How to edit wiki pages

From the LDC Language Resource Wiki

(Mamandel 15:29, 22 April 2010 (UTC))

You can use the Sandbox to practice editing and formatting.

Contents 1 Category tags 2 Editing help 3 Entry metadata 4 New pages 5 Sign and date 6 Section headings 7 Table of contents

Category tags

(19:43, 22 April 2010 (UTC))

Put category tags at the very top of the page, rather than at the bottom as in Wikipedia. Whatever is at the bottom of the page is treated as part of the last section at all levels. This means it's subject to accidental

• deletion
• moving to another part of the page during editing (making it hard to find if needed)
• unintended retention when a section is copied or moved onto another page

It also means, with long pages, that the editor has to scroll or page down twice to access it, first on the edit page and then in the edit pane.

Editing help

(Mamandel 15:30, 22 April 2010 (UTC))

This wiki uses Mediawiki software. When you start a new page or edit an existing one, there is a link to Wikimedia's Editing Help at the bottom of the page, below the editing window and summary.

Entry metadata

(Mamandel 18:29, 19 April 2010 (UTC))

TO BE DONE:

We should also have some kind of icon or marker that indicates that/when we, the LDC, have acquired a copy of the resource that is publicly accessible (including access to members only, but not including internal access that is limited to LDC people).

New pages

(This section is so far mostly about new language pages. 20:20, 22 April 2010 (UTC))

New language pages are currently (2010-04-14) made by the administrator (Mamandel). They should never be at the top level of file naming ([[LANGUAGE]]), but one level down in their namespace ([[LANGUAGE/LANGUAGE]]). See Atlantean.

At the very top of the page put a category tag using the name of the language. For example, the top line of the wikitext for Urdu/Urdu is [[Category:Urdu]].

Once you have created and saved the language page with its category tag, go to the language's category page and add

1. the category tag [[Category:Languages]]. This will make the language's category page a subcategory of the Languages category.
2. a brief description of the category. The text may vary slightly as needed, e.g.:
   • "The Bengali language, also called Bangla."
   • "The Berber or Amazigh language(s)."
   • "The Pashto (Pushto) language group."

The new page template (not currently on the wiki) includes a great many resources relevant to only some languages. The language editor should check and refine these links and descriptions, and if necessary delete them. These are marked with the resource symbol (wikicode: [[Image:RedRx.gif]])and are generally at least partly in red type.

New pages should be signed at the top when created. See Sign and date.

Sign and date

(Mamandel 15:28, 22 April 2010 (UTC))

Since resources can change quickly, especially on the web, every resource listed should be marked with the date it was checked. Use four tildes, in parentheses,*

(~~~~)

to produce your name (linked to your user page) and the date, as at the top of this section. Five tildes

(~~~~~)

will make an unsigned timestamp: (15:28, 22 April 2010 (UTC))

Sign and date every section you create (four tildes), and there'll be no need to add the same stamp to every resource in that section. That will reduce visual clutter. If the resource's check date is older or newer, a simple timestamp (five tildes) will do, unless the resource information is by a different person than the section. So be careful if you're moving unstamped or unsigned resource listings around.

(This policy is not yet fully in place with the pages that have already been established. -- Mamandel 15:28, 22 April 2010 (UTC))

*Don't use square brackets, which the wiki software will misinterpret in this context [although in general they're OK; see Links in Editing Help].

Section headings

(19:50, 22 April 2010 (UTC))

As a general rule, subsections should be labeled with subsection headers:

=level 1=
==level 2==
===level 3===
====level 4====
=====level 5=====
======level 6======

The Mediawiki software automatically create links for these and puts them in the page's Table of Contents.

Font manipulations such as boldface and italics affect only the display, and should in general be used for subheads only at very fine-grained levels of detail.

Table of contents

(Mamandel 15:30, 22 April 2010 (UTC))

The Wikimedia software will automatically generate a TOC (Table of Contents) for a page with four or more sections. Wikimedia Help provides detailed information on controlling the TOC.

The TOC's section name is generated as "toc", so you can link to it with "[[#toc|Contents]]", which produces the link Contents.