Article source for : Lewiki:Help
{{Underconstruction:Admin}}
Textile formatting help: [[Textile quick reference|quick reference]] or [[Textile|longer description]].
Play around in the [[Lewiki:Sandbox|sandbox]].
h2. New users
After signing up, an e-mail confirmation message is sent to the e-mail address given. Clicking on the link in the confirmation message will activate the account.
After activation, new user can post comments immediately. A new user must wait one day, however, before *creating* a new article. And a new user must wait three days before editing content created by someone else. This barrier is added to help deter spammers.
h2. Wiki links
Bracket case: [[text here]]
Bracket case but displaying different text to user: [[Actual title text|displayed title]]
If the article doesn't exist, the bracket case text will be converted to: <span style="color: #c00;">Text here</span>
A logged-in user can click on the red text link and will be shown a textarea form to be used for entering content.
If the article does exists, then bracket case will be converted to a web link, pointing to the existing article.
This article is titled Lewiki:Help. If you want to create a link in another article pointing to this help page, type [[Lewiki:Help]]. Since Lewiki:Help already exists, the bracket case will be converted to the link: [[Lewiki:Help]] .
Camel Case has been disabled because it's too much of a pain in the ass when typing up a document that contains words in mixed case. It's good enough to use only bracket case.
h3. Bracket case chars
* Alphanumeric plus underscore
* Whitespace
* Dash
* Period
* Vertical bar
* Colon
* Apostrophe
h2. Displayed web links
When mousing over an internal link, the link will become underlined.
External links are always displayed with a dotted or dashed underline.
h2. Meta
h3. Tags
Tags are dynamically-created categories or labels that indentify an article. Tags can be helpful in searching for specific content.
Valid characters for tag names are alphanumerica and underscore. For assigning multiple tags to an article, use tag= on its own line.
Mixed case in tag names won't get converted to wiki links.
tag=tagname
tag=AnotherTagName
tag=test_tag_name
The tag command must start at the beginning of a new line.
To list all tags used:
http://www.toledotalk.com/cgi-bin/lewiki.pl/tags
To list all articles with a specific tag.
http://www.toledotalk.com/cgi-bin/lewiki.pl/tags/art
Boolean tag searching:
http://www.toledotalk.com/cgi-bin/lewiki.pl/tags/art+OR+sports
http://www.toledotalk.com/cgi-bin/lewiki.pl/tags/ohio+AND+politics
h3. Paratags
pt=paratagname ... content begins ...
... and content continues for one or more paragraphs ...
pt..
Content within the paratag statement will be shown with a different background color. Paratags are tags at the paragraph level while tags are used at the page or article level. Not sure of the paratag's use for Lewiki, but I'll list it here just in case. I like the idea of tagging at the paragraph level. Provides for more meta data options. The idea comes from "Traction Software's":http://www.tractionsoftware.com use of what they call "labels." From Traction's website:
pt=ParaTagTest Labels may be applied at the article level, or on individual paragraphs to call out key information buried in text. Traction keeps a record of all label changes so, for example, you can track when a paragraph labeled "To Do" label was relabeled Done. This facility also lets you evolve a taxonomy over time, changing labels as needed; Traction lets you rewind the labels to reflect any point or period in time.
pt..
The Lewiki code doesn't create a "taxonomy over time" for the tags or paratags at the paragraph level, although it's an interesting concept. Traction has existed since at least 2002, and it's called enterprise blog software. They changed their website recently, and they may now have the most hideous URLs of all-time for their content pages.
Listing all paratag names and searching for articles with specific paratag names is done the same way as with tags above. Replace the word "tags" with "paratags."
The "pt=" and the closing paratag command "pt.." must appear at the start of a line.
The text after pt= can contain alphas, numerics, and underscores.
h2. Friendly URLs
Lewiki attempts to use clean URLs for every function and article. The URLs do not contain questions marks, semicolons, colons, parens, percent signs, equal signs, nor amper signs. The plus sign can be used in the URL for boolean searching.
Underscores are uses in the URL to represent spaces in the article name. The article title appears in the URL to make the URL more intuitive to the user. The title in the URL isn't used to access the article. The article id in the URL is how the article is pulled from the database.
h2. Formatting content
For articles
* Allows for [[Textile]] formatting.
* URLs converted to links.
* Table of contents for page created.
* Allows for usage of power commands.
For comments:
* Allows for [[Textile]] formatting.
