Help: Editing pages

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Easy editing of pages is what wikis are made for. It only takes a few clicks.


Quick Summary

In a nutshell, the steps necessary to edit a page are:

  1. Click the "Edit" page tab at the top of the page.
  2. Make changes to the text. (Note: Click the "Show preview" button, if you wish to preview the changes before saving.)
  3. Repeat steps 2 until your edit is complete.
  4. Type in an Edit summary in the field below the main edit box.
  5. Click the "Save page" button.

Simple as that!

Editing rules, editing conventions, and formatting

The number one rule of wiki editing, is to be bold. Dive in and make changes, we are encouraged to be bold! Make sure you write clearly and concisely, and make sure your edit does something to improve the page. If you're making normal changes to the text like fixing spelling mistakes or grammar, inserting new sentences, etc, then you don't have to worry too much about formatting. When you do need to use some type of formatting, you do it using wiki syntax, see Help:Formatting for some of the common types of formatting used.

Discussion

Every article has its own "discussion page"(also frequently called a talk page) where you can ask questions, make suggestions, or discuss corrections. Click the discussion page tab to reach it. all editors are welcome to create talk pages whenever they are needed.

signature button

Follow the same steps used to edit the main article page. Some differences between article pages and talk pages are:

  • You should always sign your message typing --~~~~ or, equivalently using the signature button which is located above the edit box. When you save the page, The wiki software turns them into the current time and your username.
  • New topics should be started at the bottom of the page, using a level two header for the title (==Title==).
  • When commenting on a subject, your comments should be placed below any other comments on the subject. When directly replying to another editor's message, place your comments below everyone else that has replied to that person.
  • If you are replying to a previous editor, you should indent your comments using a single colon (:) at the start of your paragraph. (Or if the previous editor's comments were indented, use one more colon than the previous editor).

After your edit is saved

You may not get any immediate feedback on your edits. Even if you do not receive feedback on your edit, we do appreciate all new contributions, whether they are fixing typos or adding a new section to a page. All edits made to the site are noticed and checked; many editors regularly review all of the recent changes made to the site.

If you notice that your contribution has been revised, remember that this is part of the wiki process. Each article is a fully collaborative effort, and any editor can revise any part of the page. The most common revisions are to fix typos or add links to other wiki pages.

Even if more substantial changes are made to your contribution, don't be alarmed. It takes most new editors some time to familiarize themselves with the site's style guide and article organization system. Other editors on the site will be happy to help you learn more about wiki editing; having your edits altered is just part of the learning process.

If you would like to understand why your edit was changed there are several possible courses of action:

  • Click the "history" tab on the page that you edited. The history tab will provide you with a complete list of all the edits made to the page, including the editors' edit summaries. The editor(s) who altered your contribution should have given a brief explanation in the summary accompanying the edit.
  • If you don't understand the explanation, add a question on the article's talk page. Click "discussion" to pull up the talk page, and add a question (e.g., "I made an edit yesterday which was undone. I don't understand why the editor said the information was redundant"). The editor who made the change, or possibly other wiki editors, will respond with more complete feedback (although remember it may take a few days for other editors to have a chance to respond).
  • If after a few days your question hasn't been answered, you may also choose to ask the editor on his/her talk page (click the "Talk" link that appears next to the editor's name). The editor will be automatically be notified about any questions posted on his/her talk page.

Reverting edits

There are times when you may need to reverse a set of edits and restore a page to a previous version. Examples include:

  • You just made a major mistake with your last edit and don't know how else to fix it.
  • You notice that someone has vandalized a page and you want to clean up the vandalism.

Note, however, that you should be cautious about reverting any edits made in good faith by another editor. An explanation must be provided if you revert another editor's work (in the edit summary or on the talk page). Reverting can lead to edit wars instead of constructive improvements to LifeWiki.

The wiki automatically keeps a record of all changes that have been made to every article. Therefore, it is easy to access any previous version of the page. To restore an article to its previous state:

  1. Click on the "history" tab at the top of the article.
  2. Identify the version you would like to use, and click on its date/time information. This will open that version of the page in your browser.
  3. Click on the "edit" tab that appears on that version of the page. Note that a red box appears at the top of the edit page to warn you that you are editing an out of date version of the page.
  4. Provide a reason for this change in the edit summary.
  5. Click "Save page".

External Links