The VG Wiki Page Editor uses multiple sections for easy page development, instead of requiring knowledge of markup language tags and the old 'solitary very-long text box' for content entry. VG Wiki Pages consist of a Page Title, Description, Summary Panel, Content Sections, and optional Addendum. Use the edit links next to the actual wiki page item or section to open the editor to that element, and the floating links bar to easily jump around the Page Editor. Save your work often, rather than editing many sections at once (though you can do this, too).
The best method for planning is to begin with a few Section Titles as an outline for contents, and to leave space between them for later. For this reason, editors are encouraged to skip entire sections in the editor and the table of contents will still assemble page view contents in the correct order, merging the contents of sections without titles as a continual body of content until the next populated Section Title field in the editor. The editor view will maintain contents in the specific editor section regardless of any empty sections between.
VG Wiki Editors may want to create pages in the Editors HQ category where they cannot be seen by public, these can be moved into their final category later. Use the Sandbox Demo pages to try new things out without bumping a live wiki page and notifying any followers of it (if any). New categories for topics will be considered on a case by case basis, just ask.
About These Callout Boxes and How They Work:
-
Each content section can become an inset Callout Box instead of text. These floating callout boxes (such as this one you are reading now) can vary in size depending on the content, and can contain simple text or rich content including images or embedded video.
-
They are great way to break up large walls of text (generally after you have filled in the section content body), to call attention to specific details from the contents, or even use as a separator block (with blank content, tall or wide). This Guide uses 'too many boxes' mostly for illustration purposes, but when you have lots of info to share, callouts help.
-
By splitting text content between multiple sections in the editor, you can inset additional callout boxes under one body of content that can have a single title in the Table of Contents - play around with different positions and sizes, colors, etc. and find what suits a topic well without detracting from it.
-
Options dictate position, but the size of a nearby block can alter desired block placement, so take your time and try different things. A callout box must be content in a section above another section with text content but no section title in order for that text content to wrap around it.
-
Use the word img for a standardized thin margin callout box designed for images. Option words can be in any order, some or all, or blank, and will ignore mistakes, but 'left gold red' will always be 'red' because 'red' was last.
Example using top three
sections of this guide:
-
Section Title (empty)
- Contents of Blue Callout Box
- Callout Box Options (right, etc)
-
Section Title (empty)
- Contents of THIS Callout Box
- Callout Box Options (left, etc)
-
Section Title (empty)
- Contents of Wrapped Text Body
- Callout Box Options (empty)
Content Sections
Each Section (25 total) has a title which is added to the Table of Contents at the top, and the content body which can be standard text content, or used as an image which is inset into the next section contents, or as an optional callout box.
The section content editor box provides many common editing tools as well as direct bbcode conversion. Use the checkboxes next to the Section Title if you want it to be a subsection below the last, or to hide the Section Title Line (so you can use your own styling for the title in the content body instead). Our Server Rules pages use this format, for example.
Optional callouts boxes or inset image boxes are the recommended way to preset any special content, but editors may inset any images or image links directly into the actual contents body, too, so long as it looks nice and is relevant to the section or page. Wiki Pages are designed to be edited and built up over time, changed or added to piece by piece, if desired.
Editing Courtesy
VG Wiki Pages or categories may have restricted editing, or open to all with Wiki Editing permissions, or editable only by the original creator. Refer to the category information for details, or just ask if you are unsure. The basic rule is that if you can see the edit buttons, you are allowed to edit it, and revisions are stored (and can be restored) so there is less concern for fouling up. That being said, basic courtesy would suggest that we only correct or add to other editors contributions in a given Wiki Page rather than deleting it or overwriting it. Let the author or other VG Wiki Editors know of your proposed edits (if they are significant), and please discuss any very large changes before taking the initiative on edits which may delete content that other editors have spent time on.
Callout Box Options:
-
Position (combine as needed such as top right)
- top left right bottom
-
Size
- small medium large
-
Shape
- rounded squared cubic
-
Box Orientation
- straight italic italic-left slanted slanted-left
-
Color
- light dark green gold blackgold teal blue red
-
Border Color
- light-border dark-border green-border gold-border blackgold-border teal-border blue-border red-border
-
Special
- desel ulinks final img
desel - disables cursor selection over text
ulinks - disables automatic hyperlink styling and underline
final - disables visibility of section edit link
img - standardized image box, used with size and position options
Example - the parameters of this box:
left medium straight rounded green blackgold-border
Automatic Table of Contents
The Table of Contents is automatically populated with the titles of each section. Table of Contents is generated only if there is more than 1 section title used in the Editor. Each item in the Table of Contents is a proper URL link which you can share to draw attention directly to a topic within a page. In this way, VG Wiki Pages are essentially a URL factory, where you can create a custom URL via the Table of Contents link which jumps directly to the page and content section. Single word section titles will avoid URL encoding of whitespace for a very nice presentation when sharing a URL.
The Section Numbers in the editor panel are not related to their number in the Table of Contents or page view. Section Titles are added to Table of Contents from Top to Bottom. This means that if someone wanted to leave space for later expansion, they can, simply by using every 3rd Section Title only (for example). This is also a way to combine two content boxes, inset more than one image, or callout box into a single item listed in the Table of Contents.
By skipping a few sections and only adding a title/contents every 3 sections (for example), you can leave room for new sections, inset images, or callout boxes to be 'inserted' later without having to move every section down to accommodate, and not forcing the editor to append new sections to the end only. This is wise forward planning for any Rules Wiki page, or any which you expect to expand over time. This is another reason there are so many potential sections to use, and we don't expect every VG Wiki Page use all the available sections. The Table of Contents is open by default, use the checkbox in the Summary Panel section to force a 'closed by default' Table of Contents instead.
