From PackRat Recipe Wiki

Here are a few tips to help you get started editing a Wiki.

Contents 1 General Wiki Use 1.1 Creating Headers 1.2 Header Text 1.3 Creating Subheaders 1.3.1 Subheader 1.4 Adding Links 1.4.1 Adding External Links 1.4.2 Adding Internal Links 1.5 Editing Pages 1.5.1 Signing your name 1.5.2 Page Summaries 1.5.3 Minor Edits 1.6 Quick Note 2 PackRat Wiki Specifics 2.1 Adding Items to Collections 2.2 Adding Recipes to Collections 2.3 Adding Items to New Releases 2.4 Working with Images 2.4.1 Grabbing the Images 2.4.2 Optimizing Images 2.4.3 Naming Images 2.4.4 Uploading Images 2.4.5 Adding Images to the Items/Recipes 2.5 Working with the Main Page 2.5.1 PackRat 2.5.2 Current Collections 2.5.3 Modifying the templates 3 Sandbox 4 Final Note

[edit] General Wiki Use

There are hundreds of Wikis out there to edit. Most (if not all) of them use the following codes to format with.

For some basic information and some more in-depth codes check out the following links:

• Help:Editing
• Help:Starting a new page
• Help:Namespace
• Help:Talk page

[edit] Creating Headers

Headers help divide pages into sections.

Entering:

=== Header Text ===

Results in:

[edit] Header Text

Note: By taking away one equals sign (=) you can make a horizontal line under the heading as seen above.

[edit] Creating Subheaders

Sometimes pages need to be divided up even more. This is where subheaders come in handy.

Entering:

==== Subheader ====

Results in:

[edit] Subheader

Note: You can continue to add up to six equal signs (=). The only rule is you have to have the same amount on both sides.

[edit] Adding Links

Occasionally you'll need to link to another page, it may be a site that's not included in this Wiki or just another page made here. There are a couple of different ways you can accomplish this.

[edit] Adding External Links

An external link is simply a site that's not directly affiliated with this Wiki.

Entering:

[http://facebook.com]

Results in:
[1]

In order to replace the numbering with text you'll need to add a space.

Entering:

[http://facebook.com Facebook]

Results in:
Facebook

Note: Any external link must have "http://" but does not need "www". Links that are external are automatically marked with the blue arrow icon you see following the two examples. Anytime you see one, it simply means the link will take you to a new website.

[edit] Adding Internal Links

An internal link is the opposite of an external link. Essentially, it just links to a page located inside the Wiki.

Entering:

[[PackRat]]

Results in:
PackRat

By surrounding the name of the page in two brackets you will get a link that has the name of the page as its text. If you wanted to call it something different, you would simply add a vertical line (|) and type your desired text.

Entering:

[[PackRat|Main Page]]

Results in:
Main Page

Note: Be sure you include two brackets on both sides to surround your link. If you only use one bracket the Wiki will assume you are trying to link to an external site and your link will not work properly.

[edit] Editing Pages

The actual editing of your pages is pretty self-explanatory, but there are a couple of things to be noted that are generally appreciated on the Wiki.

[edit] Signing your name

When you're talking in the discussion section of any page, it's a good idea to sign your name so we know who you are. There are two different ways to do this.

Entering:

~~~

Results in: Colin

It will, of course, have your username with a link to your page.

Entering:

~~~~

Results in: Colin 06:00, 4 May 2008 (UTC)

The time-stamp will reflect the point in which you clicked "save page" and, as in the three tildes, the username and link will show your name and a link to your page.

Note: Both are completely appropriate ways to let everyone know who said what, but neither are mandatory. It is, however, preferred that you put your name and a time-stamp along with it. Do not do this if you're editing a normal Wiki page. It is only recommended that you sign your name after a post in a discussion section.

[edit] Page Summaries

You may have noticed a blank line just above where you press "save page". This is known as a page summary. When editing a page, it's good to give a summary of what was added. This way, at a glance of the recent changes page or someone's watchlist, an individual can know what was altered on the page.

