Go to www.seedwiki.com and look under the green “atomic data” box in the upper, right-hand corner of the screen.
- If you already have an account, please sign in now.
- If you do not yet have an account, please create one by clicking on the blue “start your own account” link and provide the requested information.
- When you finish either step, click on the blue “start a new wiki” link.
- Please carefully select your wiki title for relevance of topic, ease of recall, and appearance in title. You might consider a “wiki construction” by judiciously using capital letters to avoid spaces (which will show up in your URL as _ ) like “wikiDic” or “sproutWiki” or “TechWeenieWiki.” Seedwiki will keep prompting you for a wiki name if the one you entered is already taken.
When you first create it, your wiki homepage looks, well, like crap. So here's what to do:
- Click on the “Edit” button in the gray menu bar on the top of the page. You will soon find yourself on a wordprocessory-looking page. Just as you would in Word, highlight everything in the text area and delete it.
- Find an appropriate location for a list of your wiki’s sections (a table of contents, if you will, or link list), type each topic or descriptor, and then place [square brackets] around that description.
- Now click on the “Save Your Changes” button. Doing so will get you back to our homepage where you will see the description you typed followed by a blue (hyperlinked) question mark.
- Clicking on the question mark will direct you to your new page.
If you want to be notified of changes and contributions to your wiki, you can create a subscription that will automatically send you an email whenever you or others make changes. You will need to subscribe only once, and you can always cancel your subscription later. To subscribe, once you’re on your home page, please click on the “subscribe to wiki” link located above the “log out” button on the left-hand side of the screen.
Embracing the Medium (or: Don't Fear the Wiki)
The wonder of wikis is that anyone can add or change or delete content from any page. That means that we can support each other by adding content or clarity to material others of us have posted. And please do not worry about ruining yours or anyone else's page: Seedwiki keeps track of all the changes made—follow the “versions” tab at the top of the screen--allowing contributors to revert to a previous version of that page. So if you or another contributor (or a vandal) mess something up, you can erase that mess by reverting to a previous version. See? It's goof proof. So relax. And have fun.
Accepting Seedwiki:
- The first thing you need to know is that Seedwiki works best with Firefox and that Seedwiki hates Safari; it's ambivelent about Explorer.
- The second thing you need to know is that Seedwiki usually does not support the right-click option. Oh, right clicking will bring up a menu, but you can't use it. It's an unkind tease. Use your browser's edit menu instead.
- Highlight the word(s) you want to link, and then click on the “Insert/Edit Link” icon: the blue globe with a chain link in front of it located just above the font-selection box. Type in the URL as prompted; hit “okay.” This is one of the few instances in which the right-click paste function will work. Go figure.
- If you want to get fancy, once you've created your link, highlight that link, right click to find the "Edit Link" option, select the "Target" tab from the resultant dialogue box, and then specify "New Window" so that you link will open in a new window.
- First Method: Right click on the image you want to copy; from the right-click menu, select “Copy Image Location.” Return to the page edit section of your wiki page, and click on the “Insert/Edit Image” icon, the one that looks like a little, yellow envelope near the right-hand corner of the page. Once the “Image Properties” dialogue box appears, paste the URL you copied with the right click into the URL box. DO NOT click “okay”; instead, in the same dialogue box, click on the “Upload” tab. NOW you may click “okay.”
- Second Method: Right click on the image you want to copy; from the right-click menu, select “Save Image As” and remember where you parked the image (desktop, etc.). Return to the page edit section of your wiki page, and click on the “Insert/Edit Image” icon, the one that looks like a little, yellow envelope near the right-hand corner of the page. Once the “Images Properties” dialogue box appears, select the “Upload or Download Image” button, which will open the “Coldfusion File Manager” dialogue box. Once there, click on the “Browse” button, and find the image you just saved to your desktop (or wherever you saved it). Once the filename appears in the “Upload File” box, click on the “Upload” button. That will return you to the “Image Properties” dialogue box. Click “Okay.”
I frequently use tables when I add graphics to my wiki sites. If you want to add tables to your wiki page, follow these steps:
- While in edit mode, place your cursor in the spot where you want to place your table. Click on the “Insert/Edit Table” icon: the white box with the blue top located between the smiley and the “Insert/Edit Picture” icon.
- Determine the number of rows and columns you wish. If you want a border around your table, select its thickness by increasing the border size. I usually set mine to zero, however, because I like an invisible table. Click “Okay.”
- Type directly into the cells, cut and paste text into the cells, insert pictures into the cells—whatever you want to do.
The seedwiki site offers a good deal of help, so I’ll not duplicate that information here—except to mention that both the “directory” and “changes” buttons on the left side of the screen lead to a screen with a tabbed menu. The “control panel & how to” tab leads to a pretty helpful menu, and I’ve found all kinds of neat things there. Check ‘em out. And play! Please.
