Help:Getting Started
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This article is a stub. You can help the NWN Lexicon by expanding it. |
This article provides some information on how to make the most of an account on the NWN Lexicon.
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[edit] Page Types
As with many wikis, the NWN Lexicon has several types of pages serving different purposes.
[edit] Articles
The most common type of page is an article. Each article is named for the topic it covers and seeks to provide information about that topic. The vast majority of articles document the usage of a single function and so are named for the function they document. These pages supply the bulk of the information on the NWN Lexicon, and their entire content is open to revision as needed.
Each article has an associated talk page, named "Talk:" followed by the article's name. These talk pages provide a place for contributors to discuss how to improve the article. Since these discussions can be useful for avoiding mistakes, they are never deleted. (However, some old or long pages may get archived in order to keep the active talk page tidy.) In addition, comments on talk pages are not edited for factual correctness nor for grammar (except by the person who wrote the comment in the first place).
Articles are collected into various categories. A category page is named "Category:" followed by a name for what it collects. Categories organize the articles to make it easier to find related topics. Category pages typically have a short (one sentence) description of what they collect, sometimes with a link to a related article for more information. (For example, Category:Functions links to the function article for those who want to know more about functions in general, while the articles for specific abilities are collected in the category.) The rest of the category page is automatically generated based on which pages have been placed in the category. Like articles, categories have talk pages for discussing and improving the category. The names of these talk pages are the category names with "Category:" replaced by "Category talk:".
[edit] Categories
Categories can collect other categories, which are then listed as subcategories within the larger collection. Unless there is a compelling reason to do otherwise, an article in a subcategory is often not directly included in the parent category. So a reader looking for a particular article in a category may want to check any relevant subcategories that category might have.
[edit] User Pages
The other page type that is fairly common is the user page. Each registered user has a page of their own named "User:" followed by the user's name. These pages are used in different ways. User pages are commonly used to introduce yourself to others, keep track of tasks, or test out WikiCode without worrying about breaking articles. For the most part, the content of these pages is whatever the user wants it to be (provided it is done in good faith; stuff like spam is not wanted even on user pages). Consequentially, a user page is usually only edited by the person whose page it is.
Users also have talk pages, named "User_talk:" followed by the user's name. A user's talk page provides others a way to communicate directly with that person about something related to the NWN Lexicon, but perhaps not specific to an article. (Communication about a particular article should usually be handled on that article's talk page.) When a message is left on a user talk page, that user is notified the next time he or she next views a page on the NWN Lexicon.
[edit] Help Pages
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This section of the article is a stub. You can help the NWN Lexicon by expanding it. |
Help pages, like this one, are pages that explain how to use features of the wiki.
[edit] Watchlist
A handy way to track changes to pages of interest (both regular articles and talk pages) is the watch list. A page can be put on a user's watch list either by clicking the "Watch" or "Follow" link (at the top, side, or bottom of each page, depending on the skin being used) or by checking the "Watch this page" box when editing the page.
Changes to pages on a user's watch list are listed under watch list, and they are highlighted in the list of recent changes. This makes these changes easy to spot. Users may also opt to hide minor edits to avoid being distracted by formatting changes, allowing them to focus on the content changes.
