Wiki Tips
From MySLife DAS Wiki
Looking for Wiki answers? You have come to the right place! Here are some FAQs
Contents |
How to Request/Create a User Account
1. Go to the Request account page to request a user account.
2. Type a user name (Please Do Not use your full name as user name), your email address and your real name.
3. Click the request account button to submit your request.
4. Check your email for a message asking you to confirm your email address. Click the link in the email to confirm.
5. Look for a second email with a temporary password. Use that password to sign in to the wiki (you will be able to change it later.)
Wiki Questions, posting and editing pages
The MySLife Wiki runs on Media Wiki software, the same software that runs the famous Wikipedia. If you need a brief introduction to Browsing, Editing, and Customizing your Wiki Pages, please explore the official MediaWiki Help Page
How do I create a NEW PAGE on the Wiki?
If you search for a page that doesn't exist (using the search box and click go button on the left of the page) then you will be provided with a link to create the new page. (Note that this technique doesn't work if you use the 'search' button).
You can also follow these step by step instructions:
- 1. In the SEARCH area (on the left Wiki Menu) type the name of the page you want to create.
- 2. Click "GO".
- 3. If the page doesn't exists you will get the message: "There is no page titled "---". You can create this page."
- 4. Click "Create this page".
- 5. Write your new page text and make sure you click "Save" (on the bottom menu.)
- See also the Starting a new page tutorial on MediaWiki.
How to create a NEW PAGE on the Wiki
How do I add an IMAGE to my Wiki page?
1. Click the "Upload File" link in the 'Navigation' section of the left menu.
2. Write a brief description, and click 'Upload File'. If you encounter any errors, click on the checkbox marked 'Ignore any warnings.'
3. Take note of any changes to your filename. The Wiki might change any spaces in your filename to underscores (My Favorite Picture.jpg will become My_Favorite_Picture.jpg).
4. Edit the Wiki Page you want to add the image to.
5. Add the following line of code:
[[Image:Example.JPG]]
Replace the words 'Example.jpg' with the exact name of your image file, eg: mypicture.jpg
if you want your image to show up smaller the the actual size and with a border use
[[Image:Example.JPG|border|400px]]
In this case it puts a border around the image and make it 400 pixels wide/
6. Preview or Save your Wiki Page.
How to upload a file to the wiki
For extra help with using Images in MediaWiki, see the official: MediaWiki Images Help Page
Before uploading a picture, look at the file on your computer, is it larger than 500kb (0.5MB), if so it is best to resize the image before uploading. You if you are able to, please check how big the picture is in pixels, if is larger than 1,000 pixels high or wide, it would be a good idea to resize the image. See below.
How to resize images
Please make sure you resize your images before uploading them to the Wiki or copying them into your Flash movies.
The Wiki supports image size of about 500Kb.
Right click on an image and select properties to find out its size.
To resize your images visit - www.resizeyourimage.com. This website will will let you upload an image, resize it and download the resized output.
I tried to upload a file, and I got an error message
The error message is "..This file is bigger than the server is configured to allow. "
For image files (such as .JPG or .PNG or .BMP), the wiki upload limit is 500K! The size limit is so low for images because the wiki turns them into those nice little thumbnails for you. The thumbnail maker can't process files that are too big -- it will choke on them and break the uploader. It's easy to resize your images so they are light and easy to upload. Try this utility from Microsoft: Image Resizer
NOTE: For other types of files, such as .SWF and .FLA the upload limit is bigger -- these can be up to about 10mb.
How do I add a LINK to my Wiki page
There are two sorts of links we frequently use:
- Internal links to other pages in the wiki
- External links to websites
To add an internal link, enclose the name of the page you want to link to in double square brackets. When you save the page, you'll see the new link pointing to your page. If the page exists already, it is displayed in blue, empty pages are displayed in red. For External links use single square brackets.
