Welcome Visitors

Note: This page assumes you know at least a little bit about Wiki. If you need to, visit <NewUserPages first.

It is the first and largest <WikiWikiWeb, simply known as Wiki. Because it is the first Wiki, and it is frequently referenced, a lot of people have their first Wiki experience here.

Here are a few things you can do here to get a feel for Wiki:

Edit the <WikiWikiSandbox
Add a page to <RecentVisitors
Browse from various <StartingPoints
Bookmark <RecentChanges

Some say you should probably read widely on this wiki and participate on existing pages before adding any other new pages. On the other hand, <AddingNewPages <LikeThis can be just the thing to keep things fluid. Frankly, you don't have to spend much time on Wiki before you figure out how you fit in.

The following show various types of links, sometimes called references, that one can create or follow on Wiki:

http://hillside.net/patterns - a page somewhere else on the web
<PortlandPatternRepository - another page in this repository
PurduePatternRepository<? - a non-existent page in this repository (see below for a more detailed explanation).

There is no "Purdue Pattern Repository"; it is a made-up name to show how Wiki handles references to non-existent (i.e. undefined) pages. The hyper-linked question mark is our visual clue that the page it refers to is undefined. Creating a new page is as easy as pressing the question mark and adding text - but please don't do this as it will destroy this little example.

Some of the larger portions of Wiki have been categorized. See:

<WikiCategories

If you want to go a little deeper:

<MoreAboutMechanics explains how Wiki works technically
<MoreAboutSearching will help you find things
<WhyWikiWorks (and <WhyWikiWorksNot) if you wonder about possible abuse

<EditText of this page (last edited February 28, 2002)
<FindPage by searching (or browse LikePages or take a VisualTour)