User:Ponytailguy/Userpage tutorial
Ahoy there! Welcome to the Y!PPedia. This is just a quick guide to get you doing some basic editing... we're going to start with your userpage.
What's a userpage? A userpage is how the rest of the Y!PPedia knows you. Every time you make an edit, your userpage gets listed. Every time someone wants to talk to you, they go to your userpage to do it. Your userpage can be as complex, or as simple as you like. Some users have advanced ones with portraits and lists of accomplishments, others have simple ones, sometimes even just a single line. Today, we're going to do something in between the two.
So let's start
Getting There
First of all, if you aren't already, you have to log into the Y!PPedia before you can edit. Go to the top of the page and click the Log In link (should be at the top right), and use the same username and password you use to log into the forums. Once you're logged in, come back here and we'll get started.
Before we do any editing, we have to find your userpage. This is really easy... you see how, at the very top of the page, there's a little person icon, and your name next to it in red? Open the red link in a new browser window (right-click and select "Open in new window") so you can swap back and forth between this tutorial and the page. Easy enough, eh?
The Basics
Now, it should have dropped you automatically into the editor, because there isn't a page there yet. (If a page already exists, you click the "edit this page" button at the top to get to the editor.) Your userpage is blank at the moment. We're going to change that. To start with, something simple. Just add a few random words... I suggest "Hello world!", but you can use whatever you like. Once you've done that, click the show preview button. (Don't save the page yet!)
Headings
Easy, eh? That's all you have to do to add text. Just type like you're using Notepad. Now, suppose you want to add subsections. Maybe you want to talk about your crew, or your favourite boat. To do that, you just add a header title. = Title here = for major titles, == Title here == for section headings, and === Title here === for minor ones. As a bonus, if your page has a lot of sections, the Y!PPedia automatically adds a table of contents to the top of your page, to make navigation easier.
Basic Formatting
You can also do formatting really easy with the wiki. If you want to make text bold, just add ''' on both sides of the text. (So, to get the word bold, I type in '''bold''') For italics, you only need ''.
Links
And our last lesson, links. There are two kinds of Y!PPedia links: Internal, and External.
Internal links are to other articles within the Y!PPedia. The Y!PPedia has over three thousand articles, so you'll find yourself referring to them quite often. To make an internal link, add two square brackets around the text to be linked. So if I wanted to link the article about treasure drop, I would enter it as [[treasure drop]], and it would display as treasure drop.
If you want to use different text to link internally, you just "pipe in" the text you want to use. So if I wanted to have the words "my crew" link to the Dread Ringers, I would enter it as [[Dread Ringers|my crew]], and it would display as my crew.
External links are links to anywhere else on the internet. If you have a crew website, you might want to link to it on your userpage, and you'd use an external link to do it. These are easy, too. For external links, you only need one bracket. If I wanted to link to Google, I would enter it as [http://www.google.ca] and it would display as [1]
But that's kinda boring. Luckily, you can use different text for external links, too. [http://www.google.ca My favourite search engine] shows up as my favourite search engine.
Save Your Page!
Preview your page one final time, make sure there's nothing you want to change, and then click the "Save page" button to add it to the wiki. Anyone who views the wiki can now view your content.
You'd like to learn more?
If you'd like to learn some more advanced editing techniques, there's a whole series of them called the I Wannas. Just read the ones you need when you need them, and eventually you'll pick up everything you need to know. Beyond that, edit responsibly, be bold, and welcome to the Y!PPedia!
