ProPhotoWiki:Tutorial
From ProPHOTO WIKI
Contents |
Who Can Edit Articles
Most articles in ProPhotoWiki can be edited by anyone who has created an account on this site. Once logged in, simply click the edit tab at the top of any page and you will be able to edit the article as desired. If you do not already have an account, you can create one easilly by clicking here.
We kindly ask that new users please carefully read the remainder of this document before making any edits. These guidelines will help to keep all contributors on the same page and should help to maintain a unified style across the entire site.
Complete Articles
Some articles within ProPhotoWiki have been designated as complete and can only be edited by administrators. If you find any errors or ommisions within these articles, please click the discussion tab and make your comments there. The administrators will then make adjustments as necessary.
Style Guidelines
Before editing or creating ProPhotoWiki articles, we would ask that you please familiarize yourself with our editing guidelines. Following these guidelines will help to maintain a consistant experience for readers of this site and make it easier to find important contents. We ask all new users to please read this document carefully prior to making any modifications to the Wiki.
Editing Articles
Editing articles is a relatively simple process. Once you are logged in, simply click the 'Edit' tab at the top of any article and you will be presented with the editing interface. This consists of a large text box containing the contents of the article, a number of options and three buttons to commit and/or preview changes. The following sections describe how to make use of these facilities.
Wiki Markup
ProPhotoWiki articles are written using a special markup language. As such, you will need to familiarize yourself with the basic concepts in order to successfully edit more complex articles. For a quick tutorial on this markup language, please see our editing articles page. For more detailed information, please see Wikipedia's 'How to edit a page' article.
Minor Edits
Most modifications made in ProPhotoWiki are relatively simple corrections of small portions of the article. When making this type of change, we request that users make sure that the this is a minor edit checkbox is checked. This simplifies the job of our editors as it allows them to easilly seperate major changes from minor adjustments.
As a rough guideline, a modification is considered to be minor when it is something simple like spelling/gramar corrections, formatting changes and simple rearangement of the content. Any action that adds or removes significant content in the article should not be marked as minor.
Summary
Whenever a modification is made, we strongly request that you write a simple synopsis of the changes in the Summary field. This allows editors to look over the changes at a glance and see what has been changed. When this field is left blank, we must explicitly compare the versions of the article and that can slow down the process considerably.
Preview First
It is strongly recommended that users use the show preview button to preview their changes before saving them to the system. This allows you to catch and correct errors right away rather than creating a new version. ProPhotoWiki keeps track of each version of every article, so going back to correct mistakes after saving can create unnecessary clutter within the system.
Saving the Page
Once your changes have been made, the settings have been made appropriately and you have previewed your article simply click the save page button to commit your changes. The update will become immediately visible to anyone viewing the article and your changes will be logged by the system.
Creating New Articles
New ProPhotoWiki articles can be created by simply clicking on any red link in other articles. As long as you are logged in, it will automatically take you to the editing page and you'll be able to add the new content to the Wiki. This is the preferred mechanism for adding new articles, as it ensures that the new content will be found.
If you would like to create an article that has not yet been linked to, simply enter it in the search box and press Go. The resulting page will offer a link to create this page. Once complete, it is recommended that you look for related pages or portals and create links to your article.
Article Titles
As titles are the primary mechanism used to connect ProPhotoWiki's content together, it is critical that users take care when creating new articles. As such, we have provided the following guidelines to assist users in naming their articles correctly. While it is not mandatory, we would ask that all contributors follow these guidelines to maximize continuity of the content.
- Capitalization - Please note that ProPhotoWiki titles are case sensitive so the case that article titles are used in is important. As such, article titles should be capitalized in the manner in which they would normally be written in the body of a message.
- Spelling - All article titles in ProPhotoWiki should be spelled correctly to avoid broken links from other articles. Where international variations exist, contributors should use the British spelling of the word (eg 'colour' instead of 'color').
- Product Names - When writing articles about a product, please use the formal model name used by the manufacturer. If time permits, add commonly used variants to the Wiki and link them back to the proper name (see this link for more information).
- International Variants - If different model names are used around the world, select the most commonly known name and use it for the main article. When that is complete, add additional articles with the other model names and simply place a link back to the original article.
Asside from these formal rules, please try to follow the conventions that are already used within existing articles. Prior to adding your article, look for other articles on related topics and try to use a similar format when producing new content.
Redirection
As noted above, where multiple variants of a name may be used (eg depth of field and DoF) it is recommended that users create secondary articles redirecting users to the main body. For instructions on how to do this, please see this link.
Updating Related Articles
When you have completed the process of adding a new article into ProPhotoWiki it is recommended that you locate similar articles and update them as required. If appropriate, it is also recommended that you update associated portals to add links to your new article. This process will ensure that users will be able to locate your article within the Wiki.
See Also
- Editing Articles - Detailed instruction of how to edit articles, including a basic introduction to the markup language used here.
- Style Guidelines - Information surounding the appropriate structure and style of articles added to ProPhotoWiki.
