Frequently Asked Questions (Wiki)

Contents [hide]

	ZAM Network Wikibase™
	FAQs

This page is a compilation of common questions in regard to the ZAM Wikibase. There is a forum for any questions that may not be listed here. The Wikibase forum can be found here.

Q: What are the Wiki markup tags?

Basic text formats

```
''Italic Text''
```
Will show up as Italic Text.
```
'''Bold Text'''
```
Will show up as Bold Text.
```
'''''Bold & Italic'''''
```
Becomes Bold & Italic.
```
Change text colors
```
Can be used to Change text colors. This should be used VERY sparingly as it may not look good on all skins in our wiki and violates the hard work of our skin designer.
```
Underline
```
Will Underline things.
```
<s>Strikeout</s>
```
Will ~~Strikeout~~ text.
```
<big>Big</big>
```
Makes things Big
```
Small
```
Will make things Small.
```
<center>Center</center>
```
Will center justify text,

Just like this.

Linking

```
[[Guidelines]]
```
Gives you a link to the Guidelines page.
```
[[Guidelines|Clarifications]]
```
Gives you a link to the Guidelines page, but displays as Clarifications
```
[[Category:Lore]]
```
Adds the current page to Category:Lore. This is a "Compiler Directive" and does not display anything.
```
[[:Category:Lore]]
```
Gives you a link to Category:Lore without adding the current page to that category.
```
[[:Category:Lore|Lore]]
```
Gives you a link to Category:Lore but displays as Lore

Please Note For common terms, a link needs to follow this syntax [[Hume (FFXI)]] or [[Hume (FFXI)|Humans]]. The former will display as Hume and the latter will display as Humans but they both lead to the same page. More info can be found on the guidelines page, under Common Terms.

Also Note Linking part of a word such as [[Windurst]]ian will create a link to Windurst but will display as Windurstian.

```
[[Yagudo#The Yagudo Theomilitary|The Yagudo Theomilitary]]
```
Will take you to a specific heading on the Yagudo article, and will display as The Yagudo Theomilitary
```
[http://www.google.com Google Homepage]
```
Will display as Google Homepage and is preferred for making external links.
```
[http://www.answers.com/reference&r=67]
```
Will display an inline reference [1] For citing external links. They do not generate footnotes [2].
```
<ref>This is a footnote</ref>
```
These tags will create a footnote. Click the footnote link to jump there, then click the ^ to return here.^[1] This does not auto generate a note's list. To make the text within the tags appear on the page you need to add a few bits of code at the end of your article.
```
==Notes==
```
```
<references />
```
This will add a section header for Notes, and will parse everything inside a pair of ref tags into a numbered list wherever you place the references tag.^[2] Please, for style and organizational purposes, keep the notes section at the bottom of your article.

Headers

==Header 1==
===Header 2===
====Header 3====
=====Header 4=====

Are the four varying degrees of headers. The questions in this FAQ are Header 1, while the subsection headers like "Basic Text Formats" are Header 2.

Note: if you use 3 or more Header 1, in combination with any other headers, a table of contents will be generated using the text encased in the header tags, like the table of contents at the top of this page.

Note: If you use a link to a DB namespace, such as EQ2_Zone:, in a header the Table of Contents will show the namespace unless you include alternate text for the link, such as [[EQ2 Zone:Antonica|Antonica]].

By default, the Table of Contents will appear just before the first Header 1. You can force it to appear elsewhere with __TOC__ or prevent it from appearing at all with __NOTOC__ (placed anywhere in the article). These are called "Compiler Directives".

Ordered Lists

* Asterisks and  ** Double Asterisks

show up as

Bullets, and

Secondary Bullets, respectively.

# Hash Marks  and  ## Double Hash Marks

become

Numbered lists, and

Secondary numbered lists.

# Hash Marks and #* Hash Mark-Asterisks

become

Numbered lists, and

Secondary bulleted lists.

* Asterisks and *# Asterisk-Hash Marks

become

Bulleted lists, and

Secondary numbered lists.

These can be mixed and matched!

#Do this step first
#Secondly, do the following in any order
#*a task
#*another task with 3 steps that must be done in order
#*#Step 1
#*#Step 2
#*#Step 3
#Final task

becomes

Do this step first
Secondly, do the following in any order

a task
another task with 3 steps that must be done in order

Step 1
Step 2
Step 3

Final task

Tables

Tables can be very daunting and complicated, but they can be very useful for organizing lists of information in articles. There are numerous bits of code that you need to be aware of when putting together a table.

