Guide:Wiki Maintenance

Template:Construction
Template:TOC right The STEPwiki editing guide for editors -- by S.T.E.P. Team

GUIDE FORUM THREAD

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Definition of a wiki:

"a website or database developed collaboratively by a community of users, allowing any user to add and edit content."

The STEP wiki is intended to be community-driven; although, all STEP wiki contributions have originated from only a handful of STEP site contributors. Our goal is to make it easy for all community members to contribute and help us maintain existing content and develop new content. The first step in doing that is to make our user base more comfortable with the idea of working on a wiki and thinking in wiki terms.

Wiki Basic Resources

Mediawiki Home Page - Entry point to lots of relevant info, including reference and help as well as latest development and news

Mediawiki Cheat Sheet - List of the most commonly used mediawiki markup

(top bar) TOOLBOX --> SPECIAL PAGES - Links to all kinds of information about this wiki

(top bar) WIKI --> RECENT CHANGES - Links to all of the most recent edits on this wiki

CSS Resource - Not all info on this page is relevant but it contains various keywords that can be used

HTML Resource - Not all info on this page is relevant but it contains various keywords that can be used

STEP Wiki Best Practices

Edits

• Please don't use heading code to make text bigger or bolder. Instead use wiki markup and/or the Fs template. Headings are for ... headings
• More to come ...

Guides

This wiki has many, and they should all have the same general look and feel. Following are some basics:

• Guides in particular should be written in the third person. This is more clear and professional and not as prone to degenerating into a mess of first-second person reversions:

  First person: "I first must click on the 'edit' button ..."

  Second person: "You first must click on the 'edit' button ..."

  First person: "First, click on the 'edit' button ..."

• Guide layouts should be consistent, so use the following at the top of any new guide page edit:

__NOTITLE__
{{Construction|size=90|<place any notices here.>}} OR {{Notice|size=90|<place any notices here.>}} OR {{Warning|size=90|<place any notices here.>}}
<br />
{{TOC right}}
''<brief guide description goes here> -- by <author name(s) goes here>''

[<forum thread URL goes here> '''GUIDE FORUM THREAD''']
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Categories

Categories are used to topically associate wiki pages. They also provide a simple means to navigate and view associated pages. Simply scroll to the bottom of any page and follow the category links to view more pages within that same category. Assigning a page to a category is as simple as adding [[Category:<whatever>]] when editing the page. Categories can be referenced on a page without adding that page to the referenced category by adding a colon to the beginning of the code as such: [[:Category:<whatever>]]. Wiki editors are asked to:

• Read about how to use categories.
• Assign pages to the proper existing categories.
• Avoid creating new categories --leave that to the site admin. Just let one of the administrators know or post about it in the guide forum thread linked at the top of this page.
• Place the category code at the bottom of the page for consistency and to make it easy for other editors to find.

User pages

This is the User "main page" ... and entry-way into the user's personal sandbox. Each user can do just about anything they want in here as long as in accordance with the rules dictated within the STEP Community Citizenship Guide. Wiki editors are asked to:

• Avoid editing a user's page without permission (not applicable to wiki administrators). While everyone can edit others' User: page, it is a breach of etiquette to do so.
• Edit the page and add some information about themselves for others ... even a link to another website or their forum profile is a good start.
• Other "Best Practices" for this wiki do not apply here ... User makes the call.

Use of HeaderTabs

Wiki guides should convert back over to the TOC method versus current HeaderTabs. HeaderTabs is still great for entry pages or other applicable content, but not so in the case of guides and similarly large pages with lots of content. Some guides now using HeaderTabs will need to be tweaked a bit in order to revert to TOC format in a 'nice' way, but all guide updates should be heading in that direction as time allows.

HeaderTabs Enabled

It is possible to link to tabs but not to sections beneath tabs. Linking to sections underneath tabs is not necessary when HeaderTabs is used 'properly' ... that is, when the tab content does not require much vertical space and one does not need to scroll down to see section headings. However, vertical space relies the dimensions of the browser window, which is in turn constrained by the display resolution, so any page using HeaderTabs should optimally exhibit this behavior. The problem is that to do so means that page organization must accommodate appearance first and information flow second, so large, complex pages do not lend themselves well to HeaderTabs format, and HeaderTabs should be limited to entry pages or relatively high-level pages and not extended to guides and other information references.

Link to HeaderTabs Tab

[http://wiki.step-project.com/HeaderTabs_Functionality#Using_DDSopt]

Link to HeaderTabs Section (beneath a tab) (Note that the link does not navigate to the intended tab section unless already on that tab)

[http://wiki.step-project.com/HeaderTabs_Functionality#File.2FPath_Browser_Toolbar]

HeaderTabs Disabled

All information is immediately accessible in a hierarchical format from the TOC the moment the page loads. This is fantastic for guides and other info references, but it is not desirable for small or relatively simple pages with few sections and subsections. HeaderTabs format is much better in such cases.

Link to Normal Page Section

[http://wiki.step-project.com/TOC_Functionality#File.2FPath_Browser_Toolbar]

HeaderTabs Summary

Use HeaderTabs when...

• The page is relatively simple
• When primary topics (H1 headings) are minimal ... say, 5 tabs or fewer
• Tab content fits in a single 1280x1024 window without needing to scroll down
• The page is an entryway into related content

... else, please avoid using HeaderTabs in favor of the TOC method described above.

Page Management

How to create, delete, edit and manage a wiki page.

Creating a Page

To create you own page that is in your User namespace

1. Make sure that you are logged into the wiki by looking at the top right hand corner of the page.
2. In the URL type "http://wiki.step-project.com/User:<username>/<subpage>
3. In the <username> field type YOUR user name
4. In the <subpage> field type the title of the page.
5. Then in the Top Right hand corner of the page click on the [PAGE TOOLS] button and select CREATE
   • To create a page you must have something on the page to Save it.
   • Some writers have found that typing "Hi" or "== Introduction =="is good enough to get things moving.

Deleting a Page

X

Magic Words

Magic words are special 'text strings' that are used by the wiki software to return values or functions. A full description of them can be found on the MediaWiki website.

Common Magic Words

X

Symbols

Search for HTML symbols and use a code like "#8594;" with an ampersand "&" in front of it to produce "→"

Formatting Basics

This will hold the dos, donts and good habits with formatting but be focus on where to look for the info.
Like the cheatsheet...

Inline HTML and CSS

I believe that is what the span style tag is. This will give some common usages that are on step but will will guide the user to a link for what styles are valid like such

Using Templates

Templates can be found in [TOOLBOX] → [SPECIAL PAGES] → [Templates]
Here is a direct link

Some of the more common Templates that are used on the STEP wiki are: Template:Notice Template:Warning

Some are used for links, either to other pages in the current wiki or to outside pages. The following is a link to a chapter in the current document that also has a 'tabbed' header, such as the Mod Organizer wiki:

{{#switchtablink:Profiles|Profiles}}

YouTube videos can also be linked to with code like this:

{{Video|j4ZQpzf_iAE|Mod Organizer: Introduction (by Gopher)|Gopher Explains Mod Organizer}}

Here the magic word Video is read as https://www.youtube.com/watch?v= and j4ZQpzf_iAE, the YouTube address for that specific video, is appended to the YouTube code to provide a valid address. Clicking that link will display a popup window of that video file.

Using Forms

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Wiki Development

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Creating Templates

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Creating Forms

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References

• Visit the main Mediawiki site. Read through the content and reference it often.
• The STEP Wiki forum