Help:Navigation
Wikia - creating communities
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Navigation can be difficult within a wiki, when everyone is able to add information on any page. It's always easier to write a page than it is to figure out how to link it to everything else in the wiki!
There are methods of making this easier, which you can apply to your Wikia. As well as the default navigation which is fully customizable, you can create additional navigation for your wiki by using categories and templates.
What are the links in the sidebar?
The navigation you see depends on which skin you are using. The below lists are general guides.
Navigation
The contents of the "navigation" box can be heavily customized so they vary from wiki to wiki. However, the standard items generally include:
- "Main Page" - links to the main page of the wiki, using the name of that page
- Project:Community Portal - links to a page where the community can discuss and organize their work
- Recent changes - lists recent changes to all articles on the wiki
- Random page - goes to a random mainspace article on the wiki
- Help - links to a list of help pages
Toolbox
The contents of the "toolbox" are generally invariant.
- For articles:
- What links here - shows other articles containing links to the current article
- Related changes - shows a Recentchanges-style list of changes to all articles linked from the current article
- New article button
- General wiki links:
- Special:Recentchanges - lists recent changes to all articles on the wiki
- Upload file - logged-in users can add images and other files using this form
- Special pages - lists all special pages, which perform a variety of useful functions
- New wiki button
Can I customize the sidebar?
Changes to the sidebar navigation can be made by administrators, who have the permissions to edit the MediaWiki messages which make up the standard page.
For details, see:
What are the links in the user bar?
User links are available at the top of every page, if you are logged in. In Monobook, they are displayed in a strip in the upper right corner. In Monaco they are contained in a drop-down list next to your username.
- Your user page - link to your user page
- Your user talk page - link to your talk page; messages left here will display a "new messages" banner to you on your next Wikia visit
- Preferences - customize Wikia behavior
- Your watchlist - monitor activity on pages you are interested in
- Your contributions list - view a list of all your activity on the wiki
- Log out
How do I use categories to improve navigation?
- See Help:Category for a complete overview.
Link related pages together by adding category tags, in the form [[Category:Widgets]], to the bottom of the article you wish to categorize. Clicking on the category name at the bottom of the page will take you to a list of all articles which contain the same tag.
How do I use templates to improve navigation?
- See Help:Templates for a complete overview.
A template is a page which can be included in multiple other pages. By creating an attractive navigation template and placing it on related pages, you can make it easier for users to find related information.
There is additional help on templates at MetaWikipedia:Help:Template and Wikipedia:Navigational templates. One example can be seen at the bottom of Wikipedia:British English, where the blue box provides a navigation aid to related articles. This bar can be easily put on other pages just by adding {{English dialects}}, because a template exists at Wikipedia:Template:English dialects.
Gallery
The left-hand sidebar of the Monaco skin |
 The left-hand sidebar of the Monobook skin |
