CZ:Start article with subpages

Here's how to create a new article, complete with subpages! For background, see Subpages and Using the Subpages template. You can still use the simpler way. Really! Don't feel obligated to use this, it's more important that you write sentences, which you can always do without writing fancy code.

STEP 1. Create the "metadata template." It's OK, you don't need to know what this means.  :-) Decide on a new article name. (See Topic Choice and Naming Conventions.) In the box above, replace ARTICLE_NAME with the new article name, making sure that you leave "Template:" and "/Metadata" around the new name. Then press the button. On the page that appears, put the title in again across from pagename =. You might also fill out the checklist part of the form. Ignore the rest. See this page if you're curious. Don't worry--you'll get the hang of it right away. Save.

STEP 2 - Make the Talk page On the newly saved page, click on the "Talk" tab, place the text {{subpages}} in the page and save it.

STEP 3 - Make the Approval page On the newly saved Talk page, click on the "Please create the Approval page" link and save the page. It is automatically filled in correctly.

STEP 4 - Make the Main page On the newly saved Approval page, click on the "Main" page and start the article. Place the text {{subpages}} on the first line. Write the article and save it when finished.

Why this process? You can still simply start an article the old-fashioned way, which is dead simple. But the Citizendium isn't just an encyclopedia project; it aims to become a general reference project. For that reason, we have "clusters" of pages all on the same topic. For an example, see New York City. The encyclopedia article is the main page, and other types of information, like bibliographies and image collections, belong on what we call "subpages." But in order to link the main page and the subpages together in a nice way, we need to create a bit of technical apparatus. In time, we will definitely automate this process (programmers are needed!). For now, the form above semi-automates it.

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