Help:Starting a new page
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There are several ways to start a new page.
These can vary based on the type of page started, as well as the wiki and namespace.
Using Wikilinks
MediaWiki makes it very easy to link wiki pages using a standard syntax (see Help:Links).
If you (or anyone else) create a link to an article that doesn't exist yet, the link will be colored red, like this.
- Notes:
- This sample displays that underline style unconditionally. The underline displayed below the text of actual links will normally be hidden by default and made visible only when the link is hovered by the mouse or selected by keyboard navigation, if the wiki (or the user's preferences) uses the default MediaWiki styles.
- The actual color of links is also dependent on the default wiki styles, and the design of Wiki pages may still override these default colors.
Clicking a red link will take you to the edit page for the new article.
Simply type your text, click save and the new page will be created.
Once the page has been created, the link will change from red to blue (purple for pages you've visited) indicating that the article now exists.
Usually this is the best way to create a new page, because it means that right from the start, the page will be linked from at least one other place on the wiki (and typically you will want to mesh it into other related pages later).
If you are creating a new page without creating any link to it, you may need to ask yourself: Does this page really fit in with the topics already covered in the wiki?
Also, how are you expecting visitors to find this page?
Normally there is no reason to create a page without first creating a red link to it.
From the search box
If you search for a page that doesn't exist, then you will be provided with a link to create the new page.
Using the URL
You can use the wiki's URL for creating a new page.
The URL to an article of the wiki is usually something like this:
http://www.example.net/index.php/ARTICLEorhttp://www.example.net/wiki/ARTICLE
If you replace ARTICLE with the name of the page you wish to create, you will be taken to a blank page which indicates that no article of that name exists yet.
Clicking the "Edit" page tab at the top of the page will take you to the edit page for that article, where you can create the new page by typing your text, and clicking submit.
Using article creation template
Copy the following text into a page in the wiki:
<inputbox>
type=create
width=100
break=no
buttonlabel=Create new article
default=(Article title)
</inputbox>
This generates a box where users can simply type the article title and generate a page with that name.
This allows unexperienced editors to easily create pages.
Create redirects to your new page
Don't forget to set up redirects when you create a page.
If you think another person may search for the page you've created by using a different name or spelling, please create the proper redirect(s).
See Help:Redirects.
Protecting your new page
Normally a new wiki page can be edited by other people (that is one of the main ideas of a wiki!).
However, a sysop could protect the page, if desired, to prevent normal users from editing it.
