Editor guidelines: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 08:59, 4 September 2024

While it's recommended to read and understand these guidelines, you shouldn't worry too much about following them to the letter.

More experienced contributors are more than happy to help new contributors fix any mistakes they may make while learning how to use the system.

What to do?[edit | hide | hide all]

Look through the recent changes to see which pages have been most recently edited. It's always good to have new content double-checked by other contributors.

Browse through categories starting at the top level content to see if there are any areas you are interested in. There may also be areas you find lacking, or altogether missing.

Try to make sure a page doesn't already exist before creating a new one. Don't worry about this too much though, as a more experienced contributor will be able to see your new page when they check the recent changes and will help you resolve the issue.

Categories[edit | hide]

Categories help us keep the wiki organized. Every page should have at least one category, but can also belong to several categories.

The contributor resources category contains many resources you may find useful as a contributor.

Images[edit | hide]

If you find any articles missing images, or you have a better one, you are welcome to add it to the wiki!

To upload images, see: Special:Upload

Just like pages and categories themselves, images should be given a proper category to help keep the wiki organized.

Templates[edit | hide]

Templates help us keep the wiki more consistent. Secondary skills are a good example of this. We can use a single template that requires just the name and description of the skill. The template then uses the name to get the correct images, and then takes those images, the name, and the description, and puts them all together in a consistent manner for each different skill. Most templates provide instructions and examples to help beginners.

You can also study the existing templates on the wiki. When you open a page preview, you can scroll down to a line of text with a dropdown arrow that reads "Templates used in this preview". You can click this dropdown to show any templates the current page is using. You can read these templates and then study how they are used on that page.

For a complete list of templates, see: All Templates.

For help creating templates, see: Template Help

As a small example of what templates can do, here are a few text templates we use to keep our references to Heroes of Might and Magic III consistent throughout the wiki:

Template	Effect
{{homm}}	Heroes of Might and Magic III
{{roe}}	Restoration of Erathia
{{hommroe}}	Heroes of Might and Magic III: Restoration of Erathia
{{ab}}	Armageddon's Blade
{{sod}}	Shadow of Death

