How to edit the Wiki: A Brief Tutorial
So you are curious about editing the Echoes Wiki? You've come to the right place. It's very easy to make a page and type some information, but things get a little bit trickier when we start to deal with Templates and Images. Let's not jump into that right now, however, and first go over some 'easy stuff'.
Visual Editing vs. Source Editing
The Wiki has two ways to work, and unless you're very comfortable and or have previous experience I would stick to the Visual editing whenever possible. On the right hand sight of the page you'll have a pencil with a drop down, and you can select the editing version that you like.
Source Editing doesn't look too bad if it's just text based, however, it's still generally easier to just use Visual Editing. If working with something more complex it can get messy very quickly.
| Not too bad | Getting Worse |
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Other than that, the Visual Editor is fairly straight forward. Now that we have an idea of how to get text in there, let's create a page.
Creating a New Page/Making a Link
The Wiki is missing something and you have some great information. Sweat beads on your forehead in anticipation of adding to the Echoes Wiki. But what is the best way to make a new page?
There are a couple of ways to make a new page. For example, if you type something in the search bar and it doesn't exist, it will give you the option to create it as a page.
That's a perfectly fine way to make a page, however, it's not going to be linked anywhere. We typically are going to be creating a page from text that is already on a page, and then expanding the Wiki. Let's find somewhere that we can do that.
Here we have the Hunter Deeds, which can use some work. We're going to create a link, or create a page for Sturdy Traps, but you might see a problem. Saturday Traps is the name for both the Deed AND the class trait. We need to differentiate these. Firstly, because two pages can't exist with the same name, but secondly because it's really confusing as a user.
Let's do something like this.
We are going to remove the hyperlink. We could Edit, however, then we would need to both change the text for the link AND change the text that appears on the page. The page that a link goes to does not have to be the same wording, so any linked word on a page can link to any page. It's simply quicker for me to unlink it than change the text for both.
Next up we're going to actually make some links. Since we want to differentiate, we are going to have the pages be called Sturdy Traps (Deed) and Sturdy Traps (Trait). This will allow the two pages to exist and allow the user to easily see what they have at a glance.
| 1. Highlight the text you want to link | 2. Hit the link button or Ctrl+k | 3. The text auto-populates. We are using an Echoes link. Hit Done! |
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Save the page if you are pleased with your handiwork. We will now have some red text which means the link exists, but the page doesn't. Click on the red link -> Create and we're ready for the next step!
Using Templates
If you want to read more on templates you can here. Templates are standard wiki pages whose content is designed to be transcluded (embedded) inside other pages. What does that mean? Templates are inserted on a page and allow the template to create things that look the same very easily. Additionally editing the template 'source code' will edit all of the pages that template is used for. They are kind of tricky but also have their pros and are going to be used for very repetitious things i.e. crafting recipes, traits, items etc.
Here is what a template looks like at it's source.
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Here is a snippet of the source code.
This looks confusing, and it is. All you really need to understand is templates have parameters, in this case: rank, description, stats, and requires. When we copy and past the template, we will input these parameters and everything will look nice.
Let's go back to Sturdy Traps from before and use the Trait template to make the Trait.
- Let's go to the Help Contribute to the Wiki! link that's on the main page.
- After that, click on the Trait link.
That will bring us to here.
Copy and paste the template parameters that we are going to pass in.
Once on the page you want, put your cursor on the first line and simply Ctrl+V to paste.
That will give us a blank template.
Double click anywhere on that black box and we can start inputting some parameters.
For this we can simply put in the description, add the type, and put in the stats line. Congratulations, you've created your first Trait Template!
Working with Images
Let's return to the Sturdy Traps (Trait) link on it's respective class page. We want to add an icon image to the left hand column. We can simply upload an image, name it sturdy traps (trait) icon and all done, right? That won't work, because the Sturdy Traps (Trait) that we created using the template creates a link to the icon, using a specific name for the icon. It's nice because it auto-populates the image, but it is named something specific. Let's add an Icon to it. You can get Icons from different places, I copied this one from the client files using the Companion.
| Click the red link. | Add the image file. Click Upload! | Beautiful! |
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Now let's add that Icon back on the Hunter Deeds page. Get into edit mode, and Insert a column on the table to the left of everything.
If you uploaded the image, things will be a little easier. You can do Insert -> Images and Media, and then the icon will be in your recent uploads.
If someone else uploaded the icon, it will be a little more difficult. You'll have to take the name of the icon and insert it into the source code.
| Get your file name | Add double square brackets and insert it in the table |
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Looks pretty good!
When uploading an image you'll need to
1. Check that this is your own work.
2. Hit Upload
3. Name it and put anything in the description. Hit save
4. Hit use this image
5. In the General Tab you can add a caption or alternative text
6. In the advanced tab you can manipulate how the image shows up.
- If you're trying to get an icon to be in a table, hit the 'Basic' option that shuts off text-wrapping.
- If an image is uploaded on page and not embedded in a template, you can also copy and paste that image anywhere else.
Final Thoughts
The Wiki can be a little daunting at first, but the best thing to do is just keep messing around. The best way to practice images is to work with them, and as always, feel free to ask others how to do something.
For Templates, please do not edit them without talking to others, as there is probably a very good reason that certain things are the way that they are.
You have the skills, knowledge, and +1 Hope now, so what are you waiting for? Go out and save Eriador, and document any interesting things in your travels to share with the whole community.