Creating a Technical Writing Online Portfolio with Wikispaces.com November 11, 2010 Hollie Cookson Tyler Kiefer Allison Knowles Andrew Neutzling 1
Table of Contents I. Getting Started A. Create a Wikispaces.com Account Page 1 B. Create a Wiki Online Portfolio Site Pages 2 4 II. Navigating your Wiki Portfolio Homepage Pages 5 7 III. Restrict Visitors from Editing Your Portfolio Content Page 8 IV. Create & Edit Pages A. Create a Page Page 9 B. Edit a Page Pages 10 11 V. Add Multimedia A. Getting Started Page 12 B. Uploading Files Page 12 13 C. Add Files and Images to Pages Pages 13 14 D. Add an External Link Page 14 E. Add an Image from Another Website Page 15 16 F. Add Video from Another Website Page 17 18 G. Removing Unwanted Files, Links, Images, and Videos Page 18 19 VI. Choosing a New Design Template Page 20 VII. Helpful Hints: Paid Upgrades A. Permissions Page 21 B. Personalize your Wiki Page 22 23 C. Customize Domain Name Page 23 2
I. Getting Started A. Create a Wikispaces Account 1. Go to http://www.wikispaces.com. 2. Click in the upper right corner of the page. 3. At the right of the page, click Join Wikispaces Now! 4. Choose a username and password and provide your email address. Your online portfolio. username is not the title of your Wiki 5. Rea dy to create your Wiki portfolio? a. Yes! Select yes. Click and skip to Step 3 on page 4 section II: Creating a Wiki Online Portfolio Site. b. Not yet. Select no. Click. Welcome to Wikispaces! 1
B. Create a Wiki Online Portfolio Site 1. Sign in to your Wikispaces account. 2. Click. 3. For Wiki Name, enter the name you would like for your Wiki portfolio. 4. For Wiki Permissions select the Protected (free) radio button.* *Note: Under Wiki Permission, you can either make your Wikispaces Public (anyone that is on the internet can view and edit your page), or Private (anyone can view your page but only the Wiki members that are registered on your site can edit the pages). We highly recommend using the Private setting. 2
5. In the Wiki Type dropdown menu select Personal. 6. After all information is entered click either or depending on what is visible to you. a. If you clicked you may need to re sign in after you have created an account, but it may go straight to your account, which will look something like this: Click your Wiki title. Your new page will look much like the example in 6 b. 3
b. If you clicked your page will look something like this. Feel free to explore the Wikispaces Getting Started with your Wiki guide on your own or rely on this set of web portfolio specific instructions. 7. Close the Getting Started With Your Wiki Dialog. By default Wiki pages allow any visitor to your page to edit its content. You may wish to remove that privilege right away. See Section IV to remove that privilege. 4
II. Navigating your Wiki Portfolio Homepage 1. Sign in to your Wikispaces account. (For help creating an account see Section I.) 2. On your account homepage navigate to Favorite Wikis and click on the name of your online portfolio. (For help creating a site for your portfolio see Section II.) 3. Your portfolio s homepage will look something like this: 5
2. 4. Get oriented with your homepage! See corresponding red numbered list for details on red boxes highlighting key areas of the homepage. 3. 4. 5. 6. 1. 1. SIDE BAR 1, Page Navigation: navigates among pages which you created 2. SIDE BAR 2 a. New Page: Create a new page b. Recent Changes: view recent updates c. Manage Wiki: More advanced account managing tools. 3. YOUR WIKI NAME: click to returns to homepage at any time. 4. TOP BAR: a. PAGE: drop down menu that navigates among pages you created b. DISCUSSION: view discussions posted by various users c. HISTORY: records updates to your Wikispace Site. May be used to return portfolio to a pre edited state. d. NOTIFY ME: creates settings to notify you when other users make page updates or discussion board updates (probably not useful for an individual portfolio) 5. WIKISPACES ACCOUNT NAVIGATION BAR a. YOUR USERNAME: returns you to your account sign in page b. MY WIKIS: search for other Wikispaces pages 6
c. MAIL BUTTON: send messages to other Wikispaces users d. HELP: Useful information from Wikispaces e. SIGN OUT: sign out f. WIKISPACES: return to Wikispaces account homepage 6. PAGE EDIT: allows you to easily edit content of whatever page you are currently visiting 7
III. Restrict Visitors from Editing Your Portfolio Content By default Wikispaces.com allows any visitor to your page to edit its content. That is an undesirable privilege for a web portfolio that you will want to restrict right away. Use this section of the instructions if you forgot to restrict that privilege when you created your Wiki page or would like to review your permission settings. 1. Navigate to your Wiki portfolio s homepage. 2. Click located on the left hand side of the page. A variety of functions and setting options will appear. 3. Click the button which can be found under the People category. 4. Select the Protected radio button and click. Note: Feel free to read up on the other permissions options. Information on paid permission upgrades is provided in section VIII A of the Instructions. 8
