[seek-web] New SEEK Web Site

[Steve Tekell]

http://seek.ecoinformatics.org

As Matt stated, the new site is Wiki based and will allow any member of SEEK
to create pages, edit pages and upload files.  When you click on "Edit This
Page" (at the bottom of a page), you will be required to log in (if you
aren't already logged in).  SEEK security it based off an aggregation of
LDAP accounts from several affiliated organizations.  So you will not create
a separate account for working with the SEEK web site, but rather specify
the organization you are affiliated with (LTER, NCEAS, KU, etc) and provide
the username and password for that account.

Here's a page with some more information.
http://seek.ecoinformatics.org/Wiki.jsp?page=Authentication

For help with Wiki and JspWiki specifically, what is it, how to use it, etc,
you will find help under About This Site -> WikiHelp
http://seek.ecoinformatics.org/Wiki.jsp?page=WikiHelp


Creating A New Page
-------------------
To Create a new page, create a link to a new page on an existing page, then
follow the link that created to the new page.  You could also just type in a
URL for a new page.  To create a link, use brackets such as, [MyPage], for a
link to a page called "MyPage", or add text to display for the link [Some
Text | MyPage] for a link that displays "Some Text" to MyPage.  NOTE: for
those of you who have used other Wikis, CamelCase is not automatically a
wiki link.

Please create meaningful names for pages which properly distinguish them.
For example, "Notes" would be a bad choice, whereas
"SEEKExecMeetingNotes_02_Feb_2003" is good.  Remember, page name used for
the page title.


Editing A Page
--------------
To Edit A Page, click on "Edit This Page" at the bottom.  Make changes and
save or preview first, go back and then save.  If you decide not to make any
edits, then click cancel.

Formatting Help
---------------
Wiki provides a few simple formatting options that allow you do more than
just plain text.  You can create bold and italic text, headings, bullets,
links and more.  A short list of formatting rules are provided at the bottom
of the edit screen.  More details are found on the TextFormattingRules page
(found under About This Site -> WikiHelp)
http://seek.ecoinformatics.org/Wiki.jsp?page=TextFormattingRules


More On Formatting And Editing
------------------------------
The online help is extensive, but here's few notes, some of which highlight
differences between JspWiki that this site uses and OpenWiki which the old
wiki used.

Many formatting characters, other than __bold__ and ''italic'', need to
begin in the first column, e.g.,

* the asterisk will create a bullet
** two asterisks will create a secondary bullet

  * but if you put in a space first, it won't become a bullet, just an
asterisk

Headings must also begin in the first column
!!! Heading 1  or Biggest Heading
!! Heading 2
! Heading 3

Headings create the possibility for intra-page links.
So if you have a heading like
!! My Heading

you could create a intra-page link like
[Link Text | MyPage#MyHeading]

To create a link to an attachment on the same page:
[Link Text | some-ppt-file.ppt]

To create a link to an attachment on another page:
[Link Text | OtherPage/some-ppt-file.ppt]

To imbed a graphic, create a link to it - *.gif, *.jpg, *.png will become
embedded images on the page, whereas other file types will just be a link.

One thing that's can't be show properly in the online help is using the
triple curly brackets for a block quote.

{{{ this text would be a block quote, useful for displaying programming code
or blocks or preformatted text that needs to ignore wiki formatting
characters }}}


Deleting a page
---------------
There is not a systematic way to delete files (yet).  This is currently a
manual administrative task.  To mark a file for deletion put "DELETEME" at
the top.  (all one word without quotes).


Versioning
----------
JspWiki has built in versioning.  Going to "more info" will allow you view,
compare or retrieve older versions of file.  So there is no need to be real
timid about editing pages.

SandBox
-------
As mentioned in the online help, you can use the SandBox page to tinker
around and learn wiki.
http://seek.ecoinformatics.org/Wiki.jsp?page=SandBox
Not to mention looking at any existing page, to how something was done.



----------------------------------------------------
Steve Tekell                     stekell at lternet.edu
SEEK-Web              http://seek.ecoinformatics.org
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