Writing Your First Page

A great place to start writing your first page for this Wiki is creating a page of 10 Things to Enjoy about a place you know.

Watch this quick video

Watch the video and read more below.

Step by Step

1. You need an account to create a page. See Getting Started for how to do that.
2. First login to the Wiki using the LOGIN button you will find at the top right of the page.
3. Have a look at the existing pages in the 10 Things to Enjoy category to get some ideas.
4. Decide on a place you are going to write about that has not been written about before, for example MyOwnNeighbourhood
5. 

   One way to create a new page is to simply type the name you want into the search field at top right.
   Create your first page:
   1. Find the search box at top right of this page
   2. 

      Check there is no existing page and if there is not you can click on the link and the page will be created for you to start typing into.
      Type "10 Things to Enjoy in MyOwnNeighbourhood" (note that the title case is important, it follows the Style Guide for naming pages)
   3. Press search
   4. Check in the results that page does not already exist
   5. If it does not exist then you will see a link 'Create the page "10 Things to Enjoy in MyOwnNeighbourhood"'
   6. Click that link and the page will be created, empty
6. Click inside the editor for that page (you may have to wait for a couple of seconds for it to respond)
7. Type the content for your new page
   1. Just write your text as you would in any word processor
   2. Use bulleted lists and other formatting if you wish
   3. Use the style dropdown to apply the "Sub-heading 1" style to your heading lines.
      

      Place your cursor on the line you want to be a heading then select sub-heading1 from the dropdown.
   4. Use the chain/anchor icon to add links. Highlight your text, press the chain/anchor icon:
      1. To an existing page: Search for the page name in the box (it is case sensitive). When it pops up in the list below in red then click on it to add.
         

         Link to a page by highlighting the text and then pressing the anchor/chain button. Then start typing the page name (remembering it is case sensitive)
      2. Out to an external website: Type the full URL into the dialogue and save it
         
         3. There's a useful short cut for inserting a link to a page by simply typing 2 left square brackets into the text [[. This will bring up the above linking popup.
   5. If you add three headings or more then you will get an automatic small table of contents at the top of the page just above the first heading.
      

      When you have added THREE headings to a page then the table to contents will automatically appear above the first one.

1. It is essential to add the page to one or more Categories so that it can be found by people:
   1. At top of the editor select the "hamburger" three-line menu option and then Categories
   2. Start typing the name of the category you want to add the page to
      1. If the category exists then it will appear in the Matching Categories segment of the dropdown (e.g. "10 Things to Enjoy")
      2. If the category does not exist then it will appear in new category
      3. Try and make sure you add at least on existing category to a page as that will help make it findable by other readers. There are some special categories like place names which let you associate your page with that place. You can also create your own place names
      4. For a new "10 Things to Enjoy..." page we suggest you add the category "10 Things to Enjoy" and at least one place name category (e.g. "Ruislip")
      5. Note that Categories are case-sensitive so e.g. important to use "10 Things to Enjoy" *not* "10 things to enjoy".
   3. Add as many categories as you wish
   4. Select "Apply changes" to return to the editor
2. Optional: Images help make the page more attractive. To add images:
   1. Click your cursor approximately where you want your image
   2. Select INSERT > Images and media
   3. In the popup click on the UPLOAD tab and select the image to upload to the wiki
   4. Press upload
   5. While it is uploading you are prompted for image name and description. Make sure these are descriptive as they will be used in displaying the image in pages to provide a caption.
   6. Once upload is completed select Use This Image
   7. A popup of settings will appear. To override the default size and placement of the image (which will be quite small) use the Advanced tab.
      
      If you want your image to be larger than the default thumbnail, from the dropdown select BASIC and on Image Size select Custom and then enter a width of for example, 600.
   8. The image will be inserted into the page
3. To save the page
   1. Press SAVE CHANGES... at top right of the page
   2. Enter a brief comment if you wish to describe what you added / edited
   3. Save
4. Your page should now be visible in the categor(y/ies) that you defined for it. For 10 Things to Enjoy it should be visible in the listing below.
5. You can also upload Video, but take care since there is probably a maximum size of file you can upload to the Wiki. A 2 hour clip will certainly not upload!

Common Questions

Q: How do I make my 10 Things to Enjoy page appear on the 10 Things to Enjoy category listing?

A: Make sure you have added the page to the 10 Things to Enjoy category by editing the page and following step (6) above.

Q: How do I rename a page?

The move option is used to rename a page.

A: The name of a page is its unique identity, so to rename a page you use the MOVE option (displayed at the top of every page) and move the page to a new page. The system will create an automatic redirect, so people going to the old name will be sent to the new name. Steps: At the top of the page select MOVE, enter the new page name and leave this set: "Leave a redirect behind". Q: How do I create a new Category to add to my page?

