Welcome to Warhammer 40k - Lexicanum! Log in and join the community.

Warhammer 40k - Lexicanum:Tutorial

From Warhammer 40k - Lexicanum
(Redirected from Lexicanum:Tutorial)
Jump to: navigation, search
Helpful articles
ServiceImage.jpg

Hello and welcome to the Lexicanum Tutorial. The idea of Lexicanum is to develop an encyclopedia of Warhammer which can be worked on by any person, that means even you can contribute. This tutorial consists of a number of individual pages and is designed to give you the fundamental skills and knowledge necessary in order for you to cooperate in Lexicanum.

It is important to keep in mind that this is only a Tutorial and this is not a description of the rules and nor is it a total list of all of the capabilities of the Wiki software. If you need extra detail, you will find links to other pages within Lexicanum throughout the Tutorial. These give more in-depth information than the tutorial but are not needed for basic work. You don't have to look at these pages, but they might help you avoid common mistakes. It is best if you open them in a new window so you don't lose your place in the Tutorial.

If you want to experiment, you should use the Immaterium, a place where you can practice your new found knowledge. There is no need to worry, as everything functions there and nobody will be looking over your shoulder if something fails.

This article is supposed to convey basic editing skills upon which this Wiki is based. Anyone who wants to contribute to the Lexicanum must know them.

An edited version of the tutorials is available here: First Steps.

Most important rules

  • No speculation, no fan-fiction, only official sources.
  • Adding sources and footnotes is compulsory.
  • Use the "preview" option to check articles for errors before saving an edit.
  • Sign your comments on discussion- and userpages with  --~~~~ .


How to edit a page

The most fundamental and important part of any Wiki is the ability for any users to edit, change and alter information on any article that they come across. There are, however, a few pages which are protected from editing such as the Main Page and categories, simply to prevent them from being changed as they are as they should be.

At the top of all articles there is a tab which says 'edit', to the left of 'history' and the right of 'discussion'. By clicking this tab you will be taken to the article edit page which has a central section where the contents of the article can be changed.

For practice, go to the Immaterium and click the 'edit' tab and see where it takes you. There is more information on how to edit a page here.

Show preview button

The 'show preview' button is an important feature. It shows you, either above or below the main edit section, what the page will look like after your editing. We all make errors, and so this is a great way to check your links and spellings etc. If you check your work before you save it, it will save another editor a lot of time and effort fixing any mistakes you make.

Summary box

The summary box is where you put a brief statement of what you have done to the article, for example if you have made changes to the spelling or structure or rewritten the entire article. This helps other users to see how things have changed throughout the history of an article.

Minor edits box

You can mark an edit as a minor edit by checking a small box just above the save page button. This serves to show to others that you have not changed anything substantially. There are no exact rules as to minor edits compared to major edits, but things like changing one or two spellings or adding a category can be seen as minor edits.


Basic text formatting

The Wiki comes with some built in HTML functions, but also comes with some easy Wiki codes. The most common Wiki tags are bold and italic. Text is made bold or italic by putting apostrophies before and after the word several times.

  • ''two apostrophies'' indicates italic.
  • '''three apostrophies''' indicates bold.
  • '''''five apostrophies''''' indicates bold and italic.

It is usual to make the first instance of the name of the article, within the article, bold. For instance, the article Horus begins with:

"Horus (also known as Lupercal) was one of the twenty Primarchs created by the Emperor in the earliest days of the Imperium"

There are two bold example here because 'Lupercal' has the same meaning as 'Horus', and as such is the same as the title but using different words.

Headings

Headings can make an article much more accessible by giving it structure. If an article has sections that need splitting up, they can be divided using headings.

Headings must be put onto a line of their own, and are made like this:

  • ==Lead Title==   (two equals signs)
  • ===Subheading===   (three equals signs)
  • ====Minor Heading====   (four equals signs)

Table of contents

If an article has at least four headings, a table of contents, listing the headings, is created automatically. This feature can be changed with the following codes:

  • __TOC__ puts the table of contents on the same location where it is inserted. This option is rarely needed in the Lexicanum.
  • __NOTOC__ allows it to deactivate the table of contents, which can be useful in short articles.


