Help:Contents
From Tip Sense
Writing pages for this web site is really easy - at least for all the basic stuff.
Guidelines and Policies
Structure of a Tip Article page
Just because there is a one page detailed information on structure of a Tip Article, it doesn't mean to scare you.
Because when you create a new Tip Article by following Start a New Tip Article button at front page of Tip Sense. An empty template already created for you. All you do is simply fill in the template. However it is a good idea to know details about structure of a Tip Article and that is why this page is created. So new administrators and users with more interest can learn from it and eventually suggest improvements.
Click below to know more only if you are intersted, this is definitely not needed for basic page creation.
Trust the Browser
This phrase is one that should be close to all web page designer's hearts. It is very tempting to try to make your page look exactly how you wrote it - with line breaks, font sizes and layout looking exactly like it did when you wrote it. That's a really bad idea. People visiting your page will have set their browser preferences so their fonts might be different from yours - and they will probably have a different screen size and resolution and will have resized the window differently from you.
So give it up. Describe what you want in broad terms and 'Trust the Browser' to make everything look nice - don't fight it.
Text
Text is just text - you can put line breaks anywhere in your writing and put as many spaces as you like within the line - just make sure you start each line in column 1 with no leading spaces. If you want to start a new paragraph, just leave a blank line.
This is a line of text.
...and...
This is a line of text.
...both come out looking like:
- This is a line of text.
Of course if your text is wider than the space the browser has to fit it in, it will wrap it automatically onto the next line. But aside from that, whatever text you type into the file comes out reading the same in the browser.
However it's probably best to get into the habit of NOT breaking up paragraphs into lots of lines because there are other special circumstances in which you don't want to do that.
Boldface and italics
To put a word or phrase into italics, place two single quotes either side of it, use three single quotes for boldface if you want both together, use five single quotes (two to get italics plus another three for boldface):
This is plain, ''this is in italics'', '''this is in boldface''' and '''''this is both together'''''.
Comes out looking like:
- This is plain, this is in italics, this is in boldface and this is both together.
Titles and subtitles
The main title of the document is put onto the page automatically - so you don't start an article with a big fancy title. After that, you put title text on a line by itself with equals signs on the beginning and end. The more equals signs, the less significant your text will look.
So:
= This is a major title = == This is a normal title == === This is a subtitle === ==== This is a four equals signs ==== ===== This is a five equals signs ===== ====== This is a six equals signs ======
(You can't go beyond six).
This looks like:
This is a major title
This is a normal title
This is a subtitle
This is four equals signs
This is five equals signs
This is six equals signs
If an article has more than three titles/subtitles, an index will automatically be placed at the top of the page just before the first title/subtitle. Hence everything before the first title can be considered to be in introduction.
As a matter of style, avoid using the single '=' form because it's the top level title (which has already been provided for you). Using single '=' sections after '==' sections messes up the numbering scheme in the index (look at the index at the top of this article!). Sections with four or more equals signs get harder to distinguish - and the headings start to look less noticable than regular text - so limiting yourself to three equals signs is probably good form.
Horizontal Rules
Use four or more hyphens ('-') to make a horizontal line across the page. Use these sparingly because the major title and title commands put horizontal rules in automatically.
---- ---- ----
Looks like:
Indentation
You can indent a paragraph by starting it with a colon (':') - you can double indent it with two colons and so on. However, if you put a line break in your text, the indentation level is reset to zero.
This is not indented. : This is indented once :: This is indented twice ::: Three times! : Back to once Not at all.
Looks like:
- This is not indented.
- This is indented once
- This is indented twice
- Three times!
- This is indented twice
- Back to once
- This is indented once
- Not at all.
Code sections
If you start a line with one or more space characters, it is assumed to be some sort of example code or something. It comes out in a fixed-pitch font, surrounded with a dotted line box.
Like this!
So it's important not to put extra spaces on the beginnings of lines.
