CupertinoGuide/BeginnersSteps
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| Recommended skill level | |
| Beginner | |
| Minimal experience may be required for this lesson. It is generally recommended, however, to take prior lessons if you are new. |
It's recommended to take baby steps before creating your first article. In this topic, we'll introduce the editors and allow you to make minor steps before jumping on and creating your first article.
Reading MicroWiki articles
Reading MicroWiki articles in your past time can be a good way to
- Learn how MicroWiki articles are structured
- Learn more about the idea of micronations
It is recommended to read articles at MicroWiki:Good articles as they are usually the top of the line when it comes to wiki pages.
Encyopedia language
MicroWiki should read like a neutral reference or like Wikipedia. Avoid these common mistakes when making a MicroWiki article:
Buzzwords
Articles should not contain buzzwords or things that read like marketing material. Consider these two paragraphs:
- Westside Streaming Services charges users to use their service.
- Westside Streaming Services have an offer that gives you the first month for free and charges the next month for $2 a month, but annual subscribers save 20% off every month.
- Westside Streaming Services charges users to use their service.
Neutrality
Users should, at their best ability to, attempt to be neutral and not lean towards a political opinion, person, etc.
Manual of style
The MicroWiki manual of style is the recommended formats for date formats, what you capitalize etc. It is important to keep a manual of style to ensure that MicroWiki articles are kept to a level of consistent quality and to ensure that all articles look uniform. 2 very common violations of the manual of style include:
Dates
Dates should be stylized as date month year, similar to something like this:
- 28 November 2020
- November 28, 2020
- 28th November 2020
- 28 November 2020
Section capitalization
In section headings, do not capitalize anything except proper nouns and the first word of the heading. It should look like something like this
- Session capitalization
- Session Capitalization
- Session capitalization
What language to use?
English is the most common language used in MicroWiki. Regarding variants in English (e.g. Canadian English, British English, Indian English, etc) there are various recommendations regarding it.
- For established articles (i.e. articles that already been made), continue to use the English variant on that page
- For new articles, use the English you are most common with or English that is most appropriate (e.g. use Trinidadian and Tobagonian English for a topic based in Trinidad and Tobago)
For other languages, create your page but name the title of the page like this:
- YOURPAGENAME/fr for a French speaking page
- Fifth Aenderian Republic/af for the Afrikaans version of the Fifth Aenderian Republic page
At the bottom of both your translated and English version of the page, add {{Translate|YOURPAGENAME}} at the bottom. To find the 2 letters for the correct language, refer to ISO 639-1.
Making minor edits
Before creating your own article, it is recommended to create minor edits, which can include
- Fixing common grammar mistakes (this is what we call copyediting.)
- Fixing redlinks
- Adding information towards an existing MicroWiki page
Making minor edits when you start allows you to learn and get used to the source or visual editors (which will be taught at the next Cupertino Guide), allowing you to expedite the process of learning how to create your first article.
Grammar mistakes
In MicroWiki, mistakes are common- we are all humans at the end of the day, but it requires an excellent eye to spot every mistake. Consider these following statements. Choose the best answer of sentences from various Wikipedia pages that we edited to make them a bit different:
- They attacked Konitz (now Chojnice), Schwetz (now Świecie) and Danzig (now Gdańsk). They captured several towns and castles, including Dirschau (now Tczew) in 29 August 1433.
- On the 18th of December, 1982, Irish Times security correspondent Peter Murtagh broke the news that the telephone of Bruce Arnold and Geraldine Kennedy had been tapped officially with warrants signed by former Minister for Justice Seán Doherty.
- "Dear Dad...Again" is the eighteenth episode of the first season of the American television series M*A*S*H. It originally aired on February 4, 1973.
- On 2018, January 1, the Rev. Canon Cheryl Palmer became the Rector of Christ Church Deer Park.
- A large peaceful demonstration was organized in Addis Ababa at Meskel Square on 23 June 2018 to show support for the new prime minister.
- The Women's 4x100 Freestyle Relay swimming event at the 2009 SEA Games was held on 11 2019 December.
