Help:Editing
| Help |
 |
| Getting Started |
|---|
| Basic Editing |
| Advanced Formatting |
|
Templates |
| Collaboration |
|
Community action |
Create: To create a new page use our page creation form. Simply enter a title for your new article and click the "Create page" button. You will then be allowed to enter text in a new blank page.
Edit: Almost every CreationWiki page has a link at the top that says "Edit". This link lets you do exactly what it says - edit the page you're looking at. Pages with subheadings will also have "edit" links beside the section heading that will allow you to just open the sub-section in an edit window.
Practice: Whenever you want to experiment without worry, you can always do it in the Practice page. It's a "safe area" of sorts. Try it! Open the practice page then click the "edit" link. You'll see the source code for that page. Write something pithy or amusing, or just say hello. Then save it and see what you've done.
Editing Toolbar
The toolbar above the editing window contains buttons that apply formatting shortcuts for the following:
- Bold -
- Italics -
- Internal link -
- External link -
- Headline -
- Embedded image -
- Media file link -
- Mathematical formula -
- Ignore wiki formatting -
- Your signature with timestamp -
- Horizontal line -
- Image gallery -
The shortcut buttons place special characters around the text that can also be added manually. For example, the (bold, italics, and internal link) buttons insert the following special characters around the text you specify: '''bold''', ''italics'' and [[internal links]].
There are other formatting features that must be applied manually. For help with formats not available as toolbar buttons consult our formatting help page. This page contains helpful instructions on a number of page features such as tables, headings, bullets, and graphics. Samples of each of these options are provided along with code that can be copied directly.
Show preview
This feature allows you to see what the page will look like after your edit, even before you save. Try making an edit in the practice page then clicking the "Show preview" button at the bottom of the page. We all make mistakes, and this lets you catch them immediately. If you make a habit of using Show preview before saving, you'll save yourself and other editors a lot of trouble. It also lets you try out format changes without actually changing the article until you're satisfied.
This is especially important if you think you may be making other edits on the page. It is a good idea to just Save once, to keep the page history uncluttered. Saving less often is also a way of avoiding edit conflicts, which occur when two editors try to change a page at the same time. However, when you change large amounts of text you should consider doing this in succesive steps (e.g. one paragraph at a time) so that others can follow your edits more easily.
Creating Links
- Main Article: Linking Help
There are four types of Wiki links - two of which can be created using buttons on the editing toolbar.
- internal links to other pages in the wiki, (toolbar button ().
- external links to websites ().
- inter-wiki links (links to other wikis)
- inter-language links to other language versions of the same wiki
Internal Links
An "internal link" is one that forwards the user to an article within the CreationWiki. To create an internal link, highlight a word or phrase, which is the title of a CreationWiki article and press the "Internal Link" button above the editing window 
. This button simply places two brackets (i.e. [[sample title]] ) around the text as shown causing the text to become a link to the forementioned article. If no article exists with the specified title, the link will appear red (i.e. sample title).
External Links
An "external link" is one that forwards the user to an offsite address. To create an external link, highlight the webaddress and click the "External Link" button 
. This button will simply place single brackets around the web address you specified (i.e. [http://example.com] ). Please do not allow internet URLs to be visible on your page.
Note: that the only difference between an internal and external link is the use of double [[]] instead of single [] brackets.
Editing Etiquette
- Main Article: CreationWiki:Etiquette
Before saving your changes, users may want to enter a very brief summary of their change(s) in the Edit summary box. The Edit Summary box can be found below the edit window between the Save and Preview buttons. For example, if you just enter "typo", the administrators will know you made a minor spelling or punctuation correction, or some other small change.
You can also mark an edit as "Minor edit" by checking the appropriate box before you save. This is used to show others that your edit is not something substantive. There's no strict guideline on when to do this, but certainly spelling corrections and minor format changes are minor edits. Changing page content is not considered a minor edit.
More Help?
Are you wanting to get involved with the CreationWiki, but not sure where you can help? Consult our help wanted page for a prioritized list of suggestions and pages that have no content, or very little.
For more help on Wiki editing, read the Wikipedia's instructions on How to Edit a Page or the Editing Tutorial
