Editing this Wiki

From LDS.org Help Site

Tip: You can view Video Tutorials that cover the same material as this page but in a movie format.

The platform for the Integrated Catalog help material is a wiki, powered by Mediawiki. The wiki is viewable by anyone, but edits require users to have an LDS Account. Working with the wiki requires you to be familiar with basic wiki syntax and protocol. This page provides a how-to for adding and updating content for the Integrated Catalog pages on the wiki.

As you learn the wiki, feel free to experiment on this Practice page.

Editing Sections

When you edit the wiki, you can choose to edit the entire page or just a section on the page. Because multiple people may be working on the same page, it's best to edit just the section you're updating. The chances of multiple people updating the same section at the same time are far fewer than the chances of multiple people editing the entire page at the same time.

If multiple people edit the same content at the same time, and then click Save, the last person to save will be prompted to merge changes in with the other updates.

Making Text Bold or Italic

To create bold or italic formatting, add ticks around the word, like this:

'''bold formatting'''
''italic formatting''

You can also use the B and I buttons on the editor toolbar.

Inserting Lists

To create a bulleted list, add an asterisk (*) at the start of each line, like this:

* first item 
* second item
* third item

To create a numbered list, add a pound sign (#) at the start of each line, like this:

# first item
# second item
# third item

With numbered lists, make sure you don't have spaces between the lines, or the numbered lists will start over.

To insert a bulleted list within a numbered list, combine the two forms of syntax like this:

#first item
#*bulleted list item 1
#*bulleted list item 2
#second item
#third item

Formatting Custom Spacing

Many of the library tags have custom formatting for the tag examples, such as this:

506f  3
   a  Access restricted.  Consult reference staff.
   e  2017
   b  Includes home address and telephone information. 
      Restricted for 30 years. (SRC/ 29-JUN-2005)

Web formats such as wikis don't allow you to press Tab to create indents. Additionally, multiple spaces are ignored and reduced to one space. (This is standard HTML, not syntax specific to wikis.)

To accommodate the unique spacing for these examples, surround the text with pre tags. When you surround the text with pre tags, the custom spacing and line breaks you add are preserved.

In the above example, the pre tags look like this:

506f  3
   a  Access restricted.  Consult reference staff.
   e  2017
   b  Includes home address and telephone information. 
      Restricted for 30 years. (SRC/ 29-JUN-2005)

Notice that the closing pre tag has a forward slash before it to indicate that it's the closing tag.

Text surrounded with the pre tag also has a unique style to set off that text.

Adding Notes and Tips

You can add notes and tips before or after a procedure by adding

{{Note|Type your note here.}}

{{Tip|Type your tip here.}}

When you style notes and tips this way, the note or tip calls a template that styles the note or tip with more formatting.

Here's what a note looks like:

Internal Linking

To add a link to another page, enclose the page name in double brackets, like this:

[[Integrated Catalog: Tutorials]]

Look in the address bar to see the full link to the page. You can include the underlines rather than spaces if you prefer (either way works).

You can also change the text of the link by adding a pipe after the page name. If you want the link to just say "Tutorials" rather than "Integrated Catalog: Tutorials," you would write the link like this:

[[Integrated Catalog: Tutorials|Tutorials]]

External Linking

Creating an external link (to a site such as byu.edu) is similar to creating an internal link but with a couple of minor differences. Rather than two square brackets, you use one. And rather than a pipe separating the link from the link's text, you just use a space. Here's an example:

[http://byu.edu byu.edu]

Formatting Tables

Inserting tables on the wiki is a little more complicated than the other wiki syntax.

Here's what that table's wiki syntax looks like:

{|
!first column name
!second column name
|-
|first row, first column
|first row, second column
|-
|second row, first column
|second row, second column
|-
|third row, first column
|third row, second column
|-
|}

The {| announces the start of the table and the |} ends the table.

The !indicates column name (optional).

The |- indicates the start of a column. The | is a row in that column.

To add some custom styles with the tables, I've added style tags for some of the tables. If you're creating a new table, it's easiest to just copy over the code from an existing table, such as with Integrated Catalog: Archives-900.

Inserting Subheadings

To create a subheading on a page, surround the subheading with two equals signs, like this:

== Subheading Title == 

This creates an h2 style around the subheading. You can create a third level subheading by using three equals signs. Avoid using just one equals sign, which would result in an h1 subhead style.

