TRU Wiki:FAQs

Where do I start?
This about Kumu wiki page would be a pretty good place to get you started. Also, check out the help section for a listing of all the articles on how to edit, create, and organize information on Kumu.


 * See Also: Help:Contents

How do I edit a page?
To edit a page, simply click the edit tab at the top of the page. A form will appear, containing the existing markup. When you have finished making modifications, click the Save button to commit your changes.


 * See also: Help:Editing

How do I create a new page?
There are several ways to create a new page, such as:


 * Read through and follow the create new page help page
 * Search for the specific title of the page you want to create. If the page doesn't already exist, click on the link that says "Create this page".
 * Create a link to the page on another page, then click on the red link which appears
 * Browse to the intended location of the page, e.g. to create an article with the title "newpage", browse to the URL  http://wiki.ubc.ca/newpage  and then click on the create tab.


 * See also: Help:Create New Page and Help:Additional Ways to Start A New_Page

How do I make a page private?
You don't. The Kumu Wiki is an open, community wide platform. Anybody with a TRU CWL can edit it and anybody with an Internet connection can read it. If you have information that is confidential or private in nature, do not add it to the Kumu Wiki.

How do I make a word bold or put a title in?
The formatting page lists the different ways to format text on the Kumu Wiki.

How do I undo an edit I made?
All pages have a "page history," which consists of a record of the date and time of every edit, the username of the user who wrote it, and the summary of the changes. To access a page's history, clicking the "history" link in the View box (on the right). On the page that you would like to see the previous versions, click the "History" tab at the top of a page and you will see a list of all previous edits. You can then compare versions (click "Compare selected versions"), see previous versions (click "last" next to the version you would like to see), or reload a previous version (click "undo").

How do I add a picture to a page?
Before you embed or link to media content on a Kumu wiki page, it must first be uploaded to the wiki. To do this, go to the upload file page. Once the file is uploaded the code displaying an image is:


 * See also: Help:Adding Media

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I'm not sure what part of the wiki my page belongs in? How do I decide if where to put it?
Unlike other wikis, Kumu uses collections of pages (called Namespaces) to help keep the wiki organized. This chart provides a good starting place for understanding what type of pages goes where. For example, course pages probably go into the course namespace and meeting notes might work best in the sandbox.
 * See also: Help:Namespaces

How do I add my page to the Course space?
To add a new page to the Course space (or to the Documentation space), prefix the page name you want to create with the space name and a colon (either "Course:" or "Documentation:"). For example, the page name ABCD123 would be added after the space name "Course:" to make Course:ABCD123. You can create the new page by searching for this full title or browsing to the extended url, for example: kumu.tru.ca/course:ABCD123. To add an already existing page to the course space, use the move function and rename the page with the "Course:" prefix. For example, a page named ABCD123 would be renamed Course:ABCD123.


 * See also: Help:Namespaces, Help:Moving a page, Help:Starting a new page

How do I add my page to an existing category? How do I create a new category?
To add a page or uploaded file to a category, simply edit the page and add the following text (where NAME is the name of the category you want to add it to). :NAME If the category doesn't already exist, it's created automatically.


 * See also: Help:Categories

I'd like to change the title of my page. How do I rename it?
Renaming pages is done by moving the page using the "move tab" at the top of the edit screen. Clicking on the move tab will give you the option to move the current page to a new page with a new title. A redirect from the old title will automatically be created.


 * See also: Help:Moving a page

My page was moved or renamed. What gives?
As the UBC Wiki grows, keeping it organized is important. Good organization helps ensure that the information on the wiki is findable and accessible and that the UBC Wiki as a the whole is useful. As part of a organizational project, the Wiki Administrator will be moving and renaming pages to make sure that are in the right spaces and places on the wiki.


 * See also: Help:Moving a page

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How do I restrict my course pages to students enrolled in the class?
The UBC Wiki is an open platform that runs on an installation of the MediaWiki software platform. It is not possible on this platform to restrict individual pages to a predefined course list. If you are looking for a tool that gives you the ability to restrict course pages to enrolled students, there are a number of other platforms that might work as well. For example, you can create private class wikis through the Vista learning management system. Likewise, you can also create private class blogs or groups at http://blogs.ubc.ca.

