Tasks and Tools

Before you Start

First Things First

• To contribute to UserBase you must register an account. See what advantages this brings you on the Quick Start page. There you will also find help to register and log in.

• Be aware that your contribution will be governed by the twin licenses for which icon-links are provided in the side-bar of each page. Click on the images in the Navigation Panel to read the details. You are agreeing to your contribution being publicly available and that others can use that information on their own sites.

the twin licenses

• Use the Talk page to communicate with other contributors or get help. Normally someone will get back to you within a day.

Relevance

It should relate to KDE software, directly or indirectly. We define it like this:

For New Users - helping to get started

For Regular Users - learning about new features and tips

For Advanced Users - but use sub-pages for this.

Not for Developers - Techbase is the place for that

Ways to Contribute

Update Existing Content

• Update an image, replacing an outdated image with a newer one.
• Create a screenshot
• Modify existing content, fix a spelling, clarify a description, add more details.

Add New Pages

• Create a new page, showcase an application, introduce a new concept.
• Write a manual. You need to know an application quite well, and probably to be in contact with the author. We can help you.

Working with Languages

• Preparing a page for translation needs more patience than skill. If you can spare short periods of time, frequently, this is a very helpful task.
• Translate a page. You need to be fluent in a language, but not a professional translator to translate a wiki page. Translating manuals is the skill of a special team. That page also points you to instructions for translating sidebar links.
• Translate with Off-Line Tools. Get the essentials for Gettext and Import.
• How To Convert UserBase Manual to Docbook gives you an insight into the process that takes place on your finished manual.
• WikiSentinel is a specialized feed reader that collects the translated pages that need to be updated. It allows you to see a preview of the changes in the selected page and open it directly in the web browser: ready to translate.

Remember

It's important to be consistent, particularly in Manuals, so here are some general rules:

• Take care with heading levels - we start at second level (Mediawiki uses top level for page-name), using ==

• Make sure you refer frequently to this page and to Typographical Guidelines

• Check if all table cells have space after the pipe character. This rule conforms with traditional wiki formatting.

• Make application name formatting consistent (avoid using Amarok's, do use Amarok's).

• Ensure that all images are in PNG format (you can use JPEG as well, but in this case you should convert your images to PNG later). Save work by converting them before you start .

• Remove all non-printable characters from image names.

Hints and Tips

Attention

If a page is completely superceeded and should be deleted, please list it on Pages for Deletion where an Admin will deal with it.

Some Preferences that will help -

• If you don't have [edit] links against the sections, open your My Preferences (in the Personal Tools section of the sidebar) then look for Editing and in the Advanced Options set Enable section editing via [edit] links
• While you are in those settings, enable Show preview on first edit - while you are editing you can glance at the original display for reference
• The default display is to show the preview first, with the edit box below. If you prefer the edit box at the top you can change that setting in the same place