How To Set Up A Wiki Page

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This wikiHow teaches y'all how to create a wiki-style website. Hosting a wiki is a slap-up way to facilitate a community-focused website based on sharing information. The easiest way to create a wiki is to use a costless site chosen Fandom (formerly known as Wikia), but depending on your web host, you may likewise be able to use a more than full-featured and self-hosted alternative like MediaWiki or Tiki Wiki.

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Get to https://www.fandom.com in your calculator'southward web browser. This is a service which allows y'all to create a Fandom-supported wiki for gratis.
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Create a Fandom business relationship. If you lot already have an account, click the outline of a person at the elevation-right corner of the page and select SIGN IN to sign in to at present. If non, click REGISTER instead to create 1 now.
- Once you've entered the requested information, click REGISTER to create your account.
- After creating your account, open the email message from Fandom and click the CONFIRM At present link to complete the sign-upwardly process.
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Click the WIKIS tab. It'due south at the top of the page. A menu will expand.
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Click START A WIKI on the carte.
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Name your wiki. In the text box nigh the top of the page, type the championship of your wiki. This should be something that describes the purpose of your wiki.
- If Fandom thinks a wiki on that topic already exists, yous'll come across a warning.
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Create an address. Adding a title usually generates an automatic web address for your wiki in the "Give your wiki an address" text box, but you lot can edit this address if need be.
- Make sure your thought for a wiki doesn't already exist before creating one. Click the Search icon at the superlative-correct corner of the folio, type your wiki idea, and then click the arrow to search. If your wiki thought already exists, information technology volition appear in the correct panel. It'southward better to bring together an existing wiki for your topic than to create a new one.^[1] This mode you tin can work with others with data that already exists rather than outset from scratch.
- Since Fandom offers free hosting, your wiki's address will be in the "www.[name].fandom.com" format.
- If the linguistic communication yous want to apply is not already selected, choose information technology from the card.
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Click the blue Side by side push button to go on. It'due south at the bottom-correct corner of the page.
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Enter a description. Type your wiki'due south purpose into the tiptop text box on this page. The clarification will announced at the top of your wiki in one case information technology'south live.^[2] If the wiki is directed toward children xiii or under, cheque the box to indicate so.
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Select a hub. Hubs are how Fandom categories wikis. For example, if your wiki is about a singer, select the Music hub from the "Choose a Hub" menu.
- You tin check additional categories afterwards selecting your primary category.
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Click CREATE A NEW WIKI . Information technology's the blue push button at the bottom-correct corner of the page.
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Select a theme. Themes determine the colour and layout of your wiki. The page will update to bear witness you a preview.
- Fandom will exist working to create your wiki in the background. A progress indicator appears beneath the themes to display the progress. In one case your wiki is built, you tin customize the theme at any time.
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Click VIEW MY WIKI when information technology appears. Information technology volition be a blue button at the lesser-right corner once your wiki is ready to go. This takes you to your new wiki's main folio, which is the first page people will see when they visit your wiki.
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Create a new article for your wiki. To go started, you'll want at least i article on your wiki.
- Click the button with a sail of newspaper in the upper-right area of the page to create a new article.
- Enter a page title into the first blank of the "Create a new article" window and click Side by side.
- Develop your article in the visual editor. Editing tools are in the top surface area of the screen. Once you're finished, click Save.
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Customize your wiki. In one case you start writing articles, you'll probably want to change the look of your wiki. All of your wiki settings are in the admin dashboard, which is the button with a circle containing a horizontal line with one branch in the upper-right area of the page. This is where you'll detect:
- The Wiki panel, which lets y'all customize the colors and layout of your wiki.
- The Community console, which is where y'all can add and manage users, make announcements, and get help.
- The Content panel, which lets you manage categories, add pages, and insert media into your main folio.
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Choose wiki software for site. Wiki sites require sure software to make them look and behave like the wiki sites yous know and love. In one case you've installed the software, y'all tin beginning calculation and editing articles. Get-go, if you're already using a webhosting provider, ask them if they formally support whatsoever wiki software—if then, installing it should be pretty easy from your host's admin panel. If not, research some existing wiki software options and find a spider web host based that supports information technology. Yous tin can besides install the most popular wiki software options manually if you have a defended web server or virtual individual server. Some common wiki software options:
- MediaWiki is one of the most popular wiki platforms (used past Wikipedia and wikiHow) and is supported past popular webhosts like Dreamhost, HostGator, SiteGround, and dozens more.^[iii] You lot can also easily install it on any defended or virtual private server—for the latest installation requirements, see https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Manual:Installation_guide.
- TikiWiki is another popular option supported by many pop webhosts out of the box, including Bluehost, Hostmonster, Inmotion, and Web Hosting UK. TikiWiki has strong plugin support, assuasive you lot to add features such as forums, image galleries, calendars, and more. If you have your own server, you lot can install TikiWiki from https://info.tiki.org/Download.
- Another popular options are DocuWiki, TiddlyWiki, Wiki.js, and XWiki.
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Install the wiki software on your server. If you're using a spider web host that supports a tool like MediaWiki or TikiWiki, sign in to your administrative panel to find the tools for installing the software. If yous're installing the software on your own, you can normally use FTP software like FileZilla to transfer the wiki software onto the server. The following steps are a basic guide to installing MediaWiki from .
- Follow this guide for detailed data on MediaWiki, or follow this guide for TikiWiki data.
- Wiki software you download will come in a compressed file. You tin can either extract this file on your computer, or extract it on the server.
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Create a database. For example, MediaWiki supports MySQL and SQLite. Depending on your spider web host, the installer may create the database for you lot. If not, you'll take to create information technology yourself. If you are using SQLite, yous but need to cull a name for the database and it will be installed automatically. If you are running MySQL, create a new database chosen "wikidb" and user "wikiuser" using the post-obit commands:

