User:Angel Emfrbl/Newbie Excercises

So You Want to Edit a Wikia?
Its easier then it looks but takes a while to get used to. Its free to edit, fun and interesting, leaving you feeling like your actually part of a community. Like any new place you visit however, it will take some nerves just to say "hi there" to your fellow editors, some editors may not even be nice back but this is like any situation in real life. There is no commitment to edit a Wikia and everything is up to you to decide what to do.

Where do I Begin?

 * First things first, you have a choice between editing Anonymously (which means only your IP address ever gets recorded) and as a Registered User.

Everyone starts off as a unknown IP address which is nice... Except people don't know you. Some wikias will go out of their way to say unregistered users don't deserve as much talk as registered users. And sadly their properly right. Pages can be locked to prevent non-registered users from editing anytime since vandals rarely bother creating registered accounts.

On the other hand, Registered users are regarded as officially part of the community!

That means they have a "blog" option, and can if they don't want to edit the wikia pages can actually just use their blogs to write stuff up. Blogs are actually a good way to experiment with wikia editing without effecting the large wikia community. You may not get any replies, but at least you can edit them freely and their all yours to control!

They also can still edit some pages which are locked from IP unregistered users from editing, personalize their signing signatures and have an avatar for their user page if they please. They can also hide the minor edits (like adding a missing letter someone forgot to editon a page) and leave only the important stuff if they want to.

Either way, both choices will still let you ask for help, so if you really need it, just ask!

How to Talk to Us
Okay, so you just entered the wikia for the first time, before you rush to hit that "edit page" option, before you begin you need to know how to talk to us. Afterall if its your first time, we can't help you if you don't know how to talk to us.


 * Sand boxes; They are useful, more useful then you can possibly imagine. The wikia will start with its own general one already set up; Click here. But if you feel daring, you can create you're own one by this code: User: insert-user-name-here/Sandbox of course replacing the bits where you wish to as necessary.
 * You have a talk page! Okay you might not get noticed straight away, but you can write things on your User page like messages and pleas for help if need be. We also will from time to time perhaps talk to you via this method too.  Messages left here will pop up when you log onto the site, informing you of any messages.
 * Learn the regular members; On the left hand column, there is a link called "recent changes". Clicking this will reveal the most recent actions on the wikia. You can see who is editing a lot, maybe get an idea depending on the time who is still around if you need help ASAP.   More importantly, this will give you at least an introduction to WHO the more active wikia editors are.
 * Note: for your benefit, its a good idea to find a member to become "friends" with, this is helpful for both of you. Even if that editor is just another newbie like you between the pair of you there is at least something to talk about!  Keep an eye out for blogs, some registered users will create them from time to time, but even unregistered users can reply to an entry.  Blog entries also crop up in the "Recent Changes" page.
 * The forum; while its better for editors with at least the basics sorted, its another way to edit and talk to us! Plus like your own user talk page and blog has no greater impact on the wikia so feel free to edit on the forum pages.

Learning those Codes!
Now for the Hard stuff - learning how to edit wikia text. Actually we tell a lie here, its pretty simple. Most new editors will find "Rich Text" the best way to go since you won't be getting into complex coding. For a beginning don't edit in "Source" unless you've got some in first.

When you Edit a page, take a moment to explore the page set up that follows.

In "Rich Text" you'll find in the top left hand corner icons to edit a text with. Most experienced editors will automatically write down the codes, never clicking those options at all, but since you're new to this, try experimenting with those sandbox pages!

Wikia Exercises
Okay, lets presume you're editing in a sandbox.


 * 1) We'll start with "Edit the Page", click.
 * 2) As stated before, take a moment to explore whats around you.

The VERY Baiscs
Okay we'll experiment with the following text:

"The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog".


 * 1) Okay left click on your mouse button at the end of that sentence and drag it along the phrase to highlight the whole sentence.
 * 2) Right click and choose "copy".
 * 3) Go to the sandbox page and hit the "Edit Page" option.
 * 4) Right click again, this time choosing "paste".
 * 5) Look at the bottom of the page for "Save Page" and click it.
 * 6) After a moment, the edited page will come up showing your new edit.