For instance, if you added a new item in a collection along with the image you might say something like "Added Rubber Tree with image". Then when someone looks at the recent changes page they can see that the Quest of Montezuma page has been altered and this is what was added.

It isn't necessary to always provide a summary, especially when used in conjunction with the next feature.

[edit] Minor Edits

Sometimes, there are simple spelling errors or small inaccuracies found in the information. This is where the minor edit comes into play.

Below the summary box, there is a checkbox that says, "This is a minor edit". When this box is checked, the summary for the page is marked with an m to signify that this page has recently had a minor edit. When anyone goes to the recent changes page they will not only see this summary, but they will see the m and know it's not a major change.

Minor edits are things like fixing spelling errors, changing minor information inaccuracies or even switching image names around.

Minor edits are not things like adding new item information (items, recipes, where to find the items, images, etc.) to pages, making new pages or altering the page in some other drastic way.

Note: As a rule of thumb, if you don't know if it's a minor or a major edit, leave the checkbox unchecked. It's better to mismark a minor edit than to mismark a major one.

[edit] Quick Note

There's MUCH much more to editing a Wiki than what is outlined here. For the most part, these edits are what you'll see when you edit Talk Pages or other PackRat pages.

If you want to learn more head over to WikiMedia and read their editing section. There's loads of information there and plenty of Wikis to edit.

[edit] PackRat Wiki Specifics

If you edit here (or any other Wikimedia Wiki for that matter) a lot, you're likely to come across most of what's mentioned in the previous section sooner or later.

But if you are only here to edit the collection pages there are a few things that are very different from regular Wikis.

[edit] Adding Items to Collections

Here on the PackRat Wiki, we use a specific form for each item. If the item is a base item (one you can buy or receive as a pop-up of some sort) it only uses the first four sections of the item template.

Entering:

{{item|1|2|3|4|||||9}}

Results in:

This template is divided up into five sections:

1. Item name
2. Point value
3. How the item is obtained
4. Image of the item
5. unused
6. unused
7. unused
8. unused (defunct bake time)
9. the word "premium" or "waspremium", or nothing at all

Each section is pretty self-explanatory save the image and that will be explained later.

Note: If you don't know any of the information then simply add a question mark (?) where the text goes. Even in the case of the image.

[edit] Adding Recipes to Collections

Recipes are handled the same way as base items but with the addition of three sections.

Entering:

{{item|1|2|3|4|5|6|7||9}}

Results in:

This is slightly more complicated and divided up into eight sections:

1. Item name
2. Point value
3. How the item is made (in order of highest valued card to lowest valued card)
4. Image of the item
5. Image of highest valued card
6. Image of middle valued card
7. Image of lowest valued card
8. unused (defunct bake time)
9. the word "premium" or "waspremium", or nothing at all

The images are added the same way for both templates.

[edit] Adding Items to New Releases

The New Releases page uses a slightly different template to handle items. The only difference is the small bar on top that provides a date of release for the card.

Entering:

{{new|1|2|3|4|5||||10}}

Results in:

This template is divided up into six sections:

1. Date the item was discovered
2. Item name
3. Point value
4. How the item is obtained
5. Image of the item
6. unused
7. unused
8. unused
9. unused (defunct bake time)
10. the word "premium","waspremium", "xl" or nothing at all

Entering:

{{new|1|2|3|4|5|6|7|8||10}}

Results in:

This template is divided up into nine sections:

1. Date the item was discovered
2. Item name
3. Point value
4. How the item is obtained
5. Image of the item
6. Image of highest valued card
7. Image of middle valued card
8. Image of lowest valued card
9. unused (defunct bake time)
10. the word "premium", "waspremium", "xl" or nothing at all

The recipe images are added after the date.

[edit] Working with Images

This Wiki has nearly every image included in the game. There are certain conventions and guidelines to follow when adding these images. There is a lot to remember here, but if you happen to miss one of these things, chances are someone else can fix it quite simply so don't sweat it too much.

