View source for Help:Starting a new page

{{PD Help Page}}
There are several ways to start a new page.

== Using Wikilinks ==
MediaWiki makes it very easy to link wiki pages using a standard syntax (see [[Help:Links|Links]]). If you (or anyone else) creates a link to an article that doesn't exist yet, the link will be coloured red, <span style="color: #ba0000">like this</span>.

Clicking a red link, will take you to the edit page for the new article.  Simply type your text, click save and the new page will be created.

Once the page has been created, the link will change from <span style="color: #ba0000">red</span> to <span style="color: #002bb8;">blue</span> (<span style="color: #5a3696;">purple</span> for pages you've visited) indicating that the article now exists.

== Using the URL ==
You can use the wiki's URL for creating a new page. The URL to an article of the wiki is usually something like this:
*<code><nowiki>http://www.my-wiki.org/index.php/</nowiki>'''ARTICLE'''</code> &nbsp;&nbsp; or
*<code><nowiki>http://www.my-wiki.org/wiki/</nowiki>'''ARTICLE'''</code>

If you replace <code>'''ARTICLE'''</code> with the name of the page you wish to create, you will be taken to a blank page which indicates that no article of that name exists yet. Clicking the "''edit''" [[Help:Navigation#Page Tabs|page tab]] at the top of the page will take you to the edit page for that article, where you can create the new page by typing your text, and clicking submit.

== From the search page ==
If you search for a page that doesn't exist (using the search box and 'go' button on the left of the page) then you will be provided with a link to create the new page.  (Note that this technique doesn't work if you use the 'search' button).

== Using the Inputbox extension ==
{{Admin tip|tip=You need to download and install the [[meta:Inputbox|"inputbox extension"]] for this method to work.}}
If the Inputbox extension is available on the wiki you can start a new page by typing in your article's name and clicking the "create article" button, as in the example below.
{| align="center" style="border:1px solid black" width="60%"
|
<inputbox>
type=create
width=45
</inputbox>
|}

== Create redirects to your new page == 
Don't forget to setup redirects when you create a page. If you think another person may search for the page you've created by using a different name or spelling, please create the proper redirect(s).

To create a redirect, the '''first line''' of the page should read <nowiki>#REDIRECT [[Destination]]</nowiki> where Destination is the page to which people should be redirected.  This must appear as the very first line of the page.

== Protect your new page == 
If desired, once you create your new page, you should protect the page and allow only the type of users you would like to edit the page.

{{Languages|Help:Starting a new page}}

[[Category:Help|Starting a new page]]