For someone who has no background in HTML or coding, writing a wiki page may be challenging. Thankfully, WikiHow makes it somewhat less intimidating with its easily accessible interface. It’s relatively easy to use. Features like the ability to insert a picture within a few clicks, as opposed to writing several lines of code, enables the user to move through the wiki creation process with ease.
The main advantage of teaching someone how to do something in person is just that - Being in front of them to demonstrate the step and explain it further if needed. Perhaps the most challenging part of creating a wiki (That isn’t something that’s already written down elsewhere such as a recipe) is figuring out how to get the key points of a topic across within the confinements of a writing space. The easiest way to do this when writing a wiki that is teaching a skill, is for one to put themselves in the shoes of someone who has absolutely no background on the subject. If it is on a topic that is expanding on common knowledge, then the reader can understand what to do right away with no further assistance. However, if it is a skill that requires prior knowledge and understanding of certain terminology then the article must contain the information before the tutorial can take place.
For example, if one wanted to learn “"How To Cut Down A Tree", then the prior information needed would be how to use the tools required, where to cut into the trunk for a clean cut, etc. This would all have to be explained before the reader makes the first cut. Without it, the reader may not know exactly what to do and risk injury or death. Although every topic’s conditions aren’t as extreme, the principle is the same: One must know how to operate the chainsaw before trying to cut into the tree.
Contrary to an in-person demonstration, the WikiHow author can only explain the skill so much and assume the person understands what is written down. In person, if one is lost at any point then they can stop the instructor and ask questions. When reading or creating a wiki, that option isn’t readily available so the explanation must be crystal clear. When doing a physical demonstration the instructor can actually show the “student” how to do the task precisely, while WikiHow enables the use of photos and external YouTube links as a substitute. In the WikiHow article “How To Write A Rap: The Advanced Method”, most of the photos do not directly accompany the article because there is no visual way to teach writing a rap verse or song. The exception is the “Syllables” picture, which demonstrates a method of breaking down each word into separate syllables. The subject of rapping is something that has to be explained thoroughly but is somewhat tough to communicate through text, proposing a challenge for the author.
The “How To Write A Rap” article was written strictly using over 15 years of personal experience. The author never wrote down a proper formula or method to teach it prior to the article. When writing the article, the author broke the process down into four essential parts: “Looking For The Perfect Beat (Borrowed from a song title by one of the founding fathers of hip hop, Afrika Bambaataa)”, “Finding The Pocket”, “Establishing Syllables & Writing”, and “Rehearse, rehearse, rehearse!”. The thing is, hip hop is not an art that can be mastered overnight from reading the article once. The steps listed are merely the starter kit for the aspiring emcee. One must put in many hours of work using the four steps and then must continually practice them, just like any other trade, in order to develop the skill to the fullest extent.
Writing a wiki can be both fun and frustrating. Users who do not know HTML will find difficulty in trying to make the page look the way they want it to. Centering text, bolding text, and italicizing text all require lines of code. HTML is sensitive, so if one character is erased then it can offset the whole page and may cause many errors. A frequent error that develops in the wiki creation process is every step appearing as “Step 1”. In order to fix this, one must make sure that there is no spaces between any of the lines of code.
Another frustration one will encounter is facing the admins. When creating a wiki, WikiHow has very strict guidelines and admins that monitor every single detail that is changed on the website. Pictures, for example, are heavily monitored for copyright infringement. One must be cautious of the pictures that are included in the article and make sure the copyright is owned by the author. Within moments of the page going live, the WikiHow admins will message a user if the picture remotely resembles one used in another article or elsewhere, whether intentional or not. After that the author must confirm that the pictures belong to them. The admins are VERY strict about the topics listed on WikiHow as well. Even if the topic is an “advanced” method of a previously established topic, or it is approached in another way to make users see it from a slightly different angle, the admins will not approve of the topic and will not publish the page. After “further investigation” by an admin, the “How To Rap” topic unfortunately could not be published.
WikiHow allows anyone to be an expert on a topic of their choosing, so that can make the experience of creating a page fun. The ability to include images to help convey the message (when they are applicable) makes topics like recipes easy to understand as well. Also, the interface is immersive and allows for virtually anyone to be able to learn it, even if they have little to no experience in HTML coding. Overall, wikis require a little bit of patience but they can be a lot of fun if one gets their page published.
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