CREATE DATABASE wikidb;

CREATE USER 'wikiuser'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'password';

GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON wikidb.* TO 'wikiuser'@'localhost' WITH GRANT OPTION;
- If the database and web server are on different servers, use the advisable hostname in place of localhost (east.yard., mediawiki.example.com).
- Run across this guide for more than details on creating a MySQL database.
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Run the installer script from your browser. Once you have the wiki software files uploaded and the database has been created, you can visit the index.php folio on your server through your browser to run the automated install script. If you're installing MediaWiki, for example, you volition be asked to fill out a form with your wiki information:^[iv]
- Wiki name — This is the name for your wiki. It will prove up in the metadata for your wiki, and will be integrated throughout the site.
- Contact e-mail — This is the master authoritative e-mail address. It will exist displayed on all email notifications and on some of the error pages.
- Language — Use the drib-down menu to cull the linguistic communication of the wiki interface.
- Copyright and Licenses — Choose your license information. GNU Complimentary Documentation License is the license compatible with Wikipedia.
- Admin username and password — This will be the first admin account that tin can block users from editing and perform other administrative duties. You can create more subsequently.
- Database host — This is where the database is located. If information technology is on the same server equally your wiki software, set information technology to localhost.
- Database proper noun — The name of your database.
- Database username/password — The username and password used to access the database.^[v]
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Customize your wiki. Once you've got the base wiki up and running, you can modify the visual appearance using user-made skins or by playing around with the CSS code.
- You should also modify the logo on the wiki to friction match the function of the wiki.
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Determine what your wiki is for before creating information technology. Knowing the purpose of your wiki volition help decide the software and hosting options to choose from. Wikis tin can exist personal pages, sprawling communities, or anything in between. You can utilize a wiki to rail your life goals, create a product manual for your business organization, interact with coworkers on a project, create a neighborhood newsletter, create a discussion identify for a hobby, and much more.
- Wikis work best when they have a wide focus that allows as many knowledgeable writers and editors to contribute as possible. If you are trying to build a popular wiki with lots of community involvement, so the focus should be open-concluded enough to allow for lots of expanding.
- For example, it would exist better to start a wiki virtually a game company and all their games than just i of their games.
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Cheque for duplicate wikis. It would exist useless to create a wiki which is a double of some other i. The target of a wiki is to write together, non isolate each other.
- Be sure to check wiki services other than the one you've chosen. For example, if you're creating a Wikia wiki, bank check both Wikia and Wikidot for duplicates.
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Make a team earlier creating your wiki. Your wiki will need communication and motivation, and then talk about your project and make other people follow you. They are more likely to contribute to the projection if they are called earlier the creation of the wiki as they will feel similar co-creators.
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Conform your permissions. Your wiki will come installed with a set of default permissions that may work for your needs, but many people will want to alter who can admission and edit what. This is specially important in business organization settings where you want multiple collaborators to work on a product page, but don't want it vandalized by anonymous users.
- Yous can generally use your wiki's settings page to determine who tin mail or edit, both on a wiki-wide calibration and on a per-postal service scale.
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Commencement creating content. As shortly as your wiki is upward and running, it's time to become to work writing articles! When your wiki is built-in, it volition have no pages and no other contributors. To modify this, y'all'll demand to start calculation some content. Good content will drive other people to your wiki. As more people come, other visitors will brainstorm contributing their own articles and edits to your wiki. It will take some time, simply y'all'll have a community before you know it!
