Wiki Ogre's guide to posting on wiki
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Ogre's Guide to Wiki-posting
The reason there is so much varied information on these pages is because it's been added to and edited by the people who visit it. We had to change posting permission to registered patrons only because some people have nothing better to do with their time than try to ruin nice stuff other people have built – but I'm sure a lot more people who contribute if they realised how easy it is to use these pages.
This guide is not an advanced tutorial -- I am sure the likes of Nubo & Arnalix can do all sorts of spangly wotsits with these pages, but the object here is to get you posting simple articles with a contents panel, pictures & web links embedded. Exciting huh? And if you're a complete technophobe, don't worry. These simple steps will take you no more than a few minutes once you're familiar with the system and require no previous experience/knowledge of editing web pages.
MediaWiki
For those that do want to dig deeper, this site is running on MediaWiki engine. Complete info about this technology can be found here. A useful quick navigation through Wiki interface:
Editing Pages
Arguably the easiest way to add to the content is to add to existing pages using the edit button. This opens an editing page and you can just change or add to the text as you see fit before clicking save. It really helps if you prepare the text in your word processor first to check it for spelling & grammar. And please try not to remove the page formatting until you know a bit more what you're doing – but equally don't panic as the page you're working on will be saved in history and an admin can restore it easily if he/she sees fit. Admins are constantly checking page changes (sad lot aren't we) for accuracy & errors.
Formatting text
This system uses simple syntax to format text – i.e. Make it bold, italic & so on.
Click here to see a broader collection of useful syntax, but the ones you will probably have most use of are:
Bold
Place 3 apostrophes on each side of the word or passage you want to appear in bold text.
Italics
Place 2 apostrophes on each side of the word or passage you want to appear in italic text.
Bold & Italics
Combining more than one formatting effect is as easy as adding the two together (if you see what I mean). So, for example to make a passage bold AND italic surround it by 5 apostrophes.
Bullet points
Use the * button at the start of the sentence to apply a bullet point. Sub bullet points can be applied by adding 2 *'s.
- like this.
- and this.
- then this
- this...
- and finally back to this.
New Paragraphs
Simply hitting return does not start a new line in MediaWiki. Instead you need to type br surrounded by triangle brackets '<>' at the end of the sentence. To start a new paragraph just hit return twice as with regular word processing.
Images
Now you've got your text all laid out purdy it's time to add some pictures. You need to upload them to our server first – optimum size is 80kb, but please nothing above 150kb or wider than 700 pixels or it will be summarily removed (someone pays for the space to host this service btw, which is why we try to be respectful with our image size). Click here for the upload page, or use the link in the bottom left navigation panel.
When you upload an image it is stored in the database under the Destination filename you gave it. If you get a server message saying there is already a file of that name please change the filename or you will be overwriting somone elses work. To insert this image into a page of text use double square brackets around the phrase image:filename.jpg.
If you want more in-depth knowledge of manipulating images look here
URLs
Adding links to other pages, either within raidwiki or externally, is really useful and easy to do. Open square brackets '[', type the whole URL 'http://www.shadow-wind.org/wiki/index.php', hit space, type the name as you would like it to appear on screen and then close square brackets ']'.
Starting a New Page
Creating the link
Go to the menu you think your guide should appear in and click to edit the links panel. If you look at the structure of the page you have open you should be able to tell what is a single link and copy & paste it in the page to edit for your own link. The syntax may differ from page to page depending on how it's formatted, which is why it's best just to copy & paste, changing the text as you want it to appear.
That link now appears in green in the list. Links that appear green have no text behind them, and clicking the link will automatically open up an edit page for you to fill in (as long as you're registered that is, otherwise I think you get exploded or something).
Headings
To automatically format the headings into our house-style just place the equals sign '=' around the heading text. Sub-headings within a section have 2 equals signs '==' around them, then back to one equals sign '=' when you've finished the subsections.
Contents Panel
Already done! The formatting in the headings section will automatically create a contents panel jump-linking to each section on the right.
Final Checks
Before finally saving the page it's best to hit Show preview and make sure your work is perfect. Then hit save and just sit back and bask in the glory of having made your contribution to this growing community fan-site. OK, so you might not get the girls, or suddenly develop a six-pack, but your fellow adventurers will come to love you dearly – as the mobs of Norrath quake in their stockings at the thought of us visiting their raid zone.