Ewave - TWiki - TWikiTutorialKK

NOTE: THIS TOPIC USES PETER FOKKINGA'S TEMPLATE MODIFICATION TO PREVENT CASUAL EDITING. THERE SHOULD BE A TEMPLATE WITH PATH <path-to-template-dir>/view.TWikiTutorialKK.tmpl--THIS TEMPLATE SHOULD HAVE ALL OF THE STANDARD BOTTOM-OF-PAGE LINKS REMOVED EXCEPT FOR THE Ref-By LINK, TO PREVENT ANY TOPIC NAMED TWikiTutorialKK --IN ANY WEB--FROM HAVING AN EDIT LINK AT THE BOTTOM OF THE PAGE. THIS PREVENTS THIS TOPIC FROM BEING BURDENED WITH REPEATED PLEAS TO NEW USERS BEGGING THEM NOT TO EDIT THE TOPIC. NOTE ALSO THAT THERE ARE %INCLUDE{}%ed TOPICS (THE DUMMY FORMS) WHICH SHOULD BE RENDERED ``UN-EDITABLE'' IN THE SAME WAY.

This is the TWiki Tutorial Page, a quick start for new users. The TWiki documentation and references can be found at [ mumble. ]

If you want to learn TWiki, you're at the right place. But, to do the examples you will need to be able to edit. If you are not on the Main TWiki site you may need to contact your TWiki site master to get access to editing--or you can just try the procedure outlined below and see what happens (it should usually work.)

[ instructions for getting access go here. kk ]

TWiki Tutorial

A TWiki is a web site that can be edited by people viewing the site. TWiki uses a powerful technique called CGI scripting to make this happen. TWiki has its roots in the WikiWikiWeb created by Ward Cunnigham at c2.com.

It is very easy to use TWiki, especially once some terms are defined:

A WikiWord (also known as a BumpyWord) is a sequence of characters that start with a capital letter or letters, followed by a lowercase letter or letters, followed by another capital letter or letters, followed by just about anything.

WikiWords are important because they make it very easy to create links within the TWiki. When you see a WikiWord, you will usually either see it as a link or with a question mark following it. Some authors may use tricks to make a WikiWord not be a link (see?), but don't let it throw you. The question marks are explained below.

WikiTopics are links to content which are automatically generated by TWiki when it sees a WikiWord. If TWiki can't find the topic it puts a question mark after the WikiWord. DON"T CLICK ANY QUESTION MARKS YET! When you do click a QuestionMarkLink?, TWiki asks you if you want to create the topic and if you do, it drops you into the edit form for that topic.
WikiNames are user's names, written as WikiWords (which makes them WikiTopics, of course.) Most users have a ``homepage'' that is linked by their WikiName.

TextFormattingRules are the way that you can include sequences of characters in your text to get special effects like bold, italic, bold and italic, typewriter font and a few more complicated effects like tables. One of the main reasons wiki's were developed was to make it easy to format text in a web. We'll show you how to get the effects in a bit.

GoodStyle is the set of guidelines for adding to and modifying the content of the TWiki.

Editing is just that: editing the content of the TWiki. You use a TEXT AREA form element in your browser to edit.

Creating is making a WikiTopic ``come to life.'' A WikiTopic that has no content appears with a question mark following its WikiWord. Once its been created, its WikiWord becomes a link.

Anyone can edit almost any topic in TWiki. Trust us, all those bad scenarios you are now imagining don't happen. The very very very few individuals out there who actually enjoy ``taking candy from a baby'' are foiled by the fact that TWiki keeps a revision history, so any changes made by a malefactor can be backed out.

TWiki can be customized so much that it might not resemble the standard distribution; we are perforce assuming that you are reading this in a standard distribution. If things don't appear to be where we say they are, your TWiki site master may have customized them into new locations. Hunt around a bit, it should all be there somewhere.

The Edit link at the bottom of a (standard distribution!) TWiki page will let you change the content of the page. You'll note that this page doesn't have an edit link--you don't have to worry about accidentally wrecking this page.

The Go box at the top of the page allows you to simply type in a WikiTopic and hit <return> to jump straight to a page, or create it if it doesn't yet exist.

The rest of the tutorial may be easier to follow if you can open another browser window for experimenting. If you can have multiple browser windows open then right-click (or whatever you need to do) on the following link back to this Tutorial page and get ready to rock! TWikiTutorialKK

If you can't open another window, you may need to print this topic out and then click the link.

The best way to run through the tutorial is to read an item completely through, and then go back and follow the instructions!
Find the Go box at the top of the page in your other browser window. Type in your name as a WikiWord followed by the word Test, then hit your <return> key (or enter, or whatever.) For instance, if your name is Jane Doe then you should type in "JaneDoeTest"; this topic shouldn't exist so you should be taken to a page that looks something like:

(Note: The form above is a demo copy of the page for creating a topic. Most of the links don't work the way they normally would, and the links that do work will only take you somewhere else and probably confuse you mightily, so DON'T CLICK THE LINKS! There will be other demo pages and the same warning applies to them. You can't hurt the TWiki, but you could get really lost.)

If you find that the topic does already exist, hit your browser's ``back'' button (or equivalent) and add a few random letters or numbers to the end of the topic and hit <return> (or equivalent) again.

Once you are at the ``Topic does not exist'' screen click one of the ``create'' links to create the content for your topic.

You will now find yourself at a page that looks something like:

(This is also a demo form...)

This is where you add and change content; you do this in the TEXTAREA of the edit form. The TEXTAREA is the large text entry box (the box in your real form is probably much larger.)

Type in the following, and proceed to the next point: (include the strange punctuation characters and any blank lines.)


A line of text.

_A line of italic text._     

*A line of bold text.*

Line A.
Line B.

Main.TWikiGuest

BumpyWord

Once you have edited your text, you need to save it. So, find the button near the bottom of the editing area.

[ Hi ho and off to bed. Summer colds are no fun. Next edit in 12 to 16 hours. kk ]

-- KevinKinnell? - 20 Jun 2000

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