Help:Tutorial

From TinWiki.org

Welcome to the Tinwiki Tutorial. Before continuing with the tutorial please review the Getting started page.
This page will help you to understand the basics and to build a good article on tinWiki.
Keep in mind that this is a tutorial, not an extensive manual.

Contents 1 Editing an existing page 1.1 Show preview 1.2 Summary field and minor edit box 1.3 Save page 2 Starting a new article 2.1 Layout 2.1.1 Introduction 2.1.2 Headings 3 Placing links in the article. 3.1 External links heading 3.2 Relevant Discussion Threads Heading 4 Categories 5 Adding an image

Editing an existing page

At the top of the page you will find the edit button.

Clicking on this button will open up the edit page for the article. Here you will be able to view the contents of the article and make changes. For details on editing see Editing tinWiki.

Show preview

At the bottom of the edit page is the show preview button.

It is important to use this button to see how your edit will look like when you save the changes. Everyone makes mistakes and you can make tinWiki better by proof reading your own work.

Summary field and minor edit box

Before saving your edit make a short description of what you did. For example, add links. If you did something minor like a grammar correction or add a link click the “This is a minor edit” box.

Save page

Once you are satisfied with your edit click the save page button.

Starting a new article

If you have an idea for a new article the first step is to make sure it doesn’t exist yet.
Use the search function to see if the article already exists. For more information on that view the Search for an article page.

To start a new article go to your internet browser’s address bar.

If you want to start an article about Bigfoot you will enter into the address bar http://tinwiki.org/wiki/Bigfoot.

This will open up a new edit page for you to make a new article.

Layout

The layout of your article is very important. A good layout will make the article easier to read and will help a person who is trying to find out specific information.

Introduction

Begin your article with an introduction of the subject. Clear, informative, and unbiased writing is always important when making your article.

If possible, make the title of the article appear in the first sentence. For example, write "This is the tinWiki Tutorial" instead of "This is a tutorial for tinwiki". In any case, the title should appear as early as possible in the article — preferably in the first sentence.

The first time the article mentions the title, put it in bold using three apostrophes — '''article title''' produces article title. For example: "This is the tinWiki Tutorial"

The introduction should be one to three paragraphs long and will give the reader an idea of what the subject is all about.

Sometime articles are short. Such an article is called a "stub".
If this is the case please try to write a good short paragraph that says something about the subject.
Good short articles are welcome as they can serve as launching pads from which others can take off. If you don't have enough material to write a good paragraph, you probably should not create the article.

Headings

Headings or headlines help clarify articles. When there are 4 or more headlines tinWiki will automatically compose the table of contents. Headlines will help the reader find the information they are looking for in your article.

The wikicode for a header is two equal signs on each side of the header text.

== Header ==

Sometimes your article needs to use subheaders.

Using this page as an example, “Editing an existing page” is a header. “Show preview” is a sub-header.

You should start with == Header == and follow it with === Subheader ===, ==== Subsubheader ====, and so forth.

Your introduction does not need a header.

For a discussion on when headers are appropriate, see TinWiki:How to use headers

Placing links in the article.

All tinWiki articles must include links to confirm the data in the article.
Below are instructions on how to include the links in your article.

External links heading

After the article is written you should add any external links that you may have used to write your article. Place the links under the header == External links ==. To add an external link click the external link button or type [http://www.example.com link title]. For example [http://www.abovetopsecret.com Above Top Secret]
Please do not link to other wikis or forums other than ATS.
Links to other wikis or forums will be removed.

Relevant Discussion Threads Heading

All tinWiki articles need to include links to relevant discussion threads on ATS <br/> ==Relevant Discussion Threads== is a header that is needed for all articles on tinWiki. This is the section for where you will link to threads found on ATS. Creating these links is done in the same way as shown above.
Linked threads should be relevant. Please do not link to threads that are closed or have no relevant information. Only threads from ATS are allowed to be linked in tinWiki articles. Linking to other forums is not allowed.

Categories

To add your article to a category you type [[Category:category name]]. For example [[Category:Paranormal Studies]]. This will add your article to the existing tinWiki categories.
When the page title begins with the word “The” it will be listed under “T”.
To correct this instead of [[Category:category name]] use [[Category:category name|Articlename, The]].
For example The NSA should be [[Category:Conspiracy Theories|NSA, The]] instead of just [[Category:Conspiracy Theories]].
For the list of categories please see The TinWiki Category Menu.

Adding an image

Before adding any image review tinWiki’s Image use policy
After adding an image, make sure to include it in the Tinwiki Image Description page.

To add an image to a subject introduction you will have to enter this code.

{{Image| Image=Image URL <br/> Image description. }}

For example

{{Image| Image=http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f299/Umbrax3/DSCF0026.jpg <br/> Tinfoil Psiwheel }}

This code should be placed above your introduction text. Using this code will place the image to the right of the text.

If you are using an image that does not represent the subject and are using it as part of your article, simply place the code where you wish the image to appear. In this case you have the option to display the image on the left side in the page (as opposed to on the right). To display an image on the left side, enter the image code like this:

{{Leftsideimage|Image=Image URL<br/>Image description}}

For example:

{{Leftsideimage|Image=http://www.imagehost.com/ufo.jpg<br/>UFO}}