This is a short, step-by-step tutorial to get you up to speed on %WIKITOOLNAME%.

* Preparation:
  * Open up a new browser window. While you are working in one window, you can look at the step-by-step tutorial instructions in the other window.

* Navigation and search:
  * %WIKITOOLNAME% is divided up into webs; each one represents one area of collaboration. The webs are accessible at the upper right corner of each web page.
  * Each web has hyper-linked topics. A topic is one web page in your browser.
  * The home page in each web is the %HOMETOPIC% topic.
  * To browse a %WIKITOOLNAME% web, just click on any highlighted link. These links are called [[WikiWords]] and comprise two or more words with initial capitals, run together.
  * Follow the [[WikiWord]] link and learn what it is.
  * If you know the name of a topic, you can jump directly to it by typing its name into the **Go** field on the top of the page. Type `WebSearch` to jump to the search page. **_Hint:_** Do not confuse the **Go** field with search.
  * You can search each %WIKITOOLNAME% web. Enter a search string in the %HOMETOPIC% topic or the [[WebSearch]] topic accessible from the `Search` link on each topic. %WIKITOOLNAME% searches for an exact match; optionally, you can also use [[RegularExpressions]].

* Create your account:
  * To edit topics, you need to have a %WIKITOOLNAME% account.
  * Go to the [[TWikiRegistration]] page to create your %WIKITOOLNAME% account.

* %WIKITOOLNAME% Users and offices:
  * Go to the %MAINWEB%.%WIKIUSERSTOPIC% topic in the %WIKITOOLNAME%.%MAINWEB% web; it has a list of all users of %WIKITOOLNAME%. Your [[WikiName]] will be in this list after you register.
  * Go to the %MAINWEB%.OfficeLocations topic in the %WIKITOOLNAME%.%MAINWEB% web; it has a list of corporate offices already entered into %WIKITOOLNAME%.

* Operations on topics:
  * Go to the %HOMETOPIC% topic to learn what we can do with a topic.
  * The bottom of the page has some links:
  * `Edit` : Allows you to edit the topic (discussed later)
  * `Ref-By` : Find out what other topics link to this topic (reverse link)
  * `Attach` : Attach files to a topic (discussed later)
  * `Diffs` : Topics are under revision control. Diffs shows you the complete change history of the topic, e.g. who changed what and when.
  * `r1.3 | > | r1.2 | > | r1.1` : Allows you to see a previous topic revision or the difference between revisions.

* Editing a topic and creating hyperlinked pages:
  * Go to the Test.%HOMETOPIC% topic of the %WIKITOOLNAME%.Test web. This web is the sandbox where you can make changes at will.
  * Press the `Edit` link. You are now in edit mode and you can see the source of the page. (Go to a different topic like [[Test/TestTopic3]] in case you see a "Topic is locked by an other user" warning.)
  * Look at the text in edit mode and compare it with the rendered page (move back and forth in your browser.)
  * Notice how [[WikiWords]] are linked automatically; there is no link if you look at the text in edit mode.
  * Now let's create a new topic, your own sandbox topic:
    * In edit mode, enter a new text with a [[WikiWord]], i.e. <br /><code>This is PaulsSandBox topic.</code>
    * Preview and save the topic.
    * You can see a linked question mark after the topic name. This means that the topic does not exist yet.
    * Click on the question mark. Now you are in edit mode of the new topic.
    * Type some text, basically like you write an email.
    * A signature with your name is already entered by default. **_Note:_** Please note the `%MAINWEB%.` in front of your name. This means that you have a link from the current web to your personal topic located in the %MAINWEB% web.
    * Preview and save the topic.
  * Learn about text formatting:
    * You write text in [[WikiSyntax]], a very simple markup language. Follow the [[WikiSyntax]] link and learn how to write text.
    * Go back to your sandbox topic end edit it.
    * Enter some text in [[WikiSyntax]]: **bold** text, _italic_ text, **_bold italic_** text, a bullet list, tables, paragraphs, etc. **_Hint:_** If you need to look up the [[WikiSyntax]], click on the [[TextFormattingRules]] link located below the edit field.
    * Preview and save the topic.

* Attaching files to a topic:
  * You can attach any file to a topic, not unlike attachments to an email.
  * Go back to your sandbox topic and click on the `Attach` link at the bottom.
  * Browse for any file you would like to attach; enter an optional comment.
  * Upload and attach the file.
  * Do this again with a JPG or GIF image file.
  * Checkmark the box "Create a link to the attached file at the end of the topic."
  * Upload and attach the image file.
  * The image will show up at the bottom of the topic. To move the image, you can edit the topic and move the last line (starting with <code>&lt;a href="%ATTACHURLPATH%/...</code>) to anywhere you like.
  * If you have a GIF or JPG image of yourself, why not upload it now to your personal topic?

* Getting notified of topic changes:
  * It is very important that team members are kept in sync of changes.
  * %NOTIFYTOPIC% (one per %WIKITOOLNAME% web) is a subscription service to be automatically notified by email when topics change in a %WIKITOOLNAME% web. This is a convenient service, so you do not have to come back and check all the time to see if something has changed.
  * It is strongly recommended that you subscribe to the %WIKITOOLNAME% web(s) relevant to your work.

This concludes the tutorial. Now you are ready to roll.

**_A side note:_** Initially it can be daunting to modify text someone else wrote. Please do not worry, nothing gets lost, because previous versions are always accessible (and also recoverable by the %WIKITOOLNAME% administrator if needed.)

-- [[Main/PeterThoeny]] - 28 Dec 2000 <br />