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RR Wiki User's Guide

From The RadioReference Wiki

Revision as of 20:12, 23 July 2008 by Bezking (talk | contribs) (The rolback function is available to only administrators - all users can't see it, adding alternative.)

Welcome to the RR Wiki User's Guide.

First however a basic definition; the RR Wiki uses the MediaWiki(c) software to maintain a series of user-maintained articles that discuss numerous radio and TV related topics.

The Administrative Stuff

  • ''Can Anyone View the articles on the Wiki without registering?''

Yes, viewing the articles on the wiki may be done by anyone, regardless of their status on RadioReference.

  • ''Can other websites link to the RR Wiki?''

This is to be encouraged. It will reduce the amount of maintenance the website must do to host such pages themselves. A courtesy link to RadioReference, with an acknowedgment, is requested.

  • ''How can I register so I can edit or add an article?''

Under Personal Tools in the left frame, there is a link for your RadioReference UserID and password.

  • ''My UserID/Password doesn't work. Whom should I contact?''

Please contact Lindsay Blanton directly. The admins have no access to the password files

  • ''What will be changing for the next release of the website?''

Please see our RR 3.0 Release Specifications article for more information

  • ''Who are the Administrators of the RR Wiki?''

ka3jjz and bezking are the primary administrators of the RadioReference Wiki. You are encouraged to PM Mike at ka3jjz or Ben at bezking with any questions you may have that are not answered on this page.

Policies and Procedures

  • ''I would like to add an article. Where do I begin?''

Please see our New Article Guidelines article for some guidelines and hints

  • ''Im not a web designer. I would like to learn about the language the wiki uses to write a article. Where do I begin?''
  • ''When I look at the coding, it's not HTML based. What language is used to write an article?''

MediaWiki(c) used its own markup language to write articles. It has elements of HTML, C and VB all mixed together. The wiki is HTML aware, however you should note that this support may be dropped in future releases. Please see our Quick guide to editing pages article for a summary of the most frequently-used commands and directives

  • ''I really messed up an article. Can it be reverted back?''

MediaWiki(c) maintains a history of all revisions of articles, and rolling back to a previous version is a simple matter. Hit the HISTORY tab at the top of each article. Then click on the date and time of the edit you would like to revert to. You should then be taken back to that revision. Click the "Edit" tab. You should see a message near the top of the edit page saying, "WARNING: You are editing an out-of-date revision of this page. If you save it, any changes made since this revision will be lost." Enter the word "revert" in the summary box and press "Submit". You have now reverted to a previous version of the page.

  • ''An article I wrote is obsolete. How can I get it deleted?''

Please send a message to the administrators with the title of the article, along with anything that links to it. You can find such links in the Toolbox section in the left frame, under What Links Here. It's preferable to rewrite the article, rather than outright deleting it. That way all the links remain intact.

  • ''Id like to change my article title. Is that possible?''

Use the Move tab at the top of the article. The user is responsible for reestablishing all links from the old article name to the new one.

  • ''Why should an article always be linked or categorized?''

The reason is simple; if an article isn't linked or categorized, it's very hard for a user to locate or read it. Articles that are not linked to something else are referred to as orphans and are officially discouraged. There's one exception, listed in the next question...

  • ''I need to split my article across several pages, but not all of them are ready yet. Can I create a stub article until they are ready?''

Certainly. Please put text in the article to identify it as a stub. No further indexing or category is required until the article is published.

  • ''Can an article belong to more than one index or category?''

Absolutely. The more an article is indexed, the easier it is for a user to find and potentially read it. To add an article to more than one category simply add the next one on a new line for readability and future maintenance.

  • ''Why are categories encouraged?''

This is because no additional work at the user or admin level is needed to maintain them. MediaWiki(c) keeps track of, and indexes, all categories, along with their member articles, automatically.

  • ''Can I create a new category?''

Yes, just create it using the Category directive. It will appear in red. Edit the category as you would any other article, and add some explanatory text. Send a note to the administrators to see if it can be placed on the main page or otherwise indexed.

  • ''Can I pull in data from an external website?''

It'r preferable to simply add an external link, rather then copying data. This places the burden of updating the data on the external site, rather then on the user or on the wiki. This also tends to avoid copyright issues, as links are generally accepted to be fair use.

Special Functions and Local Extensions

  • ''I see data on articles that looks like it came from the database. How is this accomplished?''

There are a series of Extensions that have been specially coded that allows a user to copy data from the database. Please see the indicated link for more information.

  • ''I see an extension that is no longer working. What might be wrong?''

There are 2 possibilities; either the server is down, or the extension code is no longer valid. The extensions went through an overhaul with the implmentation of RR 3.0; if you wish to attempt to fix the coding, please see our Wiki Extensions Conversion Guide

  • ''Is there a search tool for the wiki?''

Yes, please see our The RadioReference Wiki:Searching article for information on how to use this tool

Adding Images and Tables

  • ''How do I upload an image to the wiki?''

Under Toolbox in the left frame, there is a link for Upload File. Note that images over 150kb in size will cause a warning, and may not display properly. Use of smaller image formats such as GIFs is to be encouraged

  • ''What formats are supported?''

Currently JPEG, GIF and PNG formats are supported by this version of the software.

  • ''How do I bring the uploaded image into my article?''

There are several ways to do this. Rather than point to a definition of all the commands, here are a few examples of how images are loaded to an article on RR. Note that these are suggestions; feel free to experiment with other formats in your user area before you publish. Edit these articles to view the underlying coding;

1. MyRR Uses the Image verb to insert a pic right into the article
2. BCD396T Uses the Image verb, along with parameters that float the pic to the right, and present it in a smaller pitch with underlying text
3. Excel Copy/Paste Special to Software Uses the Gallery directive to present each image in a gallery display; the user need only click on the image to expand it.
4. Trunked Radio Decoders In the LTR Decoders section, at the end of the Description there's a link using the Media directive to link to a pic that would otherwise make the article too long and cumbersome.

You should note that the name of the file is important; caps, spelling and punctuation all count. Most times the wiki will tend to make the first letter of the name of the file a capital.

  • ''How do I define a table in the wiki?''

Table definitions are somewhat similar to what you would find in HTML; in fact this is one of the few places where HTML is still useable. Many of the commands begin or use the vertical bar symbol - shift of '\'. See the HFDL article for an example of the coding.

{| Begins a table definition. Many of the HTML table options such as border and colspan can be entered here. Note that not all options work as expected. Be sure to experiment to create the desired effect.

! (Exclamation Point) Very much like ; creates column headings |- (Vertical bar and dash) Required. Begins and ends a table row definition, similar to and | (followed by data). Similar to , this defines an element in a table that aligns to the columns you've already defined. A null space for a table is defined with 2 vertical bars ||

|} End of table definition