Help:Advanced Editing I

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Advanced Editing I: Definitions and pointers

Editing information for new and old editors alike.

Definitions

Wikification - Wikify

The process of improving the layout and formatting of articles. Converting them from a solid "wall of text" into one with formatting and "Wikilinks"
Articles should be "Wikified" if they contain few or no links to other articles ("wikilinks"), contain HTML tags that should be replaced with wiki markup, or need reformatting to conform to Lotro-Wiki's formatting guidelines.
The basic concept being -- individual pages need to contain links to similar and/or related topics, as well as links "forward and backwards" rather than simply relying on the user to understand the concept of the "back arrow" in their browser!!!

Wikilinks

Where appropriate, make links to other articles by putting "[[" and "]]" on either side of relevant words (see [1]LINK for more information) and check that your links work as expected.

Wiki Markup

The "markup" language instructs the software on the display of the article.

Wiki markup information is not displayed in the finished article. Wiki markup is only visible in the edit section.

Transclusion

Transclusion is defined simply as including the contents of one page, or sections of a page, in another.

Having information "live" on one page and "display" on other pages has impressive benefits. For Lotro-Wiki the most important benefits are:

  • When in-game data has changed only one page needs to be updated, and then all the other pages become up-to-date as well, almost instantly
  • All transcluding pages have the transcluded data formatted the same way.

Pages may utilize some markups (tags) to control what content is included or excluded from that page upon transclusion. Those markups are always used in pairs, the starting <...> and the closing </...>, which encircles a "section" of content. See the Wikipedia pages above for more complete explanations and details.
Those markups are:

<noinclude>
The section is displayed on the original page only but not transcluded to other pages.
<includeonly>
The section is not displayed on the original page but is transcluded to other pages.
<onlyinclude>
The section is displayed on the original page but only the section is transcluded to other pages, and nothing else is transcluded from the page unless additional sections are added.

Notice:

  • A page may have several sections and they will be handled in the order they appear.
  • A section may contain one or more sections of the other types, but those sections must be started and ended within the enclosing section.
  • Headers, new lines, and spaces are also transcluded. Do not transclude anything that affects the layout of the other pages unless intended.
  • Transclusion can be chained so page1 is transcluded onto page2 which in turn is transcluded onto page3.

Comments and examples:

<onlyinclude> is often used when just smaller sections of a larger page should be transcluded. See for example the Shire where only the beginning of the page is meant for Eriador. This is likely the most common markup because it is very obvious what will be included in the transclusion. Notice though, on a page with one or more <onlyinclude> sections, the other markup types are meaningless outside of those sections.
<noinclude> is often used on pages meant for transclusion-only and is added directly before, or after, the content to transclude. That way it encircles new lines, additional content, and wiki markups that should not be transcluded. See for example NPC Provisioner. This markup can of course encircle an entire page so nothing but an empty text ("") will be transcluded. Using any of the other markups inside a <noinclude> section is of course meaningless.
<includeonly> is normally used inside a section encircled by <onlyinclude>, to add something extra for the other pages. See for example the Shire where a reference back to the Shire from Eriador is found just at the end of the transcluded section.
Both <noinclude> and <includeonly> are frequently used inside sections encircled by <onlyinclude>, to exclude or include minor parts. <includeonly> sections may be used on a page that is otherwise only using the <noinclude> markup, outside of the noinclude-sections.


NOTE ESPECIALLY:
Since all Wiki pages may be transcluded, it is basic practice to always encircle the "Category" markup with "<noinclude>", as a precaution.
Example:

<noinclude>
[[Category: Help Information]]
</noinclude>

Also note:
After saving changes to the original page, editors must use the "What links here" feature and look for transclusions and review those pages, and in some cases wait a few minutes so the wiki-engine propagates the update to all transcluding pages. (A transcluding page is "compiled" and cached for best server performance.)


Selective (Partial) Transclusions
This topic is quite far from using any mix of the three markups explained above. And selective transclusion is not much employed on this wiki, but it is and thus it is worth mentioning briefly here.

