Introduction to new contributors

Become a contributor to UserBase

If you want to contribute to UserBase you need to register an account; this has many advantages:

• You get a user name and a user page which you can use to make drafts.
• You can watch pages to get notifications if something on the page changes.
• Your user name makes it easy for other people to recognize your work.
• You become a part of the KDE community.

Creating an Account

• In case you don't have a KDE Identity, register one here (your username will be combined based on your first and last name given during registration).
• After that is done, select the Log in link in the top bar of this wiki and input your KDE Identity.
• Now you are logged in, congrats!

You can change your profile in Preferences, for example timezone in the Date and time tab.

Before you start contributing

Be aware, that contributions to this wiki is released under the Creative Commons License SA 4.0 license.

Please also take note of our Code of Conduct.

What the UserBase wiki is about

This wiki is meant for end users of KDE products.

What the UserBase wiki is not about

• UserBase is not the place for info on development of our software, installation of not-yet-released versions and similar technical subjects. For that, go to the Community wiki.
• It is not for reporting bugs or annoyances or requesting new features. For that, go to our bug reporting site or use the relevant Mailing Lists.
• It is not the place to share your opinions about our products, or tell the developers what they should be doing. If you want a discussion, you might find the Matrix channel #KDE:kde.orge discussion forum discuss.kde.org interesting. (But do remember the Code of Conduct ).

Start contributing

Whatever happens, you are not alone. If you hit a problem don't be afraid to ask. Every page has an associated discussion page. Find a link to it in the menu line immediately below the title line. Edit that page to ask questions, discuss the content or start at discussion about the topic - it is usually picked up quite quickly. Questions can also be asked on Matrix, channel #kde-www:kde.org.

Don't be afraid to make mistakes. Someone is watching over you (or at least over the pages you edit). If you get something wrong, someone else will make it right.

If you want to experiment in order to familiarize yourself with page editing and the wiki markup, feel free to use the Sandbox.

Introduction to wiki editing

See this MediaWiki page for a general introduction to editing wikis. On UserBase we have a number of additional tools to help creating content (see below), and some conventions that we would like our pages to follow. However, you don't need to know everything before you start contributing. You'll learn as you go along.

If you are adding markup for the first time, please have a look at the Edit Markup page and the Typographical Guidelines

Editing a page

In the menu line at the top of the page directly under the page title you will find a link to Edit the page. Depending on your personal settings you may also have an edit-link for each section. To modify the text just click one of these links and start editing. The editor offers basic help.

When you have entered your changes

• Write a one-line summary of what you changed in the Summary box

• Click the Show Preview button

• Check how the page looks like in the preview. If you have included links, hover over them and look at the status bar to see if they are going to take you to the intended location; or better still, open the link in a new tab.

• If you need to correct anything, make the changes in the Edit box and click Show Preview again. Repeat until you're happy with the results

• Click on Save page to save your work

Remember

UserBase uses tags to mark paragraphs for translation. These tags (such as <!--T:1-->) are automatically added by the system.

 NEVER edit the translation tags!

• If you insert a new paragraph do not add a tag manually, the system will add them.
• If you delete a paragraph, also delete its tag
• If you move a paragraph on a page, move its tag along with it

Note

A double-Enter is required to make a new paragraph - that is, there must be an empty line between the heading and the paragraph. Please use this, as it puts headings in a separate translation unit which is preferred by translators using external tools.

Note

Avoid using text smilies as they cause problems for translation applications. Instead use {{Smiley}}

We have a number of guidelines and tools, but you shoudn't feel that you need to master all that before you can start. Don't be afraid to change what others have written, and don't feel offended, if someone changes what you have written.

If you want to discuss some changes with another contributor you can

• raise the issue on the discussion page of page in question, or

• use the link 'View history' to find the contributor you want to contact; then click the link 'talk' next to the name and leave a comment.

Modifying or adding an image

To modify an image see Update an Image.

To add a new image, it should first be uploaded to the server; use the link 'Upload file' in the right margin of the page. Please make sure that the images you upload are free to use under the Creative Commons License SA 4.0. More info here.

Creating a new page

All new pages should be linked to from somewhere. Find a suitable page and add a link to your new page to it. The link should look like this: [[Special:MyLanguage/path-to-your-page|some-text]]. The 'Special:MyLanguage/' part is a bit of magic, that allows readers to find a relevant page - in their own language if translated or else the english version.

Once the page with the link is saved, the link will appear in red, since your page doesn't exist yet. Click the red link and start editing to create the new page.

Relevance

The content should relate to KDE software, directly or indirectly. UserBase is for user content of any kind. E.g.

• For New Users - helping to get started

• For Regular Users - learning about new features and tips

• For Advanced Users - but use sub-pages for this.

Content that is only relevant for KDE contributors should be on Community Wiki.

Translating a page (or modifying a translation)

Before you can start translating content on UserBase you must request translator rights. Go to this page and follow the instructions. Normally you will be given translator rights within a few days. A small note will be added to your request to notify you, that you have been given the requested rights.

At the top of the page there will be a section with links to languages with translations of the current page. There you will find a link 'Translate this page'. Click that to go to the translation interface.

You will also see a link 'Start translating' in the left margin of the page. Clicking that will bring you to a page, that will give you an overview of all translatable pages.

Wiki gardening

If you come across a page that is no longer relevent (fx a page for an app that is no longer maintained) place a {{proposed_deletion|reason}} template on the page.

Guide to editing

Mediawiki syntax

See MediaWiki site for an introduction to basic wiki syntax.

Guide to UserBase editing

See Typographical Guidelines and Toolbox for an overview of syntax and best practices specific to UserBase. Other guides that may be of interest: Edit Markup,