Wikilinks and internal linking

A major part of Lexicanum is its interconnectivity. The use of internal links between articles helps other users to find out information related to the article they are reading. They are simply words that you click on to go to an article with that name (or a similar one).

When to use a link

The best way to learn when to use a link is to look at articles already produced. Another useful method is to think to yourself "would I know what that meant if I was reading it?". Generally, in the case of Lexicanum, a link to anything related to Warhammer 40,000 is useful, from Cadia to Zoanthropes!

How to make a link

  • Internal linking: If you link to another article within Lexicanum, you must use double parentheses (square brackets) like this: [[ArticleX]]. This would make a link to the article called ArticleX.
  • Piped links: If the link points to an article with a title that is different to that of the link, you can specify a different title for that link. This is done by putting a Pipe ( | ) after the article name you are linking to and then write the name you want it to display after the pipe, like this: [[Blackstone Fortress|Talismans of Vaul]] where 'Blackstone Fortress' is the article and 'Talismans of Vaul' will be the link wording.
  • Linking to headings: If you want to link to a sub heading of an article, the link should look like this: [[Imperium#History_of_the_Imperium]]. In order to adapt it to the text it's best to write it as a pipe link [[Imperium#History_of_the_Imperium|History of the Imperium]] -> History of the Imperium
  • External linking: External links are created like this: [http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Main_Page Word] (note the blank space) becomes Word. Without the linking term the link is shown as a number: [1]
  • Interlexicanum: This Lexicanum is part of the Interlexicanum, which is composed of several Warhammer Wikis. In order to link to these Wikis use the following codes:
lex_de_wh40k

Warhammer 40.000 German

lex_de_whfb

Warhammer German

lex_en_wh40k

Warhammer 40.000 English

lex_en_whfb

Warhammer English

lex_fr_wh40k

Warhammer 40.000 French

lex_fr_whfb

Warhammer French

For example, the code for a link to the German article for Horus would look like this:
[[lex_de_wh40k:Horus|Horus]]


Discussion pages

If you want to ask a question concerning an article, you can simply write a note on the article discussion page. You can simply click 'Discussion' at the top left of the article page. If the word is red it simply means there is no page of comments for this article, and you will be the first to post there. Just add your comment to the bottom of a page if it a new conversation topic. You can add a line underneath someone else's comments to separate them. If you are responding to someone else's comments, put your words just after the other person's comment. You can use a ":" (colon) at the start of the line to indent your writing.
Example:

Comment A
B answers to A
C answers to B
D answers to A

It is important to sign your comments and notes.

  • Put ~~~ (three tildes) and it will show your name.
  • If you use ~~~~ (four tildes) it will add the date and time. This only happens when you save the page. Most discussions use the date and time as it is easier to follow a discussion.
  • Using ~~~~~ (five tildes) will only create a date stamp.

It is also possible to use "*" (star) to make bullet points (normally used for lists). Simply put a "*" at the start of the line to bullet it. In order to use numbers, simply place a # (hash) at the start of the line like when making bullet points.


Wiki attitudes

The Wiki principle encourages friendly discussion of ideas with each other. Naturally, there are several areas of conflict and controversy but members of the Lexicanum community are expected to behave as civilised people. It is most important to proceed with only good will towards the other people and not that you are correct and that they are wrong. If someone annoys you, write a polite comment on the article discussion page or user page asking their reasons. Often you will find this way you can avoid a conflict or misunderstanding.


Neutral Point of View

An important basic rule in Lexicanum is to have a "neutral point of view". It is therefore meant that all relevant material is accepted regarding a topic. This helps to allow an article to show all sides of the argument. Our goal is to be informative, not to try to change people's minds towards our own views. Often both sides are convinced that their view is correct, but in Lexicanum both sides are represented.


Copyright

Please do not copy straight from other web pages and protected works without permission of the owners. The best articles are often written by people who know the subject well or who are using several sources of information.


If you have any further questions...

We tried to keep this tutorial as short as possible to get you contributing quickly with Wiki sites. This means that many points are not explained in detail. Below are a list of useful sites to expand your knowledge of Wiki language. If something particularly interests you, you can read the pages below or bookmark them for later.

  • Help - an overview of relevant assistance sites.
  • FAQ - frequently asked questions.
  • Forum - further questions can be placed here.