Statement== ==Permanent Exhibits== (for a museum) ==Programs== ==Projects== ==Product Lines== ==Philosophy==
In all sections, it's important to keep Wikidelphia's point of view separate, as in the first descriptive paragraph. So, after a section heading, you write something like,
The organization states its philosophy: <blockquote>[The stuff you found on the subject site's Philosophy page.]</blockquote> PHS lists the following programs: <blockquote> *Gardening Program *Flower Show *Other Program </blockquote> ABC gives its Mission and Vision:<blockquote>''Mission:'' [their statement]<br><br>''Vision:'' [their Vision stuff]</blockquote>
In the "ABC" example, note the use of double single quotes, which means "Italics". And then the part with the ampersand and "nbsp" and semicolon makes a standard amount of space after the italicized headings. Using italicized headings can be useful in making minor sub-sections generally.
Editor's Notes
When you want to add a comment or something else from your own point of view as a person or as a Wikidelphia editor, add an Editor's Note section. Again, it's important to make point-of-view distinctions! In this section is where you are allowed to let your own view show.
==Editor's Note== I went to this event myself and had a great time. Try the funnel cakes! The parking is a bit pricey, though. ~~~~
When you put a blank line and then four tildes ("~") at the end, then after you save the page, your user name will appear in that same space, along with the date and time when you saved your comment.
Info Section
One type of section you'll include sometimes is "Info". This example gives ideas of the sort of items that can be included:
==Info== *Event Calendar: [http://joebloe.com/events Joe Bloe's Upcoming Events] *Twitter: [http://www.twitter.com/JoeBloe @JoeBloe] *Facebook: [http://www.facebook.com/JoeTheBloeMeister JoeTheBloeMeister] *Hours: [http://joebloe.com/hours Joe's Hours Of Operation] *Volunteer: [http://joebloe.org/volunteer Make A Difference Today!]
In the "Event Calendar", "Hours", and "Volunteer" examples, note that the title after the link is whatever actually appears at the top of the linked page. It should be a close match so that your reader will know the link took them to the page they were expecting.
The "Twitter" format is very specific. Follow it exactly. The link, and then a space, then the "at" sign followed by the username.
The "Facebook" format is also specific. First the link, and then a space followed by a repeat of whatever appears after the link's slash.
In all the examples, note that there is no "https://". There are only "http://". If you leave the "s" there, then you'll end up seeing a lock icon instead of an external link icon. Visitors don't like locks. Exception: If the link actually goes to a place that requires a login or registration, then it would be appropriate to include the "s" to warn the visitor that they'll have to login or register if they click the link.
Categories
Now we're about to fill out the very bottom of the page.
First of all, save your work so far by clicking the "Save page" button. Perhaps you'd like to hit the "Show preview" button first, which will show you what the page looks like without saving it yet. Then you "Save page", and you see the page as published. Hit the "Edit" tab to get back into an editor. This time you ignore the Disable Rich Editor link, because we're now going to use the Rich Editor.
In the Rich Editor, the top line of buttons begins with the word "Wikitext" after an icon that looks like a document. Look to the right end of this row of buttons. See the one that looks sort of like a Chinese character in black and blue? Just to be sure, run your mouse over it, and if it's the right one, it'll say "Insert/Edit categories". Click it.
This brings up the Categories tool. Type a few letters into the middle blank space called "Search category". For example, I think of the subject's location, let's say Center City East, so I put "center c", and then in the window below, a list of options pops up that includes "Where-Center City", which I double-click on to include it, and I also see "Where-Center City East", which I also click on to include it.
Then I hit the OK button to see what I've done, and there they are, both categories showing at the bottom of the Rich Editor window. (It doesn't look so good, though, right? It'll look better after you "Save page".)
So that's Categories. You hit the Chinese-character-like icon, find categories, double-click to include them, and hit OK to actually add them to the page. Think of all categories that apply and include them.
Category:Where
One category that almost every page should include is one of the "Where" categories. If your subject (or their main office) is located in Philadelphia, your "Where" category should be specific to a neighborhood, for example, "Where-Brewerytown" or "Where-Old_City".
If the subject is in New Jersey or in Pennsylvania outside Philadelphia, the county is enough. For example, for a subject in Mount Laurel, NJ, choose "Where-Burlington County". Camden the city is big enough to have one of its own, "Where-Camden NJ".
