I'm sure many of you are aware that a few members of our forum began creating a wikia page for Equestria Online. This morning I decided to go out of my way to create one for Legends of Equestria, so I'll provide the link below considering many of you aren't following us on Facebook yet, which you should do... because we're awesome.
Legends of Equestria Wiki (http://legendsofequestria.wikia.com/wiki/Legends_of_Equestria_Wiki)
Chishio Kunrin's guide to editing the Wiki (http://forum.legendsofequestria.com/index.php?topic=3132.0)
IntroductionI've noticed that there are people who are inexperienced in editing wikias. Personally, I had to teach myself how to do it, but teaching oneself such things is not always easy. So, to make things easier for everyone, I decided to try to make a guide on some of the things that editors will often need to do. There is also a little guide on keeping an eye out for vandalism, as well as an easy way to fix large amounts of vandalism.
Link to the wikia: legendsofequestria.wikia.com (http://legendsofequestria.wikia.com)
Some sections in this post are spoilered to take up less space
AccountsAnyone can edit the wikia, even without an account. However, I would prefer it if editors did get accounts. This would allow us to keep up with who is doing what. It would also save some time for those of us who aren't very trusting of edits done by "A Wikia contributor." The account that you create will be used for all wikias, though you will only have a profile on the wikias that you edit.
Getting to Know the WikiaBefore you edit, it's best to become familiar with the wikia's layout.
Spoiler: Screenshot. Spoilered to take up less room show [IMG]http://i1210.photobucket.com/albums/cc406/Chishio64/How%20To%20Edit%20Wikia/wikialayout.jpg[/img]
1. Your username, if you have an account. Hovering your mouse over this gives you the options "My talk," "My preferences," "Help," and "Log Out." Clicking it takes you to your profile.
2. Contribute. This button/drop down menu is located here on every page. It gives you the options "Edit this Page" (If you're on a page), "Add a Photo," "Add a Page," and "Wiki Activity."
3. This is the search bar that you use to search for a page. When you search, it will bring up a list of pages that relate to whatever you typed in, even if you typed the name of a page.
4. Recent Wiki Activity. This box shows you the latest edits. If you click "See more >" it will take you to the Wiki Activity page, where you can see all the edits that have been done so far. This page is more detailed about the edits.
5. On the Wiki. As you can see, it gives you the options to go to the Wiki Activity page, go to a random page, and see the newest photos that have been uploaded.
6. This is where the Edit button is located on every page. If you click the down arrow on the side of it, you can see the page's history or rename it.
7. This is the category that the page is in. Categories are quite useful. When you go to the category page, you can see all of the pages that have been added to the category. What sets categories apart from a page that people add links to, is that it allows the wikia to show related pages that are also in this category.
Spoiler: Example of Related Pages show [IMG]http://i1210.photobucket.com/albums/cc406/Chishio64/How%20To%20Edit%20Wikia/categoryrelated.jpg[/img]
8. Users can post comments on pages to discuss the contents of said pages.
Also, in the bottom right, you can see the three most recently added pictures.
Editing
Finding and Adding PagesFindingFinding a page is pretty easy. In the top right area of every page, there is a search bar that says "Search this wiki" in it. Type in what you think the page is named or a key word of what it's about, hit the button or press Enter, and it will bring up a list of pages that relate to your search. Click on the name of the page you want to go to, and it will take you to it.
AddingIf you find that the page you want does not exist, you can make one. We prefer that you only make a page if you have information about something deserving of a page, and that you are sure this information is true.
To add a page, simply use the "Add a Page" option on the "Contribute" button. It is often helpful to choose to add a Standard Layout page, which includes a placeholder for a picture.
The Editing Page LayoutOnce you pick to edit or add a page, you are taken to the editing page. This page has numerous components, so let's get familiar with them.
