Using The Wiki

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Global Developers TeamAbout the Dev Team | GDT Environment Foundation | TZM 2.0/Phoenix Project | Projects Documentation | Contributors | Resources | Meetings| Wiki Use Help (edit)


Some Help to Get on with Our Current Wiki, just to get off the ground.

We are using bare-bones wikimedia, aka mediawiki. It's as installed; no customization, no fixing no nothing. But it still can be used effectively until we get some better customization going, or until another choice is decided upon. So the source folk have extensive help and other information, and there are links to them from our site.

For more advanced instructions, you can go here More Local HELP. Instructions can also be found at the Wikimedia site: Wikimedia

Here we go, to explain the basic organization as implemented in this site:


Main Page and Menus

The main page is set up as a general guideline, and it should provide links to everything that is underneath. The system is set up akin to a common directory tree, and there is some redundancy, so things can be found from different locations.

When you arrive at the front page, http://wiki.linguisticteam.org/w/Global_Developers_Team and in most of the pages, you will see a set of menus: The top menu applies to the entire wiki, which can take you to other teams or topics, not necessarily related to the GDT. But you should see where it can take you. The second menu is generally for the group where you've come to; in our case, GDT. In here you will see, “Dev Team Resources” and a couple of other pull-downs. The next menu is to manage the wiki pages: Page, Discussion, Edit, History, Move, and Watch.

Normally all links tend to go to the Page. The Page is the heart of the system. In it the main topic and information is kept, and updated, added to, and modified. In our system, you will see a Table of contents, and below it, all the topics contained therein, briefly explained, so you can go to get details of another sub-topic, and the intent is to have something that will help you go to where you want, and find what you are looking for. If not, go the the higher level topic, and from there you can drill down.

When you click on a table of content item, you will be sent further down the page, where that topic is briefly explained. When you get there, and the description tells you that is what you want, click on the link, which can be in the body of the description. Frequently, titles are also links to the topics they name.

There is finally another menu which is within each document/Page, which we insert manually in the text of any page where we want that menu to appear. We refer to this menu with the name: Navigation Bar. It can take you to various important topics without having to run down a tree.


= To contribute: =

This means, adding information to something you are looking at. Every title, as you scroll down the page, has a faint bracketed edit: [edit] at the right edge of the page, directly opposite the title. This can be used to add information to the section, only.

If you want to make extensive changes, you can use the “EDIT” button at the top of the page, the wiki's manipulation menu.

Scroll down until you see the edit window, and find the area where you want to add or modify (don't delete other people' information; if obsolete, just note so adjacent to the text.)

Scroll to the bottom, and check the “watch” check box; fill in the title of the item you're editing. If it's a minor edit, click on the “Minor Edit” check box. Consider that these will NOT show up in the history... so that should be your criteria. If you added a comma, or corrected the spelling... no need to have it show up... so classify it as a 'minor edit.'

Now before you save, go back into the edit area, and at the end of what you added, put your signature. This is done by clicking the “signature” button in the edit button bar above the text editing area. It looks like a little signature. It will show in the text as a series of tildes: ~.

Then go back to the bottom, outside the text editing area, and Press SAVE.


Criteria for where to put material

Pages are the top level information for a topic. Here you can write information which you believe is correct, and the assertions you make are provable, and can be documented. This is the “Stable Data.” In the event you are not sure, or are challenging the information on the PAGE, or just want to discuss, ask questions, or anything other than document a fact, use the DISCUSSION feature.


Discussion

a) go to the page that contains the topic you want to participate in. b) using the wiki menu, you will open a separate edit space, which will look the same as a new blank page, but the title will be preceded with the word “TALK,” followed by the title of the PAGE.

Before you begin typing anything, consider the material that you are talking about, and if you are talking to a specific point in the main page, do the following:

Notice that you have a small + sign, next to the Edit menu choice. Clicking the + sign, allows you to put a title to the topic you are going to talk about. A text editor appears, and asks for a title; use the same subtitle that appears in the PAGE. Then, type your comments, and when done, go to the bottom, check the “watch” box, put the title of what you're editing, and whether it's a minor edit. Then sign, and save.

Creating New Page

When a topic is too long, and has too many parts, you may consider breaking it down into separate pages.

The best way to do this, and keep things organized, you have to go to the section you want to add your page. Using the right margin edit, open to make the edit, and put the title of your new page in the right alpha, or logical point within that document.

The title should be bracketed as follows: New subtopic. Then, return twice, and give a brief explanation of what it is about. Then sign and save as usual.

When you save, you will now see your title colored as a link. Click on it. That will bring you to your new page, and it will be created as soon as you start typing and save the new page.

By doing it this way, you will never create a page that ends up being a widow (can't be found by anyone except if they know the exact name). It will always be connected tree-wise to higher echelon page or pages.

Now you can gradually figure out text formatting, and other features by seeing how others have done it, or by evoking the “help” feature at the bottom of the editing box for page.

What is given here should be enough for anyone who wants to participate in the process.

Good Luck—--Boldhawk 03:08, 15 June 2011 (UTC)

Feel free to add points of interest to others, and to re-write for clarity if you want.