Only a few Wikidelphia pages should not have a "Where". Some Internet sites, for example, make it so difficult to find their location that you'll end up leaving out any mention of their location.
Page Structure
Not all "Where" category pages are fully developed. Those that are, here is an example of their structure:
'''South Philadelphia East''' (SPE) is a Philadelphia neighborhood or area bounded on the north by Snyder Avenue, South 4th Street, and West Oregon Avenue. It is bounded on the east by Interstate 95, Interstate 76, the Walt Whitman bridge approach, and the Delaware River. It is bounded on the south by the Delaware River and the mouth of the Schuylkill River. On the west are Interstate 95 (another segment) and South Broad Street. ''Adjoining Neighborhoods:'' SPE adjoins [[:Category:Where-East_Passyunk_Crossing|East Passyunk Crossing]] on the north. It adjoins and overlaps a bit with [[:Category:Where-Whitman|Whitman]] on the north and east. SPE's east and south sides are across the Delaware River from [[:Category:Where-Camden_County|Camden County]] and [[:Category:Where-Gloucester_County|Gloucester County]] in [[:Category:Where-Southern_New_Jersey|Southern New Jersey]] (South Jersey). SPE adjoins [[:Category:Where-Packer_Park|Packer Park]] and [[:Category:Where-Melrose|Melrose]], which are included in the area called [[:Category:Where-South_Philadelphia_West|South Philadelphia West]], on the west. <br>''Included Neighborhoods:'' SPE wholly includes [[:Category:Where-Lower_Moyamensing|Lower Moyamensing]] as its northwesternmost section. ==Map Links== *Google Maps: [http://www.google.com/maps/place/South+Philadelphia+East,+Philadelphia,+PA/@39.89511 94,-75.1603594,14z/data=!4m2!3m1!1s0x89c6c5f2216deffd:0x9c6e433535431db8 South Philadelphia East, Philadelphia, PA] <br>[[Category:Where]]
First, the bold heading, followed by a paragraph of information about the boundaries of the neighborhood or area. Note that the boundaries are described in clockwise fashion: north, east, south, and west. Some neighborhoods are more diagonally oriented, for example, you say northeast, southeast, southwest, and northwest.
Second, the italicized heading "Adjoining Neighborhoods" followed by a clockwise list of neighborhoods you've found on the map. Each neighborhood is represented by a Category link. Note the colon in front of the word "Category". The colon keeps the link outside the actual category hierarchy. If you forget it, you'll find a fractured link appearing at the bottom of the page. Note also the "|" between the link and what the visitor is going to see, just the name of the neighborhood.
The "Adjoining Neighborhoods" paragraph may also include notes about neighborhoods that overlap this one. Maybe it'll have an "Included Neighborhoods" line for neighborhoods that are wholly included in other ones.
Third, the "Map Links" section. I use the plural because we may add more than just the Google Maps sort of link. Note that this link is not any special weird link. It's just a regular external link to a Google Map you made by searching for the neighborhood in question. The title of the link is exactly what Google Maps calls it. The asterisk in front makes the whole line a bulleted list item.
Fourth, there's this:
<br>[[Category:Where]]
It puts this Category page into place within the Category:Where hierarchy.
Category:Is
Most organizations will include a general type, for example, "Is-Business" or "Is-Nonprofit Organization". In addition to the general type, you may include something more specific, for example, a page that has "Is-Business" and "Is-Restaurant", or for another example, an entry that has "Is-Nonprofit Organization" and "Is-Advocacy Organization".
Issue versus About
An "Issue" category is usually, not always, used by an advocacy organization, for example, "Issue:Sustainability" might be included on an environmental group's entry, or "Issue:The_Arts" would appear for a group that pushes for public policy favorable to the arts.
An "About" category doesn't involve advocacy. For example, a museum of journalism that just aims to educate people about journalism would have "About-Journalism". A magazine can simply have writers writing about higher education, so you put "About-Higher_Education".
Other Categories
Don't forget to consider whether your subject "Does" something, for example, A gym "Does-Fitness_Classes". An evening school "Does-Noncredit_Courses".
Maybe your page is about a regularly occurring event, so you'll be sure to add "Is-Recurring_Event" and its frequency, for example, "Frequency:Monthly" or "Frequency:Annual". (On annual events, I like to add "Is-Annual_Event" because I want a simple way of getting a list of annual events.)