Selective transclusions can be both a blessing and a bane, so maintaining the structure of pages that are selectively transcluded and transcluding requires quite some extra experience from the editor!



How to Transclude

On the target page, simply add a special link to the original page. In the case with Eriador and the Shire, the code on Eriador's page reads:

== [[The Shire]] ==
{{:The Shire}}

The first line is a level 2 header with "The Shire" as a link.
The second line is a special link to the Shire where {{:...}} will command the wiki-engine to transclude. See for example a provisioner using the transclude-only page mentioned above, see Bowman Whitfoot and under his "Sells" header.

Tips

Please add more questions here if something needs an answer.

How to navigate from a page to the original page?
Open the Edit mode of the page and click Show Preview. Below the editor there is a list of "templates" and one of them will be the original page, follow that link.


Citations

Also called Footnotes or References, Citations are used in scholarly works to give credit to or acknowledge the influence of previous works. They are most often used to provide referential sources for a statement, claim or assertion.

With respect to Lotro-Wiki, a Citation is generally requested or used to provide a source for any statements made in an article.

Note that these are HTML tags, not WikiMarkup.
See: WP:REFNAME for more information
Lotro-Wiki does not implement {{reflist}}.

See: Help:Citation for technique.



Regularly used Terms Explained

Create new <article-type> tool

These tools exist for the most commonly created pages on Lotro-Wiki. They should be use by all contribuitors when creating pages of those types.

See the "Editor: Article Creation "Templates" section of the Help page for a listing of them.

Template

Q: What are Templates, where can I find them and how do I use them?
A: Templates are pages whose contents are specially intended for use on and by other pages. A Template is code which performs a repetitive action.
Templates come in play either once, as when you create a page, or any time a page is called.
This is the code that is called when you enter "Create new <article-type>" for example.
It is also the code which is called when a page contains an entry such as "{{Tooltip Coords|||}}" to identify the coordinate location of a particular object or NPC.
These are just two of the many different types of Templates used on Lotro-Wiki.
Typical uses are for infoboxes, items, article management, navigation and more. Different types of templates are used in different ways. Some require information to be filled in, while others simply display a set of information.
When viewing the page, the template code will be invisible and readers should just see the information that is transcluded in by the template.
Ideally, these should contain only the code for a template.

Boilerplates

These pages summarize how to style/format a full page, including its component template(s).

Each "Create new..." tool will load a boilerplate above the edit box when new pages are created.
Thus a boilerplate for Items describes the item template Template:Item Tooltip and all the contingent page headings descriptions, etc.
A boilerplate should be the ultimate standard for correct formatting for relevant pages.
  • Boilerplates are listed under "Editor: Boilerplagtes" on the Help page for all "Create new..."' tool pages for easy reference after your first "preview" has cleared them from the page you are editing.

Preloads

Unlike Boilerplates, these are bound to specific templates and should provide the "clean copy" section on some boilerplates.

A "preload" is loaded into the edit box when you create a new page using the '"Create new <article-type>" tools.
Not every template will have a /Preload, (however, all templates associated with "Create new..." tool will) but the preloads that do exist should contain blank entries for each of the parameters used by that template without documentation of any sort.

Template Documentation

Like Preloads, these are bound to templates and explain how to use the parameters for that template -- but not any other extra information that would accompany the template, that is the responsibility of the Boilerplate.

Template documentation should be located on a /doc subpage of the Template and therefore not otherwise loaded anywhere else but that Template page. (Note that the convention is LOWER CASE "/doc".)
Template documentation should be transcluded into the "explained" section of a boilerplate.
The level of detail in a documentation page depends heavily on the template - {{Npcbox}} has about 20 parameters while {{Skill}} has over 80. All parameters need to be documented.

Images

There are two types of "Images" used on Lotro-Wiki... "full" Images and Icons.

This article describes the techniques for creating Images and Icons for use on Lotro-Wiki.
This article also details the techniques for displaying images both singularly and multiply -- in "Galleries".

