Getting Started Editing Wiki Pages

This page aims to provide some initial guidance on how to edit and create pages on a wiki, such as PCUG's Info Wiki and TIP Wiki.

To Start Editing and Creating Wiki Pages

To make changes to any of our wiki pages, you first need to login by selecting the log in link at the top right of the page.

To edit an existing wiki page you select the Edit tab in the list across the top of the page to access the page editor.

There are several ways to create a new wiki page. The easiest way is to edit an existing wiki page and insert a link in it to your proposed new page, which will look like

 [[Name of new page]]

As Name of new page will form part of the URL used to access it, so please keep it brief and to the point (a few words) and avoid using any punctuation other than spaces or underscores. When you save and view this existing page, your newly added Name of new page link will be in red, indicating that this page does not yet exist. Select that link to access the page editor to start adding content to this new page.

Every user who logs in to the wiki is given their own user page, with a link like: [[User:loginname]] (where loginname is the username you logged in with). You can access this page using the loginname link in the list across the top right of any wiki page. This is a really good place for you to experiment with wiki page content, and to create those initial links for brand new pages. When you are happy with your new pages content, you can copy the link into one of the main navigation pages to make it easily accessible to others.

Adding Content to Wiki Pages

Once you are in the page editor, you can add or change then content of the wiki page. You format this text by using wiki markup. This consists of normal characters like asterisks, single quotes or equal signs, included amongst the text being displayed, which have a special function in the wiki, sometimes depending on their position. You can either just type these characters in, or you can highlight text and use the formatting buttons across the top of the text editing window. Note that the wiki page editor is not WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get). You need to Preview' your changes first to see what they look like. You should always preview your changes before saving a page. You should also always provide a Summary of your changes (unless you select minor edit because you're only fixing some typos etc). The summary is included in the history of changes for the page, which helps others know what has been modified.

Where to Find More Information

For information about editing pages in wikis using the Mediawiki software (which powers Wikipedia and many others), see the following:

• Mediawiki Help Formatting
• Mediawiki Help Editing Pages
• Wikipedia Editing Cheatsheet
• Mediawiki Help Starting a New Page
• Mediawiki Help guide contents for more info