IV. Create and Edit Wiki Pages A. Create a Page Create pages to organize the information in your Wiki site. A link to each page you create will be listed in the left navigation bar. 1. Click on the New Page link on the column on the left side of your home screen. It will be the first link at the top of the column. 2. There will be two boxes in the middle of the screen for the user to type in. One is labeled Page Name and the other Add Tags. Click in the writeable area to type in the chosen page name, and once this is completed the same can be done for any tags the user wants to add. Note: After typing in a tag, users may use a comma to list additional tags or press the enter key to add another tag. 3. After the user is done naming the page and adding any tags they want, the button must be clicked to create the page. 9
4. A tool bar will now pop up which will allow you to edit your new page. If you want to create the page and not add to or edit the page at this time, click the save button on the tool bar. Otherwise, proceeded to Step III B 2. B. Edit a Wiki Page: Text Once you have created a new Wikis page, the next step is to edit the page. This includes adding a text style header or title to your page, bulleted or numbered lists, and multimedia. 1. Navigate to the page you wish to edit. Click the tab in the upper right corner of the page. A tool bar will appear at the top of your page. 10
2. Adding text to the page works similarly to writing an email. Just click in the editable box and begin typing. Use the toolbar at the top of the page to format your text. You may add a bulleted or numbered list if you see fit. 3. To organize text by adding a horizontal line across the page use this button:. Your page can also be edited by adding multimedia. For example files, pictures, links, and tables can be added and edited on your page, but this will be covered in the adding multimedia section. See the instructions Part V. 11
V. Adding Multimedia to Your Portfolio A. Getting Started: Navigate to your Wiki Portfolio s Homepage. It should look like something like this: B. Uploading Files: Before you can place a file on a page you must upload it to Wikispaces. 1. Click, which is located on the left side of your page. 2. Under the content section, click. 3. Click. 4. Find the file you wish to upload from your computer. Click on that file to highlight it and then click OPEN. 12
The file you selected will be added to your Wikispaces file list. Files will be saved here until they are deleted. To delete a file check the box next to its name in the list and click. Information on adding files to a page can be found in the next segment of the instructions: Add a file to a page. C. Add files and images to page: 1. Navigate to the page you want to add media to. 2. Click the button located in the top right corner. An editing toolbar will appear at the top of the page. 4. Place your cursor in the location of your page where you want your file to appear. 5. Click on the icon, located in the toolbar. Your list of uploaded files will appear. Note: If you haven t uploaded any files yet through manage wiki, you may do so here b y clicking. Uploading files here rather than Manage Wiki may save steps. Refer to step 3 of B. Uploading Files for help uploading files. 6. From your file list select the file you wish to add and click it. Your file will be added to the page. Be sure to explore any editing or placement options you are given. When you are finished making adjustments click on a blank area of your page. 7. Before you save click on the edit toolbar to see if you like the size and alignment of the file. Images files will appear on the page while Word Documents and PDF files will appear as linked icons. 13
10. Click to continue editing or to publish your addition. 11. If you don t like what you see you may also click, on the right side of the toolbar, and start all over. (Button unavailable in preview view) D. Add an external link: 1. Navigate to the page you want to add media to. 2. Click located in the top right hand corner of the page. The edit toolbar will appear at the top of the page. 4. If you want to turn an existing piece of text or image into a link highlight it with your cursor. Otherwise, continue to step 5. 5. Click icon on the edit toolbar. 6. Click on the external link tab. 6. The text you highlighted will be in the link text box. Otherwise type new text to be hyperlinked. 7. Paste the URL of the website you want into the address box. 6. Click. The link will be posted on to the page where the image or text was located. 7. You can select Cancel, not to add link if you change your mind. 8. On the edit toolbar click. 14
E. Add an Image from another Website: 1. Navigate to the page you want to add media to. 2. Click the button located in the top right corner. An editing toolbar will appear at the top of the page. 3. Place your cursor in the location of your page where you want your image to appear. 4. Click on th e icon, located in the toolbar. 5. Select the External Image tab. 6. Paste (Ctrl+P) an image address into the space. Note: To obtain an image address, navigate to the webpage with your desired image and Right Click (or Mac equivalent) on the image you wish to use. Depending on your web browser an option something like View Image (Firefox) or Open image in new tab (Google Chrome) will appear. Select it. A webpage with just your image will open. Copy (Ctrl+C) the URL address from the top of that page. 7. After entering your image address, click. A thumbnail of the image you selected will appear on the page. 15
