When opening a web-page containing the “DR_Wiki” extension[1], one will find the following four general components:
The headline, including the page title and a link to the discussion of the current page. By clicking on the “Discussion” link on top of a page, the corresponding “talk page”, which contains comments about the page from other Wiki users, will be opened. If a corresponding talk page exists, a “«” will be displayed on the right of the discussion link on top of the page.
The actual page content.
The Wiki toolbar, providing the basic functions, such as:
The “home” link taking the user back to the entry page (“HomePage”) of the current Wiki.
The reload button, updating the content of the current Wiki page. This is useful if several users edit the page at the same time.
The edit button for editing the current page.
The version button, displaying the version history of the current Wiki page.
The download button, to export a plain HTML version of the current page, which can be used in other documents.
The Meta Data, containing information about:
The last person editing the page.
The date and the time the last change.
It is very easy to edit a Wiki page. Simply click on the edit button of a Wiki page (top or bottom). This will open up the edit-view of the current Wiki page. The editor consists of the following basic components (see Figure below for details):
The editor toolbar, containing the basic Mark-ups.
The actual text area containing the Wiki source of the current page.
The save, preview and reset buttons.
- Figure 5: Editor Toolbar
The summary field for general editing notes.
Bold text[Shift + Alt + B]
Italic text[Shift + Alt + I]
Internal link[Shift + Alt + L]
External link[Shift + Alt + X]
Level 2 headline[Shift + Alt + H]
Horizontal line[Shift + Alt + R]
Add Signature and Datenone
No Wiki[Shift + Alt + N]
Subscriptnone
Superscriptnone
Strike Throughnone
Insert a Referencenone
The most convenient way to edit the contents of a Wiki page is to use the toolbar, which works similar to a toolbar available in a standard word processor or editor. Figure 5 describes the icons and their functions in more detail.
Another way to edit a page is manual entry of the Wiki Mark-ups. A detailed list of all available Mark-ups and several examples can be found in the aMark-ups Section of this document. In general, the Wiki Mark-up language is compliant to the syntax of the de facto MediaWiki[2], which is used for one of the largest Wiki projects: Wikipedia. This also enables the user to incorporate their own articles into Wikipedia or other projects.
When finishing the edit, one should write a short edit summary in the small field below the edit-box. This text should describe the changes done to a page for the benefit of other editors. After that, the “Preview” function (“ALT + P”) allows the user to see how the changed document will look. If necessary, additional changes can be applied to the preview version. By pressing the “Save” button (or “ALT + s”), the changes will be written to the data repository and immediately applied to the article. The “Cancel / Exit” link on the other hand will abort the editing of a page and will leave the data untouched.
[1] For the administration and the installation of the Wiki extension see “Annex III: Configuration”for details.
[2] MediaWiki is the Wiki used for the Wikipedia project. Please visit www.mediawiki.org/wiki/MediaWiki for further details.