Lists
You can have lists of items that begin with bullets or numbers like this:
* This is a bulletted list * This is the second item in the list ** With two asterisks you get a list-within-a-list ** This is the second item in that inner list * And this is back to the main list again
Which looks like this:
- This is a bulletted list
- This is the second item in the list
- With two asterisks you get a list-within-a-list
- This is the second item in that inner list
- And this is back to the main list again
For numbered lists, use a '#' instead of the '*' symbol:
# This is a numbered list # This is the second item in the list ## With two hash marks you get a list-within-a-list ## This is the second item in that inner list # And this is back to the main list again
Which looks like this:
- This is a numbered list
- This is the second item in the list
- With two hash marks you get a list-within-a-list
- This is the second item in that inner list
- And this is back to the main list again
..and you can mix the two:
* This is a bulletted list *# Which has a numbered list inside it *# This is the second numbered item. * And this is back to the bulletted list
- This is a bulletted list
- Which has a numbered list inside it
- This is the second numbered item.
- And this is back to the bulletted list
- This is a bulletted list
Be careful not to put blank lines into a numbered list because it messes up the numbering sequence.
Yet another kind of list is a 'definition list' which has words or short phrases followed by their definitions:
;Antidisestablismentarianism : The longest word in the english language. ;A : One of the shortest words. ;I before E except after C : A rule that only sometimes works.
...comes out as:
- Antidisestablismentarianism
- The longest word in the english language.
- Aardvark
- The first word in the dictionary.
- "I before E except after C"
- A spelling rule that works most of the time.
Links
Linking to other pages in the same Wiki is easy - just enclose the title of the page with two square bracket pairs:
This links to [[some other page]].
Looks like:
- This links to some other page.
The capitalisation is important - all Wiki page titles are forced to start with a capital letter - but the link will work even if the first letter isn't capitalised in the link. However, all other capital letters have to be exactly right or things don't always come out right. If the link title isn't the text you'd like to use in the words to be clicked on, you can use different words like this:
This links to [[some other page|a really '''interesting''' page]]!
Looks like this:
- This links to a really interesting page!
...but when you click on the highlighted text, it takes you to the article named some other page.
Links to regular websites are also possible and take various forms:
This links to http://www.wikiratedtips.com This also links to my website[http://www.wikiratedtips.com] This links to [http://www.wikiratedtips.com Wiki Rated dot Org]
- This links to http://www.TipSense.org
- This also links to my website[1]
- This links to Tip Sense dot Org
Notice that hyperlinks are made even without any square brackets at all! Remember only to use single brackets and not use a vertical bar to separate the human-readable name from the URL.
Pictures
When you need to add a picture (or a sound or a movie, actually) you should first upload it into the Wiki using the Upload file link from the menu on the left. The title of the image will be something like 'Image:My file name.png'. It's not exactly the name of the original file - so make sure you cut/paste it from the title of the image when you uploaded it.
You can add it into the page like this:
[[Image:Iamcute.png]]
Which displays the image simply like this:
You can put a frame around the picture with optional text to describe it using '|frame':
[[Image:Iamcute.png|frame]] [[Image:Iamcute.png|frame|The 'Baker' coat of arms]]
Which displays the image like this:
| | The 'Baker' coat of arms |
However, you'd often like to have your text flow around the image. In that case, you can add '|right', '|left' or '|center' after the name of the file:
[[Image:Iamcute.png|right]]
...this puts the image over to the right side of the page and lets the text flow down to the left of it. Put the image tag BEFORE the text that describes it. Using '|none' stops text from flowing around the image.
You can control the size of the image you end up with using '|XXXpx' (where 'XXX' is the size of the image in pixels):
[[Image:Iamcute.png|25px]] [[Image:Iamcute.png|50px]] [[Image:Iamcute.png|150px]] [[Image:Iamcute.png|250px]]
|
|
|
|
|
You can also make a 'thumbnail' of the image and let your end user decide (in their preferences) what size they'd like thumbnails to be displayed at. If it's a thumbnail, then you can add some description to it as well.
[[Image:Iamcute.png|right|thumb|The 'Baker' crest.]]
