User:Dismounted Feudal Knight/TWC Wiki:Help
Contents
Are you new around these parts?
Welcome to the wiki!
TWC Wiki exists to support Total War Center and the wider Total War Community! We specialize in modding information (including mods you can find), information about TWC, and providing an overview of the Total War Series. Be sure to review the Terms of Service and TWC Wiki Guidelines for important basics on what is acceptable. A more general overview of the wiki can be found at TWC Wiki.
Getting an account
TWC Wiki is open to any member of TWC in good standing upon request, even if they have not posted before. If you are reasonably trusted and on another TWC venue, ie the Discord Server, you don't necessarily have to be registered - you can still reach out. Requests for access on the forum can be made in this thread. An account will be made and you will be messaged the login details.
Be sure to visit Special:Preferences and change your password! You can also add an email for password recovery, change your wiki skin, and configure other settings at your convenience. Check them out! Basic editing will be covered below but you can also ask for assistance at the discussion thread or at #wiki-chat on TWC's Discord Server.
Editing the wiki
Existing pages and sections
Simple corrections and changes are always welcome and also very easy: while logged in, simply click the "Edit" tab at the top of the page, or the [edit] link that appears besides sections. This will take you to the editing page, where you can make any adjustments and also preview your work before publishing.
Some pages are more sensitive, and so have been protected. Instead of Edit, you can only View Source. If a correction needs to be made, Just let someone know who has the appropriate access! You can also use the Discussion tab present on all wiki pages to leave messages and suggestions.
Adding a new page
You can create new pages either by following a red link to them, or editing the name into your browser's address bar.
Keep two caveats in mind when making titles. First, spacebars ( ) are represented with underscores (_), so Page_Name is the same as Page Name. Second, all letters after the first letter are case sensitive. Page_Name can be reached with page_Name, but page_name will be a totally different page.
The wiki uses categories to sort articles. If the category system is confusing, don't worry too much - someone will most likely be behind you who can fix it up. Otherwise, you can browse most categories starting here for an idea how they work. Note that images will have their own subcategory under the main category a page is under.
The best way to figure out how to set up a page is to look at an existing example. But see the "additional information" header
Markup and formatting
When you are using the editing window you will see a variety of buttons on top. Hovering over them will provide a description of what they do. Use of the > Advanced and > Help buttons will expand those sections and provide information on commonly used formatting.
The TWC Wiki uses MediaWiki software: the same formatting used on Wikipedia and most wikis in general. MediaWiki provides a lot of useful pages explaining basic functions. The ones normal editors are most likely to need are:
If you're interested in trying things out with wiki code but are not confident in what that code will do, we have the TWC Wiki:Sandbox available to test on. Remember how you can draw inspiration from how other pages work, and that you can reach out for assistance at any time.
Additional information
Getting more help
If you need any assistance at all please leave a message, or reach out to a regular editor, Wiki Team member, or even the Wiki Director. They won't bite! Hopefully! If you're not always feel comfortable to run your thought by someone first, or leave a message in one of the wiki's discussion venues for someone to pick up. Collaboration is the wiki's greatest strength, use it liberally. But also see if an existing guide or resource is available as linked here - information is another key strength, and you will get more help the more informed you are. Give it a try even if concepts may go over your head at first or it seems difficult. Try out changes at TWC Wiki:Sandbox for a risk-free way to see if something works or not, and preview often as well to ensure what you're about to publish works as expected. But if all else fails and something gets through that isn't quite right, don't worry! You won't be demolished if you have good intentions and aren't doing something way out of line.
What should I work on?
TWC Wiki can use assistance for virtually anything you can think of - a wiki is never perfect and TWC Wiki is an ambitious underdog. If a certain subject is your interest, go for it. If the idea is particularly ambitious, you should hook up with an existing editor for advice and support.
However if you're interested in some pickings:
- There are many pages which need attention in Category:Cleanup and Category:Stubs
- You can find new pages that are needed in Special:WantedPages
- Some choice pages that have needed cleanup for some time include Custom Battle, Eras Total Conquest and Naval Battles
- Do you like a particular mod, project, or game? Look for it! If it's not on the wiki feel free to make a page; if it is but it's out of date, it's free real estate. :p
We have several areas that need regular cleanup and maintenance - feel free to chip in! These include:
- Mod Finder Tables - any new mods, updated dates for new releases
- Category:Portals - Portals themselves could always use a brush-up
- Total War Tutorial Indexes - Find something to add? Bring it in!
Other efforts to improve the wiki can be found at TWC Wiki:Projects, including official Staff efforts - don't let that stop you! You can work with wiki team to complete a project, or become a member yourself...
Organization, styling and templates
TWC Wiki has several systems for how to organize information including Portals, Indexes, Mod Finder Tables, Staff List Templates and more. Please reach out to the Wiki Team if you are interested in the organization of the wiki itself, but don't hesitate to work on improvements to one of these pages if required, or collaborate if they happen to be protected.
If you are interested in how the wiki looks, ie, its styling, take a look at Help:CSS Classes for an overview and then collaborate with the Wiki Team to see changes done.
TWC Wiki uses templates to make certain information easier to update: change the template and the information is updated on any page that uses it. You will likely come across these so it would help to be aware of them; all are listed in the Template Category.
Various categories of template include;
- Formatting Templates - Used to easily apply standardised formatting such as coloured text.
- Infobox Templates - Provide a standard table box framework for a topic group, such as units, which allows variable information to be added on the page.
- Maintenance Templates - Provide standard messages about the state of a page, and/or instructions to editors.
- Navigation Templates - Provide navigation links to other pages within a category or subject area.
- Protected Transclusions - Used solely where one element e.g. a poll, needs protection, but the rest of the page it's placed on doesn't.
