Questions and Tips:
What is a Wiki?
"Wiki is a piece of server software that allows users to freely create and edit Web page content using any Web browser. Wiki supports hyperlinks and has a simple text syntax for creating new pages and crosslinks between internal pages on the fly. "wiki" (Hawaiian for "quickly").
Like many simple concepts, "open editing" has some profound and subtle effects on Wiki usage. Allowing everyday users to create and edit any page in a Web site is exciting in that it encourages democratic use of the Web and promotes content composition by nontechnical users." 1
A small (short) address is better
You can turn a long website address into a small one at Tinyurl: ![[WWW]](http://wikispot.org/wiki/eggheadbeta/img/sycamore-www.png){kind=small}
http://tinyurl.com/
Have just returned from that site with this example from our Wairarapa Wiki:
http://wairarapa.wikispot.org/The_Chiropractic_Health_Centre_-_Masterton
Has been converted to: http://tinyurl.com/2q672y
Admittedly neither of the two look professional, but the short one certainly looks better and can fit on a business card. Anyway, it's something to consider if you display your Wairarapa Wiki page web-address in print (a Flyer). It will save your potential customer a lot of typing, and possible typing errors. The Tinyurl service is commonly used by newspaper columnists. —TomvanBodgraven
Text on a coloured background
You can set a line or short paragraph on a coloured background to place emphasis on it.
| This is an example of what is meant. |
On our Pretty Colours page you can find more colours - feel free to use them. As you will see it is the 6 numbers or letters (in this case EE82EE) that create the different colours. Have fun.
Automated Google maps on our Wairarapa Wiki
It is great to be able to use automated Google maps on our Wairarapa Wiki. If you see a map icon at the top of a page it means there is a map to show you the exact location of the business or organisation. To get rid of the map, simply click again on the icon. If you go to aratoi you can see this in action. This aratoi example also shows other locations of Wiki members - just click on some of the locations marked on the map to see who they are. Remember, you can drag a map around with your mouse. The code for the aratoi example is: [[address(Bruce Street, Masterton, New Zealand)]]. As you can see there is no street number in this example. With a street number the location indicator (green arrow) will be more exact. —TomvanBodgraven
How to add items to the "Events Board"
You must login first for this to work. Just enter text to the Events Board do as you would with normal wiki page. Try to use links to the pages associated with venues, etc. (so if you say "Mount Bruce" you should make that into a link, ["Mount Bruce"]). This makes it easier for people to find out more information on the organisation, etc. You can easily delete the event after posting it (if you make a mistake, etc). To include a picture you must link to the picture externally (meaning it has to be hosted on some other website). Then just paste in the url of the image in brackets. So if the image is at http://example.com/pict.jpg you would put [http://example.com/pict.jpg]. Feel free to include a flyer/other photo. (Just be sure to type the information too!)
Tips: Include the start and end dates/times, the cost (or note if free), a link to further information. Post a week (or more) in advance, if possible. Events are assumed to be open to the public unless otherwise noted.
See all our Wiki pages
At times you may want to see all the pages on our Wiki. To see them in alphabetical order go to All Pages.
Steps to set up your page
We will do a book shop as an example.
Look at the Front page and next to "Shopping" you'll see "Books".
Click on this link. You will arrive on a page with a number of links and some will say | name | name | name |.
Click on "Edit" and we will replace "name" with "Test Books" (the name of our fictional shop). Go to the bottom of page and click on "Save changes"
Your link should now look like this: Test Books. Click on your link (not this sample one) and on the resulting page, click on "Create this page".
All you have to do now is put your promotional text into this new page and finish by clicking on "Save changes". You can come back at any time to do edits. —TomvanBodgraven
How to make a Comment box
You can append a comments box to the end of a page using [[Comments]] (this is what I've done at the end of this page). Typing into this magic box and pressing "Submit" summons makes your comment appear on the page — and automatically dates and signs your comment with your name.
Note: Make sure it's at the very bottom of the page, because when you enter text into the comment box it will simply append it to the very bottom of the page. —TomvanBodgraven
How to correct a small mistake
The "quick edit" method is ideal for simply changing a date or some other small detail. We will use the following line as an example:
Mast erton is a great town.
