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Tractor & Construction Plant Wiki

Help:Starting this wiki

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Welcome to Wikia!

We know starting a wiki can be a daunting task, but we are here help you along and make sure you have fun! There are lots of things you will want to do to develop your wiki. Below are five things you should do to set your wiki up for success.

1. Add a logo and faviconEdit

Edit

A logo gives your wiki its identity. You will need to make two logos for your project: One for the Quartz skin (which most users will see), another for the older skins (like Monobook). Create your image in any image editing software (Paintbrush, Paint Shop Pro, GIMP, Fireworks, Photoshop, etc.)

  • The logo for Quartz skin has to be 266 pixels wide and 75 pixels tall, and should be saved in the .png format with the filename wiki_wide.png.
  • The logo size for all other skins has to be no more than 135 pixels wide and 155 pixels tall, and should be saved in the .png format with the filename wiki.png.

If you need inspiration, check out the logos of Wikia's popular wikis. If you would like help designing or creating a logo, please contact us -- we'd be happy to help!

To upload your logo, click the "Upload file" link and save your logo with the "destination filename" wiki_wide.png or wiki.png.

FaviconEdit

Although it's a small thing (just 16 by 16 pixels), a custom favicon -- the tiny logo which appears in your browser's address bar and on your bookmarks -- can help give a consistent theme to the wiki. There are many favicon creation tools on the web which you can use to design one from scratch, or convert a larger image into a favicon.

Just upload a 16x16 .ico image with the "destination filename" favicon.ico. It may take anywhere from a few minutes to a few hours after uploading for the icon to appear on your site.

2. Dress up your Main PageEdit

First Impressions Count. Your Main Page is what nearly everyone will see first when they come, so it's important it clearly communicates what your wiki is about and what type of content you have and want people to add.

  • Write a short introduction on what the wiki is about.
  • Link to new articles and categories as you create them so you can keep things organized.
  • Create a "to do" list so new visitors know how they can help out.

Here are a few main pages we like: Muppet Wiki, BioShock Wiki, Lost Wikia.

3. Add content!Edit

The most valuable thing you can do when you start a wiki is to write some articles. We call this "seeding". This will give people an idea of what your wiki will be about and give them something to start from. They don't have to be long or perfect. Remember it's a wiki so it doesn't have to be perfect from the start.

You may need to add many articles, dozens or hundreds, even, before people start to join in. Don't get discouraged. The more content you add, the sooner the search engines and real people will find your site useful, and the quicker your small community will start to grow.

4. Create your User PageEdit

Your user page is chance to tell people about yourself, and add a friendly face to the wiki. 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 wiki.

5. Invite peopleEdit

Once you have completed steps 1 and 2 and are well into step 3, you are ready to open your wiki up for business. Invite your friends. Reach out to communities you already belong to, or related wikis on Wikia. Special Interest Forums are also a great place to find people passionate and willing to contribute. Be careful not to spam, though! Think of the types of messages you would like to read and the types of messages you delete.

Keep an eye on Recentchanges, and when you see someone new edit the wiki, add a nice welcome message to their Talk page as soon as you can! Wikis 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. (See project:Templates#Welcome.) We've provided a nice basic one at Template:Welcome to get you started, but we encourage you to customize the text and links, and 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.

Don't be scared to ask for helpEdit

The Wikia staff are here to help you succeed with this wiki. If you have problems at any time, are not sure how to make the changes you want to your wiki, or want help customizing your site, then please ask us.

You can email using the form at Special:Contact, or log into the Wikia IRC channel at irc://irc.freenode.net/wikia).

More adviceEdit

If you are hungry to ready more, well - we have more. Building a wiki is an art, not a science, and lots of people have advice about the best ways to go about it. Don't be overwhelmed or discouraged. Remember this is supposed to be fun!

Anyone can create a wikia on Wikia at anytime 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 wiki' 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 wiki 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 "Wiki" 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!

Further Help and Feedback

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