Difference between revisions of "Creating A Character Page"

From AIMux
Jump to: navigation, search
(Created page with "==Making your Own Character Page For Fun and Profit!== With MediaWiki scripting, you can make a Character Page as basic or as complex as you'd like. We're providing instruct...")
 
m (Protected "Creating A Character Page" ([Edit=Allow only administrators] (indefinite) [Move=Allow only administrators] (indefinite)))
 
(No difference)

Latest revision as of 01:02, 7 February 2019

Making your Own Character Page For Fun and Profit!

With MediaWiki scripting, you can make a Character Page as basic or as complex as you'd like. We're providing instructions here for creating a fairly basic character page that will generally match the Character Template that we use to create a pre-formatted page, however the information below should give you a good basis of knowledge to use in modifying and/or changing your page to your own specifications.


Step One: Creating The Base Page

In order to begin, type your character's name in the 'Search' box, found towards the bottom of the Navigation Bar to your left, and click on 'Go'. If you character does not already have a page created, you will be prompted to create one, which is what you'll want to do. That selection will bring up a basic text-editing program that you can use to enter in the raw information concerning your character.


Step Two: Adding Information

At its most simplistic, the character page should include basic information regarding your character - basically, the same sort of information that you would find available on the MUX. Background, Advantages, Personality, that sort of thing. If you're not concerned about formatting or presentation, you can just cut and paste that information into the text editor, however you also have the opportunity to present the information with a little more style and flair, which is what we will be covering next.


Step Three: Formatting

The most basic type of formatting that you will want to use will be headers, such as the Steps that are listed on this very page. Headers are not only useful in that they provide a bold and easily-read title for each section of your character's page, but they also combine together to create a convenient table of contents at the top of the page. To create a header such as the ones found on this page and that are also used in the pre-formatted character pages, type in your information as follows:

==Title/Header==

Of course, you will naturally want to substitute your own heading instead of using 'Title/Header'. Common sections include not only the basics (Personality, Advantages, Background and so forth) but you may also consider such options as Quotes, Suggested Reading/Viewing or Description. You can add extra returns between these sections if you would like, and may also want to experiment with bold, italics or underlining by using the markup language below in your page.

Line Break
<br>
Bold Text
'''Bold Text'''
Italics
''Italics''
Underlining
<u>Underlining</u>


Step Four: RolePlay Logs

Once you have the basic information set, you will want to have a section on your character's page that lists your RolePlay Logs so that other players can see what you've been up to. You can do this a couple different ways. The most labor intensive is to add a manual link to each log once it's been posted on the RP Logs page. This can naturally be time consuming, but MediaWiki is friendly enough that we have some options where your web page can automatically include your logs for you, provided that you've been cited correctly in those logs.
For your convenience, we have created a template to include your logs for you, which should look as follows on your character page:

{{Add Logs
|CharName=
}}

Of course, you will want to put your own character's name after the 'CharName' tag in the code. So, for example, Bald Eagle would use the code as follows:

{{Add Logs
|CharName=Bald Eagle
}}

This way, every log that lists Bald Eagle as one of the characters featured in that log will be listed. Of course, you can also format your own automatic list of RP Logs using the #ask command directly, which would look something like this:

{{#ask: [[Featuring::YourNameHere]]
|  format=ul
|  columns=3
|  default=Logs for this character are forthcoming.
}} 

In this way, you're free to set the format of your RP Log list yourself. Of course, 'YourNameHere' should be replaced with your character's name, and you can change the number of columns to fit your own personal sense of style.


Step Five: Images

Some would argue that a character page truly comes to life once you begin to add images of your character, either from the comics themselves, drawn by the player, or representing a chosen actor for the character. These images are not difficult to add, and you can begin the process by using the Navigation Bar on the left to 'Upload File'.
Clicking on the 'Upload File' button will allow you to, you guessed it, upload a file of your choice to the wiki. You can either reference a URL of an image elsewhere on the web, or upload an image directly from your own computer. Once this has been completed, you can then reference this file from your webpage directly using the following script:

[[Image:name.jpg]]

Where 'name.jpg' is, of course, the appropriate filename for your image. This should probably be a .jpg or .gif file, and you can learn more about how to alter the size and alignment of the image by taking a look at the MediaWiki help page for image syntax.


Step Six: Category

The last step in creating your character page is to file it under the appropriate category, so that it will be listed correctly on the Characters page along with all of the other characters. To do this, you need to place the line [[Category:Characters]] at some point on your page, preferably at the very end. This will let the Wiki know that your page should be listed in the Characters category, along with everyone else.


Step Seven: Finishing Touches

And really, that's the basics! Sure, you can get fancy with how you list and format your information, and if you'd like you can also take a peek at the Templates page for additional plug-ins that you might want to use, including the pre-formatted Stats Box that shows up in the automatic character page - but really, this is all you need to get started and create your very own character page, right from scratch. Enjoy!