CZ:Software Tour

Here's a bullet-point intro to the software that runs this place.

For folks who haven't had experience with the software that runs CZ (that's an abbreviation for Citizendium), called "Mediawiki," here are some helpful tips. See how many you already knew:

• The red links lead to blank pages. Click on one and you can start a new article.
• When you're editing an article, you see a text box where the editing takes place. Now look at the stuff that surrounds that text box:
  • See all the small buttons, B, I, and so forth? You can use those buttons the same way you would a word processing program's controls. (It adds in the code for you.)
  • Look below the text box. Look for "Summary:" That's where you can briefly summarize your changes. It's a courtesy to others to fill this in, so please do.
  • "This is a minor edit": check it only if you're doing things like fixing spelling or adding an inconsequential word.
  • "Watch this page": like the "watch" tab, adds the page to your watchlist.
  • "Content is from Wikipedia?": do check this if you have copied in any content taken from Wikipedia.
  • Next, notice the three buttons at the bottom of the page. "Save page" saves the page, closes the edit box, and displays the article.
  • "Show preview": a very handy button, press it and you'll see what the page looks with your changes. This does not save the page, though. So if you use this button much, be sure to click "Save page" when you're finished, or you'll lose all your changes!
• When you're looking at an article, across the top of the page you see a bunch of tabs. Here's what they do:
  • article: display the article
  • discussion: the "talk" page, where you go to discuss with others how the article should be edited
  • history: a record of all the edits of the article; you can view every single version ever saved! Very handy.
  • watch: clicking on this adds the article to your "watchlist"; access your watchlist by clicking "my watchlist" in the upper right of the window. Note that you can automatically add all articles you edit to your watchlist; look in "my preferences" (top of the page).
• Next, look at the links at the extreme top of the page, on the right:
  • your name: click on your name to go to your user page. Your bio should be there; note that we require a bio of all contributors.
  • my talk: that's your personal talk page. Other people may post messages for you here.
  • my preferences: a huge array of settings to change (if you want).
  • my watchlist: all the recent changes made to articles you are "watching" (again, watch an article by going to that article and then clicking the "watch" tab)
  • my contributions: everything you've done!
  • log out: self-explanatory
• Next, look at all the links on the left (these are changeable, by the way). Beginning with the "citizendium" section:
  • Main Page: the homepage of the wiki
  • About: about the Citizendium, an introduction for users
  • Live articles: an alphabetical list of the articles we're working on
  • Random page: click it, it's fun
  • Our editors: a listing of editors who have signed up with us
  • Our authors: a similar listing, of authors
  • FAQ: frequently asked questions (more introductory information)
  • Donate: here's where you can donate to the cause; we could use your support!
• Next, the "project pages" section (also on the left):
  • Project home: the homepage for the project, a jumping-off place for contributors to find information about the project
  • Recent changes: a table of changes recently made on this wiki; see "get plugged in to the community" below
  • Help: how to do stuff on this wiki; how to use the software that runs it
  • Workgroups: a growing and changing list of the groups of editors and authors at work here
  • Bug tracker: here's where to report bugs in the software; probably, the most obvious bugs have already been reported
  • How to join: how to become a Citizen
• For the links under "communication," see "get plugged in to the community"
• search: press "Go" to go directly to the page you name (if we have it), and "Search" to search through the text of all articles
• Finally, the "toolbox":
  • What links here: click here for a list of all the pages that link to the page you're on
  • Related changes: a list of the recent changes made to articles that are linked by this article
  • Upload file: use this to add pictures and other files to CZ
  • Special pages: a whole bunch of other software functions; many different lists of pages
• For a more complete rundown, and links to further help pages, see CZ:Technical Help.