Help:Contents

From ArticleWorld


This is a help page for editors. If you are not yet an editor, join here first.

It list links to various pages explaining the syntax and how to use the wikipedia. This is a new site and I am myself new to the mediawiki so please feel free to add your own comments to help other editors.

Contents

Mediawiki

ArticleWorld.org uses the open source software mediawiki. Current version is 1.6.3

On the following page you will find a user guide. http://meta.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Help

Editor section

The editor section is at: http://meta.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Help:Editor

The Syntax

Read this article about the mediawiki syntax so that you can write attractive articles.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:How_to_edit_a_page

And

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Editing_FAQ

Images

==Header I==
[[Image:Main_reception.jpg|right|thumb|200px|Lounge]] //See help on how to insert images

Paragraph text goes here...

<br style="clear:both;"> //The next header will not be truncated

==Header II==

Guidelines on writing articles

Follow the wikipedia guidelines when you write:

Clear, informative, and unbiased writing is always more important than presentation and formatting.

Quality, neutrality, source citation inline or as a footnote, good interlinking...

As we are doing a major change of the wikipedia source, the discussion about the article also a very important source.

Read this excellent guide: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Guide_to_writing_better_articles

Read the 'Tips on editing articles' and 'Major Changes' at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:How_to_edit_a_page#Tips_on_editing_Wikipedia_articles

Editing, layout, style guidelines

Please read the following pages before writing an article http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:How_to_edit_a_page#More_information_on_editing_wiki_pages

Article organization

Our ArticleWorld.org mediawiki is organized by categories and articles them same way as the wikipedia.

The main page categories are from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Browse

As organazing a site is quite a challenge, I decided to start by using the same titles for the categories and articles.

Note: Red links mean that the category or article is not written yet and has to be written. Click on this red link to be redirected to a page where you can write in this new category.

Categories and articles

  • You can read more about categories here:

http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Help:Category

  • To create a new article:

http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Help:Starting_a_new_page

  • Always make sure that an article is linked to his category by adding the category code:

http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Help:Category#Putting_an_item_in_a_category

  • New category should be correctly linked to its upper category and so on until list in the main page. Use this code:

http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Help:Category#Subcategories

  • In category pages, the sub-categories and related articles are automatically listed.

Interlinks between articles

  • Here you can find out how to link:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:How_to_edit_a_page#Links_and_URLs

  • It's important to add internal links in your paragraphs even if the article doesn't exist yet. When people access the article, they want to have more info about some words and need to be redirected to a new article.

The link will appear in red, meaning that the article has yet to be written. To give you an idea of what type and the density of internal links, have a look at the wikipedia related article.

  • If an article is not written, it's important for you to write it asap and to link it to it's related categories until the main page as explained previously. Don't create a link if you are not going to write the article on it.

Please follow the wikipedia guidelines at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Guide_to_layout#Links

What to write in an article

In order to make the research minimal, inspire yourself from the corresponding existing article and discussion of the article in the wikipedia. You can use other sources but always cite them so that other editors can continue your work (no source citation was a big flow of the wikipedia). Once again, it's important that all content be original otherwise it will harm the whole site. Some layout guides: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Guide_to_layout

Presentation should be clear with:

  • An excellent good Introduction
  • Paragraphs with the useful infos for further discussion.

In the future, these articles will be completed.

  • Further reading references would be good.

Where to start?

2 options are available:

  1. I can give a general category to write on.

In this case, start by creating the category (click on the link of the category in the main page). For example let say the category 'Games' After clicking on Games in the main page, you arrive in a new category page (notice the url). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Games Edit it to have a better understanding (Note that the sub categories and related articles are automatically added). This category has a few lines of introduction text and a link to the 'same name' article at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Games
So you have to do the same. Copy the category and article titles but not the text (don't forget: no copies, original content or the whole site is in trouble). Also it's important to add the 'related categories' section even if the categories doesn't exist. They will exist in the future. Then, once the category and related article is written, write some of the other articles listed in the wikipedia category. Choose those articles so that they appeal to you and are should be common subjects (ask me if you're not sure). The wikipedia contains one million articles so if you can write 5 to 10 articles per category that would be enough to start. It's always possible to continue later. To create an article, just write the url of the article http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Article
Don't forget to link it to the right category using the syntax explain previously. Then, once those articles are created, create new categories. Once again, use the wikipedia category to have the right category titles and choose only the common categories that you find useful or that you want to write on.

  1. I can also give you a list of subjects

In this case, write the article directly. Then link it to the upper category as explained previously (use the wikipedia categories). Then create this category if it doesn't exist yet and link it to the upper like the wikipedia. And this until the main page.

Dictionary and grammar check

Always check your article with the Microsof Word correction tool to make sure that your grammar and your wording are correct.

Keeping track

A good idea to allow me keep track of your progress is to edit your own page named User:Yourusername You can access it on the upper menu.

Then you can write info such as

  • urls, article/categories name,
  • Status (to be done, done, to complete, interlinked...)
  • nb of words, date, more...