How to edit a page

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Edit an Existing Page

  1. Type the topic you are interested in in the search box in the left panel of the page.
  2. Clicking Search searches for the keyword that you entered anywhere (not just in the title) on any page.
  3. Clicking Go searches for pages whose exact title matches what you just typed in
  4. Once you have found the topic or page you were looking for, click on the title of the topic (i.e page) you would like to edit
  5. Next, click on the edit button at the top of the page. Also, clicking the edit button in the upper right corner of each section enables an edit page for that particular section.

New edit tools

wikEd provides editing tools such as undo/redo, search & replace, instant preview, and a more intuitive version-compare functionality. It will also allow you to paste formatted text into the edit window :(such as from MS word), then click a [W] button to convert the text to wikicode.
It was developed by User:Cacycle for use in Wikipedia, but has been installed locally on WikiDoc to ease the burden of editing.
Install wikEd simply by adding {{subst:wikEd}} to your User:USERNAME/monobook.js page.

Basic wiki language

If you would like to practice editing, use the SandBox
Try opening the Sandbox in a separate window or tab and keeping this page open for reference.
Some operations but not all can be performed with the editing buttons.
By passing your mouse cursor over them, you can read what they do.
In the left column of the table below, you can see what effects are possible. In the right column, you can see how those effects were achieved.
In other words, to make text look like it looks in the left column, type it in the format you see in the right column.

Examples

What it looks like What you type

Start your sections as follows:

New section

Subsection

Sub-subsection

  • Start with a second-level heading (==); don't use first-level headings (=).
  • Don't skip levels (for example, second-level followed by fourth-level).
  • A Table of Contents will automatically be added to an article that has four or more sections. If you do not want a table of contents, insert __NOTOC__ at the top of the page.
  • If appropriate, place subsections in an appropriate order. If listing countries, place them in alphabetical order rather than, say, relative to population of OECD countries, or some random order.
 
==New section==

===Subsection===

====Sub-subsection====

A single newline generally has no effect on the layout. These can be used to separate sentences within a paragraph. Some editors find that this aids editing and improves the function diff (used internally to compare different versions of a page).

But an empty line starts a new paragraph.

  • When used in a list, a newline does affect the layout (see below).
 
A single newline
generally has no effect on the layout. 
These can be used to separate
sentences within a paragraph.
Some editors find that this aids editing
and improves the function ''diff'' 
(used internally to compare
different versions of a page).

But an empty line
starts a new paragraph.

You can break lines
without starting a new paragraph.

  • Please use this sparingly.
  • Close markup between lines, do not start a link or italics or bold on one line and close it on the next.
 
You can break lines<br>
without starting a new paragraph.
  • It's easy to create a list:
    • Start every line with a star (asterisk).
      • More stars means deeper levels.
        • A newline in a list

marks the end of a list item.

  • An empty line starts a new list.
 
* It's easy to create a list:
** Start every line with a star.
*** More stars means deeper levels.
**** A newline in a list
marks the end of a list item.

* An empty line starts a new list.
  1. Numbered lists are also good
    1. very organized
    2. easy to follow
      1. easier still
 
# Numbered lists are also good
## very organized
## easy to follow
### easier still
Definition list
list of definitions
item
the item's definition
another item
the other item's definition
  • Begin with a semicolon. One item per line; a newline can appear before the colon, but using a space before the colon improves parsing.
 
; Definition list : list of definitions
; item : the item's definition
; another item
: the other item's definition
  • You can even create mixed lists
    1. and nest them
      • like this
        can I mix definition list as well?
        yes
        how?
        it's easy as
        • a
        • b
        • c
 
* You can even create mixed lists
*# and nest them
*#* like this
*#*; can I mix definition list as well?
*#*: yes
*#*; how?
*#*: it's easy as
*#*:* a 
*#*:* b
*#*:* c
A colon indents a line or paragraph.

A manual newline starts a new paragraph.

  • This is primarily for displayed material, but is also used for discussion on Talk pages.
 
: A colon indents a line or paragraph.
A manual newline starts a new paragraph.

When there is a need for separating a block of text

the blockquote command will indent both margins when needed instead of the left margin only as the colon does.

This is useful for (as the name says) inserting blocks of quoted (and cited) text. 

<blockquote>
The '''blockquote''' command will indent 
both margins when needed instead of the 
left margin only as the colon does.  
</blockquote>

(See formula on right):

  • This is useful for:
    • pasting preformatted text;
    • algorithm descriptions;
    • program source code;
    • ASCII art;
    • chemical structures;
  • WARNING: If you make it wide, you force the whole page to be wide and hence less readable, especially for people who use lower resolutions. Never start ordinary lines with spaces.
 
