Help:Tracking changes: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 07:50, 10 June 2018

Tip

Giving a comprehensive and concise edit summary will help other understand the revision history.

Why the edit was done is more useful than what was edited — a diff will show what was edited but not why.

One of the main characteristics of a wiki that like the FlightGear are using the MediaWiki software is that the edit history of all pages is preserved and is available to everyone. This allows for very transparent collaboration.

As the revision history of pages is kept, changes can be tracked in various ways.

Recent changes

The page Special:RecentChanges is a list of all the recent changes on the wiki.

If you want to have a feel about what is going on on the wiki you could start your wiki session by having a peek at that page.

Some of the things visible there are:

Edits to pages
Creation of new pages
File uploads, usually images
Creation of new users
Pages being protected
Deletion of pages or files

As it shows all the latest changes it is often the place where one will find any spam, vandalism or other unwanted edits.

One days changes will for example look like below:

Recent changes on the wiki. Only some users have rights to block users.

Watchlist

The watchlist will help you keep track of interesting pages if the recent changes page is too busy.

The watchlist presents changes the same way as the recent changes page.

The watchlist is accessible from a link in the top right corner of every wiki pages when you have logged in.

At first the watchlist will at first be empty, but pages can be added to it either by clicking the watch tab (the star icon tab) or by clicking the "Watch this page" box below the edit summary text box when editing or creating a new page.

Page revision history

The revision history of a page, accessible from the history tab, holds all the changes to a page. Some data regarding deleted revisions is only available to users with sufficient rights.

The top of the revision history of a page

The revision history allow you to look at and compare selected revisions using page diffs (or often just diffs), as well as link to a certain revision or comparison of revisions.

Diffs

Tip If you need to compare two separate pages you can do so with Special:ComparePages.

Tip By pressing the Show changes button when you edit a page you can see your changes as a diff. It can be useful when writing the edit summary.

A diff is comparison between two revisions of a page. With them you can see what was changed, added or removed in a revision.

A diff page is typically shown with the actual diff at the top of the page and the rendered page as of the latter revision at the bottom of the page.

The diff itself is split into two columns: Typically the old one to the left and new one to the right.

On top you have the dates and usernames as well as the edit summaries added before saving the revisions. Below that are the changed chunks of lines and a few lines surrounding them.

The diff part of a diff page

Tip If Johan G above had used the Show preview button more he might have remembered to add the other changes as well.

Finding a specific edit

Finding an edit through successive approximation.

If you are looking for when a particular section of text was edited, you can use binary search/successive approximation.

Start by comparing the revision between the oldest and newest possible revision with its previous revision. Then in halfway steps compare revisions with their previous ones till you find the edit.

This can come in handy for example if you want to discuss a confusing phrasing with the user who added it, or if you are an administrator and need to find a specific user due to spam etc.

