Help:Contents

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Wiki Help pages
Contributor's guide — Guidelines — Fixing errors howto
Editing pages — Talk pages — Formatting
Code of conduct — Wiki FAQ

Note
Spot a mistake, an omission? Please help out by correcting it! See the what to do when noticing an error on the wiki‎ page about how to fix things, or at least how to flag an issue.

The wiki help pages provide useful information about using the Gentoo wiki (as opposed to documentation for Gentoo itself, which the Wiki contains).

These pages are resources for both readers, on wiki usage and on finding relevant information, and for contributors, with explanations of how to add content correctly.

Check out the contributor's guide: making quick changes to the wiki is easy, even for a newcomer!

The Wiki project page has information about how the Wiki is run, it has FAQs and more information about the wiki project. See also the Gentoo wiki FAQ.

Gentoo developers can check out Developer Central for help on procedures involved in working as a Gentoo dev.

Tip
For people looking for help using Gentoo Linux, the main Gentoo Wiki page and the Handbook are the principal online sources for Gentoo documentation.

See also
For those looking for help from the community for a particular issue, after having checked all the documentation, see the support page.

Important
Please follow the code of conduct when engaging in all wiki activity. The wiki project aims to maintain a respectful, constructive environment - please be polite and considerate of other users. All wiki edits should be made in the spirit of moving the project towards the common goals. Documentation and discourse should be objective and fact based. The project is consensus based.

Reading and browsing the wiki

Reading the Wiki should be somewhat self-evident, it works much like most standard websites. More detailed information is provided here for more advanced use:

Navigation - explanation of site layout and functionality when reading pages
Searching - about the search functionality
Tracking changes - see the history of how articles were written
Watchlist - get informed of changes to articles of interest

Editing

For small corrections, such as typos, fixing or adding links, etc., please just create an account and make the change! See the article on what to do when noticing an error on the wiki‎.

Note
In case of any issues with creating an account, or anything else regarding wiki usage or editing, please get in touch on #gentoo-wiki (webchat) on IRC. Please be patient and stay connected to the channel, replies can take a long time. If a solution cannot be found in IRC, try sending an email to wiki@gentoo.org. For anything not directly related to wiki usage and editing, see support or contact.

Once logged in, it only takes a few clicks to make a change: click the "Edit source" (or "Edit") button at the top of a page, make changes (edits) to the text, add a brief summary of the edit, and click the "Save page" button! Don't worry too much about making mistakes: everything is backed up, and changes will be checked by an editor soon after they are made.

The contributor's guide is invaluable when getting into editing wiki pages, for anything more than a simple correction. It explains wiki fundamentals, goals and general workings - all the basic information to start editing articles. At the very least, check out the getting started section.

Please read the official Gentoo wiki guidelines before making anything more than the most basic changes. The guidelines explain how to properly write and lay out pages, to create well formed articles, while maintaining a coherent style across the wiki.

Note
Please come join us on IRC on the #gentoo-wiki (webchat) channel, if looking to edit the wiki! (The web chat should work well for anyone not wanting to set up an IRC client.) This is where the contributors come to chat about the wiki and what is currently happening. Questions, comments, or suggestions welcome! The channel can be quiet sometimes, but everyone will try to answer any questions the best they can!

Tip
There are plenty of areas that need work, check out the todo category, and common wiki tasks to help out. Editing the wiki is a really great way to contribute to Gentoo! It really does help other users, and it is easy to get started with. Remember that there are also other ways to contribute to Gentoo.

Essential editing topics

These pages are essential reading for anyone getting into editing the wiki:

Code of Conduct - participants are asked to abide by these rules
Contributor's guide - complete primer on wiki editing
Official Gentoo wiki guidelines - how articles should be laid out

Basic editing topics

These topics are important to know when making any substantial edits:

Editing pages - basic article editing procedure
Formatting - how to use wiki markup
Links - how to link between articles
Starting a new page - how to go about creating a new page for the wiki
Talk pages - how to communicate with other users, suggest corrections, or additions
Wiki FAQ - frequently asked questions about wiki usage
Wiki project page - editor-community page, with information on using the wiki, renaming, deleting accounts, etc.

Further editing topics

Blueprints - use these examples as guides for article layout
Categories - about categories and how to categorize pages
Deleting a page - procedures for removing a page
Images - how to integrate images into articles
Managing files - how to upload and manage files and images
Moving (renaming) a page - procedures for moving a page from one name to another
Namespaces - about the different wiki "sections" called namespaces
Redirects - redirect pages to other pages
Protected pages - about pages that don't allow all users to change them
Tables - how to format content in tabular form
Translating - how to translate articles

Advanced editing topics

Bots - about programs to perform automatic actions on the wiki
External searches - linking to search engine queries
Magic words - tags associated with a return value or function
Patrolled edits - marking edits as reviewed, not really used on this wiki
Special pages - pages generated by the wiki
Subpages - how to hierarchically organize pages
Transclusion - including contents from one page to another

Templates

Templates help layout standard or repetitive elements. See the help page on Templates about what templates are and how to use them on the wiki.

The Template sandbox and test cases page provides information on the various subsidiary pages that must be created to support any new template.

List of templates on the wiki: All templates.

Template categories:

Embedded Pages - templates that add blocks of text to a page
Formatting templates - used in article's body to format information in a standard way
InfoBox templates - generally used in {{InfoBox stack}} to provide specific information about an article
License templates - mark uploaded files with the appropriate licence
Maintenance templates - provide information on the status or quality of articles, etc.
Templates for templates - generally only used when creating templates

User pages and preferences

Create a wiki user account to edit pages or communicate with other wiki users. A user account has a preferences page that can change the parameters of how the site is shown and behaves for that user. Each account has a user page to communicate to other wiki users, with a talk page. User subpages can be used as a staging area for wiki work.

Preferences - personalize elements of the wiki
Signatures - signing comments on talk pages
User page - pages about wiki users
Special account modifications - moving, deleting, renaming accounts, etc.

External resources

Help:Contents at meta.wikimedia.org