Help:Portal Instructions

This page gives instructions for the creation of new portals using the box portal layout. For general information on portals, see Intellipedia:Portal.

Basic Instructions

Here are some instructions on how to create a portal.

1.	Create a new page using, Portal:<Topic>. as the title of the page. Where <Topic> is the subject of your portal (Example: Portal:Iraq) On the new page enter the following text: {{subst:box portal skeleton}} Save the page. Note: After you save the page, several red links will appear on the page.
2.	Next, on the new portal page you just created, click on one of the red links, titled: Template:Red. Where <Topic> is replaced with your topic word. On that page, enter and save one of the following sets of text (the first one will set standard colors for USAFA Rugby Alumni wiki: {{Box-header | title={{{1}}} | editpage={{{2}}} | border=#aaaaaa <!-- This is the color of the borders around Box Sections --> | titleforeground=white <!-- This is the color of the Box Section Title Bar text --> | titlebackground=#2552d9 <!-- This is the color of the Box Section Title Bar --> | background=#f9f9ff <!-- This is the color of the Box Section background --> | foreground=black}} <!-- This is the color of the Box Section text --> {{{{{3}}}}} {{Box-header | title={{{1}}} | editpage={{{2}}} | border=#aaaaaa <!-- This is the color of the borders around Box Sections --> | titleforeground=white <!-- This is the color of the Box Section Title Bar text --> | titlebackground=#aaccff <!-- This is the color of the Box Section Title Bar --> | background=#f9f9ff <!-- This is the color of the Box Section background --> | foreground=black}} <!-- This is the color of the Box Section text --> {{{{{3}}}}} (This essentially makes a "short cut" to the real Box-header template that will automatically apply the appropriate color scheme to your portal's boxes.) See the Box-header template page for more details.
3.	Next, return to your portal. There is a link to your portal located on the upper-left of every subpage for your portal. Click on one of the red links, titled: Template:Red. On that page, enter and save the following text: {{Box-footer|{{{1}}} }}
4.	Now if you return to your Portal, you should find several boxes containing red links. This means that you are ready to add content to your portal. Just click on the red links to create sub-pages that will fill the boxes.
5.	List your new portal in the Directory of portals.
At this point, you have created a Portal under construction. It is a framework with a lot of red links where content should go. A fair amount of work is still necessary to turn a skeleton portal into one ready for browsing. Optional & Advanced Please, be aware that these instruction offer more complex edits than the previous section. Make sure to ask for help if you get lost.
1.	It is possible to change the colors of your portal's boxes. To do so, go to the previously-created page, Template:Red and begin editing. (Be sure to replace <Topic> with the name of your portal, like you did earlier. In edit mode, locate the various color and formatting parameters that you will like to change. For instance, if you want to change the background color of your portal's boxes, look for the following line: | background=#f9f9ff <!-- This is the color of the Box Section background --> Some colors can be changed using the name of the color and others will need to be changed using the HTML color number. Replace the existing colors with the number or color-name of your choice.
2.	The portal you have created is using a standard set of "boxes". You can change the name, size, physical arrangement, and amount of boxes on your portal. To do so, click into edit mode on your portal page (remember, it is located at Portal:<Topic>). On your portal page, there will be multiple instances of the following text: {{Portal:<Topic>/box-header|"Selected article"|{{FULLPAGENAME}}/Selected article|{{FULLPAGENAME}}/Selected article}} Altering this text allows you to choose a title and target page for each box. Replace all three instances of "Selected Article" with the name that you desire. You can also copy entire instances of a box's wiki code to create additional boxes. Be sure that you make copies of the existing code on your portal page only, otherwise things will not work correctly. (For instance, do not highlight and copy the text immediately shown above; copy text from your own portal's box instead.) Certain div text (already on your portal page) controls the physical arrangement of boxes on your page. The text consists of an opening and closing statement; anything in-between the opening and closing tags is controlled by that div. The opening statement will controls where portal boxes located within the div area appear on the page. Example opening statement: <div style="float:left;width:50%";"> Example closing statement: </div> Altering the "float:left;" statement or "width:50%;" statement will change where your portal boxes appear. You may want to experiment with changing the "width" parameter's percentage (try "width:20%;" and "width:80%;"). Also, experiment with "float" (try "float:right;"). You will have to make sure you don't accidentally cause your boxes to overlap.
3.	When the portal is complete and of good quality: Recategorize the portal from Category:Portals under construction to Category:Portals or an appropriate subcategory.