User:Hans/Contribute

This page describes how to contribute content to UserBase. For an introduction to translating pages, see Translate.

Overview

UserBase is a free wiki for KDE software, which means that anyone can help to improve the content. The website is built on work by many volunteer contributors, and everyone in the KDE community is encouraged to help.

There are many ways to contribute to UserBase. An important thing to remember is that every contribution counts, whether it's large or small. The contribution types can roughly be divided into:

• Editing content
• Adding new content
• Managing content
• Translating content
• Writing manuals

Getting Started

• You must be logged in to contribute to UserBase. Get an account or log in

Tip

If you already have an OpenID account, it should work well with UserBase. Login with OpenID

• Go to a page that you want to improve. For starters you can experiment freely in the Sandbox to familiarize yourself with the wiki
• Click on Edit to edit the page
• Make your changes in the text box, see Make Changes below for more information
• Use Show preview to preview your changes
• If everything looks good, enter a short summary of the changes in the Summary box and click on Save page

Guidelines

What Belongs in UserBase

KDE UserBase is the home for users and enthusiasts of KDE software. It provides high quality information for end users on how to use KDE applications.

UserBase is the central point of contact for end users looking for help using KDE applications or for any other user-oriented information about KDE-related issues. It provides task-oriented help how to achieve user's goals, application-oriented info to learn more about the applications and tips and tricks to make users' life easier and more pleasant. Information on UserBase should not require deep technical knowledge or being familiar with the community. Contributions by users are very welcome.

For technical documentation use KDE TechBase. For community info use the KDE Community Wiki. See the Wiki Landing Page for an overview.

License

All content that you put into KDE UserBase is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License and the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike license. This basically means that you are free to use content in UserBase, distribute it and modify it, provided that you follow the attribution indicated by the original author(s) and that you distribute the modified work under this same license. See Copyrights for more information.

When you are using content from other websites, whether it be text, screenshots, or images, please make sure that you have their permission and that you acknowledge their work and probably link to their site. If you have doubts, the Community Working Group can assist in contacting the appropriate parties.

Editing

Start editing

Only registered users are allowed to edit the content in the KDE UserBase wiki. You can log in or create your account on Special:UserLogin. If you have an OpenID account you can try to log in with it on Special:OpenIDLogin.

When you are logged in, you will see an Edit tab at the top of all editable pages. Clicking on it takes you to the Editing page, where you can edit the content of your current page.

Make Changes

(screenshot of the text box)

The Edit text box contains the existing text of a page, which lets you add new text and modify the content as needed. A quick reference to the basic wiki markup can be found on Cheatsheet. For a more comprehensive help on formatting, see Toolbox.

To maintain high quality content try to be concise, objective and keep the language professional. Please follow the style used in other wiki articles on UserBase for consistency. You can find guidelines for the layout in PageLayout. Additionally, following the Typographical Guidelines will make it easier to export the content for translation.

Preview Changes

When you have finished, click Show preview to see how your changes will look before you save them permanently. Repeat the edit/preview process until you are satisfied.

Save Changes

Before you save the page, write a short summary of the changes in the Summary box below the Edit box.

Example: Fixed a typo

If the changes are superficial, such as typo or formatting corrections, mark the edit as minor by checking This is a minor edit.

Finally, press Save page to save the modified page. Your changes will immediately be reflected on the page.

Talk Pages

A talk page, also known as discussion page, is a page where UserBase users can communicate with each other. Each wiki page can have a Talk page associated to it, and it should be used to discuss how to improve the content.

To discuss a page, go to that page and click on the Discuss tab. Previous discussions can be found under Contents. If you want to reply to a thread, click on Add a reply at the bottom of the thread, enter your reply and click on Save page. To reply to a specific post, click on More under the post and then Reply in the pop-up menu.

Clicking on Start a new discussion in the box above Contents lets you start a new thread. Enter a subject that describes the topic and your message and click on Save page.

Use the talk page in Sandbox to experiment.

User Talk Pages

User talk pages are talk pages associated with UserBase users. It can be used to leave a message for a specific user and works like other talk pages. That means that messages on user talk pages will be visible to everyone. If someone has posted on your talk page, you will see an alert saying "You have new messages".

Creating New Pages

Before creating a new page, you need a user account on UserBase and should be familiar with writing and editing articles. Please also consider the following:

• Is the page relevant to the purpose of UserBase? Irrelevant pages will be deleted
• Will the content be useful for other people? If it's only of interest to you, it belongs to your user page
• Does a similar page already exist? Do a quick search first to make sure a similar topic does not already exist

The Procedure

There are two ways to create a new page. Creating a page in your user space is recommended for new contributors and/or if you want to work on it before making it "live". Creating a new page directly is faster and mainly for more experienced contributors.

Where to Put New Pages

• Introduction
• Getting Help (Path: /Getting_Help)
• Applications (Path: /Applications)
  • Categories of Applications (eg Path: /Applications/Internet)
  • Individual Applications (Path: /<applicationname>)
• Tutorials (Path: /Tutorials/) NB This section is to be removed in the re-design

Paths need to be kept short, as user are generally unable to remember long paths.

The UserBase wiki uses subpages. Take a quick look at the article about the Help:Wiki Structure. In short: Do not randomly add toplevel pages.

For instance, you read the page http://userbase.kde.org/KWord, and realise that a page about using Shapes would be very useful. You should then create your new page as http://userbase.kde.org/KWord/Using_Shapes.