- Ramaphosa was born in Soweto, Johannesburg, on 11/17/1952, to Venda parents.
Hold your horses! Your instincts may directly say that 1 is the correct answer, but, always show your work nevertheless. Per the date format used in MicroWiki, we can assume that 2, 3, 4, 6, and 7 can be crossed out. This leaves us with just 1 and 5. They both follow the normal MicroWiki date format used here, so we can't rely on that system to find our final answer. Ensure that pronunciation and grammar are correct. Though this is very hard to catch, the first one contains a grammar error.
They captured several towns and castles, including Dirschau (now Tczew) in 29 August 1433.
The correct sentence would be...
They captured several towns and castles, including Dirschau (now Tczew) on 29 August 1433.
...because 29 August 1433 is a specific date, compared to the 5th answer which is correct:
A large peaceful demonstration was organized in Addis Ababa at Meskel Square on 23 June 2018 to show support for the new prime minister.
It can be extremely tough to find and pinpoint every mistake, but editors usually work together and can find a majority of mistakes within both of their articles. Furthermore, wikians also use grammar and spelling checking services like Grammarly to spot mistakes like these. However, these services can not detect every mistake- hence why it's generally recommended to review them manually too.
Redlinks
A redlink is the term we use to describe a link that isn't connected to anything, usually leading to the text is red. This error can happen for various reasons, the most common ones being:
- A spelling mistake
- Including "a" or "the" in the link
- Incorrect markup text
To fix these issues, attempt to search for the intended page. For example, if this redlink appeared Cupertino Aliance, the link can be easily fixed by adding the additional "l" in the word "alliance".
Incorrect markup text usually happens to users who use the source editor. Different links are marked-up depending on the usage. Back in the last Cupertino Guide, we discussed one of these examples- towards MicroWiki Commons.
Basic syntax for source editor
Here are the most basic and widely used syntax terms. Replace "TEXT", "LINKURL" or "LINK" with your terms.
[[LINK]]is used to add a link. Replace the link to direct to a wiki page. For example,[[Cupertino Alliance]]will show up as Cupertino Alliance.[[LINK|LINKNAME]]is used to add a link, but shows up as "LINKNAME" instead of "LINK". For example,[[Cupertino Alliance|a inter-micronational organization]]will show up as a inter-micronational organization.[[w:LINK|LINK]]is used to add a Wikipedia link, but shows up as "LINK" instead of "w:LINK". For example,[[w:William Shakespeare|William Shakespeare]]will show up as William Shakespeare.[LINKURL LINK]is used to add a Wikipedia link, but shows up as "LINK" instead of "[1]". For example,[https://cupertinoalliance.ca/index.html Cupertino Alliance's website]will show up as Cupertino Alliance's website.
''TEXT''for italics. For example, the aforementioned example will show up as TEXT.'''TEXT'''for boldness. For example, the aforementioned example will show up as TEXT.'''''TEXT'''''for bold and italics. For example, the aforementioned example will show up as TEXT.[[File:photo.extension]]to show a photo. For example,[[File:CupertinoPan.svg]]shows a photo of File:CupertinoPan.svg.[[File:photo.extension|150px]]to show a photo with a size of 150px.[[File:photo.extension|thumb|150px|"TEXT"|link=cupertinoalliance.ca]]to show a photo with a size of 150px and a caption. Additionally, when you click the photo, it will direct you to cupertinoalliance.ca.
==TEXT==to add a section===TEXT===and etc for sub-sections- Don't use
=TEXT=
{{TEXT}}to add a template named Template:TEXT.
For source editor, these can be added using the topbar.
Get used to the community
Entering the community through talk pages of users or the MicroWiki@Discord server allows you to ask for help regarding questions and make new friends in this community. Get to know some of the major editors and staff who would be happy to assist you regarding your needs.
Assignment
Assignment
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| Completion of this assignment will be required to attain a barnstar and certificate. Feel free to complete it if you are not interested in attaining it, but if you are not interested in it this is optional.
Make at least 50 edits across at least 10 pages. You do not have to submit anything but your edits would be on record on your account. |