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-{{WIP}}
+{{tip|
+Giving a comprehensive and concise edit summary will help other understand the revision history.
-This '''tutorial''' is mainly aimed at people new to the [[Main Page|FlightGear wiki]], but might also be useful for the more experienced users from time to time.
+'''Why''' the edit was done is more useful than '''what''' was edited — a diff will show '''what''' was edited but not '''why'''.}}
-The main purpose here is to explain how to use the wiki software, how it is structured, where you can learn more about it, and not less important, how to interact with the part of the FlightGear community that is directly involved with the wiki.
+{{Wiki help navbar}}
-== The very basics ==
+One of the main characteristics of a wiki that like the FlightGear are using the MediaWiki software is that the edit history of all pages is preserved and is available to everyone.  This allows for very transparent collaboration.
-=== For readers new to a wiki ===
-A wiki is a place for collaboration.  There are many like it but this is ours.  As with most wikis they allow readers to browse through the ''articles'' and other ''pages'' making up the content of the wiki.  Pages can also be found by using ''links'', traversing ''categories'' and ''searching''.  But lets start by describing what you can see on a typical wiki page.
-=== Elements of a wiki page ===
+As the ''revision history'' of pages is kept, changes can be tracked in various ways.
-While there are two ways to view wiki pages, the ''desktop view'' and the ''mobile view'', we will go through the ''desktop'' view here as the mobile view hides many features for the sake of simplicity.  The features are described as seen with the default Vector skin.
-From the top you have ''user links'' on the top right.  These are related to your account (if you have one).  On top of the content of the page there are some ''page tabs'' related to the page.  On the left is the ''sidebar'' with navigation links, links to various tools and links to other language versions of a page.  On the bottom of the contents of a page is a ''category link'' a link to a ''category page'' listing other pages in the category.
-==== User links ====
+== Recent changes ==
-[[File:FlightGear wiki user links.png|frame|none|The user links for a logged in user]]
+The page [[Special:RecentChanges]] is a list of all the recent changes on the wiki.
-If you have an account and is logged in the ''user links'' to the very top right are related to you user account:
+If you want to have a feel about what is going on on the wiki you could start your wiki session by having a peek at that page.
-:; Your user page
+Some of the things visible there are:
-:: Your user page, where you are encouraged to describe who you are and what ambitions you have on the wiki.
-:: You can also add subpages to your user page with for example drafts and other wiki projects.
-:; Talk
-:: You user discussion page, where other users may be able to take contact with you.
-:: If your discussion page have been edited, you will get a notice when you load any wiki page.
-:; Preferences
-:: Your wiki preferences, where you can adjust and customize some settings.
-:; Watchlist
-:: Your watchlist, which list changes on pages you have "starred" and are watching.
-:; Contributions
-:: A summary of your contributions and uploads to the wiki.
-:; Log out
-:: Through which you log out from your account.
-==== Page tabs ====
+* Edits to pages
-[[File:FlightGear wiki page tabs.png|frame|none|The page tabs for a logged in admin (who can additionally delete and protect pages)]]
+* Creation of new pages
+* File uploads, usually images
+* Creation of new users
+* Pages being protected
+* Deletion of pages or files
-On top of the page content there is a set of tabs:
+As it shows all the latest changes it is often the place where one will find any spam, vandalism or other unwanted edits.
-:; An article or page tab
+One days changes will for example look like below:
-:: For viewing the article if you are on another tab or for going directly to the page if you have been redirected.
-:: The page tab also gives an indication about what kind of page you are on.
-:; A discussion tab
-:: With the discussion page for a wiki page or a user.
-:; A read tab
+[[File:FlightGear wiki recent changes.png|none|frame|Recent changes on the wiki.  Only some users have rights to block users.]]
-:: With the exact same function as the page tab
-:; An edit or source tab
-:: Which will allow you to edit a page on the wiki when logged in or see the page source if not.
-:; A history tab
-:: Which will show the edit history for a wiki page.
-:; A star tab
-:: That will add or remove a page to or from your watchlist.
-:; A more tab
-:: That hide some more functions, in particular a function to move pages.  Wiki admins also have a protect and a delete function.
-==== Search box ====
+== Watchlist ==
-[[File:FlightGear wiki search box.png|frame|none|The search box]]
+The ''watchlist'' will help you keep track of interesting pages if the recent changes page is too busy.
-On the top left above the page content and to the left of the page tabs is a search box.
+The watchlist presents changes the same way as the recent changes page.
-==== Sidebar ====
+The watchlist is accessible from a link in the top right corner of every wiki pages when you have logged in.
-[[File:FlightGear wiki sidebar.png|frame|right|The sidebar]]
-To the near top left is the ''sidebar'' with:
+At first the watchlist will at first be empty, but pages can be added to it either by clicking the ''watch tab'' (the star icon tab) or by clicking the "Watch this page" box below the edit summary text box when editing or creating a new page.
-:; Navigation links
+== Page revision history ==
-:: To some pages deemed important enough to link to from every page:
+The ''revision history'' of a page, accessible from the history tab, holds all the changes to a page.  Some data regarding deleted revisions is only available to users with sufficient rights.
-::; The main page of the wiki
-::: Where you end up when going to http://wiki.flightgear.org
-::; The recent changes page
-::: Listing all the latest changes on the wiki
-::; A random article
-::; The village pump
