Help:Starting a new page

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Important: If you are a new editor wanting to make a page, be aware that you will need to create a Fanlore account first, and will need to wait four hours after creating it as an anti-spam measure. However, you can still edit other Fanlore pages while you wait!

This page explains the mechanics of creating a new wiki page and lists resources for how to develop the content of the page.

Things you will need to start a page:


How do I create the page?

There are several ways to create a page.

Using Wikilinks

Red text in a wiki article like this is a link to a page that doesn't exist yet (see Help:Links). If you click on it, you will arrive at the edit page for the new article. Add text and click save, which will create the new page. However, first check that the page doesn't exist by searching for it; the red link may simply be misspelled.

Once the page has been created, the link will change from red to blue (purple for pages you've visited), indicating that the article now exists.

Usually this is the best way to create a new page, because it means that right from the start, the page will be linked from at least one other place on the wiki (and typically you will want to link to it from other related pages later).

Using the URL

You can also use the wiki's URL to create a new page. The URL to a Fanlore article looks something like this:

http://fanlore.org/wiki/ARTICLE   

If you replace ARTICLE with the name of the page you wish to create, you will be taken to a blank page with the following message:

There is currently no text in this page. You can search for this page title in other pages, search the related logs, or create this page.

Select create this page. By default, this will create a new page in Source Editor mode ("Create Source"), but you can use the "Create" tab to switch over to the Visual Editor.

From the search page

In the search box on the upper right side of the page,

  1. Enter the name of the page you want to create
  2. Hit the Enter key or click the Go button
  3. If the page does not exist, a link to create the new page will appear in red at the top of the search results
  4. Select this to open a blank edit window in Visual Editor mode

What do I put in the page?

First, a template

Now that you've got a blank edit window, you can start by copying and pasting an infobox template into it. These templates contain a summary of information about the topic. Some examples of commonly used templates include Template:CharacterProfile, Template:PairingProfile, Template:GlossaryTerm, Template:FandombyText, and Template:PersonProfile. For help selecting an appropriate infobox, refer to Help:Template Guidelines or the topic-specific help pages below.

The easiest way to add the template into the page is to copy the source code from the template page and paste it into your new page. In the Visual Editor mode, this will automatically convert into a template that you can edit by selecting it and then selecting "Edit" in the top right. This will open another popup where you can enter text to go in each field of the infobox. However, be aware that within this popup, the fields in the infobox will be rearranged in alphabetical order instead of in the order in which they will appear in the final infobox. We recommend keeping the template page open in a separate tab in order to check which field is which!

Note: Not every type of page has a perfectly tailored infobox to go with it (yet). If you can't find the right template , there may not be one. Don't let that stop you! If there is a template, someone else will be happy to find and add it later.

We also have a few "page templates" that contain a complete outline of a page which you can copy and paste to get started, with sections that you can fill in or remove as needed. These were originally designed for the Source Editor mode, but when pasted into the Visual Editor, will magically convert into a version that you can edit visually. Just edit the placeholder text and delete sections as needed!

More of these are being added all the time! If you would like a page outline for a particular page type, feel free to request it on the Talk page. To date, the page outlines we have available include:

Formatting the page

There are two ways to format the content of your new page: using the Visual Editor and using the Source Editor. The Visual Editor allows you to view and directly edit a preview of what your page will look like, whereas the Source Editor relies on wiki markup to format the contents of the page.

For more information about how to format pages in the Visual Editor, refer to Help:Editing pages#Using the Visual Editor. For more information about how to format pages in the Source Editor, refer to Help:Formatting and Help:Cheatsheet.

Help for articles on specific topics

The following help pages include instructions and suggestions for how to organize and develop articles on various topics:

Editor's block

If you think there should be a page about a certain topic, but you're not sure how to approach it or you don't know everything there is to know about the topic (who does?), feel free to start the page anyway! You can add a few notes, an introductory statement, and/or some headings for other editors to fill in. You can also create a Talk page and leave a message there encouraging other editors to add their knowledge.

You can add a stub template to indicate that the article needs more material. In the Visual Editor, select "Insert" and then "Template", then type "Stub" and select it from the drop-down, then select "Insert" to add the template. In the Source Editor, copy and paste {{Stub}} to add the template. This is best added at the very top or the very bottom of the page

Check out the stub category to see what stub articles look like. Stub September also has examples and guidance on when to use the stub and expand templates.

Finishing touches?

Add categories

You can always add categories later, but here are some resources on Fanlore categories:

Create redirects to your new page

If you think another person may search for the page you've created by using a different name or spelling, you can set up redirects to help people find it under that alternate name. Refer to Help:Redirects for more information.

For any other questions, you can use the Talk page or contact the Fanlore Committee

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