Wiki editing

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Introduction

This is a very brief summary of the most basic functionality of the Mediawiki platform, the same that powers Wikipedia. A more through description can be found here

http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Manual:FAQ

Section 4.1, is particularly useful for the first steps:

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

An excellent offline resource (actually online for those subscribing Safari) is the book Mediawiki, by Daniel Barrett[1].

Basic text editing

Any article in the wiki can be edited just by clicking the "Edit" tab in the top of the article. Doing so will provide with a very simple interface for editing text. Some basic functionalities are present with some predefined buttons for various types of editing. What follows is a basic description of the most important editing options available with examples for its application

Paragraphs are identified with blank lines between them. If a blank line is not present text will continue after the initial paragraph


These are the basic formatting options for writing in bold or italic 

''this text should appear in italic''
'''This text should appear in bold'''

'''''This is bold and italic'''''

This results in

this text should appear in italic This text should appear in bold

This is bold and italic

Create a new page

There are 2 basic ways:

  1. Search for the new page in the search box (in the left of the page) – if the term does not exist it will allow the creation of this page, by pressing the link "You can create this page"
  2. When editing a page, inserting a link to a specific definition (see below), even if the page does not exist, it will allow the creation of this new page by following the link.

Using the template

There are several ways of using the template. Two simple alternatives are:

Alternative A

  1. Go to the template page and click on "edit" on the top of the page
  2. Select and copy all the wiki text
  3. Create a new page as described above
  4. When starting editing the new page, paste the template to the edit box and start filling the blanks and removing the unnecessary or unavailable parts

Alternative B

  1. For easy reference, make a printout of the template page. It is not necessary to print, to have the template present in another desktop window or browser tab may be sufficient.
  2. Create a new page as described above and start editing
  3. Start adding the required points to the wiki text form according to the System being described


After editing the page, categories can be added, as described below

Editing a page

These are some of the more common formatting issues

Section headings

To define a heading for a section just use the "=" sign to specify the heading level 

= Heading 1 =  (best not to use it)
== Heading 2 ==
=== Heading 3 ===
...

Bullets and numbered lists

The basic syntax involves the use of "*" and "#". Example: 

*  a bulleted item
** a bulleted item in another level
# an item in a numbered list
## an item in a numbered list in level 2

will appear as

  • a bulleted item
    • a bulleted item in another level
  1. an item in a numbered list
    1. an item in a numbered list in level 2

Tables

Each table begins with "{|" and ends with "|}" in separate lines. Columns are separated with "||" and a new row starts with "|-" in a new line. Table headings start with “!” for the first column or "!!" for the remaining columns . To add a border, the first line should be "{| border ="1" ". Formatting individual rows can be done by defining the style after the "|-" sign. Here's a simple example: 

{| border ="1" 
!Letter !! Number
|- align="center"
|Aleph ||  1
|- align="center"
|Beth ||  2
|}

For which the outcome is:

Letter Number
Aleph 1
Beth 2

Links

Internal links

Links to the internal wiki can be specified by enveloping the relevant words with "[[" and "]]". If an alternate text is to be presented it appears separated by a "|". Example: 

The [[fast | quick]] brown [[fox]] jumps over the lazy [[dog]]s

which produces:

The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dogs

Outer links

Outer links are links to outside pages. Just typing the full http link is enough for automatically create an outside link. If alternate text is required, just use simple square brackets and white space as a separator. Example: 

You can use [http://www.google.com this search engine] to find the information requested

producing:

You can use this search engine to find the information requested

Sub-pages

Several systems may be composed of subsystems. Sub-pages allow for a given topic to be subdivided in several independent sections that automatically ling to the parent. To add a sub page, the procedure is similar to adding a link, including a slash to indicate the sub-page. Example 

The Example DSS system is divided into two main modules: 
* [[Example DSS/SHRIMP | SHRIMP]], for growth and yield prediction;
* [[Example DSS/OYSTER | OYSTER]] for management modeling

which is presented as:

The Example DSS is divided into two main modules:

  • SHRIMP, for growth and yield prediction;
  • OYSTER for management modeling

Categories

Pages can be grouped into Categories. A page can have several categories and a category can include several pages. To add a Category it is just necessary to include the tag [[Category:my_category]] anywhere on the text. Categories will appear in the bottom of the page. Inserting a non-existent Category, will link to a page allowing for its definition.

Categories can be further grouped into super categories, by inserting another Category tag into the text of a Category. A simple example:


In the Example DSS System ™ the Optimization process uses Simulated Annealing a Meta heuristic ([[Category:Simulated Annealing]]), To categorize Simulated annealing as a meta-heuristic just add this super category in the text that defines the simulated annealing category ([[Category: Optimization meta-heuristics]])

An initial list of all categories is provided here for initial categorization of systems introduced in the platform.


References to published work

References to published work can be inserted anywhere in the text by using a special tag: <ref>and </ref> to begin and end a reference to a specific work, which is inserted directly in the text. Example 

However, as Walrus and Carpenter have referred <ref> Walrus M, Carpenter J(1872) 
"The time has come to talk of many things". Sealing Wax press, Vol.1 No.2
</ref> the sea is actually boiling hot.

which is presented as

However, as Walrus and Carpenter have referred [2] the sea is actually boiling hot.


Using this procedure will generate automatically a references section just by including <references/> anywhere in the article being edited

Inserting Images

Images can be added easily to wiki pages following these simple steps:

  1. Write the link to an image on the page [[Image:my_forest.gif]] and save the page
  2. click on the link that appears and upload the image. Make sure the name uploaded matches the link

Images can be aligned to the right or left by specifying the alignment: 

[[Image:big_forest.jpg | right]]

To link to pictures not directly shown up use: 

[[Media:bigger_forest1.jpg | A nice picture]]

Inserting formulas and equations

Mediawiki allows the insertion of mathematical formulas directly in the text by using a TeX like syntax. and two special delimeters (<math> and </math>). For example: 

math>\max\sum_{m=1}^M\sum_{n=1}^N\frac{mx_n-ny_n}
{\left(m+n \right)^2}</math>

prints


<math>\max\sum_{m=1}^M\sum_{n=1}^N\frac{mx_n-ny_n} {\left(m+n \right)^2}</math>

References

This last section is produced automatically just by typing the <references/> tag:

  1. ↑ Barret, JD (2008) Mediawiki - wikipedia and beyond. O'Reilly. Sebastopol, CA. 358pp
  2. ↑ Walrus M, Carpenter J(1872) "The time has come to talk of many things". Sealing Wax press, Vol.1 No.2
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