Notice that text automatically flows around images so it's common to add a 'left' or a 'right' command.
When text is flowing around an image and you'd like it to stop flowing and restart after the bottom of the image, you can use the magic words:
<br style="clear:both" />
...like this:
Image Galleries
Using the image link commands is great for sticking one or two pictures into an article - but for large numbers of images, you need to organise them into a gallery.
The basic syntax is:
<gallery> Image:Goldfish.jpg | The [[Main Page]] icon Image:Goldfish.jpg | A caption Image:Goldfish.jpg Image:Goldfish.jpg | Another caption. Image:Iamcute.png Image:Goldfish.jpg | </gallery>
 The Main Page icon |
A caption |
|
Another caption. |
|
|
Images are resized and packed four to a line.
Signing your name
You can sign your name by putting three 'tilde' characters anywhere: ~~~, four tildes adds the data and five tildes gives you JUST the date:
- Three tildes produces: Narendra
- Four tildes produces: Narendra 13:49, 2 April 2007 (CDT)
- Five tildes produces: 13:49, 2 April 2007 (CDT)
HTML
Most HTML tags work too - for example, Using the <strike> command strikes stuff out
There are some special rules to be aware of though[2].
Ignoring Wiki commands
If you want something to be displayed without Wiki messing around with it, you can use the <nowiki>...</nowiki> tags. The text within is still reformatted to fit the page and to remove multiple spaces. If you really need something passed through without messing around then use the HTML <pre>...</pre> tags. Putting spaces at the beginning of the line is yet another way to avoid some Wiki processing.
Tables
This:
{| border="1" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="5" align="center"
! Title 1
! Title 2
|-
| Content 1
| Content 2
|-
| Content 3
| Content 4
|-
|}
...produces this:
| Title 1 | Title 2 |
|---|---|
| Content 1 | Content 2 |
| Content 3 | Content 4 |
Notice that the lines that begin with '!' form the heads of the columns and are boldfaced.
You can leave off the 'border="1"' to have a table without borders - you can also leave off the 'align' command to put the table on the left edge of the screen. You can have tables within tables and images within tables.
Creating a new article page
Updating/editing a section on an existing page
If you want to add some contents to an existing section(s). Because let say you may have more information than already available in that section. Or maybe you think that the information is not authentic or not complete.
- Updating section on an already created page is very simple. Click the link 'edit' at upper right corner of that section, as given in the picture below. (For example as shown in the picture, we are editing section named climate).
- That section will be opened on page editor. You can start editing right away. Once you are done save by hitting ALT+S or by clicking save button at the bottom.
Creating new sections on an existing page
Every page has an edit tab on the top as shown below in the picture. Clicking the edit tab will open the page in page editor. Feel free to create a new section by adding a line in the form ==My New Section==. Save by hitting ALT+S or by clicking save button at the bottom.
Linking a Page from another page
Linking to other pages in the same Wiki is easy - just enclose the title of the page with two square bracket pairs:
This links to [[Indore]].
Looks like:
- This links to Indore.
If the link title isn't the text you'd like to use in the words to be clicked on, you can use different words like this:
This links to [[Indore|a really '''interesting''' page]]!
Looks like this:
- This links to a really interesting page!
...but when you click on the highlighted text, it takes you to the article named Indore.
Linking a state page
Placing a link to a state name is a bit different. You have to prefix :Category right in front. So in order to create a state link you will do something like:
This links to [[:Category:Madhya Pradesh]]. This links to [[:Category:Madhya Pradesh | Madhya Pradesh]].
Looks like:
- This links to Category:Madhya Pradesh.
- This links to Madhya Pradesh.
Linking a User Profile page
Placing a link to a user name is a bit different because user's belong to a different namespace User. So in order to create a user link you will do something like:
This links to [[User:Narendra]]. This links to [[User:Narendra | Narendra]].
Looks like:
- This links to User:Narendra.
- This links to Narendra.
Learning more
Wikipedia has some nice editing guides:
