Editing Guide

Hello,

As part of an effort to get more of the wiki's members to write pages that DON'T require constant revision and editting by staff members, some of us have taken it upon ourselves to write this guide.

Key Parts
By the end of the guide, we hope that the average user will be able to...
 * Write a PAge
 * Do Basic Page Coding
 * Categorize

Writing a Page
Clearly, this is the MOST important part. When writing a page, please be as clear and precise as possible. Try not to have a bias for or against whatever you're writing about; try to be objective and informative (don't let your opinion show, otherwise people won't read what you write). Be sure to include links to other helpful articles (as described below). Be sure to fact (and spell) check! As always, try not to repeat yourself, and remember that college students who study writing daily will be reading what you write. We will not be amused if it looks like it was written be a preschooler. But, that said, do your best, and if you find you're having difficulties, ask for help or hit submit and send it to a staffer (we are here to help).

Margin Breaks
When you hit "enter" in visual mode, it creates a weird line-break that's three times the size it should be. Haven't figured out why. However, when you do it in source mode, unless you do it multiple times, it is useless. Again, haven't figured out why. When you intend to do a new line (such as I just did), type in as many times as you want to go down new lines.'

Fonts
To play with fonts, and turn them into italics of bolded, simply place '' around the section to be italicized. To bold the text, simply put three ''' on either side of the text. You CAN do both. To underline something, merely type in  before the text, and   after the text. Strikeouts work in the same way, only with a S rather than a U. Additionally, italics and bolding can use I and B respectively.

Bullet Points
Bullet points are... well, bulletpoints. A bulletpoint is done using an asterisk (*) and creates a little dot. Each subsequent * after the first one (such as **) creates a new "indented" sub-bulletpoint, such as these ones. Makes it nice and even. They must be the FIRST character on that line, however. To do a numbered bulletpoint, use a # rather than a *.

On-Site Links
What is an onsite link? It takes you to another page on THIS wiki. Merely enter and  around what you want to be a link. However, it must be the EXACT page name (same case, grammar, and spelling!), otherwise it will not work. If you hit preview, and the link is red, the page DOES NOT exist. If you want to "disguise" an onsite link, and have it without having to work the exact name in, you can write it like this Desired Page Name. Now, the | acts as a divider, between what you're referencing, and what you want to call it.

Off-site Links
An offsite link takes you to another, non-NWN2 wiki page. To create an offsite link, you can put in the raw URL (the "address" or what you type to go to that page). Or, you can name it, by putting it into brackets, like so: [URL desired page name]. There MUST be a space between the url and the desired page name. Beyond that, you are free to run wild.

Sections
A "section" (and, by extension the Table of Contents or "TOC") is used to denote different sections or subjects on one page. These can be used to create shortcuts, via the TOC. To create a section, merely create a new line, and place == on either side of it. Each subsequent = will cause it to go down a "level", so you can have a header for one section, and then sub-headers.

Line Breaks
Please don't use these except sparingly. These are just to seperate sections. To create a linebreak, just insert on a new line.

Files
Files help liven up a page. They can be anything from a video to an image, to a short animation. Simply insert to have the file appear at it's default size. However, because some files can be larger than our wiki was meant to visually handle, you can put limiters and even turn them into links. You can even do both, and have small captions.

File Dimensions
A file "dimension" is ALWAYS inserted as pixels. You may want to play around with it for a bit before you hit submit. The standard computer moniter is usually set (by default) somewhere between the 1024 and 1440 pixel range (our wiki was built to accomodate that). Our wiki space is only about 700 pixels wide, so please don't go ove that, or you WILL have staff charging down on you. To insert a file size limit, merely put in Pixel Size px. Please keep in mind that it only affects the horizontal dimensions, and, as such, the verticle will stretch or shrink to accomodate, so you may have a reall skinny, really tall picture. Or vice versa. Keep this in mind, please.

Files as Links
To turn a file into a link, you need to put it as. Clicking on the image will now take you to the page.

Templates
Templates are chunks of coding, designed for quick and easy use so you don't have to copy/paste massive strings of code, and inflate the size of the wiki a thousand times (since we hope to eventually move to a private server, size is a MASSIVE factor). However, before use, please consult with a staff member to ensure you're using the correct template, and using it correctly.

Categorizing
Why is categorizing important? That's a very good question that's been asked many times. Categories serve as folders and directories. Think is this wiki as a book. Books are broken down into sections and chapters. The categories, would be an organized set of table of contents. Without that, you can still (eventually) find what you're looking for, but it becomes far more difficult.

You can set a page into a category through two means. On the right side of an page under edit is a section labeled "categories", which will occasionally attempt to help you (it's not perfect). Additionally, you can insert categories, using the command anywhere on the page. Please make sure you're using a valid category, however, as we don't want/need categories of one page. Spelling, grammar, and case ALL factor in.

Credits

 * Written by: 13621 (talk) 04:01, November 30, 2012 (UTC)