Spoiler: Spoilered to take up less room show [IMG]http://i1210.photobucket.com/albums/cc406/Chishio64/How%20To%20Edit%20Wikia/editpage.jpg[/img]
1. The "Source" and "Visual" tabs. Most often, you will only use the Visual tab, as it is the easiest. Source shows you the source coding for the page, and it is usually only used when the page bugs out and needs some tweaking done in the coding itself. I have limited knowledge in the Source tab, since I've only ever fixed bugs in text appearance.
2. This one's pretty easy. These are the Bold and Italics buttons. Highlight the text you want to bold or italicize, and either click one of these buttons or press Ctrl B (for bold) or Ctrl I (for italics). If you click the "More +" button, you get the Underline and Strikethrough options.
3. Hyperlink. This allows you to turn highlighted text into a link. Most often, you will use this to link to other pages in the wikia. When you click it, it brings up a smaller window. In the "Target page or URL" box, simply start typing in the name of the page you want to link to, and it will bring up suggestions. In the "Text to display" box, you can change what it will say.
4. Insert or remove Bullet List and Number List. These are simple enough to use, even simpler than the forum's bullet and number lists.
5. The name of the page you are editing. In this case, Cloudsdale. If I click the name of the page, it will take me back to viewing the page, and any edits I made on the edit page will be cancelled.
6. This drop down menu lets you change the text type from Normal to one of four heading styles.
6.1. An example of Heading 2 style text, which is the first heading style. Headings allow you to create sections and subsections. When there are enough headings used, the wikia will automatically add a list to the page, above the first heading. The list will contain links to each heading, treating the smaller headings as subsections to the bigger headings.
7. Alignment. These buttons align the text left, center, and right.
8. The "More +" button gives you three more options: Underline text, Strikethrough text, and Signature. Signature is usually used when you post to someone else's Talk Page. You can either click the Signature button or type ~~~~, and it'll leave your username and the date and time that you made the edit.
Along the right side, you can see where you can leave a summary of your edit if there's something you want to say about it.
Beneath that are the buttons for adding a photo, gallery, slideshow, slider, video, and table. More in-depth on photos, galleries, and tables next. I'm not so sure that we'll be using slideshows, sliders, or videos.
Under that is the Category section. You can type in a category that you want to add the page to, and you can see the categories the page is already listed under. More on creating categories later.
Adding PhotosIt's much easier to add a photo to a page by using the Photo button while editing the page, rather than using "Add a Photo" on the Contribute menu. If you are confused by that previous sentence, refer to "The Editing Page Layout" section above, in this post.
When you first click the button, it brings up a smaller window on the page. The window will look like this:
[IMG]http://i1210.photobucket.com/albums/cc406/Chishio64/How%20To%20Edit%20Wikia/addphoto-options.jpg[/img]
Here, you can upload a picture. Using "Find" is only helpful if you know the picture's name, as in what the user who uploaded it had it saved as. For example, I uploaded a picture that was named clovercafe.png. I found it by typing "cafe" into the Find search bar.
Next, you will be given the following window:
[IMG]http://i1210.photobucket.com/albums/cc406/Chishio64/How%20To%20Edit%20Wikia/addphoto-edit.jpg[/img]
Here, I'm actually editing the existing picture on the Cloudsdale page. To adjust the picture's size, use the slider.
The "Select another photo" button will replace the existing picture with whatever picture you choose.
Deleting/Editing a PictureWhen you hover your mouse over a picture, the words "modify" and "remove" will appear in the top right corner of it. Click "modify" to edit the picture's settings, or click "remove" to remove it from the page.
Adding a GalleryInstead of littering a page's sides with pictures, we can place a gallery at the bottom of it, preferably with "Gallery" typed above it in Heading 2 style. If you are confused by any part of that sentence, please refer to "The Editing Page Layout" section above in this post.
When you click the Gallery button, it brings up a window within the page:
[IMG]http://i1210.photobucket.com/albums/cc406/Chishio64/How%20To%20Edit%20Wikia/gallery-menu.jpg[/img]
We don't really need to mess with any of the settings in the upper half of the window. Instead, we will simply add a photo with the "Add a photo" button.
