How_does_one_edit_a_page

It's very easy to edit a wiki page. Simply click on the "edit" link at the top or bottom of a wiki page. This will bring you to a page with a text box containing the text of that wiki page. Then type away, and press "Save" when finished!

Now, the rest of this page is a demonstration of various wiki techniques. After the first few sections, you will have to "teach yourself" by pressing the "edit" page to see for yourself how various effects were achieved!

Usemod wiki experts: please add to this page as new features are activated/discovered. (There are varieties of wiki software. Wikipedia is a "Usemod" wiki.)

Make a new page

Two ways to make a new page:

Edit an old page and put <code> before the name of the new page, and [[ after the name. For example, you would type: [[my page

</code> .  Then save the old page and return to the <code>my page</code> link you created.  It will appear with a question mark after it, like this: <code>[my page]</code><ul>?</ul> .  Click on the question mark; that will open up the new page.  Replace "Describe the new page here." with whatever text you want to put on the page!


Type the name of the old page in the "address" line of your browser and hit return.  For example, in the URL above, you would replace <code>http://www.wikipedia.com/wiki/How_does_one_edit_a_page</code> with <code>http://www.wikipedia.com/wiki/Name_of_your_new_page</code> and then hit return.  Notice that spaces in the title are converted into underscores ( _ ).  If you type spaces rather than underscores in your title, it won't work.  Be sure to make the first letter of your page upper case, or no one will be able to link to it!

Naming pages

Here are some important notes about naming pages:

Names of pages look different in URLs and on pages themselves!  As you create new pages and links to pages, you'll come to understand this.
Notice that in URLs spaces in the title are converted into underscores ( _ ).  If you type spaces rather than underscores in your title, it won't work.
On pages themselves, a page title can have a lowercase letter first, <code>like this</code>--but the link points to a page that has the first letter uppercase, <code>Like_this</code> .
You can still use the old page naming convention, which consists of mashing words together and capitalizing them, LikeThis.
In sum, examine the following examples.
Good URLs:

:<code>http://www.wikipedia.com/wiki/My_new_page</code>
:<code>http://www.wikipedia.com/wikiBacteria</code>
:<code>http://www.wikipedia.com/wikiJimboWales</code>

Bad URLs:

:<code>http://www.wikipedia.com/wikiMy new page</code>
:<code>http://www.wikipedia.com/wiki/my_new_page</code>
:<code>http://www.wikipedia.com/wiki/bacteria</code>
:<code>http://www.wikipedia.com/wiki/jimbowales</code>

Good links:

:<code>my new page</code>
:<code>My new page</code>
:<code>JimboWales</code>

Bad links:

:<code>my_new_page</code> (underscores not necessary)
:<code>My_new_page</code> (underscores not necessary)
:<code>jimbowales</code> (needs two capital letters)</code>

See naming conventions.


Demonstration area
::What follows is an area for demonstrating the various effects possible using Wikipedia, such as bold, italics, numbered lists, etc., etc.  Click "edit" on this page (i.e., the page you are now reading!) to see how these effects were achieved.

New paragraphs are made by simply pressing the "enter" or "return" key twice.  If you press it just once,
like this,
a new paragraph will not be made (as you can see).

:This line is indented.
::This line is indented even farther.

:This line is in italics.
:And so is this one!
:And this!

:This line is bold.
:So is this one!

:Here is an old style link: HomePage
:Here is a new style link: Larry Sanger (see Free Links)
:the text of this link is different from the name of the page it links to
:it really doesn't MatterWhat youType in the...link description.  It's all linked!
:An external link: http://www.nupedia.com/about.shtml
:Another external link: Nupedia about page

Here is a numbered list:
Item 1
Item 2
Item 8
Notice, this line isn't numbered because it's not flush left.
:#Neither is this line

Here is a bulleted list:
*Here's an item

Here's another item

**We can do bullets within bullets, as it were



Pretty nifty, huh?




You can make a line on a page: ----
Or two, if you wish:



You can (and should!) create subpages: Talk


MakeaNewPage?"
LinkToAnExistingPage?"
StartaNewParagraph?"
PutWordsInItalicsAndBold?"
LinkToExternalPages?"
PartakeInDiscussion?"
SummarizeDiscussion?"
BeBoldInUpdatingPages?"


Practice editing pages in our SandBox.  Never again should you ask, WhyArentThesePagesCopyedited?

This page and its subpages need a thorough overhaul... -- LarrySanger