- Recollect, when you're starting out, it's upwardly to Y'all to create the content that will bring people to your wiki. Be certain that yous are well-versed in the topic you are covering and then that you tin accept comprehensive articles available from day one.
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Create the categories. Category pages contain lists of related pages. In improver to categories containing the main content, y'all may desire to create a category page called "Organization" for pages of your site like the front page, and perchance create a category page called "Help" for the aid manufactures of the site. Remember that categories themselves tin can accept sub-categories past categorizing a category page.
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Create a policy guide for your wiki. A policy guide is the full general rules for the writing on your wiki. This policy guide will allow other contributors to see how the information on your wiki should be represented to the readers. You don't have to be rigid while creating the policies; try to make them flexible, as people won't exist able to easily work or contribute well to a wiki with overly strict rules.
- You lot may want to write standards on how weaving the web of links should be done, and on article noteworthiness standards.
- Non all of your contributors will follow the style guide you create, but it will assist in patrolling and editing articles.
- A guide is more than friendly than verbally reprimanding. It's more social to be corrected by a text than by a person.
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Brush up on some wiki syntax . Y'all will find creating articles much more efficient if you larn some bones wiki syntax. This volition permit you edit pages directly without having to utilise any guided editors, which tin can let you adjust the layout and fashion to your liking.
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Copy from the other wikis. Although copying content from other wikis is plagiarism, reusing the styles and the templates of other wikis is encouraged. Templates are pages that can easily exist appended to other pages. Some uses for templates include nominating articles for deletion, marking an article every bit a stub, or making simple notes.
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Patrol your site. The primary depict of a wiki is that anyone can edit it, but this is also its biggest challenge. The more than people that come up to your wiki, the college your chances of being vandalized. Luckily, almost all wiki software allows for quick rollbacks of manufactures to their previous versions.
- Be equally much tolerant equally possible. If your version and the new version are both correct, proceed the contributor version. It will overstate the wiki signal of view and welcome the contributors.
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Promote active community members. If your wiki is interesting, you lot will find that sure people come back often to create and curate content. If you discover that people are enthusiastic well-nigh your wiki, then requite the defended ones more than command over the site. Be supportive and squeamish to your editors. Information technology is important that they have a helping paw to guide them and to motivate them to work on the wiki.
- By creating admins from your community, you relieve a lot of the pressure that you face when it comes to patrolling and maintaining your content.
- Gear up forums and talk pages to let your customs members to talk over the wiki'due south rules and mode.
- Permit your admins to vote on policy and style changes.
- Run community events such as editing competitions to get all your loyal editors excited.
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Become the word out. Do everything y'all can to spread give-and-take about the existence of your wiki:
- Describe your wiki on WikiIndex (wikiindex.org).
- Search smaller wikis and suggest collaboration.
- Do not hesitate to ask questions on the other wikis.
- Advertise your wiki through social media.
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Expand as you lot grow. Equally your wiki becomes more and more popular, proceed adding features that do good your site. Things such as forums, chat rooms, polls, calendars, and more tin all add proficient functionality to your wiki. Be creative with your content!
- You should also ensure that yous are updating to the newest version of your wiki software package whenever possible to get the latest features and security fixes.
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Have fun! A wiki is a collaborative, community try. Enjoy the community that you create with your wiki, and always strive to arrive improve. The Internet was built in order to facilitate communication and the wiki is currently one of the most constructive environments for collecting and sharing information in a positive manner. Congratulations on starting your own!