8. Double click the thumbnail image you loaded. It will be added in the place you specified on your Wiki page. 9. Review the alignment, editing, and caption options for your image. Click on a blank area of the editable space to stop working with those functions. 10. Before you save click on the edit toolbar to see if you like the size and alignment of the file. Images files will appear on the page while Word Documents and PDF files will appear as linked icons. 11. Click to continue editing or to publish your addition. 12. If you don t like what you see you may also click, on the right side of the toolbar, and start all over. (Button unavailable in preview view) Note: Beware of copyright infringement. You should always cite images you take from external sources. 16
F: Add a Video from another Website: 1. Navigate to the page you want to add video to. 2. Click the button located in the top right corner. An editing toolbar will appear at the top of the page. 3. Place your cursor in the location of your page where you want your video to appear. 4. Click on the icon, located in the toolbar. 5. Select video, located on the right side of the widgets tool. 6. Click on the site where your video will come from. Example: YouTube. 7. Follow the default Wikispaces.com instructions according to your video source. Example: YouTube. 17
8. Click. Your video will appear as a blank Widget box. Click your video Widget box to make its edit toolbar appear. Align the Widget box how you want it to appear on the page. 9. Before you save the video to your page click on the edit toolbar to see if you like the size and alignment of the video on the page. 10. Click to continue editing or to publish your addition. 11. If you don t like what you see you may also click, on the right side of the toolbar, and start all over. (Button unavailable in preview view) G: Removing Unwanted Files, links, images, and videos: 1. Navigate to the page you want to add video to. 2. Click the button located in the top right corner. An editing toolbar will appear at the top of the page. 3. Click on what you want to remove, whether it is a file, link, image, or video. 18
3. File properties will appear for an image or video, a smaller box will appear for a file or link that says remove. These boxes will appear below the multimedia, and will give you the option to remove what you have highlighted. Click remove, or for example, remove widget. 4. Click remove, then click save. 19
VI. Choosing a new Design Template You may wish to change the look and feel of your Wiki portfolio. Several free design templates are available. 1. Navigate to your Wiki portfolio homepage. 2.. Click, which is located on the left side of your page. 3. Under the Settings section click. 4. Click Themes and Colors. (It is the only free option on this page.) 5. Select a page layout from the top part of the menu. 6. Next select a color to apply to your chosen layout. To view a preview of the layout and color you selected click the button. When you are satisfied with your selections click. 20
VIII. Helpful Hints: Paid Upgrades A. Permissions There are many upgrades you can make to your personal Wikispace website. The basic plan is the page you currently have. If you want your page to be completely private you need to follow the next steps. 1. Go to Manage Wiki which should be on a side bar depending what theme you have picked. 2. Scroll down to People, where you will find Permissions. Click Permissions. 3. You will see three options. There is a basic plan, which is what you have right now, a Protected plan, and a Private Plan. For $5 a month you can make your personal Wikispace private so that no one besides members of your Wikispace can view your page. There is also a custom plan, which you can buy for $20 a month to have custom permissions. Once you have decided which plan you would like, click Update. If you decide on the custom permissions, continue filling in Custom Permissions and Page Permissions farther down the same page. 21
B. Personalize your Wikispace If you are not happy with the themes and colors available on the basic plan, you can upgrade your theme and color, Wiki Stylesheet, and Ads. You can upgrade each of these for $5 a month a piece. They are all included in the Plus and Higher plans though. To upgrade one or all, go to Manage Wiki and scroll down to Settings, where you will find Look and Feel. Click look and feel. 1. Depending which upgrade you want to personalize your page, you will click Upgrade Now! If you would like to upgrade all three, then you will have to click Upgrade Now to each section you desire to have. Then follow the steps for payment and continue to improve your Wikispace. 22
C. Customize Domain Name If you want to change your domain name and customize it, you can upgrade by purchasing a domain name for only $20 a month. To customize your domain name is part of the Super plan. 1. Go to Manage Wiki which again should be located on the sidebar depending on the theme you decided on. 2. Scroll down to Settings, and over to Domain Name, which will have a blue ball icon above it. Click Domain Name. 3. To upgrade, click on the Upgrade Now! icon which will be located on the right hand side of the page. 4. Follow the steps to purchase a custom domain name. 23