FAQs


 * Frequently Asked Questions**

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=**Membership Instructions**=

Welcome to our utcom2010 wikispace! To join us, please create a wikispaces account, and then request membership:
 * 1) On the top right hand corner, click on “Join”
 * 2) Enter your desired username, password, and an email address
 * 3) Say “No” to the “Make a Space?” question.
 * 4) Return to this page (http://utcom2010.wikispaces.com/)
 * 5) On the left hand side, under “Actions,” click “Join This Space.”
 * 6) Click “Request Membership”
 * 7) The space organizers will receive an email and verify your membership ASAP.

=**Creating a New Page**=

To create a new page within the current space, use the "Make a New Page" link in the sidebar or just create a link to the new page in the editor. When you create a space, you'll start with one blank page called home. Click "edit" to add content to that page.

**The Sandbox**
The Sandbox is a page that allows you to carry out experiments with wiki's. For example, if you want to try out wikitext or figure out how to embed images and tables into a page, you can edit the Sandbox and make your changes. Please remember to clean up after yourselves and clear the Sandbox when you are done as a courtesy to others.

=**Starting a New Discussion**=


 * 1) Click on the page where the discussion is most relevant (i.e. Intro to Proteins 1, Blood, etc.).
 * 2) Once you are in that wiki page, click on the "discussion" tab at the top of the page (right next to Edit This Page, page, history...).
 * 3) Write what you want under the "Post Message" section.
 * 4) Recently discussed messages will appear automatically on the main page in the "Recent Discussions" section.

=**Editing Pages**=

Each editable page on Wikispaces has an "edit" button at the top of the page. Click on the "edit" button to bring up the page editor. The page editor allows you to add text and pictures to a page and to format that page. The editor has a visual mode and a plain text mode.

To switch between the visual editor and the text editor mode, click "Use Text Editor" to switch to text mode. When in the text editor, click "Use Visual Editor" to switch to visual mode. You can set your default editor mode in your Settings page.

**What's the visual editor?**
Wikispaces' visual editor lets you see the final look and feel of a page before you save it. It's just like using a word processor. Javascript is required for this editor.

**What's the text editor?**
The text editor allows you to edit the raw [|wikitext] of a page.

**Linking Pages**
Creating links between pages is easy in both the visual editor and the plain text editor. In the visual editor, highlight the text you wish to link and click the earth icon in the toolbar to add a new link. In both the visual editor and the plain text editor, you can add a link by enclosing a word in double square brackets.

Several examples of what's possible using square brackets:


 * link to a page in your space named 'about' || ``about`` ||
 * link to the 'help' page in the www space || ``www:help`` ||
 * link the text 'About Us' to a page named 'about' || ``About Us`` ||

You can always make links to other web pages by just typing the url, for example: http://wikispaces.com. To set a different label, the format is similar as the 'About Us' link above: ``[|Wikispaces]``

**Deleting/Renaming Pages**
To delete or rename a page in your space:
 * Click "Manage Space"
 * Click "List Pages"
 * Click "delete" or "rename" next to the page you want to delete or rename.

=**Page History**=

Each time someone edits a page, we take a visual snapshot of the changes so you can see in a glance how much has changed. Was it one line or the whole page? Click on 'history' at the top of any page to see all changes. Then click on the screenshot to the left of each entry to see a visual representation of the changes.

You can also compare any two versions of a page by clicking "select for comparison" on one version of a page and then "compare to selected" on another.

We keep every version of every page and make it easy for members to revert back to a previous copy. You'll never have to worry about losing changes or being stuck with a new version of a page if someone makes a mistake.

**Reverting Pages**
Every time a page is edited on Wikispaces, we save the previous version so that you can go back to a previous version if you don't like the new change. In fact, we save every version of every page on the site.

Reverting a page lets you restore the content on a page that existed at any previous point in time. It's not to be done lightly, but can be very helpful if a page has been vandalized or to undo editing mistakes.

To revert a page:


 * click on 'history' on top of the page you want to revert
 * select the version you would like to go back to, either by clicking on the changes screenshot image or the 'view this version' link
 * click on 'revert' at the top of the page
 * enter a comment and click the Revert button

When you revert a page, please enter a comment that explains why you reverted the page. Note that you must be logged in to revert pages.

=**Pictures and Files**=

You can include pictures and files in your pages easily using the visual editor. When in the visual editor:


 * Click the image icon which looks like a tree in a box
 * Use the 'Upload New File' or 'External Image URL' dialog to select the image or file you wish to put on your page
 * Put the cursor at the position on the page where you wish to put the image or file
 * Double click the image or file to put it on the page

You can include pictures in your pages using wikitext by [|following these instructions].

**Deleting and Renaming Pictures and Files**
To delete files and pictures in your space:


 * Make sure you are an organizer of the space
 * Click "Manage Space"
 * Click "List Files"
 * Click "delete" or "rename" next to the file you want to delete or rename.

=**Embedding Media and HTML**=

Well, when editing any Wikispaces page, you'll see a button on the toolbar that looks like a television. Click it, and paste the HTML from any embeddable web service in the box.

=**Search**=

To search the space you're currently in, type in your search words in the search box on the top of the page. If you'd like to search all public spaces, click 'search all public spaces' on the search results page.

Advanced Search
Wikispaces supports several operators to help narrow your search results:


 * "exact phrase" || find documents containing the exact phrase in quotes ||
 * +include || only show pages that contain "include" ||
 * -exclude || only show pages that do not contain "exclude" ||

For example, "wildlife observatory" will only return pages with the words "wildlife observatory" in that order. "wikispaces -lovely" will show all pages that contain the word //wikispaces// that do not contain the word //lovely//. "wikispaces +lovely" will show all pages that contain //wikispaces// and do contain the word //lovely//.

=**More Help**=

If you need more help, you can post your questions on the [|main discussion section] or visit the [|Wikispaces Offical Help] page.