Help:Portal
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Portals are pages intended to serve as "Main Pages" for specific topics or areas. Portals are meant for both readers and editors of DCCWiki, and should promote content and encourage contribution. |
What are portals?
· How to find portals
· How to create a portal ·
How to make a good portal
· How to get involved
· See also
What are portals?
The idea of a portal is to help readers and/or editors navigate their way through DCCWiki topic areas through pages similar to the Main Page. In essence, portals are useful entry-points to DCCWiki content.
How to find portals
All reader-ready portals should be listed at the directory of portals. If you have created a portal, you must list it there. If you have started a portal, but is not finished, it should be listed in Portal:List of portals/In progress.
Portals are also largely inter-accessible, with users able to navigate from one portal to another. Universal features such as the browsebar, which links to top-level portals, and the portals template, which links to Portal:List of portals, allow for convenient browsing. Moreover, portals are also categorised according to hierarchy. Portals in most instances will also link to their Related portals (those which are lateral to them) and their Subportals (those which descend from them).
In the main namespace, the top-level portals are linked to directly from the Main Page and individual portals are linked from relevant articles using {{portal}}. These templates should be located at article ends in See also sections (or equivalents).
How to create a portal
- Main article: Help:Portal/Instructions
There is no single standard design for portals, but the most widely used layout is the "box portal". The use of this design is recommended due to the ease with which it can be created and maintained. For further ideas on portal design, browse existing portals. For step-by-step instructions on how to set up a new portal refer to the instructions page.
How to make a good portal
- Main article: Help:Portal/Guidelines
Most portals contain the following for readers:
- A selected article and/or picture
- Links into the main category for the topic and possibly subcategories (some portals actually appear in the description page for the main category)
- General info about the subject, or links thereto
- Links to other portals (using templates) and for editors.
- Links to specific articles or tasks
- Collaboration of the week, month, etc.
You may want to embark on an effort to fill the related categories with appropriate articles if this has not been done already (or add it to the portal's "todo" list so visitors can help out).
How to get involved
Just as with DCCWiki at large, portals can be edited by anyone. However, it is important to pay due regard to the established work of others. Editors are always needed to maintain individual portals; if you would like to participate in the upkeep of a particular portal, note your intention on its talk page, list yourself as a maintainer in the directory of portals, and get to work!
Immediate attention is needed at portals listed in Category:Portals under construction.