Help:Tutorial/The wiki


The IMSLP website is a so-called wiki, which means that visitors can add, remove, and edit content. To be able to contribute, you have to create an account. Simply click on the link "Log in / create account" in the top right corner of any page, and then select "Create an account". No personal information is required, and in a moment you will be ready to start.

Page creation

Composer and work pages will be created automatically by the appropriate forms. For other types of pages, the preferred method for creating a page is simply to link to it and following the link. Editing the nonexistent page will create the page. For details, see Page creation.

Page editing

Most pages have an "edit" link at the top, just above the page title. Clicking it takes you to an edit window, which allows you to edit the page content. Use the "show preview" button below the edit window to check that your version looks like intended. If you are satisfied, click on "save page". The saved edits will be immediately visible on the website.

Some pages are automatically generated. For example, the listings on the "Category:" pages are not editable. On IMSLP, the category handling is mostly automatic, so that normally you don't need to deal with them. If there is a problem and you don't know how to fix it, just ask for help in the forums.

Undo

Sometimes you may want to restore a previous version of a page, either because of a mistake, or because a vandal has defaced a page. This is easy to do: follow the "history" link at the top of the page. You will get a list of all the previously saved versions of the page. You can view every version by clicking on the link with the time. When you have found the version to restore, click on "edit" while you are viewing it, then save without making any changes.

Changing the page title

Only autoconfirmed users can move pages (see also MediaWiki). If you need to change the title of a page, use the "move" link at the top of the page. Please note that page renaming may cause some confusion. Correcting work page titles is OK in general. In all other cases, please ask in the forums if you are not sure. Category pages can not be renamed, they need to be deleted (see below) and recreated. Keep in mind that the vast majority of the standard-repertoire of major composers already has pages and these are not to be moved or charged without asking. If you notice a wrong catalog number or something of this nature, check first an we'll be grateful for the correction.

Page deletion

For security reasons, users cannot delete pages. If you accidentally create a page that needs to be removed, please write

{{delete|REASON}}

into the page itself, replacing "REASON" with the actual reason. An administrator will then remove the page. For details, see Page deletion.