 IF a line starts with a space THEN
 it will be formatted exactly
 as typed;
 in a fixed-width font;
 lines will not wrap;
 ENDIF
Centered text.
  • Please note the American spelling of "center."
 
<center>Centered text.</center>

A horizontal dividing line: this is above it

and this is below it.

  • Mainly useful for
    • disambiguation - but to be used sparsely, only when separating completely different, unrelated (groups of) meanings
    • separating threads on Talk pages.
 
A horizontal dividing line:
this is above it
----
and this is below it.


When do I need to redirect a page?

Sometimes a topic will have multiple names or abbreviations, and you will want to direct them all to one page.

For example take the page ST Elevation Myocardial Infarction. The names STEMI, MI, Acute MI, Myocardial Infarction, AMI all are redirected to the page ST Elevation Myocardial Infarction.

How do I make a redirect (redirect command)?

To redirect a page A to a different page B (also called target page), enter the following redirecting command at the top of redirecting page. 

#REDIRECT [[NAME OF PAGE B]]

For example, to redirect the MI page ( redirecting page ) to the ST Elevation Myocardial Infarction page (target page), edit the MI page and enter: 

#REDIRECT [[ST Elevation Myocardial Infarction]]

What if I misspell the name of a page that I create?

If a spelling mistake occurs in a title such as STElevation Myocardial Infarction, it is not possible for a regular user to move the page with all its history. It is however possible to create a redirect. A new page ST Elevation Myocardial Infarction must be created first, and the contents from the old page must be copied manually. Then the old page STElevation Myocardial Infarction must be edited and its source code replaced by: 

#REDIRECT [[ST Elevation Myocardial Infarction (Acute MI)]]

What are undesirable redirects?

Don't make (a redirect that points to another redirect); they don't work, they create slow, unpleasant experiences for the reader, and they make the navigational structure of the site confusing.

To learn more about redirects click here.

How do I change the color of a font?

Typing this: 

 <font color="red">your text</font>

Yields this red text:

your text

Are there other colors? You can create text in any hexadecimal color.

Typing this: 

 <font color="#1f4099">your text</font>

Creates your text with hexadecimal color #1f4099:

your text

How do I change the size of a font?

The fonts come in sizes from 1 to 7. The standard size is 3, unless otherwise specified in the <body> or other tags.

Typing this: 

 <font size="4">your text</font>

Creates a bigger font size of size 4:

your text

Typing this: 

 <font size="+1">your text</font>

Creates text with size 1 bigger than the standard:

your text

Typing this: 

 <font size="-1">your text</font>

Creates text with size 1 smaller than the standard:

your text

How do I change the typeface of a font?

Typing this: 

 <font face="Courier">your text</font>

Makes text with Courier font:

your text

How do I insert an image?

For instructions on how to insert an image, [Click here]

How do I insert a reference?

WikiDoc has a reference manager that allows you to insert references based upon their PubMed ID number. If you move the text, the reference moves with it! All the references are automatically inserted at the bottom. You click on the reference and you go to the article. It is simple to do!

Where do I type in the references?

Usually you would type a number in the text like this (1) or this 1 which refers to a reference you would like to cite. You would then type in the reference at the end of the article. This is not the preferred method in WikiDoc.

WikiDoc features an automated reference manager. The advantages of this reference manager are that:

  1. The references are numbered automatically!
  2. When you move the text, the reference moves with it!
  3. You can click on the reference and go directly to the article!

Unlike the usual format where you type in the references at the end of the article, when you use the WikiDoc reference manager, you insert code for the reference right after the material you want to add a reference to. You use a software program to add in the references. The next section describes how to use the software program.

Using the WikiDoc reference manager

One goal of WikiDoc is to create reference lists that allow you to click on the PubMed ID number at the end of the reference and go to the primary article itself. This greatly facilitates locating references. Therefore, the preferred method of citing references includes the use of a reference manager that uses the PubMed ID number to create the reference. The reference manager uses not only PubMed IDs but also DrugBank ID, HGNC ID, ISBN, PubMed ID, PubMed Central ID, PubChem ID, or URLs.

The preferred method for inserting a reference is as follows:

Step 1: Use PubMed to locate the article you are interested in by clicking here

Step 2: Copy the PubMed ID number from the article. The word PubMed ID is often abbreviated PMID and this number is located at the bottom of the abstract. You can use the search function on Firefox or Internet explorer to locate the word PMID and the number will follow this abbreviation. It will look something like this:

PMID: 19032997

Step 3: Paste the PubMed ID number (PMID) into a software program that creates the Wiki language code for the reference you are going to paste into the text of your article. You can access software for converting a pubmed ID number into a reference by clicking here

Step 4: When using the reference manager, make sure the button that says add ref tag is checked

Step 5: Press submit to generate the Wiki language that can be inserted in your article.

