Using Wikispaces at UMB

A guide for faculty at UMass Boston using Wikispaces

What is a Wiki?

A wiki is a web page or collection of web pages that can be linked together as a website.

Wikis are often used as collaborative spaces where many editors can contribute content.

A wiki makes it easy to get started with creating a website quickly.

UMB Wikispaces also has a Discussions tool.

Login to UMB Wikispaces

Visit UMB Wikispaces at http://www.wikispaces.umb.edu

Click Sign In from menu located at the top right of the page.

Login to UMB Wikispaces

Enter your UMB email account user name into the User Name box. ▪ For example : Fred Jones (fred.jones@umb.edu)

email user name is fred.jones.

▪ Enter your UMB email account password into the Password box.

▪ Click Submit.

Request a Wiki

Send an email to wiki.admin@umb.edu with the following information: Your name and position at the University. The class or project for which you need a wiki. How long you think you'll need this particular wiki If a course, please include

- course name, catalog and section number (ex. HIST 320-01 Tudor History)- WISER class number

Phone number and best time to reach you.

Inviting Students to your Wiki1. Click Manage Wiki.

2. Click Invite People from the People row of the Manage Wiki page.

Inviting Students to your Wiki3. Enter the UMB email

addresses of the students to add to the Wiki into the Send to box. Separate each email address with a comma.

4. Enter a message into the Your message box.

5. Click Send.

An invite is sent to students who do not already have an account on UMB Wikispaces along with instructions on how to create an account.

Adding Students to your Wiki

Alternatively, you can ask the wiki administrator to add the students to your wiki:

Send an email to wiki.admin@umb.edu with the following information: The name of the wiki to which the students

are to be added. A list of students with students’ first and last

names and email addresses.

Edit the Page

Click Edit this Page to edit your Home page.

The Editing Toolbar

The Editing Toolbar appears at the top of the page when you are in edit mode.

Editing Toolbar

The first group of options are basic options for formatting text: Bold, Italicize, Underline Text color The drop-down box allows you

to select preset text heading styles or select Normal style.

Formatting Toolbar

The next group of options allow you to : Create Ordered List Create Unordered List Insert Horizontal Rule Insert Link Remove Link

Editing Toolbar

The next group of icons allows you to include objects: Insert Images and Files Embed Widgets Insert Table Insert Special Characters Insert Code

Editing Toolbar

Text Editor – allows you to use wikitext , which is a short hand for formatting text. When using Text Editor, the button will change to Visual Editor.

Preview – preview your changes before saving

Save – to save changesCancel – allows you to cancel your

changes

Using Wikitext

Wikitext is an alternative to HTML and is a simple way to format pages. To use wikitext, click Text Editor in the Formatting Toolbar and enter special characters in the Text editor. Some examples are listed below:Usage Wikitext Web page preview

Use asterisks for bullets

* Topic one * Topic two* Topic three

•Topic one •Topic two•Topic three

Heading styles = Heading one === Heading two ===== Heading three ==

Using Wikitext to make a Table of Contents

1. Click Text Editor.2. Enter the following wikitext at

the top of your page to include a table of contents for the page:

[[toc]]

3. Click Save.

All text that has been formatted with a heading style (ex.Heading 1, Heading 2, etc.) will be included in the table of contents at the top of your page and will link to the corresponding content . Each heading level is indented.

Wikitext Resources

There is much more you can do with wikitext. View examples at Help.Wikitext:http://help.wikispaces.com/Help.Wikitext

Uploading and Inserting Images1. Click Insert Images and Files

from the Editing Toolbar.2. From Insert Files tab, select inserts file to include

the image on the page. Selecting the links option includes a link to the image.

3. Click Upload Files tab4. Click Browse. 5. Locate the image to upload and select it. Click

Upload.6. A thumbnail of the image appears in the dialog box.

Double click the thumbnail to place it on the page.7. Add a caption to the image by entering the text into

the Caption box in the Image Properties dialog box.

Inserting Files

1. Click Insert Images and Files from the Editing Toolbar.

2. From Insert Files tab, select inserts file (to include a file icon on the page) or links to include a link only.

3. Click Upload Files tab.4. Click Browse. Locate the file to upload and

select it.5. Click Upload.6. A document icon appears in the dialog box.

Double click the icon to link it from your page.7. Click Save.

Inserting Images and Files

If an image or file has already been uploaded previously, you will only need to link to it the next time.

1. Click Insert Images and Files from the Editing Toolbar.

2. The Insert Files tab is selected. Select the insert file option to include the image. Files will include a file icon along with the link. Selecting the insert link will link to the file or image only.

3. Double click the thumbnail of the file or image that appears in the dialog box to place it on the page.

Adding Pages to your Wiki

1. Click New Page link above the Navigation Menu.

2. The Make a New Page window appears. Enter a page name in the text box.

3. Click Create.

Link to another Wiki Page

1. Select the text to be linked.2. Click Insert Link icon.3. The Wiki Link tab is selected.4. Click Choose an existing page

below the Page Name box. 5. The Page Name box changes to a

drop down list. Select the wiki page from the Page Name drop down box.