-::: The [[FlightGear wiki:Village pump|village pump]] is the page for wiki discussion not related to a particular page or user.
-::; The summary of help pages
-::; The portal pages
-:; FlightGear web sites :
-::* The main website, http://flightgear.org
-::* The forum, http://forum.flightgear.org
-::* The {{tickets|bug tracker}} at SourceForge
-::* Links to info on [[Current events|events]], like expositions where FlightGear developers can or have met in real life
-:; Toolbox
-:: Slightly dependent on the type of page you are viewing
-::* A summary of pages linking to the page you are viewing
-::* A summary of edits related to the page you are viewing
-::* The upload wizard
-::* A set of special pages, with information on pages, categories, files and users
-::* A more printer-friendly version of the page
-::* A link to the particular version of the page you are viewing.
-::* Information about the page you are viewing
-:; Language links
-:: To versions of the page in other languages
-==== Category links ====
+[[File:FlightGear wiki revision history.png|none|frame|The top of the revision history of a page]]
-[[File:FlightGear wiki category links.png|frame|none|The category links]]
-At the bottom of the page should be links to one or more category pages, which are listing pages in that category.
-==== Page footer ====
+The revision history allow you to look at and compare selected revisions using ''page diffs'' (or often just ''diffs''), as well as link to a certain revision or comparison of revisions.
-[[File:FlightGear wiki page footer.png|frame|none|The page footer]]
-The page footer have some information related to the page and to the wiki in general, such as the license, privacy policy and terms of use.
-Through the "Mobile view"/"Desktop view" links one can change between the desktop and mobile views.
+== Diffs ==
+{{tip|If you need to compare two separate pages you can do so with [[Special:ComparePages]].}}
+{{tip|By pressing the ''Show changes'' button when you edit a page you can see your changes as a diff. It can be useful when writing the edit summary.}}
-=== Typical article layout ===
+A ''diff'' is comparison between two revisions of a page. With them you can see what was changed, added or removed in a revision.
-{{tip|If you are familiar with Wikipedia, you can most probably skip this section.}}
-Article pages should have any general notices about the article on the very top of it.
+A diff page is typically shown with the actual diff at the top of the page and the rendered page as of the latter revision at the bottom of the page.
-The first section of the article, before the table of contents should contain a summary of the article.  Sometimes you might instead find this information further down in a section named something like ''Goal'', ''Background'', but this practice is discouraged.
+The diff itself is split into two columns: Typically the old one to the left and new one to the right.
-On the top left in many articles you can find an ''infobox'' with a summary of information relevant to articles about certain subjects, for example aircraft, airports and software.
+On top you have the dates and usernames as well as the edit summaries added before saving the revisions.  Below that are the changed chunks of lines and a few lines surrounding them.
-Below the infobox or at the bottom of the page there is often a ''navbox'' with links to related articles in a series of articles.
+[[File:FlightGear wiki diff.png|none|frame|The diff part of a diff page]]
-At the bottom of the article you can find links to related wiki articles and FlightGear project web pages like forum topics, developer mailing list threads and source code.  Sometimes there is also links to pages external to the project.
+{{tip|If [[User:Johan G|Johan G]] above had used the ''Show preview'' button more he might have remembered to add the other changes as well.}}
-== Wiki features ==
+== Finding a specific edit ==
-=== Main characteristics ===
+[[File:Finding an edit using successive approximation.png|left|thumb|200 px|Finding an edit through successive approximation.]]
-The two main characteristics of a wiki that like the FlightGear are using the MediaWiki software are:
-* Anyone can register and edit most pages
+If you are looking for when a particular section of text was edited, you can use ''binary search''/''successive approximation''.
-* The edit history of all pages is ''preserved'' and is available to everyone
-This allows for very transparent collaboration.
+Start by comparing the revision ''between'' the oldest and newest possible revision with ''its previous'' revision.  Then in ''halfway steps'' compare revisions with their previous ones till you find the edit.
-=== Page history ===
+This can come in handy for example if you want to discuss a confusing phrasing with the user who added it, or if you are an administrator and need to find a specific user due to spam etc.
-* History tab
-* Diffs
-* Permalinks
-* Watchlist
-=== Types of pages ===
-In addition there are several types of pages.  These different types of pages are usually separated in different ''namespaces'':
-:; Articles
-:: Pages in the main namespace, making up the most of the wikis content.
-;; Files
-:: Generally images used to illustrate the wiki.
-:; Categories
-:: Grouping together pages with similar content in a somewhat hierarchical fashion.
-:; Templates
-:: That are used when the wiki editors either want content to be presented in a consistent manner or to lessen the amount of typing needed for common things like repository links etc.
-:; User pages
-:: Where users can present themselves, have to-do lists etc.
-:; Discussion pages
-:: These are used for discussions about the wiki, individual pages and with users.
-:; Portals
-:; Howto pages
-:; Help pages
-:: Like the one you are reading now.
-It may not be obvious at first, but pages in these namespaces are used in different ways, many of them are for example linked to in very different ways.
-=== Wiki markup ===
-To format the text of the wiki, adding images etc, ''wiki markup'' or ''wikitext'' is used.  For a summary see [[Help:Your first article]] and for details, see [[Help:Formatting]].
-== Whats next? ==
-* [[Portal:Wiki]]
-* [[Help:Your first article]]
 [[Category:Help]]