UBC Wiki:FAQs

From UBC Wiki


UBC Wiki Usernames

Please note, the UBC Wiki is a completely open platform and any work done here is visible to anyone with an Internet connection. By default, your UBC Wiki username and user page corresponds to your CWL username. If you would prefer to change your wiki username or to use an alias on the UBC Wiki, you can send an email to lt.hub@ubc.ca requesting that your username be changed. Please include a link to your current user page and a preferred alias if you have it (otherwise one will be randomly generated). You username will then be changed - please note that this change is universal and will apply to all work you have done on the UBC Wiki, including edits in the past. If you are using the wiki for course work, please let your instructor know what your alias is.

Squarefaq.png Getting started

Where do I start?

This screencast provides a quick introduction and tour of the wiki.

Check out the help section for a listing of all the articles on how to edit, create, and organize information on the UBC Wiki. This guide would also be a pretty good place to get you started.

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.

How do I create a new page?

There are several ways to create a new page, such as:

  • Use one of the forms on Help:Create New 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.

How do I make a page private?

You don't. The UBC Wiki is an open, community wide platform. Anybody with a UBC 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 UBC Wiki. As an alternative, UBC Blogs supports granular levels of privacy.

How do I make a word bold or put a title in?

The formatting page lists the different ways to format text on the UBC 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 UBC Wiki page, it must first be uploaded to the wiki. To do this, go to the upload file page. Once the file is uploaded, you will get a code to embed the image to the page. Copy that code and paste it to the page. Alternatively, you can also add image directly from Wikimedia Commons by following the steps here.

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Squarefaq.png Organizing

I'm not sure what part of the wiki my page belong in? How do I decide if where to put it?

Unlike other wikis, the UBC Wiki 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.

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: wiki.ubc.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.

The article Using the UBC Wiki for Course Work gives an in-depth overview about how you can use the UBC Wiki for your courses.

How do I add my page to an existing category? How do I create a new category?

See Help:Categories#Editing_Categories_on_Visual_Editor

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.

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Squarefaq.png Page Management

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 Canvas. 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)

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.

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Squarefaq.png Advanced Editing

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 swtching to wikitext mode typing __FORCETOC__ 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?

UBC Wiki has a citation feature that makes it easy to add citation to your wiki page . Please see Help:Footnotes and References for information on how to add a footnote or citation.

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.

How do I create a direct link to a pdf so that when someone clicks on the link, it automatically opens the pdf?

By default, when you click on pdf link on UBC Wiki, it will take you to information about copyright and file description. This is so that when someone is interested in reusing your pdf file, they can get information about the copyright license of your work. If you want to create a direct to a pdf, you can do so by following the instruction from Help:Adding_Media/Presentation_Slides#Step_2:_Upload_the_PDF_to_the_Wiki_and_get_the_link_of_the_PDF

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. The page at Help:Collapsible Tables gives more information about how to add collapsible table as well as other collapsible parameters you can add to the tables.

How do I add a Map to my page?

See Help:Maps to learn how to add map to your wiki page,

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.

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.

Is there statistics available for the wiki page I have created?

Yes there is! UBC Wiki have an integration with Google Analytics. See Help:Adding_statistics_to_your_page back to top