Wikia

Vim Tips Wiki

Help:Starting this wiki

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Welcome to Wikia

Everything is ready here for you to add content. There are some basic help and guideline pages to start off your community, and a basic main page as the entry point to this Wikia. You can start adding pages now!

Here are some things you might want to start with to improve this Wikia.

Edit

The default logo on all pages can be changed for one specific to this Wikia. The image should be no more than 135 pixels wide and 155 pixels high. Upload the file as wiki.png and it will appear on all pages in place of the default logo.

Add a custom faviconEdit

Although it's a small thing (just 16 by 16 pixels) a custom favicon can help give a consistent theme to the wiki. Just upload a 16 by 16 pixel image at favicon.ico <instructions for people who can't make favicons>.

Improve your front pageEdit

Your basic front page is ready to use. You can improve it by adding content about this Wikia. Consider what visitors will want to see first. What are the starting points for anyone reading about your subject? Where should editors start and what are the most important things for them to work on? You may also want to include links to the help files.

Finding and keeping new editors Edit

Invite your friends to help you edit. Communities you already belong to about the topic of your Wikia are a good place to ask for people to come join you. Be careful not to spam, though! Think of the types of messages you would like to read and the types of messages you delete.

When you see someone new edit the wiki, leave them a nice welcome message as soon as you can! (If there are many newcomers you can use a template to save copying: see Template:Welc.) It will encourage them to stick around. Wikis work when there is a community of people editing; try to keep in contact with the other people who show up to edit.

Add content!Edit

Although this is a wiki, your first visitors are not likely to want to jump right in. They need some idea of what your wiki is about first. "Seeding" content is vital to get people interested and to show them what sort of content you want. You may need to add many articles before people start to join in and add with you.

Ask for helpEdit

The Wikia staff are here to help you succeed with this wiki. If you have problems at any time, or are not sure how to make changes to your wiki, then please ask us. You can email using the form at Special:Contact, you can write to us on our Central user pages, or you can click the "live chat and support" link on the left of any page to go to the Wikia IRC channel (also at irc://irc.freenode.net/wikia). For a list of Wikia staff, see the Wikia Inc. page on Central.

More adviceEdit

Anyone can create a wikia on Wikia at any time through the create a wikia form. Below we walk through what to do and how to go about creating a wikia.

Creating a wikia

Before you start

Admin Forum Dressing your wiki up for the holidays! - Wikia Community Central

'Start a wikia' button

  • Plan your project and decide what it will be about.
  • Check to see if a wikia already exists on the topic you want to cover by searching for it. It's better to work within a community of others than alone.
  • Read Wikia's terms of use — become familiar with what is ok and what isn't.
  • Read Wikia's Wiki creation policy — wikis must be freely licensed, publicly editable, and free of abuse.

Create your wikia

  1. Click on the Start a wikia button in the toolbar at the top of the page. This button brings you to the the creation form.
  2. Decide on a name for the wikia. — To help users find you in search engines, it's best to use the most common keywords for your topic. (Hint: don't use -pedia, or obscure names). The word "Wikia" will be added to the end, because this is also important to help your rankings.
  3. Choose the URL or address for your site — Similar to the name, the URL or web address you choose for your site will affect how easy it is for people to find your site and understand what it is about.
  4. Describe your wikia's topic briefly.
  5. Choose a category that best describes the subject of your wikia.
  6. Choose a theme (you can skip this and choose or make a personalized one later)
  7. Congratulations! You've now created a wikia!

You can personalize the following now or later:

All of these things can be changed later if you or your community decide upon it.

Your wikia's next steps

Create the main page

Helppagetest Wiki

Main page on your new wikia

The main page is just that; the page everyone sees. When you first create your wikia there is default text that will appear on the main page. All of this can be removed once you start to create your main page:
  • Welcome to (wikia's name here): is the description you wrote when you described your wikia's topic.
  • Describe your topic: Here you can write a more detailed description of what your wikia is about.
  • Latest activity: All of the activity on your wikia will appear here.

A few things to do in the beginning:

First impressions count. Your main page is what nearly everyone will see when they visit. So there are a few things to do in the beginning that are important:

  • Make sure your main page clearly communicates what your wikia is about. Write a short introduction to what the wikia is about.
  • Link to new articles and categories on your front page as you create them so you can keep things organized and this will increase search engine optimization.
  • Create a "to do" list so new visitors know how they can help and what to add. Be specific about what the wikia needs.

Create content

The most valuable thing you can do when you start a wikia is to write article pages. This is called "seeding". It will give visitors and potential editors an idea of what to start from. The articles don't have to be long or perfect from the start. Remember it's a wikia and others can help build on what you start.

You may need to add dozens of articles before people start to join in. Don't get discouraged. The more content you add, the sooner the search engines and potential editors will find your site, and the quicker your small project will start to grow.

Use the Wiki Progress Bar to get your wikia off and running by following the tasks listed in your admin dashboard.

Create your Profile and User page

Add a friendly face: your profile page is a chance to tell people about yourself. So is your user page. You can keep it as simple as you want or go all out, the important thing is to give people a way to see "who" is behind this wikia.

Keep an eye on your wikia

We suggest that you turn on email notifications for your talk page / message wall and wikia in your preferences. If any visitors leave you a message on your talk page/message wall while you're away from the wikia, you'll receive a reminder to come look at your talk page/message wall. You will also see a bubble on your toolbar next time you log in.

As the founder of your wikia you can also choose to receive emails about who edits, joins or views your wikia. You can choose which emails to receive in my preferences under 'my info'.

Invite editors and visitors

Once you have completed the above steps, you are ready to open your wikia to visitors and other editors. Invite your friends, family and other people you think would be interested in the subject. Reach out to communities you already belong to, or related wikias. Special interest forums are also a great place to find people passionate and willing to contribute. Be careful not to spam, though!

Welcome everyone!

Keep an eye on Recent changes, and when you see someone new edit the wikia, add a nice welcome message to their Talk page as soon as you can! Wikias work when there is a community of people editing; try to keep in contact with the other people who show up to edit, as it will encourage them to stick around.

If you have many newcomers you can use a template to welcome them. We've provided a nice basic one at Template:Welcome to get you started, but we encourage you to customize the text and links, change the picture to one that is important (or funny!) to your community.

Friendliness and humor can go a long way in making new visitors feel welcome.

Other advice

Don't be afraid to ask for help!

If you have problems at any time, are not sure how to make the changes you want to your wikia, or want help customizing your site, then check out the Community Central forums. No questions here are off limits!

If things get especially hard you can always contact staff through Special:Contact.

Create together!

You would be stronger to start a wikia with a team and it won't look like a personal site. So launch a discussion on a forum and encourage your friends to contribute. Most important: gather people before you set up the wikia rather than after, otherwise they won't see the wikia as their own wikia.

Building a wikia is an art, not a science!

Don't be overwhelmed or discouraged. Take risks, remember you can always delete later. But most important: remember to have fun!

Using writing tools

There are many writing resouces and tools that are freely available on the web, such as Word Count Tool or Character Count Tool . You can make the most of them to improve your writing productivity.

Further Help and Feedback

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