User talk:Cjosephmayfield

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Wiki.gis.com was founded with the purpose of establishing a GIS-specific wiki for professionals, students and anyone interested in GIS and related topics. Participating in a wiki community can be a daunting experience to new users, but a rewarding experience to those who learn a few basics to participate and contribute subject-matter expertise to the community. Learn more about the philosphy behind the wiki on the What is Wiki.GIS? page.

The sections below outline the basics of Wiki.GIS.com.

[edit] Navigating Wiki.GIS

Main Page showcases the best wiki pages and images under the Featured Content section, references the new user pages, highlights the exclusive content, and displays the GIS community events calender.

Categories are used to organize the pages in Wiki.GIS. Categories allow articles to be placed in one or more groups, and allow those groups to be further categorized. When an article belongs to a category, it will contain a special link to a page that describes the category.

Create new page is used to add content to the wiki that is not related to any other existing pages. See Editing an Article vs. Creating a New Article for more information.

Contributors displays a list of the registered users. The User List box at the top of the page can be used to search for specific user names.

GIS Dictionary contains a thorough collection of GIS terms and their definitions.

[edit] Registration

Registration is not required to view pages on Wiki.GIS.com. However, unlike Wikipedia.com, registration is required to perform on-site editing. Create a Wiki.GIS Account to start contributing!

[edit] Editing an Existing Article vs. Creating a New Article

Before adding a new article, it is important to ascertain whether the article already exists. If an article exists, it can be edited by logged-in users.

Existing articles can be edited, or new articles created.

It is easy to edit the contents of a wiki page.

1. Click the "edit" tab at the top of the wiki page.
2. Make any necessary edits or additions to the text.
3. Click the "Save page" button.

Note: It is highly recommended to click the "Preview page" button to preview the wiki page with your edits or additions prior to clicking the "Save page" button to save the wiki page with the current edits.

For more on editing wiki pages, look at the How to edit page.

Once you are comfortable with editing an article, you can begin experimenting with creating articles, adding images, links, tables and other functions. The wiki markup language offers a wealth of automated rendering functions to format and display text and links with a few simple keystrokes. Users will find they can learn the basics of creating and displaying articles and content with a few simple minutes of instruction.

[edit] Creating a Page

The instructions provided describe the basics of how to create a new page on the wiki. To learn more, please visit Creating a New Page.

1. Make sure the page does not already exist by performing a search for it by key term or topic. If the page exists, you will be given the option to edit the existing page.
2. If the page does not exist, you will be given the option of creating a new page.
3. Select a boilerplate template from the drop-down list and click the "Load" button.
4. Add the content into the Wikitext editor. Images can be added to an article by uploading and referencing from within an article.
5. Once the content is complete, select a category. (A category groups related content in a hierarchical tree.)
6. Click the "Save page" button to publish the page to the wiki.

The Generic Template shown in WikiText mode.

The Generic Template shown in rendered mode.

[edit] Adding Images

Images help make pages more engaging and can be used to explain complex concepts. The instructions provided describe how to add images to a wiki page.

How to Upload a File

1. Click the "Upload file" link in the left naviagtion.
2. In the Source file box, click Browse .
3. In the Choose File to Upload window, navigate to the file you want to upload and click Open.
4. In the File description box, enter the destination filename.
5. Enter a description of the image in the Summary text box.
6. Check any of the Upload options if desired.
7. Click "Upload File."

How to Add an Image to a Page

1. Open the desired page and click the "edit" tab.
2. In the edit window, type:

[[File:Example.ex]] where "Example" = the destination file name and ".ex" = the file's format extension.

1. Click "Save page".

There are many ways to format images on the wiki. To learn more about captions, alignment, galleries, and other options, visit the Adding images page.

[edit] Content Basics

The default WikiMedia engine is designed to display content in a left-to-right, top-to-bottom fashion. At the top of the article is the title, followed by a table of contents--if there are four or more headings--and the body copy. By default images are displayed on the right.

[edit] Headings and Subheadings

Articles with four or more headings automatically render a table of contents with headings listed. The code on the right overlay displays the results shown with arrows on the left.

Headings and subheading are used to break up content into navigable pieces.

[edit] Headings

To define a heading, bracket the word or phrase with two equal signs.

For example, if you type:

== Introduction == , a main heading titled "Introduction" is created. This main heading is entered into the table of contents and divides the content from the heading with a hard return.

[edit] Subheadings

A subheading displays a smaller heading in large, bold format. A subheading is created by using three equal signs to bracket the word or phrase.

For example, if you type:

=== Beginning === , a subheading titled "Beginning" is created.

More information about headings can be found at [Wikipedia - Formatting]

[edit] Font Formatting

Fonts are easily formatted using a few keystrokes. Below are some commonly-used basic font-formatting options that can be used in the Wikitext entry form.