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TSR Wiki > About TSR > Editing Help

So you want to get involved with the wiki. We have articles on everything for school and university students. Anyone can edit the wiki, so have a read of the questions below and get the help you need.

Solutions

How do I create a new article?

There is a page on which you can create a new article.

I want to edit a page. Can you show me what the wiki coding means?

The wiki uses it's own coding to create pages. At a first glance it may look confusing, but the basics are easy to get the hang of and that is all you need to be able to create and edit articles. Below we guide you through the basics of editing a wiki page including:

• paragraphs
• headers
• bold, italic text
• bulleted lists
• numbered lists
• indentation
• adding links

You can also watch our two editing help screencast videos for the same help:

• The first is for basic editing help.
• The second for more advanced help.

Paragraphs

To make text go onto a new line you can't just hit Enter. You've always got to put two lines in to generate a new paragraph.

These lines will come out
As one paragraph

These lines will come out

As separate paragraphs

These lines will come out<br />As two lines

Headers

A header is the main way to structure a page. The above title ("Headers") is a header. It organises your pages into logical sections, and is automatically added to the Table of Contents.

==Level 1Header==

===Level 2 Header===

Level 3 Header

You can continue making subheaders for 6 levels.

Bold and Italics

Use bold and italics to bring out certain parts of your pages.

I use ''italics'' to emphasise.

Text which is '''bold''' emphasises even more.

'''''I'm really emphatic''''' about this!

Bulleted lists

Bulleted lists are:

• Invaluable tools in notes
  • Good for structuring
    • a list
  • Or getting
• a few points
  • across well

The above bulleted list was the result of the code:

*Invaluable tools in notes
**Good for structuring
***a list
**Or getting
*a few points
**across well

Simply put a * at the beginning of the line you want to turn into a bullet, or more than one star to make sub-bullets.

Numbered lists

Numbered lists are:

1. Invaluable tools in notes
2. Good for structuring
   1. an
   2. ordered
   3. list
3. Or setting out an argument neatly

The above numbered list was the result of the code:

#Invaluable tools in notes
#Good for structuring
##an
##ordered
##list
#Or setting out an argument neatly

Simply put a # at the beginning of the line you want to turn into part of a numbered list, or more than one hash to create sub-points in the numbered list.

Indentation

Indentation

can

sometimes

help

to organise a set

of structured

points.

The above indented block was the result of the code:

Indentation
:can
::sometimes
:::help
::::to organise a set
::of structured
:::points.

Add a : (colon) for every indentation you want your text to go along.

Links

There are two types of links: an internal link and an external link. An internal link is a link to a page on this site. An external link is a link to anything else on the web.

Internal

Go to the [[Exams]] page

[[Exams|Click here]] to go to the Exams page.

The page's name must be spelt absolutely correctly, including capitalisation and punctuation.

External

http://www.example.com

[http://www.example.com Click here] for Example.

You must type the web address fully - exactly as it would appear in your browser's address bar.

Is there a quick summary of basic wiki code?

We also have a quick summary of the editing code for a wiki page on a 'Cheat Sheet'

I want to add my PS to the PS library. How do I do that?

We have a Personal Statement Library to offer tips and advice to people writing their own PS. It contains a number of sample PSs to show people the style in which to write them and the types of info you need to include.

Want to add your PS to the library to assist others? No problem at all. Simply read the guide to adding your Personal Statement. It will tell you what you need to do and what information we'd like you to add with it to make the PS as useful as possible to other people.

I have some revision notes. Can I add them to the wiki?

You might have seen our extensive revision notes. We need your help to make them more comprehensive. Many of our users make notes when revising, so why not add your to our library to help others. There is help available to guide you through adding your notes.

Why not make writing revision notes a part of your revision to test your understanding of the topics and help other people at the same time?

I want to write about xxxxx. How do I do that?

Whether you want to write about your subjects, your university or the place you went on holiday last summer, we have a number of specialist guides to help you write and edit these 'specialist' articles. The give you tips and advice on what sort of info to include in them and guide you in to making super articles.

Subject Guides

• Subject Guide Guide
• GCSE Subject Guide Guide
• A Level Subject Guide Guide
• University Course Guide Guide

Other Articles

• University Guide Guide
• Add a New Career Profile
• Adding Travel Destination Information
• Adding a Recipe

Your Experiences and Opinions

• Guide to Adding Your Gap Year and Travel Experiences
• Guide to Adding Your Work Experience Case Studies
• Guide to Adding an Entertainment Review

Can I practice editing anywhere?

If you want to have a go at editing, but don't feel ready to edit a real article, then we have a practice area. You can learn editing techniques, try out new things and if you make a mistake it doesn't matter.

But also, don't be afraid to edit real article for fear of making mistakes - the wiki records all edits and and errors can easily be corrected!

Video Guides to TSR and the Wiki

Why not watch a video guide to TSR and the Wiki? We have a number of guides on different aspects of the site.

How do I upload an image to the wiki?

To upload an image you need to use the 'upload image' page. When on the page, use the 'browse' box to select the images location on your computer. A picture name is added automatically - make sure this is something which identifies the picture - you can change the name if you need.

