You can visit the home page of this Wiki at any time (without any logging in) by simply typing the following into a web browser:

To visit different pages in the Wiki, you can either follow local links in pages (which appear like this link to the About page) or use the menu bar along the top of the screen to visit some of the key pages. Note that on small screens (like phones), the menu bar will not be shown but can be accessed via this icon that will appear at the top right: show-menu-icon33x33-whiteBG.png

Good official sources of help

(Or feel free to ask Richard if you have any questions.. though he doesn't have all the answers)


How to edit a page

Bear in mind that anyone can read the Wiki, so don't put any sensitive information like people's contact details here.

  1. Make sure you are signed in (it will have a "Sign In" button at top right if you are not)
  2. Click "Edit" button at bottom of page
  3. Type your changes in the text box in the middle (note that no formatting is visible in the editor, but special syntax like "+++" will produce a 3rd level heading). The helper buttons above can help you format text or generate links
  4. (Optionally) click "Preview" button to see what your changes will look like (you'll have to scroll up to above the text box to see the preview)
  5. Click "Save" button when you are happy and the page will "go live" to all users.

If it does go wrong part way through an edit or you change your mind about editing, click the red "Cancel" button to discard your changes and unlock the page for others to edit. Note that all previous edits are saved (see the "History" button) so if you do accidentally delete text you can always revert back later, so don't worry about breaking things! To revert back, click "History" button, then the "R" by the version of the file you want to revert to.


How to add files to a page

You can either upload files to this Wiki (where they are "attached" to an individual page) - use the "Files" button at the bottom of the screen and remember to press "Upload" after selecting files. Note that it is difficult to move files between pages (though they can be linked to from other pages with a bit more complexity) so choose carefully which page is most appropriate. When files are uploaded to a page, you can access them by using the following syntax:

[[file filename | custom text]]

For example, adding bold emphasis using **:

* Planting and pruning: **[[file Planting and pruning.pdf | My attached document]]**

which produces the following (though this demo link points to a non-existent file):

Or you can directly link to a file on another website:

[http://example.com My remote file]

Adding Photos in the Wiki or via Google Photo albums

The most straightforward way to insert photos into a page is to use the "image wizard" button in the page editor.

If you have a new photo to upload, the best thing is to first add the image file to the page (see "How to add files to a page" above), then display it as in the following example. Note that here it is forced to be resized (by setting size="small"), which automatically creates a link so that if people click the photo a full size version will be shown. Having said which, as most cameras these days produce huge images (>8 megapixels), resizing the photo before uploading to no more than about 1000 pixels wide/high (i.e. 1 megapixel) will take up less file space, make it download faster and be plenty big enough for general wiki use.

[[image shield-bug.jpg size="small"]]

which produces the following (try clicking the image):
shield-bug.jpg

However, the Wiki itself is not a good option for storing albums of photos as it has very limited file storage and a poor photo gallery user interface. However, we have a found a way to use a shared group account on Google Photos to host albums. This allows others to view photos (with no login required), once shareable links to albums have been created. An example album link is visible here:

* [*https://goo.gl/photos/uqy2v2MLLQqYA12c9 Get Growing Trail 2016] - photos copied from Yahoo Group

General Photo Albums: The group Google account allows any orchard member to log in to upload their photos. However, because of Google's attempt to block sharing of accounts you will probably need to access it using a browser running in "Private Viewing" or "Incognito" mode. (Use key combination CTRL-SHIFT-P (Firefox), CTRL-SHIFT-N (Chrome) or right-click and select "open link in pivate window"). Then go to the generic Google photo albums page https://photos.google.com/albums and login as "mrco.shared" (password to made available to all members). You will probably be prompted to "Verify it is you" - click the button "Enter your recovery address" and enter richard.thomas @ yahoo.co.uk (without the spaces!) which it will give you a hint for in a partially obscured way. You can then add photos and create (or edit existing) albums. To get a link for an album (in order to have a direct link to it from the Wiki), open the almbum, click the "Share" icon, then select "Create link". Any problems getting this to work, please contact Richard. (The discussion page How should MRCO support a photo gallery? considers some pros/cons and issues of using Google Photo albums.)

More help: Images in Official Documentation.


"Watching" Pages (getting emails when they change)

There is a facility to get the Wiki to email you every time someone changes specific pages (or optionally everything in the Wiki).

  1. Once signed in to the Wiki, select "Activity" from your personal menu (right mouse click on smiley icon at top right "; - )")
  2. Click "Settings" (on left hand side)
  3. Tick box labelled "Send me email instant notifications with new events"
    (You probably want to leave ticked "Auto-watch sites I join, pages I create, edit or comment")
  4. Select tab within Activity "Sites", then press "Unwatch" button adjacent to MRCO (unless you want to be emailed about all pages changes across the Wiki)
  5. Go to any page you want to watch (e.g. the Tasks & Projects page)
  6. Scroll to the bottom of the page and click the link "Start watching: …. this page"

If in the future you get fed up of emails, every notification email has a unique link which if clicked will unsubscribe you from receiving emails about that page (and a link to stop all email notifications). Note that there is a delay after edits before the Wiki sends notifications and it will not email you if it is you who has made the change.

More help: "Watching" in Official Documentation.