Help:Notes for Editors
Help Page for Users
Editing the Wiki
Opening a page
- If the page you want to edit is in a menu or on a page you can open it from its link.
OR
- Type the name of the page you wish to edit into the Search box and if it exists, the page will open.
- If you have already made a page but it doesn't appear yet in a menu or it isn't linked from another page, you can find it in My Contributions,
Creating new pages
There are two ways of creating a new page:
- You can type the name of the page into the Search box - this avoids duplicate page names.
- If the page already exists it will open, otherwise you will see the page below.
- From this page you can click the link: create this page
- You can also type the name of a new page on another page when you are in Edit mode.
Start editing
- To start editing a MediaWiki page, click the Edit tab at the top or the [Edit] link at the side of the page.
- This brings you to the edit page, which is a page with a text box containing the wikitext.
- Wikitext is the editable code from which the server produces the finished page.
- Although at first sight the coding can be a bit daunting there are actually very few to remember.
- The Toolbar shows the most used codes.
Entering your contributions on a page
- You can just type or paste in your text and leave it that, but if you use the codes it will mean that the presentation will be uniform and save everyone a great deal of time.
- If you want to experiment, you can do so in the The Playground
- Although it is possible to change colours and fonts using the codes, please don’t do this as there is a fixed style for the site.
- Some areas will have ready made templates, e.g. the Template for County Pages but if there isn't one for your page, you should follow the Conventions for style and presentation established for this wiki.
- Please be aware that anyone else with edit permissions can edit your text. This is reassuring in case you have made a typing error, and it means that information can be updated quickly, but don't be offended if somebody quietly "improves" your grammar or writing style!!
Preview before saving
- When you have finished, click Show preview to see how your changes will look before you make them permanent.
- Repeat the edit/preview process until you are satisfied, then click Save page and your changes will be immediately applied to the article.
How the code works ...
The Toolbar
- The Toolbar can automatically add many of the codes for you.
- The most used buttons are illustrated below.
Sections and Headings
Any page which has more than 4 section headings will automatically generate a contents list - see left.
If you have fewer than 4 headings or sections, you can use __TOC__ to create the contents.
Sections are created by the use of a number of = either side of the title.
As well as sorting out the hierarchy of the Contents, the layout and format is also generated. The more = you use, the smaller the font.
==Headline==
Will give you large font and also a horizontal line.
This is the standard heading which should be used throughout this Wiki.
====Section Heading====
Will give you a smaller font.
Also used as standard throughout this Wiki.
=====Subsection heading=====
Will give you an even smaller font.
As can be seen from the image below, the use of sections also enables you to edit sections individually.
To create a new page within another page in Edit mode:
- Type [[Name of the page]] When you have saved you work, you can click on the link to the new page and begin to edit it.
EXAMPLE: a new page
To link to a page which already exists:
- Type [[Name of the page]]
EXAMPLE: Main Page
- Back to previous page: Type Back to [[Name of page]]
This is needed when a user has reached a page from another one e.g. a county reached from the England page, or a page linked to from the Records Office Guide.
Uploading and inserting images
Examples of different layouts and the codes for using images in the Wiki can be found here:
Creating alphabetical contents or lists
Redirections
Visual Reference