* URLs converted to links.
h3. Added formatting commands
A few other formatting commands were added, and they work similar to the Textile commands.
* q. and q.. To highlight or quote text from another source, surround it with the opening and closing 'q' tags. Both must start at the beginning of the line.
q.
Here is some text being quoted from another article. Instead of using italics or double quotes, leave the text as is but surround it with the open and closing 'q' tags. This highlighted text will be indented a little and will have a darker gray background.
q..
* br. To add a blank line, start this command at he beginning of the line. It can precede text, or it can be on its own line. If the latter, Textile will surround the command with paragraph tags, which will cause a total of two blank lines to be displayed.
* hr. Will add a horizontal rule or a long thin line that stretches across the page. Command must start at the beginning of a line. Example output:
* tmpl. and tmpl.. Used when creating template articles that typically get included into another article. Explained further below in the template section.
h2. Power Commands
Used within article content only. Not available for comments.
Each commands must start at the beginning of a new line.
System defaults are in caps.
* comments = YES|no -- Allow commenting on an article.
* showtitle = YES|no -- Display the article's title to user.
* showauthor = yes|NO -- Show the last person who updated the article. For blog postings, the author will be displayed. Currently, only the admin can edit a blog posting. Anyone can edit an article created via the wiki link.
* sidebar = yes|NO -- Show the narrow sidebar on the right side.
* toc = YES|no -- Create a table of contens for the article.
* edit = YES|no -- Allow others to edit the article.
h2. User sign up
User creates a username and password to login with.
User also privides a valid e-mail address. A verification e-mail message will
be sent to user. The e-mail will contain a link to activate the user's account.
h2. RSS
RSS feeds are dynamically created in many areas.
Sort by options:
bc. /cgi-bin/parula.pl/sortby/SortByOption/rss
* "blogs" - A misnomer now, but this will provide RSS for main site or root level content. That is, all articles NOT created in a user's workspace.
* "recentchanges" - list ALL articles by their most recent created or updated date
for the entire site.
* "recentchangesmainsite" - list ALL article changes for the main site or root level content. This excludes articles created in a user's worskpace.
* "id" - list ALL articles by the order they were CREATED.
* "lastcommentdate" - list ALL articles in the order of most recently commented on.
* "commentcount" - list ALL articles in the order of most to least comments.
RSS feed links will be dynamically created for search results, tags, and paratags.
h2. Breadcrumbs
A cookie is used to keep track of the recent articles accessed by the user.
h2. Include templates
A template article can be included into another article by surrounding the title of the template article with two curly braces.
{{Existing Template Article Title}}
The template will be included into the article at the time the article
is displayed to the user. That way changes to the template will be
seen immediately the next time the article with the include is displayed
to the user.
If you know you're creating a template article something like the ones listed on the [[Lewiki:Template Messages|Template Messages]], then you can create your template article *title* with Template: at the start of the title. You don't have to do this, but it helps group the templates. And when you include a template article that has its title beginning with Template: you don't have to include Template: within the curly braces.
Example:
* You can include the contents in article Template:Underconstruction into another article by typing {{Underconstruction}} into the other article.
You can include any article into another article, by typing the full title of the article to include within the curly braces.
h3. Template tags
If you want, you can use the opening and closing tmpl tags around the text to be included, so that only the text within the template tags will be included into another page. That way a user can provide additional info about the template within the template page but not have this additional info included into another article page.
** tmpl. = opening template tag
** tmpl.. = closing template tag
** both must start at the beginning of a line. The opening tag can precede the text or exist on its own line.
View the examples for [[Lewiki:Template Messages|Template Messages]].
h2. Article table of contents
By default, a table of contents for the article will be created and included into
the formatted content stored in the database. The TOC will be created based upon
the html heading commands: h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6.
h2. Article redirect
To redirect an article to another article, use:
bc. @<article id>
bc. Example: @123
The at sign needs to appear at the beginning of the line of the article you don't
want displayed. The article id follows the at sign. The user will be shown the article
represented by the id number following the at sign.
The article containing the redirect does not need to have its contents deleted.
The user will see text at the top of the page indicating the user was redirected
from another page. If the user has edit privs, the user can edit the page with
the redirect code, in case the redirect wants to be removed.
h2. Locked article for editing
When an article is selected for edit, the lock column in the database for the
article is updated to prevent another user from editing the article.
