How+to+Use+a+Wiki

=How to Use a Wiki=

=What is a Wiki?=

A wiki is simply a website that anyone (at least, anyone with access to the page) can edit. You can think of a wiki page as a text document, like Microsoft Word, that's hosted on the Internet and everyone can contribute to. You can easily edit wiki pages just like you would edit any text document, adding in italics, tables, titles, and much more; you can also create and link to other wiki pages on the same wiki.

The collaborative nature of wikis makes them very useful for organizations of all kinds -- businesses, clubs, religious groups, and anyone else who wants to collaborate with their peers and share knowledge. You can build on and learn from each other's knowledge and expertise, and record and plan group events.

How Do I Use a Wiki?
It's easy! To read a wiki, just navigate it like any webpage. Once you see somewhere to add or change information, you can click the "Edit This Page" button at the top of the page. You'll go to a new page with a floating "Editor" bar. At that point, you can treat it just like a word processor document. Make whatever changes you want, then click "Preview" to see how they'll look, or "Save" to change the page so everyone can see it. If you save changes and then decide you made a mistake, don't worry; you can always click the "history" tab, at the top of the page, to see and revert to previous versions of the page.

Wikis are designed to be intuitive to use, so one of the best ways to learn is just by experimenting with them. You can edit any page, including this one.

How Can I Learn More?
There are lots of resources for learning about wikis, on this website and elsewhere:

Video - Wikis in Plain English [] [|"What Is a Wiki (and How to Use One for Your Projects)"]

How to Post Hyperlinks in a Wiki

 * To create either kind, go into "Edit Mode" for a wiki page, then click in the place on the page where you would like to insert the link.
 * On the floating "Editor" bar, click on the little picture of three chain links attached to each other. A box will pop up with two tabbed choices: "Wiki Link" or "External Link."
 * For links within the wiki, click "Wiki Link," then fill in the link text (what you want the link to say when you read it on the screen) and the page name (the title of the Wiki page). For instance, I might create a link with the text "my boss," linking to the page named "Naava Frank."
 * For links outside the wiki, click "External Link," then fill in the link text as above, and copy and paste the web address into "Address." This is the string of characters starting with http:// that you see at the top of your browser window when you're viewing the page you want to link.
 * Click "Add Link," and you should see a blue-underlined link pop up in the wiki. That's all! Just remember to click "Save" when you're done editing.

How to Upload Files to a Wiki

 * 1) First, go to the wiki page where you want to upload the files, and click "Edit This Page" to go into the page editing screen. Scroll down to the place on the page where you want to upload the files, and click there with your cursor (as if you were going to input text there).
 * 2) Look on the floating "Editor" bar for a little icon that looks like a picture (green hills, blue sky). Click on it. A window named "Images & Files" should pop up immediately.
 * 3) In that window, click on the tab named "Upload Files." Click "Browse" to find and select the file on your computer. Next, click "Upload" to upload that file.
 * 4) After a few moments of uploading, an icon with the name of the file should appear in the window. Double-click on the icon, and an icon with the title of the file will appear on the wiki editing page.
 * 5) Repeat steps 2-4 for as many files as you want. Be sure to click "Save" once you're finished. Once it's all saved, anyone can scroll down the wiki page and click on the file icon to download it.