If you've done this correctly, you've now pasted "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog" onto the sandbox - con graduations, you've just made your first ever wikia edit!

You can also skip the "copy + paste" option and just enter any text you feel like, as this exercise is designed purely for the very basic editors who have little editing skills at all. Lets move on shall we?

Text options
If you hit keys on your keyboard, you type things on the editing page... But thats not all you can do with a text.


 * Text appears as normal like this... ("The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog")
 * But you can also make it bold ("The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog")
 * Or Italic ("The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog")
 * Or underline it ( "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog" )
 * And Strike through ( "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog" )

If you've had some experience in a word processing program like Microsoft Word, then you'll know how Bold and Italic text works as it runs pretty much the same.

For those who don't:


 * 1) Okay start but highlighting you text.
 * 2) In "Rich Text" mode you'll notice the tools in the top left corner are divided into sections. The section we want concerns ourselves with just the first four buttons, in the first block of symbols.
 * 3) Click the first symbol. This is BOLD TEXT
 * 4) While you have your text still highlighted, click it again to get rid of the bod text (or re-highlight if you've dropped you're text).
 * 5) The next button will ITALIC your text if you click it. Try this out.
 * 6) And again, it will remove it if you click it again while the text is still highlighted. You can even combine this with bold text.
 * 7) The next symbol is underline.
 * 8) Lastly there is Strike through.

Okay, practice with these options for a a while, perhaps you want to write a lot of text to experiment with all the combination?

If you wish to learn "source", the following codes will let you repeat this same effect:


 * Bold: Bold text
 * Italic: Italic text
 * Underline: Underline text
 * Strike through: Strike through text

So when will you actually use each of these you ask?


 * Bold text is used to highlight important information. For this wikia we tend to use it at the start of a page, when the name of the page item is first mentioned. Usually this is the characters name, as you will see on the page Monkey D. Luffy and will normally be the very first thing written on a page.
 * Italic text is little used on this wikia, but when it does it normally notes the title of something like a official book.
 * Both Italic and Bold text will be used together often for the romanization and Latin written forms of attack names, as seen on pages like the Devil fruits page Suna Suna no Mi
 * Underline is seldom used. You'll most likely see a editor use this in talk to point out something to another editor. (E.g. - You missed that word out complete Zeo).
 * Strike through is also never used for page text. It is purely an editor choice. Most editors who use it will have written a piece of text, usually in a message. Rather then completely removing the text, they'll leave the message in tact to be continued to be read but strike through it to signal its been voided. (E.g.  You're wrong, I'm completely right! Okay... I get it, so sorry, I acknowledge I'm wrong now, please forgive me Nikki).

Once you've got this sorted, that pretty much stage one of being a editor sorted.

And don't forget - check all edits for spelling and grammar!

We can teach you how to edit text, but its up to you to check your own typing unfortunately.

Page Layouts
Almost every page has subtitles (including this one!). to create them you'll need to be in "source" mode. Once you begin to venture into page layouts, you drift away from the basic editor so this can be considered a big step for a new editor.

Remember - experimentation is your friend so use a sandbox.


 * 1) Click "Edit Page" and make sure the right hand side box is set on "Source". You'll easily recognize the "Source" page since there are many hidden coding you simply don't see in rich text.
 * 2) Okay, time to write your first sub title so add the following code: ==Insert Text here==

Make sure the sub title is on a line of its own with no other text before or after it as this messes up the code.


 * 1) Save the page after adding the text.
 * 2) You should have your new sub title in place, congratulations!

Why sub title in the first place I hear you ask?

To make life simple for everyone of course! Different sections of a page will have their own sub titles, so editors can jump to sections of text for easy editing. You'll notice next to every sub title is the word "Edit" in brackets. Click it to see what I mean! Now you can edit that section and that section alone instead of the whole page, this saves a lot of time. For new editors, this also can avoids potential embarrassments as accidental edits and clumsy fingers may mess up more then you intend.

You can also sub title within a subtitle by adding more "=" like so: ===Insert Text here===

They must follow a normal ==Insert Text here== subtitle as they build themselves like a "step ladder" effect. You can also add more "="s to make sub titles of the sub titles, but save this for when you've got experience on your side.