Help:Getting Started

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Revision as of 12:51, 17 March 2016 by Joejulian (talk | contribs)
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Submitting Content

Creating a new page

Creating a new page through internal linking

1. To create a page for a particular keyword you must edit an existing page.

2. To edit the whole page, click on the edit button on the wiki menu bar. To edit a portion of a page, click on the edit link just beside the section.

3. Highlight the keyword that you want to create a page.

4. Click on the internal link button, the third icon after bold and italicize icon. Represented by an underlined Ab symbol.

5. Click save. The highlighted word becomes red (note: red means the page doesn't exist).

6. Click on that word in red, then do the necessary edits and save. Hence, a page is created through internal linking.


Creating a new page through word search

1. In the search box on the left side of the wiki, there is a search box.

2. In the search box, type in the word you want your page to be named.

3. Click search.

4. If the page doesn't exist, this comes out.

5. Click on the "create this page" (in red).

6. Do the necessary edits and insert the necessary data.

7. Click the save button.

Editing an existing page

Another way of contributing to M3P is to edit an existing page. Just click on the edit button on the top of the relevant page and insert your content.


Wikis are all about editing, so dive in and make some changes. Don't worry about making mistakes. Other people can correct mistakes later, so have confidence, and give it a try! There can be all kinds of editing conventions, rules, and philosophy governing the editing of wiki pages, but the "be bold" rule overrides these!


In general try and write as clearly and concisely as possible. Make sure you are always trying to do something which improves the M3P's contents. An edit might be to contribute whole paragraphs or pages full of information, or it could be as simple as fixing a typo or spelling mistake.


When you need to use some type of formatting e.g. new headings or bold text, you do this using wiki syntax. The bold and index characters are in the box at the top of the section you are editing.


Before you save a change, you can enter a short note in the Summary box describing your changes. Don't worry too much about this, or spend too much time thinking about it, but try to give a little description of what you just changed e.g. "fixed typo" or "added more information about sunflowers". The summary gets stored alongside your edit, and allows people to track changes in the wiki more effectively.


It's a good idea to use the "Show preview" button to see what your changes will look like, before you save the page. This is also related to tracking changes because every time you save, this is displayed to others as a separate change. This isn't something to worry about too much, but it's good to get into the habit of eliminating mistakes in your own work, by using a preview before saving, rather than saving several minor corrections afterwards.


Formatting text

When writing or editing any text on the wiki, you can use the shaded buttons towards the top of the screen for standard formatting (such as bold and italic text, or setting up internal or external links. The Wiki Cheat Sheet is particularly useful.


Dates

The standard date form for m3p is the following: nn month year. For example: 09 November 2013. Remember uniformity is important for search reasons.

Sections and Sub-Sections

Whenever possible, Sections help the user to find exactly what he or she is after.

Use separate lines for Section and/or Section headings. Include one blank line above the heading, and optionally one blank line below.

Sections may be opened by using double equals (==) before and after the section title in edit. For example: (==Early career==).

Sections may have their own Sub-Sections. These may be opened by using triple equals (===) before and after the sub-section title in edit. For example: (===Childhood===).

Spaces between the equal signs and the heading text are optional and will not effect the way the heading is displayed.

Names and links

In an article, whenever one uses names of persons, venues, villages, cities, countries and any other name which could or may be linked to other pages or files, remember to use double square brackets ([[ ]]) before and after the name. Whenever a name is used more than once in the same article, the double square brackets are to be used ONLY in the first use.

Uploading media files

File types which are permitted in m3p.com.mt are: png, gif, jpg, jpeg, pdf, ps, svg, tif, tiff, avi, mpg, mpeg, mov, m4v, wmv, mp3, mp4, m4a, ogg, ogv, cue, odt, odg, ods, odp.

1. On the left hand side of the screen, under subtitle "Tools", click on "Upload file".

2. Click on "Choose File" under subtitle "Source file".

3. Browse and choose file to upload.

4. Under subtitle "File description", give a name to the "Destination filename". Make sure the filename chosen can uniquely identify that particular file. Avoid generalised names, and preferably include names without going into much detail.

5. Under "Summary", include as much details as possible. Remember to use double square brackets ([[ ]]) with names of persons, venues, villages, cities, countries and any other name which could or may be linked to other pages or files.

6. List and relative category the file may fit in. If a person appears on a file (example, a photograph), make sure you choose the category of his or her photos, so that the picture would appear on the category page. Make sure to include categories of all possible persons appearing in the file.

7. Click the save button.

NOTE: It is appropriate to open categories to include same type of files (example: photos of someone in particular). When naming a category of a particular person, especially with photographs, give it the persons name with "Photos" afterwards (example: Francis Ebejer Photos), with all words starting with Caps, for uniformity purposes.

You may also want to consult the Mediawiki User's Guide for further information on using the wiki software.