How to link within the Wiki (internal link)
How to link to an outside page (external link)
| Description | You type | You get |
| Internal link | [[Main Page]] | Main Page |
| Piped link | [[Main Page|different text]] | different text |
| Anchor link | [[#External links|Anchor link]] | Anchor link |
| External link | http://mediawiki.org | http://mediawiki.org |
| Internal link to image file | [[media:example.jpg]] | media:example.jpg |
| External link, different title | [http://mediawiki.org MediaWiki] | MediaWiki |
| External link, unnamed | [http://mediawiki.org] | [1] |
Visit Mediawiki.org Help page on Links for more information (this table was copied from there.)
Formatting pages
How do I format the TEXT on my Wiki page?
How to format text on the Wiki
Making beautiful Wiki pages is a snap, once you've mastered a few basic formatting tricks. Here are some useful links that will show you how to use colors, formatting, and images to make your Wiki pages jump off the screen!
- Media Wiki Basic Formatting
- Wiki Advanced Formatting
- Wikipedia's How to edit a page Shows how to properly comment in the body of page
How do I change the font COLOR for text I am adding to my wiki page?
Using colored text for headers, etc. is an eye-catching way to make your page more interesting. It is easy too! Click on the edit tab of this page and find this section. Copy and paste one of the examples below and replace the sample copy with your own text.
<font color="yellow"> type your yellow text here</font>
- This is blue
- This is orange
- This is magenta
- Other color names to try: yellow, red, green, brown, purple
Here are More CSS Color Names.
How do I change the BACKGROUND color of my page or a section?
To change the background color of an entire page or specific section use the following HTML tag:
<div style="background: pink;"> type your text, entire page or paragraph here </div>
This text will
have
pink
background
How to change background color
Multimedia, flash, video, etc.
How to PUBLISH a Flash movie (.SWF)?
- Open the Flash CS3 Pro application.
- Open the Flash movie you want to publish or create a new one.
- Select "File" from the Toolbar.
- Select "Save" to save your Flash code (.FLA) file to a specific folder.
- Select "Publish" to create the published Flash movie (.SWF) file in the same folder.
- Now you can uploaded the published Flash movie file (.SWF) and code file (.FLA) to the Wiki.
How do I add a FLASH movie (.SWF) to my Wiki page?
First, make sure you have uploaded your Flash .SWF file to the Wiki successfully. Just remember what filename it is called (example: FILENAME.swf) and plug it into the following 'wiki tag'--
<flash>file=FILENAME.swf|width=400|height=400|quality=best|bgcolor=#FFFFF|scale=showall</flash>
You can change whatever options you want, or take them out totally.
How do I embed YOUTUBE video in my wiki page?
Copy the code represents the ID of your video. You should be able to copy from the URL of the movie page on YouTube - Copy all the random numbers after the "watch?v=".
<youtube>XOSx7v87JCA</youtube>
How to Embed a Youtube Video in the Wiki
How do I embed TEACHERTUBE video in my wiki page?
To Embed TeacherTube video on a Wiki page you need the code that represents the ID (viewkey) of your video. You should be able to copy the viewkey from the URL of your movie when you upload it to TeacherTube.
<teachertube>2156c2cf1230e206e657</teachertube>
How do I embed Vidder videos in my wiki page?
Videos can also be posted to Viddler.com
The Viddler tags work a little differently than YouTube and TeacherTube. Instead of searching through the embed code for number, we are just taking the whole thing.
- Go to Viddler and find the video you would like to embed
- Click on the embed this button below the video
- Double click on the embed code field to select it all.
- Ctrl+C to copy
- Paste it in-between the Viddler tags on your page.
<viddler> <object classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" width="437" height="288" id="viddler_2c69e5ad"><param name="wmode" value="transparent" /><param name="movie" value="http://www.viddler.com/player/2c69e5ad/" /><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><embed src="http://www.viddler.com/player/2c69e5ad/" width="437" height="288" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowScriptAccess="always" allowFullScreen="true" name="viddler_2c69e5ad" wmode="transparent"></embed></object> </viddler>
Advanced Wiki
How to WATCH a page
Wiki is all about creating online content, together!
If you want to receive an e-mail alert when a wiki page has been updated by others, you need to "Watch" it.
Here are instructions on How to Watch a Page.
How to Enable Email Notification When Pages Change or are Added
You can choose to be alerted via email when new content is added or old content is updated.
How to enable email notification
