User blog:ChaoticShadow/New User Manual – Step by Step Tutorial

Hello! This is intended for the newer users of Wikia! (A very simple guide.)

A few things to know:


 * 1) Knowing how to edit.
 * 2) Knowing how to add media (pictures, videos, etc.)
 * 3) Knowing how to add pages
 * 4) Knowing how to use Message Wall and/or Talk Page

Editing
In wikia, there are several different editors, for now, I will be showing the Visual Editors (both the original and the Beta version), as the source is a bit more sophisticated.

Visual Editor
The visual editor is a very simple way to edit pages, since all that is required is typing, and the most common formating tools are within easy access. Just simply type, and there is nothing hard about that!

Visual Editor Beta
This is a fairly new editor and is still in Beta stages, it has the same concept as the original one, but it looks easily accessible (editing to page and vice versa) rather than the preview of the original one.

Editing Tools
There are several buttons on the menu bar, a bold button, italic button, hyperlink button, bulleted list button, ordered list button, indent buttons, text type dropdown, alignment buttons and last but not least, the undo/redo buttons.

Most buttons on the menu are self explanatory, except for the text type dropdown. The text type drop down is a bit different than the rest. There are 6 text options: body (normal text), headings (1-5), and code. Body text is just normal text like the current text type. Headings are generally used to separate sections of articles so that the article is organized. Heading examples below:

Adding Media
You can add media in a page through several ways:
 * Sidebar of the editor (Old Visual Editor & Source)
 * Upload button of the editor (New Visual Editor)
 * Special:Upload
 * Upload button of Special:NewFiles
 * Contribute Dropdown
 * Special:WikiaVideoAdd for videos

Adding Pages
There are also a few ways to create pages:
 * Going to a nonexistent page and clicking the "Create" Button
 * Using the Contribute Dropdown
 * Clicking a redlink

Talk Page
Talk pages are the classic style of communicating with another. In order for a user to know who sent the message, a signature is required, otherwise they'd have to go looking for whoever posted on their talk page! A good practice is that when ever there is a new message, you add a header ==Header==, just like that, except replace "Header" with your own header. Now for the message, it can be simple, complex, long, short anything you want, and its topics are very diverse, from saying hi to talking about what to do next about renaming pages, it can be anything!

Message Wall
As message walls show you username, or, you will not need to sign a message, instead just insert a title for your message, or leave it blank for it to automatically call it "Message from ". Now, in the text for you message, add whatever you need there, whether it be a simple "Hi" or a message concerning another user's edits, or just simple chatting is fine there.

FIN

Thanks for reading! ^-^