6. Click Add Link.

Insert a Link to a web site

You can link to another wiki page or another web page outside of your wiki.

1. Select the text to be linked.2. Click Insert Link from the Formatting

Toolbar.3. Select the External Link tab from

Insert Link dialog box.4. Enter the web address in the Address

box.5. Click Add Link.

Add Notes and Tags to Pages

Two text boxes are displayed at the bottom of every page in edit mode. The notes box is used to let other wiki editors

know what you edited on the page ( ex. the link to support vendor was updated)

The tags box is used to indicate the topic of your page (ex. Web 2.0 tools, Social Bookmarking, etc.)

Click Save to save the changes to the page.

Widgets

Widgets are used to include dynamic content within a web page.

It is possible to embed one or several widgets on one web page.

Some examples of widgets are: a calendar displaying links to events, a youtube video, a survey or chat application.

Embed Widgets

1. Click the Embed Widget icon.2. Select the icon of the widget to

embed.3. Follow the instructions displayed

within the widget dialog box.4. Click Save to embed the widget.

Insert Widget with HTML

1. To embed a widget that is not listed in the Widgets dialog box, use the Other HTML option.

2. Visit the web page that contains the widget to embed.

3. Copy the HTML. Find on the page “Embed this content”, “Add to mySite blog” or similar.

4. Paste the HTML into the box. 5. Click Save.6. The next time the page is viewed the

content will appear on the wiki page.

Insert Tables

1. Click the Table icon2. Select the number of rows and

columns to display.3. Click Insert Table.

Formatting Tables

1. Click on any cell of the table to display the table formatting icon.

2. Click on the table icon to open the formatting options menu.

3. Individual cells, rows or columns can be formatted by selecting the option from the menu .

Insert Special Characters1. Click the are of the page where the character

is to appear.2. Click Special Characters icon.3. Click on the desired character to place it on

the page.

Inserting Code

It is possible to include code from scripting and programming languages such as action script, javascript, php and javascript to name a few.

1. Click Insert Code from Editing Toolbar.

2. Select the code language from the pull-down menu.

3. Paste the code into the text box.4. Click Insert Code.

Math Formulas

LaTeX support allows you to insert math formulas into your pages.

Enclose the LaTeX formula within [[math]] tags. For example:

Enter this formula in Edit

Save or Preview the page to display this formula

[[math]]x = a_0 + \frac{1}{\displaystyle a_1+ \frac{1}{\displaystyle a_2+ \frac{1}{\displaystyle a_3 + a_4}}}[[math]]

LaTeX Symbols

Visit the following websites for more information about LaTeX symbol usage: Most commonly used

http://www.artofproblemsolving.com/Wiki/index.php/LaTeX:Symbols

LaTeX Tutorialhttp://www.andy-roberts.net/misc/latex/latextutorial9.html

Your Wiki Navigation Menu

The Navigation Menu located to the left of the content area, appears on all wiki pages.

The Navigation Menu usually contains all pages in your wiki and may include links to other websites.

Edit the Wiki Navigation Menu

Click the Edit Navigation link that appears below the Navigation Menu.

The Navigation Menu appears as a wiki page along with the Editing Toolbar allowing you to make changes to the page.

Click Save after making edits.

Discussions Tool

Your wiki has a Discussions Tool. It allows you to create discussion topics to which others can respond.

Create Discussion Topic

1. Click Discussion Tab.

2. Enter a subject in the subject box.

3. Enter a message in the message box.

4. Click Post.

Open Discussion

Once you have created a Discussion post, it appears as a link in Discussions.

Click the Discussion Subject link to open it.

Reply to Discussion

1. A Reply box appears below the Discussion post.

2. Enter a response into the Reply message box.

3. Click Post.

Tracking Changes

It is possible to view all page edits and new discussion messages on the Recent Changes page. Click Recent Changes above

Navigation Menu.

Recent Changes

The Recent Changes page adds a new entry in a listing each time a page is edited and saved. Each page version listed chronologically, includes page title, the date and time it was saved, the author name and any comments associated with the page.

Reverting to a previous version of a page

1. To Revert to a previous version of a page, select the link of the page version to revert to.

Reverting to a previous version of a page

2. After the page opens, click the revert to this version link.

Reverting to a previous version of a page

3. Click Revert to commit to the changes.

Setting up Change Notifications Click Recent Changes above

Navigation Menu. Click Notify Me tab if you wish to be

notified whenever a change is made to the wiki. You have the option of selecting the following:▪ Entire space or specific pages to monitor▪ Page edits, new discussion posts or both▪ Receive notifications as email messages or RSS

feedsSome examples of RSS readers are Google Reader, Bloglines,

or Pageflakes, Microsoft Outlook allows RSS subscriptions

Manage Wiki

Click Manage Wiki link to access Wiki Preferences

Manage Wiki Preferences

Wiki organizers can manage the following: Name,

description, copyright license

Look and Feel – colors, templates and themes

Members and permissions

Subscriptions

Wikispaces Resources

Wikispaces Help http://help.wikispaces.com http://www.wikispaces.com/help+index http://help.wikispaces.com/Help.Editing 

Wikispaces Tours

http://www.wikispaces.com/site/tour#introduction