How do I sign my messages on discussion or talk pages?
The discussion pages automatically add your signature to a comment or reply. However, you can also manually add your signature by putting four tilde marks after your message: ~. When the wiki software sees the marks, it automatically inserts your username and a time and date stamp. For example: WikiAdministrator 20:11, 13 July 2010 (UTC)


 * See also: Help:Talk pages

If a page on my watchlist is moved or renamed, will it still be on my watchlist?
Yes, it will be. When a page is renamed or moved, it does not cause a disruption for people watching that page. So for example, if a person puts the page Sandbox:Example Wiki on their watchlist and that page gets renamed to Course:Wiki Training, their watchlist will automatically be updated to include the new name.


 * See also: Help:Watchlists

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How do I add a table of contents to my page
Table of Contents are automatically created when you have more than three headers/sections on your page. Information on how to create headers can be found on the Help:Formatting page. If you have three or less sections on your wiki page, you can force the software to generate a table of contents by typing onto your wiki page (that's two underscores, FORCETOC in all caps, and then two more underscores).

How do I insert a linked footnote or citation into my text?
Footnotes are automatically organized and linked using the, and tags. Please see Help:Footnotes and References for information on how to use these tags.

How do I add a video to my page; can I upload it?
Videos cannot be directly uploaded to the wiki; instead, the best way to add a video to your wiki page is to upload it to a video hosting service like YouTube, Kaltura, or Vimeo and then embed that video onto your webpage. See Help:Adding Media/Video for information on how to embed videos.

I'd like to copy and paste text from my website. Is there a way to do this without having to reformat all the content?
The easiest way to do this is to convert the HTML code of the webpage to the proper Wiki Syntax using an online converter. See Help:Converting HTML to Wiki Syntax for a list of recommended converters. Please be mindful of copyright.

I'd like to copy and paste text from a Word document into the UBC Wiki. Is there a way to do this without having to reformat all the text?
Open Office allows you to save your files directly in the MediaWiki format, while it can be a bit more complicated in MS Word. See Help:Converting Word Documents into Wiki Syntax for more information on both options.

How do I create a direct link to a pdf so that when someone clicks on the link, it automatically opens the pdf?
To create a link so that it goes directly to the file rather than embedding the file, use the word "media" (rather than file). For example:


 * [[Media:About_Stacks.pdf]] will launch the file.
 * File:About_Stacks.pdf links to the file page.

Is there was a way to add a collapsible section to a wiki page?
Some instructors post exercises to the UBC Wiki and find it beneficial to have the solution hidden at first so students can attempt to solve the problem on their own. The best way to create a collapsible section is to make a Collapsible table. To make a table collapsible, simply add the collapsible class to the table itself. The page at Help:Collapsible Tables gives more information about how to add the class as well as other collapsible parameters you can add to the tables.

How do I add a Google Map to my page?
Google maps are added using the and tags. You must also know the latitude and longitude for the center point of your map. The page at Help:Adding Media/Google Maps provides in-depth information for how to properly format the code for a google map.

How do I delete a page?
By default, MediaWiki (the software that the UBC Wiki runs on) does not allow individual users to delete pages. This is partially based on the theory that pages on the wiki are not "owned" by any one person but rather belong to the community. Users can request or nominate pages for deletion by typing at the top of their page.


 * See also: Help:Deleting a page

How do I make external links open in a new window?
Unfortunately, MediaWiki (the software on which the wiki runs) does not have a way in which wiki markup code can be used to open individual links in new windows (in the way that HTML-based web pages can use the target="_blank" code). Generally speaking, this setting is probably due to the reasoning that opening links in new windows does not necessarily meet web accessibility guidelines or current usability practices. For more information, this write up explores the usability issues with opening links in new windows and the W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) technique page talks briefly about the accessibility issues.

How do I embed my twitter stream into my wiki page
Twitter and other social media apps can be embedded in the UBC Wiki through the use of widgets. Please see the Help:Widgets page for more information.

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First draft of this page derived from: http://wiki.ubc.ca/UBC_Wiki:FAQs