Mediawiki automatically generates a table of contents (TOC) when you have at least four subheadings on a page. The general style on the wiki is to show the TOC after an introductory paragraph. You can force the display of the table of contents by adding __TOC__ where you want it to appear. To remove the automatic display of the TOC, include __NOTOC__ on the page.

Embedding Images

Adding an image requires two separate steps: first you upload the image using the Upload file link within the Toolbox menu in the sidebar. Then you embed the image by adding the following code, where sample.png is the name of the uploaded image file:

[[File:sample.png]]

You can add additional parameters for the image file as well, such as a border, alignment, and caption. To add these parameters, separate each parameter with a pipe, such as this:

[[File:sample.png|frame|none|This is my caption.]]

Frame will add a border around the image and caption area. None specifies no alignment (type right or left to specific right or left alignment). The final text constitutes the caption.

Creating Pages

To create a page, add the page name in double brackets on a page, and then save the page, like this:

[[Integrated Catalog: Sample Page]]

The name you add in double brackets will appear as a red link. Click the page name, add some content, and then save it. After you save the new page, the link to that page no longer appears in red. When creating pages, be sure to include the application name before the page title.

Note that when you create a page, the page title needs to reflect the application name. This is because the help for many different applications will be on the same wiki, so a general topic such as "Editing Preferences" might be common for multiple projects. By adding the application name at the beginning of the project title, you can help make the searches more accurate.

Because adding the application name in the title lengthens the title in a clunky way, you can also truncate the display of the title to omit the application name in the page's display. The application name will still appear in search results, but it will not appear in the page title that readers see.

For example, the real title for Library Tag Index is actually Integrated Catalog: Library Tag Index, but it has been shortened. To shorten the display of the title, add {{DISPLAYTITLE:Library Tag Index}} at the top of the page. The page title will display according to the shortened title you type.

Understanding Page Information

Each page has some information at the top:

{{template:integratedcatalog}}
[[category:Integrated Catalog: Tutorials]]
{{DISPLAYTITLE:Integrated Catalog Tutorials}}

The first code snippet calls the integratedcatalog template. This is actually the sidebar file. It's the main way of navigating the site.

The second code snippet adds the page to a specific category. The category helps classify the different types of pages on the wiki. Currently categories are more for administrative purposes than anything else. You can see at a glance all pages that belong to a specific category by going to the Special Pages section and viewing Categories.

The third code snippet customizes the title to be different from the page name. This is important to shorten long titles (because each page has the application name in its title).

Deleting Pages

Deleting pages requires administrative permissions. Instead of deleting a page, move the page to its new location. When you click Move under the Actions Menu, you can choose a new page title. By moving rather than deleting a page, any user who clicks on the link to the old page will be automatically redirected to the new page.

Watching Pages

To keep updated about edits to a specific wiki page, you can "watch" the page. When someone makes an update, you'll receive an e-mail notification. In the Actions Menu in the sidebar, click the Watch link while viewing a page. Every time someone updates the page, you will be notified by e-mail according to the e-mail address listed in in your [My Preferences] page.

If your email isn't configured correctly in your preferences, you won't receive email updates. To configure your email preferences:

1. Log in to the wiki.
2. In the Settings area of the sidebar, click My preferences.
3. On the My Preferences page, go to the User Profile tab and make sure your email address is up to date.
4. In the Email section of the same tab, select the check box next to "E-mail me when a page on my watchlist is changed."
5. Click Save.

Discussing Pages

Each page also has a corresponding Discussion page that allows you to have a discussion about the page's content without actually changing or adding your comments and questions to the page's content. To view the discussion page, click Discussion in the Actions Menu in the sidebar.

To indent your response to a question on the Discussion page, add a colon before your response. To double indent your response, add two colons. After your response, add four tildes (~~~~) to sign your name. Your name is linked to your profile page.

Customizing Your Profile

You can provide information about yourself on your profile page. To view your profile page, click your username under the Settings menu in the sidebar. Here's a sample profile page. When you make edits, your edits will be timestamped with your username. This way others can see more information about the person who made the edit.

Modifying Sidebar Navigation

The sidebar navigation that you see for the calendar documentation is controlled through a template. If you search for template:lucnavigation, you will see the template. This template is then added to each page by adding {{Template:lucnavigation}} to the page. The css style for the template makes it appear in its external-looking position.

Each project will have its own template that will act as a side navigation. Only administrators can update the template.