NSWiki:Page editing

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Revision as of 22:59, 23 June 2007 by 62.231.243.136 (Talk)

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Community Portal


NSwiki is a wiki, meaning anyone can edit any unprotected article and the changes are viewable immediately.

It is very easy to edit a page. Click on the Edit tab at the top of the article. You can also discuss a page on its "talk page" -- simply click the Discuss tab, and then on the new page, click the Edit tab.

Then start typing in the edit box. It is helpful if you write a short description in the edit summary box about what you changed. When finished, it is preferred if you first preview your change (click the Show preview button), and once it is satisfactory, commit the change by clicking the Save page button.

To do more advanced edits, you will need to know Wiki markup. The following article attempts to describe the most important and most commonly encountered markup, but to get a complete description, see Wikipedia:How to edit a page.

Other resources

General tips

  • Use a neutral point of view (don't advocate a particular opinion, or use the wiki to advertise)
  • Where appropriate, cite your sources
  • For longer edits, use a text editor to edit and spell check, then copy and paste back to the wiki and preview before committing the change
  • Use the What links here link to make sure all articles linking to your page have in mind the content you provided
  • Search the wiki to see if there is similar content in other articles already

The wiki markup

To practice editing without fear of harming any particular page, use the sandbox. Again, for a comprehensive list of the markup and its effects, see Wikipedia:How to edit a page.

Sections, paragraphs, lists and lines

What it looks like What you type

New section


Subsection

Sub-subsection

* Start with a second-level heading (==); do not use first-level headings (=).

  • Do not skip levels (e.g., second-level followed by fourth-level).
==New section==

===Subsection===

====Sub-subsection====

A single newline generally has no effect on the layout. These can be used to separate sentences within a paragraph. Some editors find that this aids editing and improves the diff function (used internally to compare different versions of a page).

But an empty line starts a new paragraph.

  • When used in a list, a newline does affect the layout (see below).
A single [[newline]]
generally has no effect on the layout. 
These can be used to separate
sentences within a paragraph.
Some editors find that this aids editing
and improves the ''diff'' function
(used internally to compare
different versions of a page).

But an empty line
starts a new paragraph.

You can break lines
without starting a new paragraph.

  • Please use this sparingly.
You can break lines<br>
without starting a new paragraph.
  • Lists are easy to do:
    • Start every line with a star.
      • More stars means deeper levels.
        • A newline in a list

marks the end of a list item.

  • An empty line starts a new list.
* Lists are easy to do:
** Start every line with a star.
*** More stars means deeper levels.
**** A newline in a list
marks the end of a list item.

* An empty line starts a new list.
  1. Numbered lists are also good
    1. very organized
    2. easy to follow
# Numbered lists are also good
## very organized
## easy to follow
  • You can even do mixed lists
    1. and nest them
      • like this
* You can even do mixed lists
*# and nest them
*#* like this
Definition list 
list of definitions
item 
the item's definition
another item
the other item's definition
  • One item per line; a newline can appear before the colon, but using a space before the colon improves parsing.
; Definition list : list of definitions
; item : the item's definition
; another item
: the other item's definition
A colon indents a line or paragraph.

A manual newline starts a new paragraph.

  • This is primarily for displayed material, but is also used for discussion on Talk pages.
: A colon indents a line or paragraph.
A manual newline starts a new paragraph.
IF a line starts with a space THEN
it will be formatted exactly
as typed;
in a fixed-width font;
lines won't wrap;
ENDIF
this is useful for:
* pasting preformatted text;
* algorithm descriptions;
* program source code;
* ASCII art;
* chemical structures;
* league tables for sports roleplaying.

* WARNING: If you make it wide, you force the whole page to be wide and hence less readable, especially for people who use lower resolutions. Never start ordinary lines with spaces.

 IF a line starts with a space THEN
 it will be formatted exactly
 as typed;
 in a fixed-width font;
 lines won't wrap;
 ENDIF
 this is useful for:
 * pasting preformatted text;
 * algorithm descriptions;
 * program source code;
 * [[Wikipedia:ASCII art|]];
 * chemical structures;
 * league tables for [[sports roleplaying]].
Centered text.
<center>Centered text.</center>

A horizontal dividing line: this is above it


and this is below it.

  • Mainly useful for separating threads on Talk pages.
  • Also used to disambiguate within an article without creating a separate page.
A [[horizontal dividing line]]:
this is above it
----
and this is below it.

Links, URLs, and images

  • Wrap an article's name in brackets [[like this]] to create a link
  • To give the link a new name use a pipe, [[like this|do this]]
  • Use a pipe to automatically hide stuff in parentheses: [[Ban of Death Penalty (failed)|]]