Quick How To
- To edit pages in the SHARP Network, you need to click on the Join SEA button. You will need to create a username, submit your email address, name, and postal code as well. You should receive an email with rules and tips as well as a temporary password within a few minutes.
- After you have logged in, you can use the map on the front page to find your congressional representative and senators, as well as presidential candidates. In the right column you can find links to people, issues, and committees; these links will always be on the right side so you can easily move to other areas of the SHARP Network.
- Every committee, issue, and people page has two areas; at the top is an uneditable area with basic information, the bottom is the editable wiki. In people pages, the top area provides biographical information as well as information about the representatives' committee memberships. Below this area is the Political Profile, this is where all users are able to contribute and edit information. To do so, there is an Edit link to the right of the Political Positions heading.
- On this page you will find an editable box of text. We have divided the page into major sections such as Education, Energy, and Global Warming. Section headings are surrounded by a number of "=" signs. To add content, you simply add your text below the section heading. If you wish to add your text as part of a list, put "*" or "**" before the text. Please do not edit any section headings, they will affect other portions of the site. Do not worry about the templates (anything that looks like {{Vote-RenewableEnergyConservationTaxAct2007}}), they are for us to contribute information quickly, you can add text before and after them.
- To add links, put the address (or URL) and the text you wish to be the link within brackets. For example, [http://sharp.sefora.org Visit the SHARP Network] will display as Visit the SHARP Network.
- To add endnotes, put <ref>...</ref> around your citation where you wish the note to appear. If the page you are editing does not have an endnotes section, add: <references /> at the end of the of the article in a section under the header ===Endnotes===. Even though you are putting your references inline, the software will display them as endnotes on the published page.
- Below the editing box, there are buttons to "Save page" which allow you to save your changes, "Show preview" which will preview the page as you have changed them, and "Show changes" which will show the changes you have made to the page. If you are unsure about your edits, preview your changes before you submit them. You will be able to continue making edits at the bottom of the preview page.
- After you have finished editing a page, you will be directed to the wiki portion of the person's page. To return to their full profile, you can either return to the home page and find them on the map or the People link in the right column.
For further reference, please read our Manual of Style.