QuickStartGuide

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Revision as of 19:26, 4 April 2007 by Wordman (talk) (Adding link to how to change skin)
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So, you want to get started right away, no time for lots of reading? This is where we're putting the minimum information you need to know to get started in ExaltedWiki. There is lots more material, which we'll link at the end. There is a lot more to it than just this quick tutorial, but don't worry, it's all easy :)

WhatIsAWiki

A wiki is a website where every page can be edited by anyone. At the bottom of every page is a link saying "Modify text of this page". Clicking that will allow you to try it. Go to SandBox ( a playground junk page ) and try it real fast. Just type anything in the field. Don't do it here.

You can make links to other people's wiki pages by typing WordsJammedTogether, a.k.a. WikiWords. It's the alternating high and low caps that make it a link. Alternatively, you can put a non WikiWord in [[double square-brackets]]. That way you can make links out of words like Discussions or your name, if it can't be typed as a WikiWord (e.g. hplovescats or Guybrush).

Look around the site and get a feel for what people are doing before you edit. Also, before you start going all crazy with new content or major edits, please please read BestPractices.

What To Do First

  1. Go to UserPages, and add a link to your username. For instance, someone named Dantrov might put this at the end of the list:
    * [[Dantrov]] :: My homepage
    Make sure there is no empy line between your entry and the other entries.
  2. Save the changes and look, your name is there with a golden ? next to it. Click that.
  3. That is your UserPage; add some details about yourself. Put some space at the bottom where people can leave you messages.
  4. Log in under that name. You can do so from the Preferences link at the top and bottom of every page. Make your wiki user name the same as the username you set up above. (If you don't log in then the system will use your IP address to mark edits rather than your username. This is annoying because people want to know who made edits; we recognize usernames easier than IP addresses.) While you are doing this, you might want to change the skin you use for the site to one of the alternate CSSWikiSheets.
  5. Go to Discussions or other UserPages, or check out some places listed as ImportantLinks. For explicit instructions on how to format text, check out TextFormattingRules. ExaltedWiki is a huge place, and you can literally get lost in it.
  6. Observe what other people are doing, and try it! And before you start going all crazy with content, don't forget to read over BestPractices!

Links for the beginner

  • ImportantLinks
  • WhatIsAWiki
  • SandBox (practice wiki code here)
  • TextFormattingRules
  • BestPractices
  • FormatStandards
  • Discussions
  • WikiQuestions

Have fun and remember, this is everyone's site, so let's make the best of it.