Callout and Image Insets
Any section without a Title will attempt to merge with nearby sections until broken up by the next Section Title. If a section of text is below a section used as a Callout box or Image box, the text will attempt to wrap around it. Using the Callout Options line, option words can be added to transform the content of any section into a Callout Box or standardized image box. Editors are encouraged to break up long bodies of text with inset images or callout boxes, using additional sections rather than making use of just one very large section with a single content body. This allows inset image panels or callout boxes to fit more easily into content in the way you want.
Begin by writing only in 1 Section Title, then skip a section, then use the Contents area of the next section for the text you will write. If you want to break it up with an image or callout box, fill in some text in the empty content area you skipped below that section Title you used and above the text you want to wrap, and then set some Callout Options. The text in the next section down will attempt to wrap around any callout box above it in page view.
❝ Obviously, this Guide is an example of the VG Wiki style callout placement; information becomes more presentable... ❞
If callout or inset image placement is not as you like, you can take some of the wrapped text content and place it in the nearest empty Section above the callout box section to sandwich wrapped text around it exactly as you want. This will require moving your section title up as well, if used. This is another reason to plan ahead and leave empty sections between content. Obviously, this Guide is an example of the VG Wiki style callout placement; information becomes more presentable than a massive wall of unbroken text. This Guide is a VG Wiki page with 9 combined sections, a description with no Table of Contents (by not setting any titles), and the Summary Panel disabled.
Callout Content Options
Besides the obvious options listed in the box above, Special Option words include 'desel', 'ulinks', 'final, and 'img'. Callout Box text can be set to 'un-selectable' for a more solid look and placement among other text by including the word desel. This can turn a callout box into something like an image of text. Additionally, hyperlink auto-styling can be disabled to allow the editor to style them for themselves more easily by including the word ulinks, but the mouse pointer will still behave properly when hovering over any link in a callout box. Combining both of these options can essentially turn a callout box into a button which could link to another part of the wiki page or maybe another page on the same topic.
Including the word img, along with a Size word and Position word, will turn a section content into a standardized inset image box with very thin margins. First, drag and drop an image into the Section Content editor, press the + to insert the image, and with the cursor just to its right, press SHIFT + Enter to get a new line without the gap of a new paragraph, and type a short subtitle for the image. Click on the 'Centered' icon in the editor toolbar, if you want. The size of the image box will dictate the space you have for text, with text sizes from 9 to 12 looking best. There are so many options, feel free to try whatever - the tools are there to be used!
Edit links are always invisible to the general public, and non-VG Wiki Editors. For finished or completed works where edit links would be redundant, or for special cases such as merged blocks or Section and Subsection titles with hidden title lines, edit links can be masked on a per-section basis by adding the word final to the callout box options line. Again, our Server Rules pages use this, for example.
We are hoping that the tools provided with the editor are enough for anyone to make excellent looking pages, and bbcode for anything else. Custom HTML Source content may be allowed such as the custom table we use for our Summary Panels, but must be done by Administration. If you are familiar with HTML, use a code-block to inset a WIP raw HTML source example if you like, and contact one of the VG Clan Administrators to request review and proper implementation of your design in a Wiki page section.
VG Red Alert
#db2c00
Enlisted Green
#677212
VG Blackgold
#9b7700
Jr. Officer Blue
#45818e
VG Gold
#dba901
Officer Blue
#3d85c6
VG Light Grey
#7b7b7b
VG Dark Grey
#282828
As seen in the images above, Administrators and VG Wiki Admins may have access to a few additional page options including URL, Meta Tags, and a section called "Admin Page Notes" with a few common styling options. This is the box which appears above all content on some VG Wiki Pages to link to related pages, to inform readers of 'under construction' pages by designated editors, etc. Admin Page Notes always appear inside a callout box with a large and wide size but other common and special style options can be used to tailor this box for a specific page or look.
A callout box option only available to Admin Page Notes is the word header which will place the box in the upper most page element containing the title and author name. The default placement is inside the main content element, pushing the Table of Contents, Description, and Summary Panel elements down to accommodate the Admin Page Notes block.
For those few with access (or those curious about the meta)...
The page Meta information always appears blank for a page in the editor, but when blank will default to our preset information of the parent category, including common keywords and a category description.
Adding Meta Tags on a per-page basis is not needed, but if done, should include the top 5 descriptive keywords relating to the page content, plus website words like vg wiki and veterans-gaming, and/or a one to two sentence Meta Description of the page *(using some of these words, too). When a link is shared to this page, some services (like Discord) will display basic Meta information, either the preset category information, or any custom Meta description set on a per-page level. These are the short sentences you see when links are shared in this way.
Meta Tags are what matter to a search engine crawler like Google, and again, are best left set by the category parent tags already in place by VG Wiki, where their purpose is to point useful keyword and keyword combinations (in any order) to that specific category of pages.
URL should be set ONCE when a topic/page title is first decided, and then never changed! The page title can be revised or altered later, but this custom URL will always remain the same. This allows a shorter or more customized page URL independent of the page title, and always with the path of the current category and parent category (if any). Changing this for any established page will break all existing URL's to it already shared anywhere, so this one and only warning should be enough to caution anyone with permission regarding changing the page URL. URL edits may be reverted by Administrators.