A: On the window where you add categories to a page, simply type in the name of the new category you want. The category will be created. After saving the page you will see it listed at the bottom of the page, as a blue, stubbed, page. If you want to add anything to this category's own page simply click on the link, edit and save.

To create a new category to attach your page to, select page options and then type in your category name and then click on it in the dropdown

Once you select it, it will appear in red (indicating it now exists) and be attached to the page.

Q: How do I make a Category such as "Stockwell" a Place category so it appears on the Places list?

A: Click on the Category "Stockwell", then Edit it, and use the normal Options / Category menu to add your category to the category called "Places".

The Stockwell Category now is within the Category "Places". Note the tag at the bottom of the page.

Edit the Category page (e.g. Stockwell) and then add it to the Category Places

Q: What is the difference between Edit and Edit source?

A:The original versions of Wikis used a shorthand notation for marking up the content (the notation is concise enough to more or less fit onto a single page) About five years ago, a more user-friendly graphical front end was created to make the process much simpler. But there are still occasions when delving into the source for any page can be helpful, as for example copying a snippet from another page and pasting it in (as source) to your own. It also helps to debug a page that is perhaps not displaying as you intended. Have a look at the source (it is mostly human readable) and see if editing the source directly might solve your problem.

Getting More Advanced

See Getting Started for style guides and general rules.

Adding references

An example of a reference at the bottom of a page.

1. Edit page
2. Place cursor where want to insert a cite reference
3. Press CITE in the menubar then BASIC
4. In the popup type in your reference (e.g. The Big Popup Guide to Benches In London by J Smith) - you should really include a link as well
5. Save that and a small [1] will appear
6. To add more use CITE menu over and over through the text - you can link to the same reference again by using Cite > Re-Use.
7. Then simply make sure to insert the REFERENCES LIST at the bottom of the page which is done by going to bottom of page and using the INSERT > (More) > References List option
8. Save your page
9. You end up with this, see 10 Things to Enjoy in Oxleas Woods for an example.

---

Linking to Categories

How to link to a category. Type "Category:" followed by name of the category in the page search box.

When in Visual Editor you can easily link to a Category by selecting the normal insert link button and when asked for the page name to link to, type the special keyword "Category:" followed by the name of the Category. For example, "Category:Wetlands". This will find that category and let you link to it. For example Category:Wetlands

Adding Maps

Some examples.

Use this guide Displaying Leaflet Maps for more options such as drawing lines, circles, etc and including a path which is loaded from a geojson file which is held in a page.

To quickly find the latitude and longitude of a location you can

Google Maps Show Coordinates At Bottom

Click the coordinates at the bottom of the screen and they are copied into the search box from where you can then copy them into your Wiki page

1. Search Google maps
2. Click on the point on the map
3. At the bottom of the map the coordinates will be displayed (see image right)
4. Click those and the map will centre on them (see image right)
5. Copy the coordinates out of the search box and into your wiki page / map tags.

Map centered on named place

Click Edit Source to see the tags used for this map. To add similar to your page you will need to edit your page in EDIT SOURCE and insert them. (You can paste them into and use the visual editor but it has limitations and it is clearer and easier to use EDIT SOURCE on your page if you can.)

Code for this one is

{{#display_map:center=Ravenscourt Park, Hammersmith, London|width=300|height=600}}

Loading map...

{"minzoom":false,"maxzoom":false,"mappingservice":"leaflet","width":"300px","height":"600px","centre":{"text":"","title":"","link":"","lat":51.49412929999999732899595983326435089111328125,"lon":-0.2357932000000000083428375319272163324058055877685546875,"icon":""},"title":"","label":"","icon":"","lines":[],"polygons":[],"circles":[],"rectangles":[],"copycoords":false,"static":false,"zoom":false,"defzoom":14,"layers":["OpenStreetMap"],"image layers":[],"overlays":[],"resizable":false,"fullscreen":false,"scrollwheelzoom":true,"cluster":false,"clustermaxzoom":20,"clusterzoomonclick":true,"clustermaxradius":80,"clusterspiderfy":true,"geojson":"","clicktarget":"","imageLayers":[],"locations":[],"imageoverlays":null}

Map centered on coordinates

Use a service like Google Maps to get latitude (north/south) and longitude (east/west). Note London points are usually negative longitude

Loading map...