The lock will remain in affect for 15 minutes. If the user editing the article
wants to keep the article locked longer, the user has to hit the "Preview"
button. The lock is updated to expire in 15 minutes each time the "Preview"
button is clicked.
After an article is updated, the lock is removed.
If an article is selected for edit, but the user changes her mind and moves
elsewhere on the site, the lock remains until the 15 minute expiration is reached.
Even though the user decided not to edit the article, the lock remains. Another
user wanting to access the locked the article will be given a date and time
when the lock will expire. The user will also be shown how many minutes are left
for the lock and the username of the person who started editing the article.
If an article is selected for edit, but the user moves on elsewhere in the site,
the lock remains, but this user can access the article again for edit, since it
was this user who started the lock.
If the user doesn't want to edit an article, the polite thing to do is to click
the "Cancel" button which will turn off the lock.
h2. Searching
Default search is done on the exact phrase of words typed into the search text field box.
Separate words with <b>OR</b> to match on any word, which means the search is a match if at least one word in the list is found in the article.
Use <b>AND</b> to macth on all words , which means all of the words must appear somewhere within the article.
Your search terms can be in upper or lower case, but the <b>OR</b> and <b>AND</b> must be in caps.
* exact phrase: Lake Erie
* match any word: Toledo OR Monroe OR Bowling Green
* match all words: swamp AND river AND lake
Currently, the AND and OR commands cannot be combined.
You can also use the URL to conduct a search.
Example:
http://www.toledotalk.com/cgi-bin/lewiki.pl/search/lathrop
The AND and OR commands be used in the URL too by connecting words with the plus sign:
http://www.toledotalk.com/cgi-bin/lewiki.pl/search/toledo+AND+monroe
h2. Saving articles
When logged in, the "save" link will appear at the bottom of the article. If you click "save," the article will be saved to your list of favorite articles that you can access via your profile page. A user cannot access another user's list of favorites. On your list of favorite articles page, the "remove" link will appear next to each article, allowing you remove an article from your favorite list.
After clicking "save" at the bottom of an article, the article simply reloads. If you click "save" on an article you have already saved, you will get an error message indicating so.
h2. Embedding images
<div class="imageright">
<a href="http://static.flickr.com/22/41484219_be5ad86ca7_o.jpg">
<img border="0" src="http://static.flickr.com/22/41484219_be5ad86ca7_m.jpg">
</a>
This display at the June 2005
Marina District Charette shows the
remediation that has occurred on
the land designated for the project.
</div>
In this example, the image is clickable, so it will display a larger version.
Put the HTML code ahead of the article text that relates to the image.
Here is sample HTML text to include within an article to
* embed an image
* align image on the right side of the article
* include caption text with the image
You will have to provide the "height" and "width" attributes in the "img" tag if you want to resize the image. Otherwise, don't use the attributes.
br.
br.
Code to embed an image:
You can also use "imageleft". If you don't want the image clickable to a larger image, an article, or an external website, leave out the <a href="..."> </a> anchor tag.
bc. <div class="imageright">
<a href="http://static.flickr.com/22/41484219_be5ad86ca7_o.jpg">
<img border="0" src="http://static.flickr.com/22/41484219_be5ad86ca7_m.jpg">
</a>
This display at the June 2005
Marina District Charette shows the
remediation that has occurred on
the land designated for the project.
</div>
h2. CSS
If you want to highlight some text from another source, surround the text with the following:
bc. <div class="highlighted">
the text
bc. </div>
The text within the "highlighted" div tags will be slightly indented and given a slightly darker bacground color.
To change text size:
bc. <span class="smalltext">your text</span>
bc. <span class="bigtext">your text</span>
Other formatting commands may be created if needed. They are used to make formatting easier. "Divs" are used for paragraphs of text while "spans" are normally used for a line of text.
h2. Allowable HTML
Try to use the Textile formatting commands as much as possible to format an article. Here are some HTML tags that are permitted in case Textile does not provide an equivalent or in case it's easier to use HTML. For example, for simple tables, I use Textile. But for more complicated tables, I use HTML because of the lack of functionality with Textile. Thus far in my use of this site, I would say Textile plus the custom commands added to this site provide at least 90% of the formatting I need.
HTML tags permitted:
* div
* span
* table
* a
* th
* tr
* center
* pre
* dl
* dt
* dd
* img
* object
* param
* embed
* code
[[HTML Reference|Basic HTML Reference]]
edit=no
