Doc/EditingWiki

This is a beginner's guide to editing wiki pages.

It will be helpful to open up several browser windows when first experimenting with the wiki.

Wiki Markup

In a browser window, navigate to the page http://www.jsoftware.com/wiki/Testing, then select Edit (or View source) to see the wiki text. Comments may appear between <!-- and -->.

For a more complex example, navigate to Essays/The Ball Clock Problem. The route from the front page is Code Workshop | Essays | Ball Clock Problem. Again, select Edit (or View source) to see the text.

Useful Pages

In another browser window, navigate to the About page. Take a look at each of the main links on this page, and especially note that you need to login to edit the wiki, and read the editing guidelines and policy on attachments.

It will be helpful to bring up mw:Help:Formatting in another browser window.

Experiment

Now that you have some idea of the wiki markup, it is time to try editing a page. You can do this by opening the test wiki site, at http://code2.jsoftware.com in another browser window. The production wiki uses a Blue J in the upper left corner. The test wiki uses a Yellow J in the upper left corner. Select Login, and either create a new user identity, or use the existing one:

Name PeterSimple
Password psimple

Once you are logged in, select the Testing page. Then click Edit to get the edit screen. If someone else is editing it right now, just enter a page name like Testing1, Testing2 etc. in the page url - this will give you a new page for testing.

Make any changes you like, and click the Preview button towards the bottom of the screen. Next enter any comments in the Optional comment edit box, and click Save Changes. Your changes are now saved in the wiki.

Creating a New Page

New pages can be added

• for unrelated pages or similar to existing ones, by substituting a new page name in the Wiki URL and navigating to it:
     http://code.jsoftware.com/wiki/MyNewPage
• or starting from a link in an existing page (typically scripts or essays or other list), clicking which will show the new page screen.

Edit the Testing page again, and enter a new page link, as a line of the form below. Don't use MyNewPage, but instead make up your own new page name.

Save Changes as before and click on the link. This gives another page with a link Create new empty page. Click this and your new page is created.

Next Steps

You should now be ready to edit the main J wiki pages. See EditingGuidelines for more details. If you need further help, email either to the General mailing list, see forums, or to <<MailTo(wiki AT jsoftware DOT com)>>.