If you wish you can add some text to the images page (in the large box). Finally, click to upload the image. Read 'How do I add an image to my article?' for details on how to add this picture to an article.

Guidelines

There are a few guide lines to help ensure your images look as good as they can in the articles.

1. Try to upload .jpg files where ever possible
2. In university guides, the logo images are resized to 230px wide, so make sure uni logos are at least 230px in width.

How do I add an image to my article?

Adding an image involves a few straightforward steps.

1. First you need to upload your image using the image upload page. Save the file under an appropriate name and add "[[Category:Images]]" to the text box on the upload page. The save your image.
2. Next go and edit the page you want to add the image to.
3. To add the basic image simply type [[Images:name.jpg]]" in the edit box where you want the image to appear. Remember "name" should be what ever you called your image and ".jpg" is whatever file type your image is. It is important to get capitals and spaces all correct here, other wise your image won't display.
4. Save your article and it your image should appear in your article!

Formatting the Image

You might want to format your picture. This is easy too. Here's how you can format your picture:

• Align to the left
• Align to the right
• Align in the centre
• Specify the width of your picture (automatically resizes the height of the image)
• Make the image in to a thumbnail (with optional caption)
• Create a 'hover' caption for when the cursor hovers over the image.

So how do we do all these? You can either watch the advanced editing screencast, which covers adding images, or read on and you'll see a few examples.

Always start with the basic "[[Images:name.jpg]]".

By default you will notice the image will normally sit to the left. Hover over the picture and you see you get the image name appearing.

Left aligned, 50 pixels wide

To get this formatting you would type "[[Images:name.jpg|left|50px]]".

Notice how each attribute is separated by a "|". Also notice how the height is changed automatically to keep the same ratio between height and width.

Thumb nail with caption

To get this you would write "[[Image:name.jpg|thumb|This is a caption]]".

This is a caption

The caption text is simply written after another "|" and appears below the thumb nail. A thumbnail image will align to the right by default. Hovering over the image also makes the caption appear.

Centrally aligned, 200px wide with hover caption=

This is created by "[[Images:name.jpg|center|200px|This is a hover caption]]".

This example shows you to be careful not to make your image too big - you should not make it appear bigger than the original file size otherwise it will appear pixelated. Note also that "center" is used and not "centre".

A final few notes on images:

• you can specify any width you want (in pixels)
• you would use the left align feature so you can have text at the side of your picture. The default settings may align the picture left, but any text will appear above or below the image.

How do I create a breadcrumb navigation trail?

A breadcrumb navigation trail appears at the top of every article on the wiki and hows you the sections or areas the article is in. For example the Mathematics article will have this breadcrumb at the top:

TSR Wiki > Study Help > Subjects and Revision > Subject Guides > Mathematics

It shows you the trail you would used to get to the page should you travel down from the Wiki Homepage. Notice the solid line running across the page under the trail.

To create this trail for you would add the code below to the top of the wiki edit box:

[[TSR Wiki]] > [[Study Help]] > [[Subjects and Revision]] > [[Subject Guides]] > [[Mathematics]]
----

So, to create a trail for your article, always start with a link to the home page with [[TSR Wiki]] > .

Next, use one one the 4 main areas, either [[Study Help]] >, [[University]] >, [[Careers]] > or [[Life]] >.

Next, use your judgement to decide what else to include in the trail. Always finish with your articles title as the last entry in the trail followed by the ---- on a new line.

Ask in the About Wiki Forum for more help in deciding what to include in your trail.

What are categories and how do I add them to my article?

Categories should be added to every article. They help group articles together on a similar topic and are another way people can find more content on the wiki.

The categories an article is in can be seen at the bar at the bottom of every article.

To add a category to an article add "[[Category:Name]]" at the very bottom of the edit box, where "Name" is the name of the category you want to add the article to. You can add as many (relevant) categories as you want.

There is a complete list of all categories available. If you want more help on picking the right categories for your article, ask in the About Wiki Forum.

Can I use LaTex of a wiki page?

Yes. You are able to use LaTex on the wiki. LaTex is a way to format text, especially when writing mathematical formulae. We try to use LaTex to create all the mathematical formulae and equations for chemical reactions. It's use is not limited to these areas and it should be used when ever it will benefit the look and layout of a page.

Read the LaTex guide page for help on using LaTex on TSR Wiki.

I understand HTML. Can I use that on the wiki?

The short answer is yes. The wiki does allow a wide range of HTML coding to be used on it's pages. The Wikimedia site has a list of the HTML elements and attributes you can use on the wiki, as well as describing how you can add them to a page.

However, because of the added complexity in HTML compared to wiki code we should try to reduce our use of HTML as much as possible. Where ever there is wiki code available we should try to use that on a page instead of the HTML equivalent. This is especially the case with elements like headings and bold and italic text.

I have another problem or question not asked here

If your question is not answered or problem is not solved here, then you can ask for help in the About Wiki Forum. Someone is around in there to answer your questions very quickly most of the time!