How To Use Howtopedia

You Are a Visitor?

When you first visit Howtopedia.org, maybe you just want to browse through the articles. The main page allows you to see all the articles at one glance. Click on the dark grey articles and you will be directly linked to the article. If you look for something specific, enter your keyword in the search field on the left side of the window. If you have questions or need more information about a technology, send us your question at info_at_howtopedia.org. If you are yourself a specialist, an innovator or part of an institution willing to share your experience, or if you are willing to translate or illustrate existing articles, then become an editor!

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What will you find on Howtopedia?

Howtopedia is meant to gather practical knowledge and to become a lively knowledge exchange platform.

• We are convinced that many of the most important technologies for survival, emergency and empowerment are possible to explain and to exchange.
• We strongly believe that good ideas should not be restricted to a specific geographical area, but shared to reach all areas where these ideas are needed.
• We believe that people are able to recognise solutions to their problems if they get a chance to be informed about solutions.

Howtopedia is not a link directory, nor a database of bibliographical references, nor an announcement place for international conferences or policy and regulation texts.

Why becoming an editor?

Howtopedia is a collaborative work, and the examples of Wikipedia, Linux and others prove the incredible strength that collaborative works can develop.
The risk of such a collaborative project is vandalism and amateurism. Therefore, after a trial phase as an open interface, we decided to build up a professional network of organisations and specialists.
The authorship and the source of the articles is guaranteed, as well as the link to the contact person or organisation.

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How to Become an Editor?

Please contact us info (@) howtopedia.org , mentionning you name, your qualification and / or the organisation you are affiliated to, along with a short description of the themes or articles you would want to add to the library. We will send you an user name and password.

You Are an Editor

Once you've logged in you can start create or translate articles on Howtopedia. Some shortcuts to use on howtopedia Howtopedia is based on the same interface as Wikipedia.org. That means that most of the functionality and rules to edit Wikipedia will work in Howtopedia, and if you need help on a very specific topic to edit Howtopedia, you are very likely to find it in the help section of www.wikipedia.org. Because we want this site full of how-tos about life and not about editing Howtopedia, we advise you to refer to the help provided by Wikipedia if the information provided here comes to be insufficient for your purpose. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:How_to_edit_a_page

First: take a look at how it is made

The first time you want to edit an article, please read the editing and syntax rules. You will need them to present your text the way you want. Then take look at the Start an Article page, which is a useful raster to be filled in. You might want to do some trials in the sandbox.

You want to correct an error in an existing article?

Just click on the article title from the main page. It links you to the article. Go to the edit button and look for the error you want to correct. To save your changes, click on the Save page button.

You want to write the text of an existing title linking to an empty article

Go to the edit button of the Empty Page and copy the text from the text field. You will paste this structure in the edit window of the article you want to write. Use the structure as a template and start sharing your knowledge. You can also format your text by using the icons above the text box.

You want to create a new article

Before you can write the text, you will have to create the link to it! To do so, start with editing the summary on the main page. Localise where you want to place your article and edit the paragraph by adding the title of you future article. Then save the change and click on the newly created title to start writing the article.

Categories

Don't forget to link your article to a category by writing at the end of the text:

 [[category: Example|Example]]

You will find a list of actual categories here: Categories. Copy paste the categories from the editing window to your new article, and select the relevant categories.
You can create new categories but please update them in the Categories article to keep it up to date.

You want to add illustrations

Go to the Special pages section from the toolbox on the left side. There you will find the Upload file page. You can find extensive information and guidelines for the images under http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Wikipedia_image_help

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You want to request a deletion

Add the sign {{rdf}} at the top of the article. See the list of requested deletions:Category:Pages listed for deletion

You want to do more

howtopedia administration

Don't forget to respect the copyrights: You are also promising us that you write the text and make the illustration yourself, or copy it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Project:Copyrights for details). DO NOT SUBMIT COPYRIGHTED WORK WITHOUT PERMISSION!

Some shortcuts to use on howtopedia

By pressing Alt (Windows and Linux) or Control (Mac OS) and one of the following keys, you can access certain features of howtopedia more quickly. Some browsers may require you to press the Enter key after typing the above shortcuts. Mozilla Firefox2 requires you to press Shift+Alt plus one of the following keys. Opera requires you to hit SHIFT-ESC before entering the access key (without ALT or CTRL).

Key	Command	Description
+	Start a new discussion	Allows you to add a new section (talk pages only)
. (period)	My user page	Opens your user or IP page
=	Protect	Allows you to protect the current page (sysops only)
	Unprotect	Allows you to unprotect the current page (sysops only)
c	Content page	Shows the content page associated with the current article
d	Delete	Allows you to delete the current page (sysops only)
	Undelete	Allows you to undelete the current page (sysops only)
e	Edit this page	Allows you to edit the current page (non-protected pages)
	View source	Shows the source of the current page (protected pages)
f	Search	Allows you to search howtopedia
h	History	Shows the current page's history
j	What links here	Shows all of the pages that link to the current one
k	Related changes	Shows recent changes in pages linked to the current one
l	My watchlist	Opens your watchlist (logged-in users only)
m	Move	Allows you to move the current page and its talk page (non-move-protected pages only)
n	My talk	Opens your user's or IP's talk page
p	Show preview	Shows a preview of your changes (on edit pages)
q	Special pages	Shows a list of all special pages
r	Recent changes	Shows a list of recent changes to the Wikipedia
s	Save page	Saves the changes that you have made (on edit pages)
t	Discussion	Opens the current article's talk page
u	Upload file	Allows you to upload images or media files
v	Show changes	Shows what changes you made to the text (on edit pages)
w	Watch	Adds the current page to your watchlist (logged-in users only)
x	Random article	Loads a random article
y	My contributions	Opens a list of your user's or IP's contributions
z	Main Page	Goes to the Main Page

Visual display of shortcuts

The following entry in your user CSS file (e.g., User:Example/monobook.css) will display access keys before links that have them.

This does not work in Internet Explorer, since it doesn't support the :before CSS selector. In Safari, this will not work on initially loading a page, but will show up when you mouse-over the menus, go back to a page, or press Home, End, Page Up, or Page Down.

a[accesskey]:before {
    content: " " attr(accesskey) " ";
    text-transform: uppercase;
    white-space: pre;
    border: thin solid;
    font-family: sans-serif;
    text-decoration: underline overline;
    margin-right: 0.5ex;
}