Help:Wiki User Questions
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[edit] Overview
Ask your question as a level 4 header, and please add it to the top of the questions list (to show it's the most recent question). The admin (or someone else knowledgeable) will reply. Depending the question, the response may be written up as a new help document and added to the help:Contents page, and noted as such.
[edit] Q/A
[edit] Q: Questions about the next and previous navigation and chapter or SIG page template
(Questions and response moved to discussion page, as they were more discussion oriented. See section on Previous-Next Navigation.)
[edit] Q: What's the best way to add navigation between pages to MediaWiki pages? For example, to add "Return to Forum Help" to each page of the Forum Help? Should our authors use a template page?
In general, templates are indeed a very good way to develop navigation schemes but they are not the only way to do it; categories could work too under certain situations. Ultimately it just depends on what you need the navigation for, and what is easier for page collaborators to work with. For comparison, see the category:STC Organization indexes, which demonstrate both category and template navigation use.
See help:Understanding and Using Templates for more discussion on using templates effectively.
(Discussion moved to discussion page.)
[edit] Q: Why does the Contents not show up on the Projects page? (Flagged as an authoring question.)
Table of Contents are generated automatically on any page when a page has at least third-level (h3) structure. The page title is h1, h2 are double equals signs (==), and if you put an h3 (===) under a h2 section, the ToC will automagically appear. It doesn't show up there now because there's no h3 structure.
- Note: If you ever want to hide a ToC from a given page, add the following syntax to the very top of the page:
__NOTOC__.
[edit] Q: What is the best way to include the date and time stamp in a discussion post? (Flagged as a collaboration question.)
Destry 09:11, 24 July 2007 (UTC) In MediaWiki terminology, the "date and time stamp" is called a signature (your username linked to your user page plus date and time). The best way to use it is in the manner you prefer, but there are two ways to choose from:
- either type four tildes in a row (
~~~~),
- or use the signature button at top of editor ().
- Note: when many people are commenting in series on a discussion page, it's generally better practice to start your comment with the signature rather than use it at the end of your comment. Doing so provides better distinction between each person's comments. I'm using my signature here at the end because in this case the questions and answers already provide clear distinction between dialog.
[edit] Q: On the Recent changes page, two entries for 23 July changes made by Destry show (Corrected markup for BBCode example). What is the source of this explanation of the change? (Flagged as a collaboration question.)
Destry 09:05, 24 July 2007 (UTC) : When you're in page edit mode, and you're about to make a save of your edits, you'll see a text box labeled "Summary" immediately above the Save page (etc.) buttons. You can use the text box to make a short comment about the change. Making such a note is not required, but it is a nice thing to do for collaborative reasons, as it shows up in the list of special:Recentchanges, which immediately gives collaborators a clue if they want to specifically know where to look in the page.
- Tip: It's often very useful (even recommended) to use the "minor edit" feature when you make only a small page edit, like rewording a sentence, fixing a typo, or something similar on a small scale that is not introducing new concepts in the text. This is especially important when people start "watching" pages and getting email notifications of page changes. There's nothing worse than getting an inbox full of notifications for nothing more than a few typo fixes by someone else. Please, when making a small page edit, use the "minor edit" check box. You can find it just above the Save page button in edit mode.