The word "Mast erton" is wrong and should be together (no space: Masterton)
This is what you do:
1) Double click on the line containing the mistake
2) Click on "Edit"
3) Remove the gap
4) Click on "Save"
How easy it that!
If you do this as a practice, just make sure you put the gap back into the practice line, so the next person can have a go. —TomvanBodgraven
Correcting typos
Correcting other people's typos is quite okay - in fact, it's a very good habit, since it makes our Wairarapa Wiki more readable.
What do you mean by Wiki Editors?
Well, most people are happy to just keep their own page up-to-date. What we need is a group of dedicated editors who are willing to add content. As a group we may decide to do all art galleries. If you have, say, ten editors, we could do three each. We would have a list of the thirty galleries on a separate Wiki page. Each editor would select three. It would look something like this:
Spring Gallery
Autumn Gallery
Summer Gallery
Tom.
This means that Tom will do these three galleries and notify the owner/s that they are on the Wairarapa Wiki. As they are completed he would mark them as done, by using the strikethrough. —TomvanBodgraven
Playing in the Sandbox is fun
New to wikis? Please feel free to experiment here in the Wiki Sandbox. Please do not create new pages without any meaningful content just to try it out! —TomvanBodgraven
What's with the funny looking email address?.
The funny email address looks like this (see image 1) to any visitor who is not logged in with a user name and password. It is to protect your address from nasty little "Trawlers", "Crawlers", "Robots" or "Spiders" collecting your email address, which would result in more spam in your inbox. Visitors can still use this address by simply replacing "AT" with @ and "DOT" with "." 
image 1
If a visitor is logged in it looks like image 2. This allows only members of the Wiki group (membership is free and not excusive) to email each other by just clicking on the email link. I hope this explains it. —TomvanBodgraven
image 2
Update 14/05 I am having second thoughts about protecting email addresses on this Wiki. Many email addresses are appearing on other websites unprotected. It makes therefore no sense to protect them on this Wiki.
The Talk page - what is it?
Each page on our Wiki has a "Talk" page facility. A Talk page is an extra page which is kind of attached to your main page, and can be put to good use. It could for instance be used for price lists, menus, a discussion page, or a newsletter page. A nice example of a seasonal newsletter can be seen on the Purple Pumpkin page. A Talk page is not for everyone. On my own Bindu Design page I simply have no use for an extra page - the "Talk" icon at the top of my page is therefore grey (as on this "Quick Wiki Tips" page), and means it's not active. —TomvanBodgraven
Searching is good
It's always a good idea to simply search for something. If for instance I know the name of an artist, I would just type it in. Go ahead and type "hunter" and hit "return" on your keyboard. This should bring you to a page with a link (the one with the bullet-point) to AJ Hunter. —TomvanBodgraven
How to get your page
If you are not sure how to put your club, organisation, business or potential business on our Wiki, let me do it for you.
If you have a website, simply email the link to me, and I will copy and paste the relevant details into your Wiki page.
If you do not have a website, simply email your promotional text with one or two images to me and I will copy and paste the relevant details into your Wiki page.
Once you have your page, it is soooo simple to do your own edits using any standard browser and an internet connection.
Email: tom@bindu-design.co.nz
Please MAKE SURE you put "Wiki" in the subject line. This will ensure your email is not incarcerated and viciously destroyed by my spam filters. —TomvanBodgraven
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Check out the Wanted Pages for a list of pages that have been linked but not yet created.
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For a full list of pages in the wiki, check All Pages.
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Orphaned Pages is a list of pages no pages link to (lonely little pages).
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Preview before you click "Save Changes." Every save is backed up, so previewing avoids clutter.
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Want to keep a list of pages you like and see when they change easily? Then use Bookmarks!
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Have
Firefox or Mozilla? Then you should
Install the Wairarapa Wiki search plugin!
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Have a large image for a page? Use
thumbnails for a smaller version and a snazzier layout.
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Pressing 'clear observed changes' in Recent Changes will show you only changes since you last pressed 'clear observed changes'
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On Recent Changes, use "clear observed changes" to keep on top of the amount of changes you see .
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You can see what edits a user has made by clicking the "Info" button on the user's page and then the "User's Info" tab.
Comments:
- 1Text take from http://wiki.org/wiki.cgi?WhatIsWiki