Step 6: Copy the Wiki language from the software program. For example, the output for the PMID above (19032997) is as follows:

<ref name="pmid19032997">{{cite journal |author=Gibson CM, Pride YB, Frederick PD, ''et al'' |title=Trends in reperfusion strategies, door-to-needle and door-to-balloon times, and in-hospital mortality among patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction enrolled in the National Registry of Myocardial Infarction from 1990 to 2006 |journal=Am. Heart J. |volume=156 |issue=6 |pages=1035–44 |year=2008 |month=December |pmid=19032997 |doi=10.1016/j.ahj.2008.07.029 |url=}}</ref>

Step 7: Paste this output from the reference manager software right where you want the superscript number to appear in the text.

For example, using the above reference, you might type something like this:

Gibson et al recently summarized the improvements made in clincial oucomes as a result of 15 years of quality improvement efforts in the NRMI registry <ref name="pmid19032997">{{cite journal |author=Gibson CM, Pride YB, Frederick PD, ''et al'' |title=Trends in reperfusion strategies, door-to-needle and door-to-balloon times, and in-hospital mortality among patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction enrolled in the National Registry of Myocardial Infarction from 1990 to 2006 |journal=Am. Heart J. |volume=156 |issue=6 |pages=1035–44 |year=2008 |month=December |pmid=19032997 |doi=10.1016/j.ahj.2008.07.029 |url=}}</ref>

This would generate text that looks like this:

Gibson et al recently summarized the improvements made in clincial oucomes as a result of 15 years of quality improvement efforts in the NRMI registry [1]

  1. ↑ Gibson CM, Pride YB, Frederick PD; et al. (2008). "Trends in reperfusion strategies, door-to-needle and door-to-balloon times, and in-hospital mortality among patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction enrolled in the National Registry of Myocardial Infarction from 1990 to 2006". Am. Heart J. 156 (6): 1035–44. doi:10.1016/j.ahj.2008.07.029. PMID 19032997. Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)

What if I don't want to use the reference manager? What if I just want to type the references in myself?

You are not required to use the reference manager. You can do the following:

Step 1: Place a <ref> ... </ref> immediately after the sentence where you want a footnote number to appear.

Step 2: Type the text of the note between the ref tags. For example if I typed this 

This was on of the first articles I published <ref>J Fam Pract. 2000 Oct;49(10):921-3.</ref>

It would appear as this 

This was on of the first articles I published [1]

How do I make the references appear at the bottom of the article?

The preferred method

Put the following code in:

==References==

{{reflist|2}}


This will generate your references in small font, in two columns, with links to the original article and abstract. It will return text that looks like this:

  1. ↑ J Fam Pract. 2000 Oct;49(10):921-3.

Alternate "old school" method

Place the following code in:

==References==

<references/>

This generates one column output that looks like this:


How do I add a page to a category?

At some point it becomes useful to classify the information according to categories. An example of a category in use is this Help page (see link at the very bottom). To create a category, simply add (for each category) a line as follows: 

 [[Category: Name of Category]]

Typing this: 

 [[Category:Cardiology]]

Adds the page to the Category of Cardiology chapters.

It is convention to insert these lines near the bottom of the wiki page. Once your edit is saved, the category will exist and add the page to it.

How do I insert and remove a table of contents?

You add the text 

 __NOTOC__

somewhere within the page (it can be added to the bottom of the page) in order to remove the table of contents.

Typing 

 “__TOC__”

will put a table of contents in the location of the text.


How do I create a 'Return to top' link?

For a long page with multiple sections, sometimes you might want your reader to be able to return to the top of the page without having to scroll all the way up. To do this, you can make a 'Return to top' link. You need to know the name of your page (Pagename) and to select a section (TopSection) from the top of the page (click here to learn how to create sections.)

In general, 

  [[Pagename#TopSection|Return to top]]

creates the 'Return to top' link.


For example, on this page: 

  [[Help:How to Edit a Page#Edit an Existing Page|Return to top]]

creates: Return to top

How do I upload a file to the site so it can be downloaded by others?

First, click on upload file on the toolbox menu to upload the file from your computer to WikiDoc.

How do I create a link to the file I just uploaded?

Put two square brackets on either side of the file's name to create a link to it so that it can be downloaded like this: 

 [[whatever filename you give to the file]]

Example: You have uploaded a file named DSMB charter.doc

To create the link, you simply type: 

 [[DSMB charter.doc]]

How do I edit the left sidebar?

In the search box type:

mediawiki:sidebar

This editing function may be restricted to administrators of WikiDoc.

How do I create a link straight to a picture?

Use the following syntax: 

 {{filepath|name_of_file.jpg|some text that you want to appear}}

Template:WikiDoc Sources

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