Basic Table Tags

```
{| and |}
```
Begin and end a table. Tables can be nested within tables, but doing so can make what is already complicated, even more complicated.
```
|- and |
```
Will respectively add a new row and a new cell. Note that these tags to not need to be closed if you start each | on a different line. Beginning a new row or cell will close the previous one, and the final closing table tag will close the final row or column tag.
```
!
```
Is a special header version of the cell tag, using this tag will bold the text following it, and center it within the cell.
```
|+
```
Is a caption tag, any text that is placed after it will be centered above the table, as a sort of title.

{| border=1
|+ This is an example table.
|-
! header 1
! header 2
! header 3
|-
| row 1, cell 1
| row 1, cell 2
| row 1, cell 3
|-
| row 2, cell 1
| row 2, cell 2
| row 2, cell 3
|}

This is an example table.
header 1	header 2	header 3
row 1, cell 1	row 1, cell 2	row 1, cell 3
row 2, cell 1	row 2, cell 2	row 2, cell 3

Advanced Table Tags

```
||
```
In some cases, a double pipe tag can be used instead of placing each cell tag on a new line.
```
style="background:black; color:purple"
```
Adding this after a row or cell tag will change the background and text colors. This example, placed after a row tag will make every cell within that row have a black background and purple text.
```
border=1
```
By default, tables do not have a drawn border around them. Adding this tag can help organize information. The numerical value in quotes is a pixel width for the border.
```
width=100%
```
This tag, placed after an opening table tag, will determine the overall width of your table. The example shown, will force the table to stretch all the way across the wiki article. If the reader resizes their browser, the table will expand and contract to reflect this. You may also specify pixel widths.

{| border=1 width=100%
|+ This is an example of an advanced table that is 100% the width of the wiki article.
|- style="background:yellow; color:grey"
! header 1 this row is grey text on yellow
! header 2
! header 3
|-
| width=50% | row 1, cell 1. This column will always...
| width=150 | row 1, cell 2. this column will always...
| row 1, cell 3
|- 
| style="background:white; color:black" | row 2, cell 1
| row 2, cell 2
| row 2, cell 3
|}

This is an example of an advanced table that is 100% the width of the wiki article.
header 1 this row is grey text on yellow	header 2	header 3
row 1, cell 1. This column will always be 50% of the overall table width, and the text will auto wrap to fit within it.	row 1, cell 2. this column will always be 150 pixels wide, no matter how large or small the overall table is.	row 1, cell 3
row 2, cell 1 has a white background and black text.	row 2, cell 2	row 2, cell 3

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Documentation for Programmers

See Documentation for more advanced docs aimed at those that understand basic programming concepts and syntax diagrams.

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Q: How do I make sure that my new wiki page is searchable?

Bludwyng has made a set of game tags that can be used on any page to display a little graphic and automatically link that page to the game's category so the search engine will see it. See the complete list on the Global Template Users Guide.

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Q: (FFXI) How do I link to the Database?

Basic syntax.

[[FFXI Quest:Questname]]
[[FFXI Area:Areaname]]
[[FFXI Mob:Mobname]]
[[FFXI Ability:Abilityname or Spellname]]
[[FFXI Item:Itemname]]

Descriptions.

To link from articles to the editable Wiki page for a certain quest, use [[FFXI Quest:Eco-Warrior (Windurst)]] as the syntax. That example would lead you to the Windurst version of the Eco-Warrior quest.
The same syntax is used for areas, [[FFXI Area:Port Windurst]] will lead you to Port Windurst.
Monsters operate the same as quests and areas. The syntax is [[FFXI Mob:Tiny Mandragora]] which winds up as Tiny Mandragora. Please Note NPC's are also considered Mobs, so linking to them should use the FFXI Mob tags.
Spells and abilities use [[FFXI Ability:Aero]] and link to the DB, this example leads you to Aero.
Items, however, are slightly different. If you use [[FFXI Item:Onyx Ring]] as the syntax, you will create a link to the DB page for the item but, if you hover over the link, you will spawn a popup with information about the item, like this Onyx Ring. Please note, there are not editable pages for items

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Q: (EQ2) How should I name a new page for the EQ2 Wiki?

First, please pick a name that makes sense! Use the Search box to see if the name already exists. If it does and is in use by another game, disambiguation will be necessary. To disambiguate, add " (EQ2)" after the name. Also, the other game page will need to be moved to a name that is similarly disambiguated, and a disambiguation page should be created at the original name. The disambiguation page should have links to both pages, and should end with {{disambig}}. More explicit information about disambiguation is available, below, under Q: What do I do if two in-game things have the same name?

