Wednesday, March 1, 2017

How to wikiHow

There are plenty of ways to communicate information through a wiki. WikiHow’s are used to show someone how to do something. There are an endless amount of topics on wikiHow teaching people how to do something. The topics range from recipes, to learning languages, to how to travel on a budget. If a person were to search up any random topic its probable they would find a related tutorial, no matter how ridiculous or far-fetched the idea was.

The easiest article to publish on wiki is how to make a recipe. This is because recipes have a certain format that a person could follow. A recipe will always include the prep time, cooking, time and total time. They include ingredients and tools a person need to use. They need steps to follow, as well as tips and warnings that a person can also use. Recipes are typically successful, because if you follow the steps in the recipe and use the correct ingredients you will have the same outcome.

Pictures are extremely important when it comes to recipes. That is because the person following the tutorial can compare what their product looks like compared to the one posted on the wikiHow. It is important to post as many well-lit, clear pictures as possible so the person following your recipe is not confused on what something should look like. If a wikiHow recipe did not have any pictures the reader will be guessing what their dish should actually look like. Prevent this from happening by taking pictures of steps as you are doing them.
When creating a wikiHow a person can use resources within the wikiHow environment as well as resources outside of it. Since wikiHow has information about so many topics a person can use other wikiHow articles to find out more information on their own topic. For example, if someone had a recipe that included mozzarella cheese and the person trying to follow that recipe does not have mozzarella cheese on hand, they can find a tutorial on how to make their own mozzarella cheese in wikiHow. The creator of the article could add a link of the mozzarella cheese article in their own using a hyperlink. Hyperlinks allow a person to add links to an article without having to post a long website link. They can simply hide the link within the words of the article.  If a person wanted more information about a certain topic they could also find it outside of wikiHow but still possibly be on a wiki platform. For example, if someone wanted to know where the dish kanafeh originated, they could look up kanafeh on Wikipedia. There they will find an exceeding amount of information all about kanafeh. They can add that information in their introduction to give the reader of their article a background of the dish.

 Even though references can be used while creating a wiki, it is important to know personal information about the topic. Since every topic on wikiHow is different there won’t be a lot of information on the topic you are creating an article about. A person has to know what they are writing about in order for the tutorial to be successful. For example, if you are a dancer and that is all you know you probably should not be writing an article about singing. You should be writing the article about a sub-topic of dance. A wikiHow article should be about a niche you are interested in. That is what makes each wikiHow article unique. Someone actually sat down and thought “This is important to me, and no one else but me currently knows about it. Why not make a tutorial about it so people other than me will know how to do this?” Making your article unique to yourself is one of the most important factors of a wikiHow. That way there will be no doubt that your topic is not over used and boring.

This is why, if you are stuck on an idea, a recipe will always work out. No one recipe is exactly the same. A recipe is usually passed down from generation to generation, mother to daughter, etc. During the passing down it is usually modified or fixed to the persons liking. Every version is different and that’s what makes a recipe unique. Since food is a shared down tradition, it holds sentimental value to a person. A person becomes attached to a recipe because it reminds them of a beloved family member or friend. Food is also a cultural experience. A person can celebrate their culture by making a popular dish. For example, kanafeh is a popular Middle Eastern dessert that has different variations for each country, but is celebrated overall. Most Middle Eastern people are very proud of their heritage and will find any excuse to celebrate where they are from. A person who is proud of their heritage will be motivated to try to teach someone else all about it.

For a wikiHow to look polished and professional there must be coding involved. In order to do this you must go on an already published wikiHow page and click on the edit button. From there you can take coding from a previous blog and add it to your own. In the wikiHow universe the hashtag (#) represents a new step while the asterisk (*) represents a bullet point. You use hashtags for steps and you can use the asterisk for your tips and warnings. This coding will make your wikiHow look more presentable and organized.

Once you have all of these concepts down the wikiHow article is ready to be published. The wikiHow page will be used all over the world. WikiHow’s are extremely popular and can be used as tutorials for anyone that wants to learn a new craft or recipe. It is important to add pictures, use references, and add personal experience to a wikiHow article. Remember to add important information that will add detail to a wikiHow to make sure it is memorable. Use coding to make the article look sleek and professional. With all these resources and techniques your wikiHow should look perfect and will be sure to benefit a user of the World Wide Web.

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