Icons

Icons are small, 32 pixel by 32 pixel images typically displayed beside certain text. They are analogous to the Icons found in-game in your Quick-slot bar and many other locations.
  • As LOTRO has grown over the years, many unique Icons have been replaced by Generic Icons. Please use the Generic versions of Icons whenever possible.
  • Note also that many templates will display icons for you without the need for the extended "File:" syntax.
They will usually take the name of the icon WITHOUT the "-icon or .png" suffix.

Images

Images are large and range from Portraits of individual Creatures and NPCs to sweeping landscapes of particular locations.

Uploading images

  • In order to use an image on this site you must first click on the Upload file link in the toolbox on the left.

Make sure that you put a category link inside the suggestion box when uploading by typing [[Category:Name of category]].

Displaying images

  • The easiest way to display the image on this site is to use the following code: [[Image:File name.file type]].

There are several optional tags that can be used inside this code, such as alignment, size, and thumb.

Categories and Subcategories

Q: What are categories and sub-categories and how do they work?
A: Categories are logical groupings of articles with the same or similar attributes, organized in a hierarchical structure known as a Category Tree. They allow users to browse through and find whatever they are looking for, and help editors keep everything organized.

  • The category structure for Lotro-Wiki has already been created, so it is inadvisable to create new subcategories unless they have been discussed. Any new categories should comply with Help: Categorization.
  • Every article on the wiki should be a part of at least one category. To add an article to a category place the code [[Category:X]] (X is replaced with the category name) at the top of the article.
  • If you would like to link to a category instead of actually adding the article to the category, place a colon in front of Category, so [[:Category:X]].
  • The root category of this wiki is Category:Lord of the Rings Online, and contains all the root sub-categories.
  • Lotro-Wiki provides the Media Wiki "Category Tree" extension.
<categorytree depth=1>Lord of the Rings Online</categorytree> will produce:

Article Management Tags (Stubs)

These are templates we can "tag" ("flag") an article with.

One use is to create an article even if you do not know all the information. One simply adds an appropriate Article Management Tag to indicate the missing content.
Article Management Tags are used to "flag" ("tag") pages for further action, including expansion, deletion, or updating.
  • Historically, Article Management Tags were referred to as "Stubs".
  • Article Management Tags are most often used by Editors when "Patrolling" newly created articles. However, they can be used by anyone.
  • Inserting an Article Management Tag will create a message box at the location where the tag is inserted into a page, and results in that page being added to the relevant "Stubs" sub-category and in Category: Things to do, where other editors can pick them up to correct or complete their deficiencies.
  • A tag is often inserted automatically by a template if an article, such as a Creature article, is missing an image.
  • Note that this page has a Category of "Stubs/Image" in the Category list at the bottom of the page. It also has an entry in Category: Stubs/Image

Redirects and "double redirects"

A redirect is any article that, when visited, redirects the user to a different one.

This is usually done when article names contain special characters (See: How to use the Article Creation section) or there are different terms for the same thing.

  • Many NPC and Creatures have names in Dwarvish or Elvish which routinely use special characters.

For example, Afast redirects to Áfast, and Fellowship Maneuvers redirects to Conjunctions.

You can create a redirect page by putting #REDIRECT [[Pagename]] on the page you want to redirect from, where Pagename should be replaced with the target page name.

  • A double redirect is a redirect that leads to another redirect. Since this is unnecessary, these double redirects should be fixed by changing the target of the first redirect.
You can find a list of all double redirects on the Special Page: Special:DoubleRedirects.

Special Pages

Special pages are designed to manage articles on the wiki.

They are used by editors in order to keep track of what's going on in the wiki and to keep track of what needs to be done.

Check out Things to do for more information and links to the most commonly used special pages.

The full list of Special Pages is accessed from the link in the left column of every page Special Pages.


Links to external sites



Guidelines -- General guidelines to editing here on Lotro-Wiki
World Instances Guideline -- Guidelines for adding/editing Instances


Special:Version -- Lists the current MediaWiki versions and Extensions currently useable here on Lotro-Wiki