Help:Editing
From Full Metal Alchemist d20
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Guidelines
First, note the disclaimers that appear at the bottom of the edit page, but which everyone skips over:
- Please note that all contributions to FMA d20 may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you don't want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then don't submit it here.
- You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource. Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! That includes screencaps, text from one of the other major sites, or text from major RPG rulebooks.
Then there are our local guidelines.
- There is an order to the site. Please follow links and read the introductory text of the pages to figure out where your material should go.
- Examine existing pages. There may already be a link to the page you are about to create, or a subheading somewhere that covers the bases.
- Use Wiki Markup. Don't number lines to make a list, for instance, use # signs to make a numbered list. Etc.
- Use the "Summary" field at the bottom of the editing window. This helps the people watching edits know what you have done.
- If you are just fixing a typo, use the "This is a minor edit" checkbox.
Editing basics
- Start editing
- To start editing a MediaWiki page, click on the "Edit this page" (or just "edit") link at one of its edges. This will bring you to the edit page: a page with a text box containing the wikitext: the editable source code from which the server produces the webpage. If you just want to experiment, please do so in the sandbox, not here.
- Summarize your changes
- You should write a short edit summary in the small field below the edit-box.
- Preview before saving
- When you have finished, press preview to see how your changes will look -- before you make them permanent. Repeat the edit/preview process until you are satisfied, then click "Save" and your changes will be immediately applied to the article.
Tips and tricks
Page protection
In a few cases, where an administrator has protected a page, the link labeled "Edit this page" is replaced by the text "View source". In that case the page cannot be edited. Protection of an image page includes protection of the image itself.
Edit conflicts
If someone else makes an edit while you are making yours, the result is an Edit conflict. Many conflicts can be automatically resolved by the Wiki. If it can't be resolved, however, you will need to resolve it yourself. The Wiki gives you two text boxes, where the top one is the other person's edit and the bottom one is your edit. Merge your edits into the top edit box, which is the only one that will be saved.
Error messages
If you get an error message upon saving a page, you can't tell whether the actual save has failed or just the confirmation. You can go back and save again, and the second save will have no effect, or you can check "My contributions" to see whether the edit went through.
Checking spelling and editing in your favorite editor
You may find it more convenient to copy and paste the text first into your favorite text editor, edit and spell check it there, and then paste it back into your web browser to preview. This way, you can also keep a local backup copy of the pages you have edited. It also allows you to make changes offline.
If you edit this way, it's best to leave the editing page open after you copy from it, using the same edit box to submit your changes, so that the usual edit conflict mechanism can deal with it. If you return to the editing page later, please make sure that nobody else has edited the page in the meantime. If someone has, you'll need to merge their edits into yours by using the diff feature in the page history.
Table Formatting
Wikipedia has a full guide to table formatting (http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Help:Table). Please use this formatting for tables in FMA d20. Put in your own width values if you wish (you may omit those lines as well), and use either of the two row styles. --Sprice
| Col 1 | Col 2 | Col 3 |
|---|---|---|
| R1C1 | R1C2 | R1C3 |
| R2C1 | R2C2 | R2C3 |