[edit] Grabbing the Images

In some browsers you can right click the image and select "View Background" to see a downloadable version. But in other browsers, that's not an option. So if you really don't know how to do all of that either ask someone or (with all respect meant) leave the uploading images to other people. In a Wiki it is not important that everyone do all of the work. Wikis are a collaborative effort.

[edit] Optimizing Images

If you manage to get an image that has not been uploaded (check first) please make sure the image is 32 x 32 pixels. At that size, it might be small to see, but it gives the general idea of what the item is. Also it fits very nicely into the boxes that are provided.

Also, make sure it is in .GIF format. These tend to be the best format in terms of file size and quality.

[edit] Naming Images

For the most part, names of the images are inconsequential, but if you want to make it easier on everyone who edits, please try to name images consistently.

Since this Wiki is not shared (as past Wikis have been) we do not need to have any prefixes or suffixes. So the best way to name an item is just by using its name.

For example: Say you want to add an image for the Rubber Ball from Quest of Montezuma. Simply naming the file "rubber-ball.gif" is the ideal name. If the item has only one word in its name, just put that name there. Try to keep it as close to the item's name as possible and you'll be fine.

Note specifically from Colin: It is a pet peeve of mine when things are inconsistent, so if I see something named different, I will probably change it myself at some point. If you see that your image is deleted, you likely didn't do anything wrong, I just changed the name to please my OCD tendencies.

[edit] Uploading Images

Use the upload page to add images to the Wiki. Select browse, find the image and the Wiki will automatically name it based on how you named the file yourself. All you have to do is hit upload.

Note: The name can be changed, so if you think of it, go ahead and change it.

[edit] Adding Images to the Items/Recipes

Adding images to the pages is probably one of the harder things to remember, but simple to find out how to do.

We'll use the Two Headed Serpent and Montezuma's Headdress from Quest of Montezuma as an example.

Entering:

{{item|Two-Headed Serpent|2500|Vault Bonus|[[Image:two-headed-serpent.gif]]}}

Results in:

Entering:

{{item|Montezuma's Headdress|20000|Aztec Calendar + Turquoise Mask + Two-Headed Serpent|[[Image:montezuma's-headdress.gif]]|[[Image:aztec-calendar.gif]]|[[Image:turquoise-mask.gif]]|[[Image:two-headed-serpent.gif]]}}

Results in:

All you have to do is enclose "Image:filename.gif" inside two brackets and you're done.

Note: None of the letters in the word "image" are case-sensitive (so "image" works the same as "Image" or "IMaGe") but try to keep it to either "image" or "Image". The first letter of the file name is the only letter that is not case-sensitive, the rest must match how the image is saved, usually all lowercase.

[edit] Working with the Main Page

There are a couple of elements as far as the front page is concerned. We'll go down the different sections from the top down.

[edit] PackRat

This section is generally left as is. If you absolutely feel the need to change something in the first section, I would think hard about it. Chances are if it's not necessary as an introductory statement it will be moved to an appropriate place or removed altogether.

[edit] Current Collections

This section lists all of the currently purchasable collections in PackRat. This list does not include any expiring collections, future collections or retired collections.

There is a specific way we add new collections to this front page and there are a few steps to accomplishing this. The first step is using the collection template.

Entering:

 {{Collection|Ancient Realms|2|3|4|5|6|7}}

Results in:

This particular example is hard to demo but this template is divided up into just seven sections.

1. Collection name.
2. Number of cards in the collection.
3. "Introduced on..." with the date of the collection's release.
4. "new/premium/xl"...for a new, premium, or xl collection
5. "xl"..............for an XL collection which is markered new/premium
6. "premium".........for a premium collection which is still marked new
7. "credit/nocredit"....for a credit/free collection (not comonly used), "nocredit" may be used on new collections which are not yet in credit markets

If you're ever unsure what

As more lines are added to that list the result is pushed over more and more thus creating the "badges" all in a line.