Consider using a newer category "Sells". Anything that your subject sells a significant amount or proportion of should be listed. For example, the nonprofit group Nonprofit Technology Resources "Sells-Computers" in its thrift store. Simple Cycle "Sells-Bicycles". Equal Dollars Food Market "Sells-Food".
"Serves" is important to remember. Imagine you're a low-income person, and you want to know every place that "Serves-Low_Income_People". Maybe your subject organization "Serves-Senior_Citizens". Many organizations serve several types of people, so their entries will have several "Serves" categories. Sometimes a person, who "Is-Individual", may also need a "Serves" category on their page.
"Teaches" is pretty straightforward. For example, Career Onestop "Teaches-Job_Readiness". Penn State Extension "Teaches-Culinary_Arts". User:Stan's wife Sally McCabe "Teaches-Gardening".
"Using" shouldn't be overused. Every organization uses technology, for example, so there's no need to include "Using-Technology" unless the subject uses technology in some special way.
A good example of how to use "Using" is "Using-Volunteers", because if we editors mark every volunteer-using organization with this category, then when a reader wants to find a place to volunteer at, they can just pull up the "Using-Volunteers" page to see a big list of organizations to consider reaching out to.
Paired Categories
Certain categories have special pairings:
When you include Category:Using-Volunteers at the bottom of the page, please always include a "Volunteer" item in the Info section. When somebody looks for organizations "Using-Volunteers", we want them to have an easy, fast time signing up, so when they visit each item of the results they find, they always have a "Volunteer" link they can click right away.
When you include an Event Calendar item in the Info section, always include Category:Does-Event_Calendar in the categories at the bottom of the page. Again, it's a matter of giving the visitor quicker access to what they're looking for when they browse using the Category.
Adding a New Category
To add a totally new Category, just add it as if it already existed. After you hit "Save page" and look at the page, you'll see the category in red. To actully make a proper Category, just hit the red link. Next you'll see a compose window, into which you'll usually just put the name of the parent Category. E.g., if you're making "Category:Where-Thumbville", then put
[[Category:Where]]
Or if you're making "Category:Does-Massage", you put "Category:Does".
Before you "Save page" to save your Category, please add a note, for example, "New category", or "New category needed in updating an entry".
Save the Page
Before you hit "Save page" to save your subject entry, please always add a descriptive note, e.g., "New page inspired by a news story", or "Routine update of a page chosen via Random Page", or "New page about an organization found on Volunteer Match", etc.
Help Keep Wikidelphia Up-To-Date!
Here are some suggestions on how to pick a page to update or improve:
- Use Random Page: See the "Random page" link all the way to the left of this page? In the Wikidelphia sidebar. Click it, and a randomly selected page will come up. If it's old enough that the info in it probably needs a check, or if it needs changes to better fit this Wikidelphia uniform format.
- Use Popular Pages: Click the "Special pages" link in the Wikidelphia sidebar, then look for the "Popular Pages" link. Click that and look at some of the more popular pages until you find one that could use an update or modification.
Now that you have a page in front of you:
- Check and correct every part that doesn't conform to the uniform Wikidelphia format.
- Make sure the URL works. If it doesn't, try to search for and find a newer link to the same place. If you can't find a link at all, then change the first line of the page to:
''No Current URL''
and add a suitable Editor's Note as a section in the body text of the page, for example:
==Editor's Note== I was unable to find a current URL for this organization. Please check again sometime, and then maybe we'll need to delete this page. Or maybe we'll need to re-orient the page to change it to a historical page describing something that formerly existed. ~~~~
- Check the body text against the subject's website to make sure everything's the latest.
- Check every link on the whole page. Repair or delete the ones that don't work. Make sure that what the link points to is still being updated. For example, if in an Info section, the subject's event calendar hasn't been update in many months or a year, then this Wikidelphia page shouldn't link to it anymore. If the subject hasn't put out a tweet in six months, then the Info section shouldn't have a Twitter link anymore.
- Look at the Categories. A routine update is seldom done without finding that one or more Categories needs to be added, changed, or deleted. Of all we editors, our collective ability to categorize is a skill that can always use improvement, so the Categories are always worth a close look in any full update.