Help:Quick guide to editing

This page provides quick tips on editing. You may also wish to review the more general GEM Wiki Style Manual. Before you can edit, you'll need to quickly register with a valid email address, which is done to deter spammers and vandals. Once you've registered, editing a page is as easy as clicking the "edit this page" tab at the top of the window."

Editing cheatsheet

Description	What you type	What you get
Applies anywhere
Italicise text	''italic''	italic
Bold text	'''bold'''	bold
Bold and italic	'''''bold & italic'''''	bold & italic
Internal link (within GEM wikis)	[[name of page]] [[name of page|display text]]	name of page display text
Redirect to another page	#redirect [[Target page]]	1. redirect Target page
External link (to other websites)	[http://www.example.org display text] http://www.example.org	display text http://www.example.org
Sign your posts on talk pages	~~~~	Username 12:46, 29 December 2024 (UTC)
Applies only at the beginning of the line
Headings of different sizes	== Level 1 == === Level 2 === ==== Level 3 ==== ===== Level 4 ===== ====== Level 5 ======	Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Level 4 Level 5
Bullet list	* one * two ** two point one * three	one two two point one three
Numbered list	# one # two ## two point one # three	one two two point one three
Thumbnail image	[[Image:GEM.wiki.jpg|thumb|Caption text]]	File:GEM.wiki.jpg Caption text

Sourcing an article

See Help:References for more detailed explanations and tips on sourcing.

Every assertion made on GEM Wiki should have an outside source. In most cases this should be a webpage or online document that can be linked to (see Help:References for help on referencing offline sources). To reference a source, you'll first need to collect these bits of information about your source:

1. Author
2. Url - the full internet address of the webpage. The url of this page is https://www.gem.wiki/Help:Quick_guide_to_editing
3. Title - Use the title of the post for blogs.
4. Publication - Use the name of the blog for blogs (e.g. the name of this blog is "Eschaton"). For books, use the book title for the publication and skip the "title."
5. Date of publication - Using the format of "January 2, 2007".

Now format your source so that the title of the piece is in quotes and is a link and the publication is italicized, like this:

An example of using the <ref> tag

What you put in	What you get
This is the sentence I'm sourcing.<ref>Paul Hutcheon, "[http://www.sundayherald.com/53711 Sleaze probe into nuclear lobbying at Holyrood]," ''Sunday Herald'', January 22, 2006.</ref>	This is the sentence I'm sourcing.

Your source should show up as a nice numbered footnote. Make sure to click it after saving to see how the source is displayed and to make sure you formatted it correctly. Remember that the reference information is stored in the body text, so if you want to go back and change it, go back up to the section that contains the information you were sourcing and click "[edit]" there.

If editing someone else's writing, leave a note

If you are editing or deleting someone else's writing, it's a common courtesy to leave a note on an article's discussion page (found by clicking the "discussion" tab at the top of the article) explaining your reasons why. It would probably then be a good idea to check back a little later to see if other editors responded. Remember: be cool, be collaborative and talk things out. "Edit wars" are never fun and rarely productive.

Creating a new page

See GEM Wiki: How to start a page. Remember to follow the Naming conventions in titling the page.

Creating a map

See Help: Creating a map for detailed guidelines on how to create and edit a map showing the location of an energy project. Maps can show a project or a location with satellite photography, Google maps, or a hybrid of these two views. GEM uses maps to show the exact location of energy projects and to track whether they are operating, under construction, or not yet under construction. Maps showing a project's "approximate" location are used when a project is still in the pre-construction phase and does not have an exact location.

Uploading a photograph

Uploading images is allowable under the Fair Use provisions of the United States Copyright Act as long as the image is used for nonprofit educational purposes. Please be sure to include the source of the image in the caption.

To add an image to a page, you need to be in editing mode. Choose Edit / Media / Upload.

After you upload a file, it will be stored on the gem.wiki servers and can be embedded in any page.

Here is a sample format:

[[File:KYCoalWaste.jpg|thumb|center|upright=1.25|Coal mine runoff. Photo from ilovemountains.org.]]

Coal mine runoff. Photo from ilovemountains.org.

Note that if you replace "center" with "left" or "right," the photo will align on the left or the right and the text will wrap around the photo.

Please see Opposition to coal in India for good examples of uploaded photos.

Embedding a video

To embed a video in a page, you do not have to upload the video to gem.wiki. The video can still reside in YouTube but can be embedded in a page using this code.

{{#ev:service|id|dimensions|alignment|description}}

This produces the following:

Load video

YouTube

YouTube might collect personal data. Privacy Policy

ContinueDismiss

Wikis in Plain English

Note that when you align with "center" the text will not wrap around the video. Use "left" or "right" when you want text to wrap. The number "350" represents the pixel width of the video. You can experiment with other numbers. A good rule of thumb for video widths is 210 for small, 330 for medium, 425 for normal, and 640 for big.

Click here for more information on using the embedded video extension.

Please see Opposition to coal in India for good examples of embedded videos.

Articles and resources

References

Acknowledgment: The first chart on this page was originally copied from Wikipedia's Cheatsheet .