Clicklaw Wikibooks Contributor Guide

This is a help page for contributors or users.

• This page contains no legal help information.
• See other Clicklaw Wikibooks Guides.

Clicklaw Wikibooks are collaboratively developed, plain language legal publications that are born-wiki and can also be printed. This Clicklaw Wikibooks Guide is designed to get a wikibook contributor started. (If you are a contributor to the main Clicklaw website and looking for support information, see the Clicklaw Website Contributor Guide.)

Before you edit

Edit what you are responsible for

Please be conscientious about which page you are editing, bearing in mind that several titles, or wikibooks, reside on this platform. Please only edit pages of those titles or chapters for which you are responsible. Generally, let your discretion guide you, and follow the rule that if the coding looks too confusing, leave it be and email someone for help mailto:editor@clicklaw.bc.ca. But also...

Remember you can't screw up

No. Not may not screw up. You literally cannot damage a page so badly that it cannot be restored. One of the best things about wikis is that the "History" of a page includes older versions, including the one you just saved over. You (or another person) can always undo an edit and restore an older version of a page.

Managing expectations

We are not asking our lawyer editors to also become computer programmers. But a minimum knowledge of the tools is required. Other than knowing where to click to find things like the "Edit" tab, you will need to know how to:

1. create (or fix) links to cases, legislation, other web resources,
2. make lists (like this numbered list),
3. create emphasis for key words or documents using italics, or in rare cases bold,
4. divide pages with section headings and subheadings,
5. indent paragraphs or blocks of text,
6. create text in a plain format (for legislation excerpts), and
7. understand a few technical things that are happening and the limited things you need to know to:

• change what alert boxes are saying on pages,
• work with your contributor bio page,
• understand some of the weird coding and know what to leave alone,
• maybe change the contents of tables, and
• participate in Discussion pages (these are locked down so only editors can see Discussions about a page).

Step-by-step guide for Clicklaw Wikibook contributors

Getting oriented

• How to Navigate around Clicklaw Wikibooks
• Logging In to Your New Account

Editing content

• Editing a Page on Clicklaw Wikibooks
• Clicklaw Wikibooks Cheatsheet (for key wiki codes and shortcuts)

Commenting on content

• Discussing a Page with Other Contributors

Additional resources

The Clicklaw Wikibooks Style Guide highlights key style and word usage for pages on Clicklaw Wikibooks.

The MediaWiki website also includes excellent support material — for example, instructions on navigating a wiki, editing pages, and much more. (MediaWiki is free, open source software that powers Clicklaw Wikibooks, as well as the hugely popular Wikipedia.)

For further information

This Guide is maintained by the Clicklaw site editors. For more information or support, please contact editor at clicklaw.bc.ca.