Help:Using the Wiki

Project: Redcap runs on MediaWiki, the same software that powers Wikipedia. The best source of tutorials and documentation is on the [https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/MediaWiki

If you know how to edit Wikipedia, you should be right at home on Project: Redcap. Let's suppose you don't know how to edit Wikipedia.

• How to Navigate
• How to Edit Pages
• Help:Getting Started is our orientation to the content of the Wiki

Editing Is Safe and Reversible

You must register in order to edit to Project: Redcap.

You can't do permanent damage to the Wiki by editing a page, even if you make a mistake. In simple terms, every page comes with a sophisticated "undo" function that allows the maintainers (or advanced users) to revert that page's content to what it was at any point in time. So, in the worst case, all you would have to do is contact us to tell us what page you goofed on, and we could fix it in seconds. Don't be anxious about editing!

Also, don't worry about changing content that is already there. The point of a Wiki like Project: Redcap for many authors to write articles collaboratively. If you think you can improve a page in any way, from fixing a single spelling mistake to editing for clarity and conciseness to rewriting the page completely, please jump in and do it.

Saving, Previewing, and Cancelling

While you are editing a page, you are actually editing a temporary copy of the page. No one will see your changes until you save them.

You must save the page before your changes will take effect. If you do not click the "Save page" button before leaving the editing window, your changes will be irrevocably discarded.

Before you save, it's a good idea to click the "Show preview" button at the bottom of the page. Check the page for major formatting errors, which will happen more frequently than you might expect. If everything looks sane, then go ahead and click the "Save page" button.

If it happens that you decide not to save your changes, you can cancel your edits by clicking the "Cancel" link just to the right of the "Show changes" button. Clicking "cancel" when you want to cancel is good practice because the Wiki software keeps track of what pages are currently open for editing. Canceling lets the Wiki engine perform bookkeeping tasks in a timely manner.

The Editing Sandbox

Our Sandbox page is especially created so newcomers can try out the editing functions and see what their text looks like. The Sandbox page has no useful content: feel free to experiment with adding, editing, and deleting content, without regard to what happens to already be there.

Intermediate and Advanced Editing

One of the most useful sources of technical help is the MediaWiki handbook.

Another good approach is to use a Web search engine such as Google or Bing. For example, if you want to find out how to quote a section of non-copyrighted material (such as a medieval text) and have it appear nicely formatted, try searching for terms such as

MediaWiki formatting
MediaWiki format block quote

Requests for Features

If you want to use a feature of MediaWiki and find that it does not work on this site, the most likely cause is that feature is not installed. Our currently installed extensions can be viewed at Special:Version, and our installed templates can be found from Special:Categories.

See the Special:Contact page to contact the maintainers and we will do what we can to install it.