Basic Instructions

Unfortunately, we've been discovered by spammers, so we've had to implement some restrictions. Anyone can edit (for now) but only logged-in "members" can create pages and upload files. Public access will change if the privilege is abused.

Please do not undo the work of others (although feel free to correct spelling mistakes and obvious formatting problems). Make comments or discussion posts if you think more drastic changes are needed.

Please do not put copyrighted material on this wikispace unless you have the rights to it. If you see something here that you believe is in violation of copyright, please inform the "owner", sofya at heraldshill dot org

As an unofficial page, we will not be needing releases (Model, Photo, Content) - hopefully. But be honorable and get permission before you add someone else's creative works.

You have two options for editing:

• VisualEditor ("edit") aka WYSIWYG - works much like a word processing program, recommended for most users
• Text Editor ("edit source") - gives access to the wiki source code, handy if the VisualEditor is getting wonky but need to know the codes

Creating a new page:

Basic Steps

• Put the new page name in the search bar. (Really!)
• Click on the name in the search results where it prompts to Create the page "_____" on this wiki!
• Insert Template, if appropriate (see below).
• Type in text as desired.
• Insert images (see below).

• Add relevant categories - Category:People, Category:Vatavian, Category:Scribe, etc.
  • Using VisualEditor bar, the Category tool is under the stacked triple - icon on the right side between the ? icon and the pencil icon
  • Using the text editor, double-square brackets [[ around the Category:Name command, then closed-double-square brackets.
  • More information on Categories below
• Save the new page.
• Click on any new categories you created and make sure they're not orphans, i.e. their parent categories are correct.

Uploading images:

You have to be logged into your account to upload images

Using VisualEditor:

• Click on Insert -> Media on the VisualEditor Toolbar
• Follow the instructions on the Media edit window
• Label images as appropriate

Using the Text Editor:

• Open the "Upload File" button in the left toolbar in a separate tab
• Follow the instructions in the window to upload the desired image
  • Permitted file types: png, gif, jpg, jpeg, webp.
• Cut and Paste the image file name (Image.gif, etc. ) into the appropriate area of the page being edited
  • [[File:Sample.gif]]
  • Recommend align to the right: [[File:Sample.gif|right]]
  • If need to change the image size and add a caption: [[File:Sample.gif|right|150px|Sample Image]]

Templates:

• People - Template:People
• Events - Template:Events
• Groups - Template:Groups
• Activities - Template:Activities
• Cultures - Template:Cultures
• Awards - Template:Awards
• Reigns - Template:Reigns

To use a template using the source coding:

• Open a new page as above
• In the edit box, put the code {{subst:People}}
• Save the page without any other coding
• This will substitute in the Template text.
• Re-open the article for editing to personalize it and fill in the blanks.
• Note: will need to "move" some of these new pages to a Category:PageName after saving so that relevant Categorized pages will show.
  • Group pages, activity pages, culture pages and award pages will almost always need to end up as Categories.

Categories/Subcategories:

• Categories and subcategories are used in MediaWiki to organize pages together much like tags were used on wikispaces.
• If you add the Category:People to your page, then that page will automatically be listed on the People page with everyone else.
• If you add the tag Category:Calligraphy to your page, then you will be listed with all the other pages categorized as calligraphy
• Categories are case-sensitive.

Major categories are:

• People - citizens and friends of Calontir. Subcategories for:
  • group membership (Vatavians or Coeur d'Ennui),
  • personas (Russians),
  • service (Waterbearers), etc.
• Groups - branches, guilds, colleges, and households of Calontir. Subcategories include:
  • Branches - official groups of the SCA, subcategories Vatavia, Coeur d'Ennui, etc.
  • Guilds - official guilds and colleges of Calontir, subcategories - Scribe's Guild, Brewer's Guild, etc.
  • Households - unofficial, loosely defined groups of people based on a common interest, noble family, etc.
• Activities - martial, Art & Science, service
• Events - official events in Calontir. Also should be cross-categorized:
  • Branch hosting (eg. Vatavia) and/or
  • History (for major kingdom events like coronations)
• Resources - kingdom information. Subcategories:
  • Awards
  • History
  • Royal Lineage
  • Songs
  • Stories

• Categories should be more generic rather than more specific - so use "music" rather than "vocal music", "weaving" rather than "cardweaving", etc.
  • A&S categories are based on the official categories in the Kingdom Judging Criteria, slightly simplified, eg. Dance instead of "Dance Performance, European"
  • Award/Order categories are based the official name of the Order, eg. "Silver Hammer"
  • Group categories are just the name of the group, eg. "Vatavia" NOT "Barony of Vatavia".

Some subcategories fall under more than one category/subcategory. For example, Vatavians is a subcategory of People, but also a subcategory of Vatavia.

Categories are assigned by putting the relevant code at the bottom of the page:

• If using VisualEditor, the Category tool is found with the triple - icon on the right side between the ? icon and the pencil icon
  • Type the first 3-4 letters of the tag name
  • Wait a moment for the wiki to bring up the tags that have already used those letters
  • Select the appropriate one
  • If you don't see the one you want, try a different tag - "Clothing" instead of "Costuming"
  • Capitalization matters

• If using the text editor, double-square brackets [[ around the Category:Name command, then closed-double-square brackets.
  • Many pages will belong to multiple categories, and each category needs it's own bracketed command.
  • For example, Sofya la Rus is Category:Hillians (Heraldshill), Category:Russians, Category:Heralds, etc.

The same code is use to create category trees.

• So the page Category:Vatavians would have the code for Category:Vatavia at the bottom (along with the code for Category:People).
• Then the Category:Vatavia, would have the code for its parent, Category:Branches.
• In turn, Category:Branches would have the code for its parent, Category:Groups .