20-Minute TWiki Tutorial

This step-by-step, hands-on tutorial gets you up to speed with all the TWikiSite basics, in mere minutes...

1. Get set...

Open two browser windows, so that you can follow these steps in one window, while trying things out in the other.

2. Take a quick tour...

A TWikiSite is divided into webs; each one usually represents one area of collaboration.

• Each web has hyperlinked topics, displayed as pages in your browser.
• The home page in each web is the WebHome topic.
• To browse a TWiki 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.
• You can search each TWiki web. Enter a search string in the WebHome topic or the search field in the sidebar. TWiki searches for an exact match; optionally, you can also use RegularExpressions? .

3. Open a private account...

To edit topics, you need to have a TWiki account.

• Contact your course administrator about this. You might be able to create your own accout, but you still need a TWiki administrator to grant you the right access to be able to use your account.

4. Test the page controls...

The control area at the top-right of the page has a collection of action links. Some are:

• Edit - add to or edit the topic (discussed later)
• Raw View - show the source text without editing the topic
• Attach - attach files to a topic (discussed later)
• Print - goes to a stripped down version of the page, good for printing

5. Change a page, and create a new one...

• Click the Edit link. You are now in edit mode and you can change the page. (Go to a different topic if you see a "Topic is being edited by an other user" warning.)
• Tip: When you only want to see the source code of a topic click the Raw View link.
• Notice how WikiWords? are linked automatically; there is no link if you look at the text in edit mode.
• Now, create a new topic - your own test page:
  1. In edit mode, enter a new text with a WikiWord, for example:
     This is TWikiGuestSandbox topic.
  2. Preview and save the topic. The name appears, highlighted, with a linked question mark at the end. This means that the topic doesn't exist yet.
  3. Click on the question mark. Now you're in edit mode of the new topic.
  4. Type some text, basically, like you write an e-mail.
  5. A signature with your name is already entered by default. NOTE: The Main. in front of your name means that you have a link from the current web to your personal topic located in the Main web.
  6. Preview and save the topic...

6. Use your browser to upload files as page attachments...

You can attach any type of file to a topic - documents, images, programs, whatever - where they can be opened, viewed, or downloaded.

• Attaching files is just like including a file with an e-mail.
  1. Go back to your sandbox topic and click on the [Attach] link at the top.
  2. Click [Browse] to find a file on your PC that you'd like to attach; enter an optional comment; leave everything else unchecked.
  3. Click [Upload file], then scroll to the end of the page to see the new attachment listing.
• Do this again - this time, upload a GIF, JPG or PNG image file.
  • Enter the edit mode and press the edit/insert image button. Enter the filename in the Image URL field. You can also change the image alignment and other options from this window, just look in the other tabs.
  • To move the image, just drag it around.
• If you have a GIF, JPG or PNG image of yourself, your cat, your sprawling family estate...why not upload it now to personalize your account page TWikiGuest?

That's it! You're now equipped with all the TWiki essentials. You are ready to roll.

NOTE: When first using TWiki, it will probably seem strange to be able to change other people's postings - we're used to separating individual messages, with e-mail, message boards, non-Wiki collaboration platforms. Don't worry about it. You can't accidentally delete important stuff - you can always check previous versions, and copy-and-paste from them if you want to undo any changes. After a short while, TWiki-style free-form communication becomes second-nature. You'll expect it everywhere!

Related Topics: UserDocumentationCategory