Tutorial

Here's a quick and basic tutorial on editing and contributing to the wiki page. Remember anyone can add to or edit this wiki, so don't hesitate! There is no registration or log in.

Navigating the Wiki

 * From the home page of the wiki you can find chemicals of interest. To navigate further you can search for a page using the search box in the top right of the page.
 * A useful tool is located under the Wiki Content tab. Scroll over and you can access a list of recently changed pages. Additionally, you can click on the Wiki Content tab and find chemicals of interest. Add links to this page for easy access.
 * To return to the homepage, just click in the Greener Labs Initiative Wiki text in blue at the top left of every page.

Adding and Editing a Page

 * To add a page to the wiki, use the Contribute button in the top right hand corner of the page.


 * Use the drop down menu to choose "Add a Page". You will then be prompted to name a new page. This could be a new chemical, greener alternative, or an additional research method or clarification linked to another page.
 * If you are editing a page, you can also use the contribute button, or you can use the edit tool that is located next to the page title.
 * Now you are ready to add content to the new page. There are two methods of editing, visual and source. In visual you see the page as it will appear published. At the top of the text space are text and formatting options such as headings and bullet points. In source, there are lines of code that can be edited and additional features can be added if you know the right codes.
 * Don't forget to publish the page when you are done creating or editing a page. This is the green button in the top right hand corner. If the page isn't published, all of that hard work gets lost.

Links

 * Links are the basis of a wiki page. You use these to easily jump to related topics. For example, from the home page you can click the link to the chemical chloroform. From there you can click a link to its medical research use, and find greener alternatives on that page etc.
 * Links work back and forth, so if you make a page, you'll need to create links on other pages so that your page can be accessed. For example, if you create the page DNA extraction, you'll want to put a link for it on every other page in the wiki that mentions DNA extraction. This becomes like a web of links and pages, so that many different chemicals could be linked by their similar use (DNA extraction.)
 * To create a link, you need to already have created and published the page you want to link to.
 * Next, begin to edit the page that needs a link.
 * The link button is in the top of the editing screen, right next to the itallics button. It looks like a chain.


 * Now you will be need to indicate what page is being linked. Begin typing the title of the page, and it will appear in a drop down menu. Click on that, and the window will indicate that the page has been found. This means the link will be successful. Next, you can change the way the text appears in the second box: this is important if the link is imbedded in a sentence. Lastly, you need to indicate if the link is to an internal page or an external link (such as a website). In a similar vein, you can link external websites to the wiki page just by copying and pasting the URL into the linking window.
 * Link2.jpg just hit ok, and the link will appear in the text you are editing. It should be blue, which indicates that the link is working. Publish the page, and then check the link.

Contributing and Sharing

 * An easy way to share this page with other researchers is to use the Share button, located right next to the contribute button. This will open a side panel in order to send a link to someone via facebook, twitter, and email.
 * Help the wiki discussion grow by adding comments at the bottom of a page. This could be a discussion on an alternative, or a suggestion to other researchers.
 * Some pages have polls located at the bottom. This gives other users an easy "quick glance" sense of what greener alternatives are being used and how their compare to each other.
 * At the top of the wiki page is the community button. Use the Talk button at the top of the page to create a new discussion topic or to add to an existing one. You will be prompted to add a new topic or to edit. This page is just a blank text space, so add comments and sign your name when you contribute.
 * Also on the community page is a more detailed tutorial for creating pages and adding to the community discussion.
 * By scrolling over the community button, you can access forums and blogs, and add your own posts.

What to Add?
Please add to this wiki. If you have a toxic chemical and are looking for alternatives, create a page, and link it to the Chemicals of Interest section on the home page. This will ensure that it is highly trafficked, and other wikia users will then add their own links to greener alternatives. We'd like to keep growing, so we hope this quick tutorial covers all the basics on adding to this wiki page. Questions? Google is fantastic, and there are actually wikis on wikia.com that go over more indepth editing.