CSS:How to edit
Editing pages on the Commonwealth wiki are simple. MediaWiki is a powerful framework which allows for easy styling and formatting. However, the syntax used for wiki editing varies significantly from NationStates' BBCode. Be sure to read this guide in its entirety before beginning to edit.
Editing a page
First, you need an account to be able to edit the wiki. In the upper right, click on where it says "Anonymous" and then choose the option to create an account. You don't need to supply an email if you don't want to.
In the search bar, type in the title of the page that you want to edit. If nothing shows up, congratulations! You'll be starting a page from scratch. Click on the red text that shows up in the search results to open the editing menu for a new page.
If something did show up, keep reading! Even though your page already exists, the rest of this section still contains very important information for you to know.
Page formatting
Rather than typing in [b][/b] and [i][/i], MediaWiki uses a variant of Markdown. The MediaWiki formatting guide has a lot of useful information on the specifics of the syntax.
Links
Linking to other pages on MediaWiki is easy. Just wrap the page name in a pair of double brackets, as seen below:
[[Silver Imperial Utopia]]
To link to external sites, use single brackets instead of double brackets.
[https://google.com]
Templates
You'll probably want to add a sidebar (otherwise known as an infobox) to your page with information about your country. In order to add one, you need to use a template. Templates are pre-formatted blocks of code where all you have to do is fill in information about the subject into variables. The template will handle the styling for you, letting you focus on the content rather than HTML. All of the templates are based off of styling seen in actual Wikipedia articles. There are currently three template types for infoboxes: Country, Character, and World. If you'd like to see more templates added or expanded variables for existing templates, message The Yeetusa on Discord (@fishyemperor) with information about your use case.
Country
The country infobox template is used for styling countries and territories. The template page has a list of variables for you to fill in. Don't worry about filling them all in—each variable is technically optional. Only use this template on nation pages that have the same title as a corresponding NationStates account. The infobox has a link at the bottom that leads to the NationStates nation page.
To get started, copy the below starter code. Additional variables to add can be found at the template page. Make sure to format new variables on their own new line like |variable_name=Variable Value. The order of the variables does not matter, their order is determined by the template.
{{Infobox country
|capital=My Cool Capital
|currency=Dollars
}}
Character
The syntax for characters is identical to the syntax for countries except for multiline variables. In the country template, variables with the potential for multiple lines (refer to the template page for examples) have their values separated by single commas. In the character template, some of these use double commas (as seen in the example below) as the lines may contain commas themselves. Refer to the template page for more information and examples.
{{Infobox character
|birth_info=1 January 1945,,Oxford, England
|death_info=31 December 1945,,New York City, United States
}}
Office Holder
Office holders are a subset of characters. They have the same variables as characters as well as information about any offices that they held. Use the below template and refer to the template page for usage. Do not include the incumbent variable unless the character is indeed the incumbent. The code checks for variable presence, not value, meaning that it will appear even if you set the variable to "false".
{{Infobox officeholder
|office_title_1=President of the Imperial Senate
|start_date_1=May 1, 2012
|end_date_1=July 21, 2017
|predecessor_1=''Office established''
|successor_1=Victor McRain
}}
World
The world infobox template is for information about roleplay settings like Avaris. Ideally, you will not need to instantiate a world template because their pages will already be created. I don't anticipate anyone to need starter code for this as you should only be creating world pages if you know what you're doing.
File uploads
Upload a file by going to Special:Upload. Make sure your file size isn't larger than 2 megabytes. This size should be more than enough for most users—the Avaris map is 13000x7200 and still less than the limit. Make note of the file name as you upload, you'll need it when embedding the image.
To use the image, prefix it with File: and wrap it in double brackets as if you were referencing another page.
[[File:My_image.png]]
You can also use the formatted image template for a preformatted image.
{{Formatted image
|file=File:Silver_imperial_utopia.webp
|caption=The flag of Silver Imperial Utopia
|align=left
}}
This template will force text to wrap around the image instead of breaking the flow of the paragraph. You can also do this manually by passing in the thumbnail option into the base image embed code. Checkout the MediaWiki image tutorial for more information.
General advice (and informal rules)
- Treat the wiki like a wiki, not like a dispatch. The wiki is not the place to push a narrative, write in first person, or store all of your posts. Each article should maintain a neutral, analytical tone.
- Don't be afraid to create new pages! Have a side character that you want to expand on? Now is the perfect time to flesh them out! There's no limit as to how many pages you create.
- That being said, only create pages if you intend to fill them with actual content. We don't need to have dozens of pages with only a short paragraph. You may get your editing access revoked if you make a habit of that.
- Don't use the wiki as an image host. That will get your image privileges revoked.