{"minzoom":false,"maxzoom":false,"mappingservice":"leaflet","width":"300px","height":"600px","centre":{"text":"","title":"","link":"","lat":51.49682700000000323825588566251099109649658203125,"lon":-0.238673999999999997267963181002414785325527191162109375,"icon":""},"title":"","label":"","icon":"","lines":[],"polygons":[],"circles":[],"rectangles":[],"copycoords":false,"static":false,"zoom":16,"defzoom":14,"layers":["OpenStreetMap"],"image layers":[],"overlays":[],"resizable":false,"fullscreen":false,"scrollwheelzoom":true,"cluster":false,"clustermaxzoom":20,"clusterzoomonclick":true,"clustermaxradius":80,"clusterspiderfy":true,"geojson":"","clicktarget":"","imageLayers":[],"locations":[],"imageoverlays":null}

Map centered on coordinates with a marker added

The code for this one is

{{#display_map:51.497996,-0.238848~The busy with birds pond|width=400|height=600|zoom=16}}

To easily acquire the coordinates, open e.g. Google maps and right click on your location. Click again on the coordinates that pop up and they will be copied to the clipboard. You can now paste them into the above.

Loading map...

{"minzoom":false,"maxzoom":false,"mappingservice":"leaflet","width":"400px","height":"600px","centre":false,"title":"","label":"","icon":"","lines":[],"polygons":[],"circles":[],"rectangles":[],"copycoords":false,"static":false,"zoom":16,"defzoom":14,"layers":["OpenStreetMap"],"image layers":[],"overlays":[],"resizable":false,"fullscreen":false,"scrollwheelzoom":true,"cluster":false,"clustermaxzoom":20,"clusterzoomonclick":true,"clustermaxradius":80,"clusterspiderfy":true,"geojson":"","clicktarget":"","imageLayers":[],"locations":[{"text":"\u003Cdiv class=\"mw-parser-output\"\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe busy with birds pond\n\u003C/p\u003E\u003C/div\u003E","title":"The busy with birds pond\n","link":"","lat":51.49799600000000054933479987084865570068359375,"lon":-0.238848000000000004749978188556269742548465728759765625,"icon":""}],"imageoverlays":null}

Map with several markers

Several markers and a couple with a popup having a title and text in the popup.

The code for this one is

<display_map height="600" width="300"> 
51.497996,-0.238848~The busy with birds pond 
51.498658, -0.237799~Garden~The walled garden 
51.499550, -0.238952~The nature reserve 
51.496738, -0.238676~The Baobab Plane Tree~The big tree that everyone loves and meets under 
</display_map>

Loading map...

{"minzoom":false,"maxzoom":false,"mappingservice":"leaflet","width":"300px","height":"600px","centre":false,"title":"","label":"","icon":"","lines":[],"polygons":[],"circles":[],"rectangles":[],"copycoords":false,"static":false,"zoom":false,"defzoom":14,"layers":["OpenStreetMap"],"image layers":[],"overlays":[],"resizable":false,"fullscreen":false,"scrollwheelzoom":true,"cluster":false,"clustermaxzoom":20,"clusterzoomonclick":true,"clustermaxradius":80,"clusterspiderfy":true,"geojson":"","clicktarget":"","imageLayers":[],"locations":[{"text":"\u003Cdiv class=\"mw-parser-output\"\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe busy with birds pond\n\u003C/p\u003E\u003C/div\u003E","title":"The busy with birds pond\n","link":"","lat":51.49799600000000054933479987084865570068359375,"lon":-0.238848000000000004749978188556269742548465728759765625,"icon":""},{"text":"\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cdiv class=\"mw-parser-output\"\u003E\u003Cp\u003EGarden\n\u003C/p\u003E\u003C/div\u003E\u003C/b\u003E\u003Cdiv class=\"mw-parser-output\"\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe walled garden\n\u003C/p\u003E\u003C/div\u003E","title":"Garden\n","link":"","lat":51.49865799999999893543645157478749752044677734375,"lon":-0.2377990000000000103685948715792619623243808746337890625,"icon":""},{"text":"\u003Cdiv class=\"mw-parser-output\"\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe nature reserve\n\u003C/p\u003E\u003C/div\u003E","title":"The nature reserve\n","link":"","lat":51.49954999999999927240423858165740966796875,"lon":-0.238951999999999997736921386604080908000469207763671875,"icon":""},{"text":"\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cdiv class=\"mw-parser-output\"\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe Baobab Plane Tree\n\u003C/p\u003E\u003C/div\u003E\u003C/b\u003E\u003Cdiv class=\"mw-parser-output\"\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe big tree that everyone loves and meets under\n\u003C/p\u003E\u003C/div\u003E","title":"The Baobab Plane Tree\n","link":"","lat":51.49673800000000056797944125719368457794189453125,"lon":-0.23867599999999999926814098216709680855274200439453125,"icon":""}],"imageoverlays":null}

Adding unusual characters

Every once in a while, characters crop up that are not present on a standard keyboard. An example might be 360° view or € or ¢ or accents. Here is a more or less complete list of such characters, or entities as they are properly called. The regular editing screen does not (yet) have a feature to insert them and so you will have to go to the edit source option and at the insertion point, add the character in the form e.g. $