User:Miststream/Mist's Guide

Hello! I'm Miststream, and I've decided to make this guide for any new(er) users to the wiki. There are a lot of questions that users ask when they first arrive on the wiki and (hopefully) this page will answer those questions!

Talkpages
After making your first edit to any article/page on your wiki, you will get a message on your talkpage. There's an alert that will pop up at the bottom right corner of your screen. Click on that, and it will bring you to your talkpage.

This message is often an automated message that is given by an admin of the wiki, signed by their name. It may also be from another user. To reply, do not edit your own talkpage! You must reply on that user's talkpage, which you can go to using links in their signature that they often sign at the end of messages. If you do this that user will get an alert, but by editing your talkpage they won't know when you have replied.

Contributing
To contribute, click on the "Contribute" button at the top right of the wiki. On this dropdown menu you can add videos, photos, or pages. Click on the button to go to the contribution menu of each feature.

Subpages
Subpages are special pages that "branch" off of the main page but are not included in the pagecount of the entire wiki. They are often used to save space and clutter on the wiki. To do this, just add a page and name it "(name of mainpage)/(name of subpage)".

This wiki also has a rule of a maximum of 8 photos a month for each user. So watch your uploading! You'll get a warning if you upload too many (I've gotten one too!) You cannot delete pictures once uploaded, so contact an admin of this wiki to do it for you.

Signatures
A lot of users sign their messages with signatures that lead to many of their pages (i.e. talkpages, userpages, stories) for someone else to click on. (See what signatures are for more help.)

Creating a Signature
A lot of users can create signatures for you, such as Sea or Firey, but to create them yourself you must know CSS (cascading style sheets). This is what helps you decorate and add colors to your text. (For more detailed help, see how to customize CSS on the Community wiki.)

A standard line of code for a signature would look like this:

and writes this: Hello


 * "span style" indicates the type of text


 * "color" indicates what's being defined (what you're applying to the text)


 * "red" is what type of color is being applied to "color"

You can also add many different elements to the text in the quotations ("--"), like  (puts a shadow on the words),   (puts a font on the words), and   (to be used to "float" your words to the left, right, or center)

Writing Your Signature when typing ( ~ )
When you put the four tildes (as shown above), or when you click the "Signature" button in the top section, you can write your signaure. To do this:


 * 1) Copy the code of your signature


 * 1) Open a new template page on the wiki. To do this, add a page to the wiki. Type "Template:User:(your username)/Sig" into the name of your page. (You can put anything after 'Template:User:(your username)' but /Sig or /Signature makes finding it later a little easier.)


 * 1) Go to your avatar profile in the top navigation of your screen, which will open a dropdown menu. Open "My preferences". Scroll down to the "Signature" section, and in the box type   (do not add the parenthesis).


 * 1) Check the box "I want to use wikitext in my signature"


 * 1) Scroll to the bottom and save your preferences. Now, every time you type ( ~ ), your signature will show up!

Other: When using your signature, a timestamp automatically appear. To get rid of this, type only three tildes instead of four. (Go to this forum for an alternate way to display the time.)

Cross-wiki Signature
Your template will not work on other wikis! You created your template page on this wiki, and the page you created is not on the other wiki, so you cannot get it to work unless you copy it onto that wiki and open up a separate page. (There may be a way to get it on all wikis, but I haven't tested it so you can message me on my talkpage for help.)

Commenting
Always use constructive criticism on your comments. For instance, say what you liked or didn't like, what the writer could improve on, errors you find in the story and such, that kind of thing. You'll get a warning from a user or staff if you really need to improve on your commenting. In all, any comments not abiding the Rules are not allowed.

That's what I have so far! I might add on later. Thank you for reading, and I hope it helped! :)

~ Win ter gre en