Entering:

{{Collection|Quest of Montezuma|15|Introduced on April 11th, 2008}}

{{Collection|Rat Pack|28|Introduced on April 30th, 2008}}

{{Collection|Sleep Tight|18|Introduced on April 3rd, 2008}}

Results in:

If the collection is new (if you're not sure what collections we consider new check PackRat's official "What's for sale?" page. If a collection is marked with a new tag, we keep it marked new here as well.) then we like to add a little tag at the end. Simply add a new section (by separating with the horizontal "pipes" (|)) and typing the word "new" at the end.

Entering:

{{Collection|Quest of Montezuma|15|Introduced on April 11th, 2008|new}}

{{Collection|Rat Pack|28|Introduced on April 30th, 2008|new}}

{{Collection|Sleep Tight|18|Introduced on April 3rd, 2008|new}}

Results in:

Entering:

{{Collection|Quest of Montezuma|15|Introduced on April 11th, 2008|new|xl|premium}}

{{Collection|Rat Pack|28|Introduced on April 30th, 2008|premium|xl}}

{{Collection|Sleep Tight|18|Introduced on April 3rd, 2008|xl}}

Results in:

Note: This is just the first step when adding collections. There are two additional steps that need to be performed.

[edit] Modifying the templates

The collection template uses three additional templates to make the code so small. Luckily only two of these need to be modified to include the new templates and the modifications are VERY simple.

Please note: If you do NOT feel confident with your Wiki editing skills quite yet, do not feel pressured to perform these actions. While undoing mistakes in Wikis is very easy, we would prefer to not have to. With that being said, if you mess something up, please don't worry about it. Contact a sysop and someone will be along to help you soon enough.

The two templates that need to be modified whenever a new collection is released are called the Family and the CollectionIcon templates. All you have to do is click on those two links and you will be brought to the two pages.

You will NOT see anything when looking at these pages`. That is how it should look both before and after you are editing. Previewing either of these templates will appear to change absolutely nothing but (provided you do everything explained here) it does work.

We'll start with the Family template first.

Once you click edit you will be brought to a rather long list of collections. Simply find out what family the collection is from (you just need to look at the color) and write this:

|NAME OF COLLECTION=FAMILY NAME

Now a couple of notes: 1. The collection name IS case sensitive. It MUST be capitalized the same way PackRat capitalizes it. For instance the collection "Born to Be Wild" has a capital letter "B" for the word "Be". 2. The family name is case sensitive. It must be ALL lowercase. So Born to Be Wild's family is blueberry. That makes the code for Born to Be Wild:

|Born to Be Wild=blueberry

Another example: Collezioni La Soul. The C, L and S are the only capital letters. The family is cotton candy. So that makes the code for Collezioini La Soul

|Collezioni La Soul=cotton candy

Note that there is a space in the family name.

Now let's continue on with the CollectionIcon template.

This template is a little easier to work with. All you have to do is take the name of the collection (Let's take Born to Be Wild again) and write out this:

|Born to Be Wild=[[image:born-to-be-wild_family.gif]]

If an icon hasn't been uploaded for it yet, don't worry about it, it will get done very soon.

Chances are, for the first couple of times people are going to get things wrong. Nobody is expected to be perfect when editing Wikis. Everyone makes mistakes. If you make a mistake please don't just leave it there. Let someone (preferably a sysop) know that there is an error.

[edit] Sandbox

When all is said and done, a good deal of this can be learned from simply trial and error. If you head on over to the Sandbox you can play around with everything the Wiki has to offer with no fear of accidentally messing something very important up.

If you'd like to play with some templates, feel free to use the Template:SandboxTemplate

If you have any Wiki related questions, please post in the discussion section (located at the top of this page) and we'll try to respond as soon as we can.

[edit] Final Note

There is a lot to learn when editing Wikis but the best way to learn is by observing pages and seeing the ins and outs firsthand.

If you ever get confused about how to write a recipe or how to add an image, just look around the page you're editing and mimic what else is written there.