Adding a picture in a gallery goes a little differently than adding a single picture to a page, as you can see here:
[IMG]http://i1210.photobucket.com/albums/cc406/Chishio64/How%20To%20Edit%20Wikia/gallery-addphoto.jpg[/img]
The easiest way to grab pictures from other parts of the page you're editing is to click "this page" in the "Or click to choose photos from:" part.
Once you upload or select a picture, it will give you a window where you can type a caption for it.
Here's what the gallery looks like:
[IMG]http://i1210.photobucket.com/albums/cc406/Chishio64/How%20To%20Edit%20Wikia/gallery-example.jpg[/img]
Note the "Gallery" header that I typed using the Header 2 type of text.
Editing a GalleryTo edit or delete a gallery, hover your mouse over the gallery in the edit page, and the words "modify" and "remove" will appear in the top right corner of it.
While editing a gallery, you can hover your mouse over a picture to get the "modify" and "delete" options in the top right corner of it. You can also click and hold the left mouse button on a picture and drag it to another spot in the gallery. This way, you can rearrange the pictures.
Making a TableTables take a little bit more work. It may be easier for people who have worked with programs like Microsoft Excel, in which you make tables by editing cells and whatnot.
When you click the Table button, it will bring up a window like so:
[IMG]http://i1210.photobucket.com/albums/cc406/Chishio64/How%20To%20Edit%20Wikia/table-make.jpg[/img]
Typically, we will only use the Rows and Columns option at first, and we might mess with the other options afterward just to do a little tweaking. If we just click "OK" and let it have 3 rows and 2 columns and all of those settings, it will look like this:
[IMG]http://i1210.photobucket.com/albums/cc406/Chishio64/How%20To%20Edit%20Wikia/table-basic.jpg[/img]
If you need to add more columns or rows, add another cell, delete a row or column, merge two or more cells into one, split a merged cell, change the table's properties, or delete the table, right click one of the cells to bring up these options.
[IMG]http://i1210.photobucket.com/albums/cc406/Chishio64/How%20To%20Edit%20Wikia/table-editing.jpg[/img]
Making a CategoryThe easiest way to make a category is to add a page to the category you want to make. Make sure to type in what you want the category to be named and spell it correctly. Save the edit that you have done. You will find that the category's name will be red, which means that the page it links to does not exist. Click it, and it will take you to a page that prompts you to contribute to it and make it a real page.
I usually type what the category is about on its page. For example:
The page for the Places category says "The Places category features the multitude of places that are accessible in Legends of Equestria."
The page for the Cutie Marks category says "This category is all about cutie marks, including what a cutie mark is and what talent groups there are."
Getting to a Category PageGo to a page that is listed under the category and click the link to it at the bottom. Or, in your browser's URL bar, type legendsofequestria.wikia.com/wiki/Category: and then what the category's name is. Examples:
http://legendsofequestria.wikia.com/wiki/Category:Places (http://legendsofequestria.wikia.com/wiki/Category:Places)
http://legendsofequestria.wikia.com/wiki/Category:Cutie_Marks (http://legendsofequestria.wikia.com/wiki/Category:Cutie_Marks)
Watching For Vandalism
Viewing People's EditsViewing the difference in edits made by other users and, especially, anonymous editors ("A Wikia contributor") is a great way to keep an eye out for vandals.
An easy way to tell what a user has changed on a page is to go to their User Page (usually by clicking their name on the Wiki Activity page) and going to their "Contributions" tab. Here, you can see every edit they have made on the wikia, as well as the time and date that they made the edit.
Here's a snip from my Contributions page:
[IMG]http://i1210.photobucket.com/albums/cc406/Chishio64/How%20To%20Edit%20Wikia/viewedits-contributions.jpg[/img]
You can see "(diff | hist)" next to the date on each edit. Click "diff" to see what change the user made, and it will take you to the page and show the difference:
[IMG]http://i1210.photobucket.com/albums/cc406/Chishio64/How%20To%20Edit%20Wikia/viewedits-diff.jpg[/img]
Bold red text shows what has been changed. Basically, I changed the picture's size from 400px to 300px.