Other than that, just be sure to place the {{eq2}} tag on the bottom of your article so that the page is placed in the EverQuest II category. This is absolutely required or the Everything Search will not see the page!

Examples:

[[Wizard]] will take you to Wizard.
[[Power Pool (EQ2)]] will take you to Power Pool. Note that the suffix does NOT display!
[[:Category:EQ2 Character Races]] will take you to Category:EQ2 Character Races. Note that the : in front of Category allows you to make a clickable link to go TO a category, rather than putting the current page IN that category!

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Q: (EQ2) How do I link to the Database?

The link format is the same as for FFXI (described above).

[[EQ2 Zone:Thundering Steppes]] will link to the Zone DB page, Thundering Steppes.
[[EQ2 Quest:These Boots Were Made For...]] will link to the Quest DB page, These Boots Were Made For....
[[EQ2 Item:Ancient Ebon Dagger]] will link to the Item DB page, Ancient Ebon Dagger.
[[EQ2 Mob:a Sootfoot bruiser]] will link to the mob DB page, a Sootfoot bruiser.

With mobs it is often desirable to use a slightly different name than the actual full mob name, such as dropping the leading "a". [[EQ2 Mob:a Sootfoot bruiser|Sootfoot bruisers]] will link to the mob DB page like this: Sootfoot bruisers.

[[EQ2 Object:a corpse]] will link to the Object DB page, a corpse.
[[EQ2 Faction:Sathirian]] will link to the Faction DB page, Sathirian.
[[EQ2 Ability:Howl of the Damned]] will link to the Necromancer spell, Howl of the Damned.

These can be used in any Wiki panel, whether standalone or embedded in a DB page, to link to a DB page.

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Q: (WoW) How do I link to the Database?

The link format is the same as for FFXI (described above).

[[WoW Zone:Eversong Woods]] will link to the Zone DB page, Eversong Woods.
[[WoW Quest:Into the Dream]] will link to the Quest DB page, Into the Dream.
[[WOW Item:Badge of Justice]] will link to the Item DB page, Badge of Justice.
[[WOW Mob:Baelog]] will link to the mob DB page, Baelog.
[[WOW Object:Blood Mushroom]] will link to the Object DB page, Blood Mushroom.
[[WOW Faction:Booty Bay]] will link to the Faction DB page, Booty Bay.
[[WOW Spell:Shoot]] will link to the Mage spell, Shoot. In this case, Shoot has no rank so needs nothing else, but for spells that HAVE ranks you need to add the rank, or Rank 1, like this: [[WoW Spell:Frost Armor (Rank 1)]] to link directly to Frost Armor.

These can be used in any Wiki panel, whether standalone or embedded in a DB page, to link to a DB page.

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Q: How do I add an image to the Wikibase?

There are 2 ways, external and internal.

For an externally-hosted image:

[[image:http://www.domain.com/whatever/imagename.ext|position|frame|captiontext]]

position is optional and can be left,right or center. left is the default.
frame is optional but you must use frame if you want to display a caption.
captiontext can contain wiki tags
You cannot resize an externally-hosted image, but there are no min and max size limits either. PLEASE do not ever link in an image wider than 500 pixels as it messes up the page formatting!

For an internally-hosted image:

Use the Media tab at the top of the page to upload an image to Allakhazam. After you Commit the image, you will see a box with [[image:12345]] displayed under it. Copy that text!
Edit the wiki page and put the image tag wherever you want it. You may add additional formatting options, as follows:

[[image:number|position|size|thumb|frame|captiontext]]

position is optional and can be left,right or center. left is the default.
size is the max width or height in pixels, followed by px. For instance, 50px would be 50 pixels.
thumb tells the system to display a thumbnail of the image, linked to the full-size display. For obvious reasons, size is ignored if thumb is used. Thumbs are always framed and will display captiontext, if used.
frame is optional but you must use frame if you want to display a caption.
captiontext can be any text you like, and can contain wiki tags. Captions will only display if thumb or frame is used.

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Q: What do I do if two in-game things have the same name?

You must use disambiguation to separate them. How this is done depends on what the thing is. The following examples are for EQ2, but the principle is the same for all games.

For a Quest:

Add an abbreviation of the zone name after the quest, such as [[eq2 quest:Planting the Seeds (KJ)]] and [[eq2 quest:Planting the Seeds (Zek)]] for 2 quests with the same name, one in Kunzar Jungle and the other in Zek, the Orcish Wastes. Also, create a wiki page at Planting the Seeds that points to both quests and uses the {{disambig}} at the bottom to show that this is a Diambiguation page.

