ka3jjz
Wiki Admin Emeritus
I've seen a few comments passed around of late that the wiki is hard to navigate. With well over 800 articles, and 54 or so categories, it's a valid critique - particularly from the newcomers. So let me take a few minutes to describe that first article (the 'main page') in the wiki in a little more detail.
First though, some terminology is necessary;
An 'article' in wiki speak is the same as a web page. It's misleading to think that they're not related - they are - but they are written (or 'published') using a very different method and language.
There are 2 levels of indexing - not unlike an index in an encyclopedia - that are used in our wiki. These are user-level and categories.
User-level indexes are indexes constructed by users for a group of related articles. Several of our manufacturer directed articles are user-level indexes. Whoever takes away a linked article must go into the user-level index and remove it there, too - or else the link gets flagged as an unknown (turns red). Adding an article means that a link must be added to make it easily accessible to the community - or else it gets lost in the shuffle and is hard to locate. Such articles are referred to as 'orphans', and it's something we want to avoid.
Categories are wiki-maintained indexes that group related articles logically. The advantage to using categories is that if an article is deleted, Media Wiki will rebuild the category automatically. The same goes if the article is moved from one category to another.
Links are always underlined and/or in blue. Some links can point to other articles in the RR wiki - others may point to other wikis or entirely new websites.
With that out of the way, let's begin...
Think of the main article in columns. The leftmost column is where most of the wiki special functions - such as searching - can be found. Your user id also shows up there, and it becomes an important point - more on that in a moment.
The middle column is where we start gettng into the meat and potatoes. There are 2 sections that warrant your attention - the 'Forum Specific Topics' and 'Location Specific Info' sections. A careful comparison of these against the forum topics will show that they more or less parallel one another. So if you had a question in the antennas forum, you would go 'Forum Specific Topics' then 'Antennas' - which is a category. Select the link from the list and away you go. I have tried to make the articles link within 2 or 3 clicks - and in most instances, it works. There are a few entries where it just brings you to that forum - there aren't any articles built for it yet (hint hint)
There are various special topics in this middle column - a FAQ (which we'll eventually split along lines of a FAQ for the Wiki, one for the rest of the site, and one scanner-related), some basic editing commands, and some guidelines. You will see additional links at the bottom for laws and scanner accessories, such as battery suppliers and much more
The rightmost column is designed to grab and gather articles along the lines of topics that repeat time and again in the forum (such as where to find reviews, which are the trunktrackers that do digital), and a whole section on 'Special Topics' - anything from ALE, soundcard interfacing, DMA information, modifications and much more.
Now what if that's a bit overwhelming, and you want to build your own front page?
You can in your own user area. If you click on your user id in the left column (remember, I mentioned that earlier?), in most cases it will come up with a fairly blank looking edit page. You may build your own 'front page' here, so long as the topics in that page have to do with scanning or the radio/tv hobby in general. You can use it, for example, to build an index to articles that you seem to refer to time and again as a reference. Or perhaps you want a quick index to other scanning-related webpages we don't have linked in our wiki. Feel free to use this area to experiment and construct your own articles. Please stick to topic! and use common sense - if the link doesn't refer to the radio/tv hobby in some way, it does not belong on this wiki. Remember, no articles on topics that are contrary to US Law, such as monitoring cell phones, pagers, ect.
There you have it. It's brief, but should be enough to get you going. If you have an idea for a better construction for the front article, speak up! This article is edit restricted to the sysop and admin staff only - but that doesn't mean you can't build your own!
73 Mike
First though, some terminology is necessary;
An 'article' in wiki speak is the same as a web page. It's misleading to think that they're not related - they are - but they are written (or 'published') using a very different method and language.
There are 2 levels of indexing - not unlike an index in an encyclopedia - that are used in our wiki. These are user-level and categories.
User-level indexes are indexes constructed by users for a group of related articles. Several of our manufacturer directed articles are user-level indexes. Whoever takes away a linked article must go into the user-level index and remove it there, too - or else the link gets flagged as an unknown (turns red). Adding an article means that a link must be added to make it easily accessible to the community - or else it gets lost in the shuffle and is hard to locate. Such articles are referred to as 'orphans', and it's something we want to avoid.
Categories are wiki-maintained indexes that group related articles logically. The advantage to using categories is that if an article is deleted, Media Wiki will rebuild the category automatically. The same goes if the article is moved from one category to another.
Links are always underlined and/or in blue. Some links can point to other articles in the RR wiki - others may point to other wikis or entirely new websites.
With that out of the way, let's begin...
Think of the main article in columns. The leftmost column is where most of the wiki special functions - such as searching - can be found. Your user id also shows up there, and it becomes an important point - more on that in a moment.
The middle column is where we start gettng into the meat and potatoes. There are 2 sections that warrant your attention - the 'Forum Specific Topics' and 'Location Specific Info' sections. A careful comparison of these against the forum topics will show that they more or less parallel one another. So if you had a question in the antennas forum, you would go 'Forum Specific Topics' then 'Antennas' - which is a category. Select the link from the list and away you go. I have tried to make the articles link within 2 or 3 clicks - and in most instances, it works. There are a few entries where it just brings you to that forum - there aren't any articles built for it yet (hint hint)
There are various special topics in this middle column - a FAQ (which we'll eventually split along lines of a FAQ for the Wiki, one for the rest of the site, and one scanner-related), some basic editing commands, and some guidelines. You will see additional links at the bottom for laws and scanner accessories, such as battery suppliers and much more
The rightmost column is designed to grab and gather articles along the lines of topics that repeat time and again in the forum (such as where to find reviews, which are the trunktrackers that do digital), and a whole section on 'Special Topics' - anything from ALE, soundcard interfacing, DMA information, modifications and much more.
Now what if that's a bit overwhelming, and you want to build your own front page?
You can in your own user area. If you click on your user id in the left column (remember, I mentioned that earlier?), in most cases it will come up with a fairly blank looking edit page. You may build your own 'front page' here, so long as the topics in that page have to do with scanning or the radio/tv hobby in general. You can use it, for example, to build an index to articles that you seem to refer to time and again as a reference. Or perhaps you want a quick index to other scanning-related webpages we don't have linked in our wiki. Feel free to use this area to experiment and construct your own articles. Please stick to topic! and use common sense - if the link doesn't refer to the radio/tv hobby in some way, it does not belong on this wiki. Remember, no articles on topics that are contrary to US Law, such as monitoring cell phones, pagers, ect.
There you have it. It's brief, but should be enough to get you going. If you have an idea for a better construction for the front article, speak up! This article is edit restricted to the sysop and admin staff only - but that doesn't mean you can't build your own!
73 Mike
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