How To Wiki

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A quick guide to creating and editing pages on wikis built using MediaWiki software.

Creating a page

First, login, by clicking "login" at the top-right of the window. You'll need an account for this. Email the Site Administrator if you need an account or have forgotten your password.

To create a page, search for it using the "search" box on the left of the window.

If it doesn't exist, you will be given the option to create it. The page will be titled exactly with the phrase you searched for, so choose a good title carefully. Use initial capitals.

Editing a page

If you just created it, you will already be editing it.

If you want to edit an existing page, navigate to it, then click "edit" at the top of the page. The "edit" option will only appear once you have logged in.

Once you are editing you can just type.

Formatting and linking

Pretty early on, you'll want to do some basic formatting and linking. Here's a few tips to get you started. Complete help can be obtained here on the MediaWiki site.

The easiest way to format and link is by selecting the relevant text, and clicking on the icons at the top of the text window. This will insert special characters into your text that will be interpreted as formatting and links when you save or preview the page.

Its also worth learning these special characters yourself, like:

  • Create a Level 2 heading like this: == Heading ==
  • Create a Level 3 heading like this: === Heading ===
  • Create a list like this: * First item
  • Create a sub-list like this: ** First sub-item
  • Create a numbered list like this: # First item
  • Create a numbered sub-list like this: ## First sub-item
  • Create an internal link like this: Page Name
  • Create an internal link with alternate text like this: alternate text
  • Create a intra-wiki link like this: [[Page Name]]
  • Create an extra-wiki link like this: [http://csumb.edu CSUMB]

Disclaimer

This page may contain student work completed as part of assigned coursework. It may not be accurate. It does not necessary reflect the opinion or policy of CSUMB, its staff, or students.

Smart Referencing

You can create an automatic list of references at the end of your page by following these steps:

  1. First, add this text in the place where you want the reference list to appear:
<references/>
  1. Then, each time you want to cite a reference in the main part of the page, add text like this:
 <ref>Reference text http:://my.reference.link.com </ref> 

The above example would put a little footnote number in the main text, and then in the references section, an item would appear with the text 'Reference text' and a link next to it (the link is not essential, for example, if you were just citing a journal paper or something).

If you want to cite the same reference multiple times, give it a name the first time you use it, and thereafter just use the name, like this:

  1. First time:
 <ref name="BestRef">Reference text http:://my.reference.link.com </ref>
  1. And thereafter:
 <ref name="BestRef"/>

In the above example, 'BestRef' is the nickname you gave to the reference that you want to cite multiple times.

An example of how all this works is on the page for Coho Salmon Crisis in the Central California Coast ESU.

Creating a wiki table

This converter allows you to enter a table in CSV-format and convert it to HTML or the WikiMedia format for tables.

Links