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Question

How practise I create a wiki-style encyclopedia page for my own personal utilize, such as compiling a world-edifice encyclopedia for a novel?

Sasithmadu

Community Answer

You tin use TiddlyWiki, which is a free and open source personal wiki that I've had good experiences using. It tin be used as a personal spider web notebook. You tin download empty .html files from their website and edit or create new tiddlys (wikis) to salvage. Your browser automatically downloads a new html file with whatsoever changes.
Question

Can a kid to exercise this?

Age does not matter as much equally constructive leadership. In other words, yep you lot can, merely exist prepared for the huge responsibilities that follow!
Question

Tin can I create a wiki that can simply be viewed by people I cull?

Yes. You would need a self-hosting wiki where you can restrict access. Endeavour Wordpress wikis. My favorite is Helpie wiki. Run across Helpie WP in an net search. Yous tin restrict access past giving login or you tin assign specific user roles to each user.
Question

Tin I have a Wiki page that anyone can view, but but specific people tin edit?

Andreaslag

Community Answer

Yes, y'all can! The best software to do this is MediaWiki, the software that runs WikiHow and Wikipedia. You can protect articles then that just practiced users or admins can edit a folio. MediaWiki also has an option during installation that you lot tin brand your wiki as "Authorized Editors Only".
Question

How practise I commencement a WikiHow commodity?

Log in, then press edit, then click "make a new page!" Then start typing and calculation pictures.
Question

How can I edit the way my pages display and modify some of the words?

You tin can click the "Edit" button adjacent to the pencil and change the things y'all want. Click Save, and voila!
Question

How can I monetize a wiki page?

Y'all can use Google Adsense to generate revenue with advertisements.
Question

What kind of web hosting do I need for a wiki that might get pretty big?

While you can nonetheless use normal web hosts, I suggest that yous host it on a spare computer yous ain. If you don't accept ane, you can buy a $25 Raspberry Pi Model A to host it from. Meet raspberrypi.org for more information.

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Learning HTML, CSS, and Javascript will help y'all change your wiki'due south appearance complimentary of guided editing restrictions.
Wikis are predominately almost the customs. Once you've created a wiki, y'all're free to accept a backseat and let the community dictate the direction of the wiki—admitting inside the restrictions y'all've set.

Failing to comply with your wiki service's Terms of Service may result in your whole wiki being removed.
Submitting copyright-violating data on your wiki tin can get you into legal problem if your wiki is publicly accessible.
Some people will remove or vandalize your wiki's content. While you can usually roll dorsum edits, brand sure yous have an off-site fill-in of your hard work. If your wiki uses MediaWiki or FANDOM, y'all can use the "Protect" function to prevent unauthorized people from editing said page. Yous can also utilize "blocks", which will prevent an IP address or user from editing any folio, regardless of protection condition.

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Article Summary X

To beginning a wiki, decide your wiki's focus and get together a team to assistance you build it. Next, install wiki software, come up with a policy guide to plant content consistency, and start creating content with your team. Every bit your wiki grows, give agile community members admin status, set up forums and talk pages to let for grouping discussion, and let admins vote on policy and style changes for a fully collaborative experience! For tips on using Wikia to create a fandom site, read on!

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