Help:Editing
From Data Realms Wiki
General Wikipedia information: (Mostly applies here, too.)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:How_to_edit_a_page
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Cheatsheet
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Contributing_to_Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Guide_to_layout
For those who want instructions here, here it is.
Contents |
Editing basics
Review policy and conventions
- Make sure that you submit information which is relevant to Cortex Command, or your content might be deleted. You can always use the talk pages to ask questions or check to see if your idea will be accepted.
Start editing
- To start editing a page, click the Edit link. This brings you to the edit page: a page with a text box containing the wikitext - the editable code from which the server produces the finished page. If you just want to experiment, please do so in the Sandbox, not here.
Type your changes
- You can just type your text. However, also using basic wiki markup (examples of which can be found below) adds to the value of your contribution.
Summarize your changes
- Write a short edit summary in the small field below the edit-box. You may use shorthand to describe your changes, as described in Wikipedia's edit summary legend.
Preview before saving
- When you have finished, click Show Preview to see how your changes will look before you make them permanent. Repeat the edit/preview process until you are satisfied, then click Save page and your changes will be immediately applied to the article.
Dummy edit and null edit
- If the wikitext is not changed, no edit will be recorded and the edit summary is discarded. A dummy edit is a change in wikitext that has no effect on the rendered page, such as changing the number of newlines at some position from 0 to 1 or from 2 to 3 or conversely (changing from 1 to 2 makes a difference, see below). This allows an edit summary, and is useful for correcting a previous edit summary, or an accidental marking of a previous edit as "minor" (see below).
- To refresh the cache of some item in the database a lesser kind of dummy edit, called a null edit, may be sufficient: one that does not cause any change in the wikitext, and no entry in the history, in Recent Changes, etc.: this can be done by opening the edit window and saving; a section edit is sufficient.
Minor edits
- When editing a page, a logged-in user has the option of flagging the edit as a "minor edit". This feature is important, because users can choose to hide minor edits in their view of the Recent Changes page, to keep the volume of edits down to a manageable level.
- Deciding when to use this feature is a matter of personal preference. The rule of thumb is that an edit of a page that consists of spelling corrections, formatting, and minor rearranging of text should be flagged as a "minor edit". A major edit is basically something that makes the entry worth revisiting for somebody who wants to watch the article rather closely. So any "real" change, even if it is a single word, should be flagged as a "major edit".
- The reason for not allowing a user who is not logged in to mark an edit as minor is that vandalism could then be marked as a minor edit, in which case it would stay unnoticed longer. This limitation is another reason to log in.
