Using the Wiki

The wiki is an incredible collaboration tool that allows members of a team to collaborate on a project by creating 'wiki pages' that everyone can edit.

It allows a project to structure information into wiki pages. Team members collaborate by allowing everyone the ability to collectively create and refine information.

One can think of it as a big blackboard where everyone can write about anything related to a project. The difference, however, is that users can structure the information and divide them into pages that link to each other.

The wiki is perfect for storing :

• Project Details : A short primer about the project. Contact Information. Notes and snippets of information that would otherwise be unread in file storage or lost in forums.
• Server and access information : The ip address and host names of the staging and production servers. Details on how developers can access them.
• Maintenance Notes : Notes on bug fixes, notable changes

Formatting options in the wiki are somewhat limited. It is however a positive constraint as it forces contributors to keep structure of informaiton simple and easy to follow.

Starting a Wiki Page

There are 2 ways to start a new wiki page.
(1) Starting a page from an existing page

• In an existing wiki page, edit the page and enclose a word in square brackets
• When viewing the wiki page click the square bracket to start a new wiki page.

(2) Start a new page from the address bar

• From the address bar, append a word to the current url.
• For instance if your wiki url is http://your.site.com/wiki/, just type http://your.site.com/wiki/yourword and this will lead you to a page where you can create your new wiki page.

Editing a Wiki Page

To edit a wiki page, click the "Edit" link at the bottom of the wiki page

Formatting Options

Click "help" at the bottom of the wiki page to view formatting options.