Wiki Productivity Pattern - Active pages in sight

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Managing Several Active and Related Pages

When working in a wiki environment with potentially several active and related pages, it is useful to be able to see those pages easily.

One Approach

Arrange the windows and tabs in a convenient manner. For example, for this handbook on WikiEducator:

Browser window 1 (3 tabs): Handbook Home | Section working on | Discussion page of that section

Browser window 2 (1 tab): Edit Screen/ Straw dog

Browser window 4 (4 tabs): Issue Tracker | My WatchList| Style guide | Glossary

i.e. being able to see all those screens and browse to other sections easily ...

Process

(e.g.)

• read the page
• make a straw dog if necessary (i.e. for significant change which needs review before being put onto the actual page)
  • copy and paste text from the page into the straw dog and also into a text editor for more convenient editing
  • rewrite the text in the text editor
  • paste it into the straw dog and save
  • make minor corrections, etc.
  • write a comment on the discussion page linking to the straw dog
  • if feeling confident or bold, or if co-authors agree, paste the new version into the main article
    • otherwise, let the lead writer/editor do it.
• (no straw needed)
  • make minor corrections, etc. directly on the page.

(remember to include a comment about the edit)