If I had deleted a whole paragraph of text, the left side would have shown that paragraph in a yellow box with a minus, while the right side would have shown an empty yellow box the same size with a minus next to it.
Undoing Large Amounts of VandalismA lot of the time, vandals will edit a small amount on a page. That is easy enough to fix. But when a vandal deletes massive chunks of a page, that is a little harder to fix, especially since copying and pasting from the difference-viewing page tends to put a color background on the pasted text, whether you want it there or not.
Spoiler: Screenshot show [IMG]http://i1210.photobucket.com/albums/cc406/Chishio64/How%20To%20Edit%20Wikia/viewedits-diff.jpg[/img]
Pretend that the Cloudsdale page had a lot more information on it. Now, pretend I had been a bad pony in the above screenshot by changing the picture to something unrelated and replacing all the text with something else. What a savvy editor would use in this screenshot is the "undo" part of "Latest revision as of 22:27, June 26, 2012 (edit) (undo)" above my username.
All you need to do to get rid of this bad pony's vandalism is click "undo," review the edit page that it brings up, and then click "Publish."
Where we can purchase or download this game? My daughter and I wanted very much!! Thank :l
It will be available anywhere that can connect to the internet and download it, when it is released, of course. Also, this game will only ever be free to play, no purchase required.
Please check out this (http://forum.legendsofequestria.com/index.php?topic=3627.0) thread to keep track of the progress we're making on the game.
I'm sad that there hasn't been much info released on LoE lately that I can update the Wiki...
I'm currently updating the Wikia to be a little bit more appealing to the eye; I'm noticing grammatical errors and context flaws.
Don't worry, I'm not adding anything from the game, merely making what's already there look better.
EDIT: I'm going around adding a Trivia section to certain pages as well, to allow longer, more detailed information.
List of changes to date:
May 29:
Unicorn - Edited context and corrected grammar.
Ponyville - Corrected grammar.
Diamond Dogs - Corrected grammar, improved context, and added a Trivia section which explains facts about the subject page in relation to My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic and real life.
Manticore - Edited context and corrected grammar.
Sweet Apple Acres - Corrected grammar and context, as well as added a Trivia section.
Timberwolf - Added Trivia, corrected grammar and context.
Dryads - Edited context.
Mines - Edited context and grammar.
Main page - Slightly edited the topic sentence for clarity.
Cloudsdale - Removed "Places of Interest" for its lack of content and replaced it with a Trivia section.
Sugarcube Corner - Edited context slightly and removed "Places of Interest" for lack of content.
The Ponyville Library - Edited context and corrected grammar.
Pegasus - Edited context slightly.
Klondike Hikes - Edited context and grammar.
Tartarus - Edited context and grammar.
Well that's about it. I'll continue to update the Wikia within bounds, and I would much appreciate it should an administrator check my work so that it is within regulation.
The wiki sure could use a bit more activity... I'm not too good with wikicode myself X3
And maybe someone to help clean up spam in the comments section.
Are the names similar but different like Cloudopolis and Cantermore to prevent copyright issues?
That being said, I think the pages should start having reduced references to the MLP TV series, to make it clear that LoE does not infringe on any copyrighted content by Hasbro.
I hate wiki after they got rid of monaco and made Oasis the default layout. Oasis sucks. Think you can make a new wiki?
I'm not sure how to do that, nor do I know the difference between the two layouts (having only delved into wikitext less than a year ago). Not sure about making a new wiki either, as people are already familiar with the current one, and porting content may be troublesome.
Monaco is the old Wikia skin. This skin had been ported over to MediaWiki and is used on wiki sites powered by MediaWiki (such as the official Minecraft Wiki for example). Oasis is the replacement skin for Monaco, and is adopted on all current Wikia sites. Some of the older users do prefer the Monaco skin as such, but Wikia no longer has the option to choose the layout, hence some had switched over to MediaWiki.