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-'''Editor guidelines''' are instructions on how to use this wiki and how to extend it. Although these are just ''guidelines'', we hope that you try to follow them whenever possible. Enjoy!
+While it's recommended to read and understand these guidelines, you shouldn't worry too much about following them to the letter.
+More experienced contributors are more than happy to help new contributors fix any mistakes they may make while learning how to use the system.
 == What to do? ==
-'''Wanted pages:''' There are several things need to be improved. One thing to do is to check [[Special:Wantedpages]], which shows a list of pages that do not exist, but other pages have links to. To create these new pages could be a could place to start. There are also [[Special:Unusedimages]] pages. You can see if there is anything you want to write about.
-'''Short pages:''' From [[Special:Shortpages]] you can see a list of the shortest pages in the wiki. Some of them might need more information. But remember, even a short page can say everything there is to say about the matter.
+Look through the [[Special:RecentChanges|recent changes]] to see which pages have been most recently edited. It's always good to have new content double-checked by other contributors.
+Browse through categories starting at the top level [[:Category:Content|content]] to see if there are any areas you are interested in. There may also be areas you find lacking, or altogether missing.
+Try to make sure a page doesn't already exist before creating a new one. Don't worry about this too much though, as a more experienced contributor will be able to see your new page when they check the recent changes and will help you resolve the issue.
-'''Recent edits:''' Look through the [[Special:Recentchanges]] page and see which pages have been edited recently. They might be a new page with lots to do, or they may contain spelling errors. There may also be some layout you could fix or some info you could add.
-'''Surf around:''' Surf around or visit a random page ([[Special:Randompage]]) to see if you could find a subject of a page you know something that is not included in this wiki. Look for red links, and make a new page if needed.
+== Categories ==
+Categories help us keep the wiki organized. Every page should have at least one category, but can also belong to several categories.
+The [[contributor resources]] category contains many resources you may find useful as a contributor.
+== Images ==
+If you find any articles missing images, or you have a better one, you are welcome to add it to the wiki!
+To upload images, see: [[Special:Upload]]
+Just like pages and categories themselves, images should be given a proper category to help keep the wiki organized.
-'''Do not forget:''' Make sure there is not already another page, that contains the same or very similar information (a good example would be [[Knowledge Tree]] and [[Tree of Knowledge]]).
 == Templates ==
-Templates gives you a fast way to create complex tables, infoboxes or texts while keeping the format the same. You can see the heroes wiki's complete template list from [http://heroes.thelazy.net/wiki/index.php?title=Special%3AAllpages&namespace=10 here], and some help to create templates from  [http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Help:Template here].
-=== Text templates ===
+Templates help us keep the wiki more consistent. Secondary skills are a good example of this. We can use a single template that requires just the name and description of the skill. The template then uses the name to get the correct images, and then takes those images, the name, and the description, and puts them all together in a consistent manner for each different skill. Most templates provide instructions and examples to help beginners.
-Here are a few text templates, that are mainly used in addition to text. All text templates can be found from [[:Category: Text templates]]. Most of the template pages include instructions how to use them.
+You can also study the existing templates on the wiki. When you open a page preview, you can scroll down to a line of text with a dropdown arrow that reads "Templates used in this preview". You can click this dropdown to show any templates the current page is using. You can read these templates and then study how they are used on that page.
+For a complete list of templates, see: <span class="plainlinks">[https://{{SERVERNAME}}/wiki/index.php?title=Special%3AAllPages&from=&to=&namespace=10&hideredirects=1 All Templates]</span>.
+For help creating templates, see: <span class="plainlinks">[https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Help:Template Template Help]</span>
+As a small example of what templates can do, here are a few text templates we use to keep our references to {{homm}} consistent throughout the wiki:
 {| border=1 cellspacing=0
@@ Line 28: / Line 50: @@
 |-
 |[[Template:ab|<nowiki>{{ab}}</nowiki>]]|| {{ab}}
-|-
-|[[Template:inab|<nowiki>{{inab}}</nowiki>]]|| {{inab}}
 |-
 |[[Template:sod|<nowiki>{{sod}}</nowiki>]]|| {{sod}}
 |-
-|[[Template:insod|<nowiki>{{insod}}</nowiki>]]|| {{insod}}
-|-
-|[[Template:hc|<nowiki>{{hc}}</nowiki>]]|| {{hc}}
-|-
-|[[Template:inhc|<nowiki>{{inhc}}</nowiki>]]|| {{inhc}}
-|-
-|[[Template:inabhc|<nowiki>{{inabhc}}</nowiki>]]|| {{inabhc}}
-|-
-|[[Template:insodhc|<nowiki>{{insodhc}}</nowiki>]]|| {{insodhc}}
 |}
-=== Help templates ===
-One of the most useful templates is [[:Template: Trash]], which allows you to move the whole page, image or catgory into trash category. The only thing you need is to write <nowiki>{{Trash|Reason for being trash.}}</nowiki> in the beginning of the page.
-== Categories ==
-Categories to group similar pages together. Every page should have at least one category, but a can also belong to several categories. The categories are pretty well thought out, so think twice before adding a new one. You can always start a conversation, if you think a new category or sub-category should be added.
-To see a list of already created catgories, visit [[Special: Categories]].
-== Images ==
-You can get a complete list of images at [[Special:Imagelist]]. To upload an image, you must be registered and logged in. Upload can be done from [[Special:Upload]] page. See also the [[Special:Log/upload|Upload Log]]. Remember to also categorize the files you upload to [[:Category: Pictures]] or one of its sub-categories.
-[[Category: Contributor Resources]]
+[[Category: Contributor resources]]