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 "
" and then "
". 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 "
" tags in the spaces between paragraphs. For 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 mission:
[The subject's mission statement.]
"
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.
==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 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 of your comment.
Info Section
One type of section you'll include sometimes is "Info". We're currently using Info sections for things like event calendars. When you have a subject whose website has an event calendar, and they actually still keep it up-to-date with events, you add a "" to the entry and make an info section like this:
==Info== *Event Calendar: [http://joebloe.com/events Joe Bloe's Upcoming Events]
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.
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.
Adding a New Category
To Be Written Soon
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.
- 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. For example, make sure the second line is just a blank line and the third line is the beginning of a properly formatted description section.
- 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.
- Look at the Categories. A routine update is seldom done without finding that one or more Categories needs to be added, changed, or deleted. 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.