For an Item:

With Rise of Kunark, Epic Weapons have re-entered the game. Many, but not all, of these have the same name for the Fabled and Mythical versions of the weapon. In this case we can add the record ID # after the item name, in parentheses. The wiki will not show the suffix but it will find the correct record. If you do not include the suffix and more than one DB record exists with this name, a default Disambiguation page will be generated on the fly showing all of the matching records. Click on one of them to continue to that page. For example, [[eq2 item:Gorynn's Fist (101629)]] is the Fabled version, and [[eq2 item:Gorynn's Fist (101681)]] is the Mythical version.

For a Mob:

Because of the log parser, Lucy2, it is very important that we use ONLY the exact matching name for any combatable monster, as the drop information will only match on the correct name. If necessary, add notes in the wiki text for the mob page explaining the differences in the multiple locatins. This case is actually VERY rare!
In the case of NPCs, we can disambiguate the same way we do for Quest, above. Add a suffix wit the common abbreviation of the zone name the mob appears in. Be sure to make a Disambiguation page at the common name pointing to the multiple mobs. In this case, the disambiguated page must itself be a Mob DB record, but the wiki text should explain the issue and link to the other records. At the editors choice, you COULD just create the single record and use the wiki text to describe all the places this mob can be found in and why.

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Q: How should I go about Moving a page?

Currently, using the Move function does NOT do something that most other wiki's do:

It will not allow you to move to a pagename that exists (most wiki's ask you to confirm that you want to overwrite the destination).

Here is the recommended procedure:

If it is a non-DB wiki page, use the What Links Here option in the Tools drop-down to make sure that all links TO this page are changed to the intended new page name. (You do not have this option on wiki-db pages)
Move the wiki page to it's new name

On the Move page will be a box, already checked, to create a redirect. If you do NOT want the old name to automatically redirect folks ot the new page name then you need to uncheck this box.

If this is a wiki-DB page, finally edit the DB entry to change the name (NOTE: Only admins can do this.)

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Q: Why are some of the links a different color than the others? What are "redlinks"?

The two different colors represent links to pages that do exist, versus those that do not yet. In a standard Wiki color scheme existing links would be blue and missing links would be red. This is why missing links on a wiki are universally referred to as "redlinks".

The actual colors depend on the color scheme of the game base you are looking at. For instance, on the EverQuest II Wikibase, existing links are yellow and "redlinks" are orange.

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Q: What editorial "tone of voice" is appropriate in the Wikibase?

Allakhazam's Wikibase is NOT Wikipedia. We do not expect dry, emotionless, researched and peer-reviewed work here. We are gamers, all of us, and we use language differently from college professors. However, the wiki is NOT The Asylum, and things that are permitted there will not be allowed here. Any edits containing rude or vulgar comments, hate speech, racist or sexist remarks, or profanity will not be tolerated and could result in your access to this system being revoked. We cannot block users from the wiki separately, so the only tool we have is the ZAM Mute or Ban, and we will use them on repeat offenders. You will be warned first, to give you an opportunity to behave, but no second warning will be given.

Basically, restrict yourself to language that would not embarrass the average person should their mother happen to read it over their shoulder.

This rule extends to all parts that touch on the Wikibase, including but not limited to: Wiki text, database page comments, edit summary lines, and the Wikibase Forum.

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Q: What is the maximum size of a wiki page? Why am I getting a message that says "maximum number of templates exceeded"?

There is no practical limit to the size of a wiki page. However, if it gets THAT big it probably needs to be split into multiple smaller pages that cover specific parts of the original.

Additionally, there is a limit to the total number of templates that may be called on a given page during the compile process. This means all the templates on the page, and all the templates they call as sub-templates, and all the templates those sub-templates call, etc. This can add up very fast. The worst place this is seen is on some very large Quest Series pages. When this happens the best thing to do is to split the Quest Series page into 2 or more sub-pages and point to each of them from the original page name.

A good example of this can be seen in the Runes of Magic wiki, on the Sascilia Steppes Quest Series page. This one zone covers quests from level 1 through 20 and it is the single largest overland zone in the game. It is, quite truly, huge by RoM's standards. I reached a point where the only choice was to split it into North (1-11) and South (14-20) sub-pages.

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Notes

^ This is a footnote
^ This is another footnote, it thinks it's better than the first footnote.

Categories: ZAM Network | Frequently Asked Questions | Guides (ZAM)

This page last modified 2010-09-16 09:25:26.