[HLUG] Re HLUG Wiki

[Julian Robbins]

Hi all

Some notes for Chris, and anyone interested in taking a look at the new 
wiki. Word to the wise, the wiki only appears on the testing website 
that I setup, NOT on the current one at herefordshire.lug.org.uk
Shortly, Mark will redirect the lug .org.uk site to point to the new 
one. So please treat thsi as advance mention of the new features ;-)

Chris Owens wrote:

>Hi everyone,
>
>    Many thanks Julian for introducing me to the Lug Wiki - can't wait to
>get started with some ideas (but don't hold breath anyone I'm a slow
>learner).
>
>A couple of questions first.
>
>1. To save telephone bills can I write initial work in a Text Editor and
>then cut and paste into the Wiki page. If so, which editor is best. e.g. is
>Open Office Word OK
>  
>
Firstly, worth mentioning what a wiki is :- its a simple markup language 
to create webpages that are especially useful in a group or community 
project for fast moving, changing information. The pages are normally 
open to a particular group of users, or even to the whole outside world. 
wikipedia.org is the best explanation , demonstration of what can be 
achieved.

Wiki's make use of plain text with some mark up language. The mark up 
language can be added by the little GUI buttons for Bold, underlining, 
etc, or you can add the mark up into your text directly.
As it is simple mark up, I would stick to a simple text editor, Open 
Office may be a bit of overkill for this. Gedit, or Kedit are fine. A 
bit of practice with the wiki may be useful, ie getting use to bulleted 
lists numbered lists, Headings, and bold.

>2. Would like eventually have a really good indexed access available (a
>'Find' function). Does the text have to treated in a special way from the
>outset with identified Key Words etc
>  
>
Nope, the wiki has a good 'Find' feature, which just indexes all the 
content in the wiki. As the Wiki content sits in a database, the 
searching works well. You dio not have to identify any particular words, 
- 'it just works'

>3. Would like to develop Tool Tips and 'links' to more detailed
>explanations. Almost certainly will need a reminder on how to do this.
>  
>
Tools tips I'm not sure about, there may be a way to do this. Our new 
website uses 'Mediawiki', so you may wish to read up on their docs to 
find out.

Links to more detailed explanations/wiki pages are really easy. Just 
look at our site :-
To link to another page, would be as below:-

> I decided a [[wiki]] would be the best means of doing this.

Where the word 'wiki' appears it has a web link to a page defining what 
a wiki is. Adding the two sets of square brackets is all you need around 
the item to wish to create another wiki page for. This is why wikis work 
so well, as the linking syntax is so simple;-) You create your link 
first normally, then once saved click on it to enter the new page where 
you write up your page. It seems odd at first then makes perfect sense.

>4. Would it appeal to have a section summarising progress with the LFS
>project each time we do some. The difficulty in getting started on Thursday
>must have been instructive in its own right. Box do you have a brief summary
>of what the problem was and if there would have been any realistic way of
>detecting it in advance and most importantly how to avoid the problem in
>future - exactly what I see as a big contribution the Wiki can make.
>  
>
Yes, good idea. The most important thing with the wiki is the social 
interaction, ie informing users in the group that they can add, edit 
content for the benefit of all and getting them to jump in.

>5. If I can get my laptop working (yet again - Win 98 SE this time) then
>I'll try to post some section headings. Will then try to write some outline
>stuff from a real beginners stand point and hope that everyone will bail me
>out as I get stuck for technical and practical detail.
>  
>
Great! I would advise using Firefox on your Windows, because the wiki 
has a few issues with at with Internet Explorer - unfortunately, I 
haven't got time, to find out what it is.

When the new website is finally all in the right place - we will discuss 
how everyone in the LUG can get rights to add web content, and also the 
wiki.

Stay tuned ...

Julian