Using Templates in Physiopedia
If you are creating a number of pages that have standard texts that you want to include, for example the same subheadings or a message at the top of the page, you may wish to create a template.
Templates are standard wiki pages whose content is designed to be transcluded (embedded) inside other pages. Templates follow a convention that the name is prefixed with “Template:” besides this, you can create them like any other wiki page.
The simplest use of templates is as follows. If you create a page called “Template:Welcome” with contents:
Hello! Welcome to the wiki.
you’ll have created your first template! If you then insert the code:
{{Welcome}}
in any other page, when that page is viewed the text “Hello! Welcome to the wiki.” will appear instead of {{Welcome}}. The template content is “transcluded” into the other page, i.e. it is integrated in the page.
You can then insert {{Welcome}} at any point of any page where you wish to welcome someone. Suppose it is used in 100 pages. If you then change the template contents to:
Hi there! Welcome to this wonderful wiki.
and revisit any of the 100 pages where the template was used, you’ll see the new text instead of the original one. In this way, you have changed the content of 100 pages without editing them, because the template is transcluded into these pages.
This is the basic mechanism. There are several additional features of transclusion that enrich this mechanism and make templates very useful.
Editing transcluded templates
If you wish to edit the template that has been transcluded on to each page individually, for instance if you are creating a set of subheadings on a page that will subsequently have different content added under each subheading, you will need to add the template to the page by inserting the code:
{{subst:Name}} i.e. {{subst:Welcome}}
this replaces the string {{subst:Name}} with the contents of the template, in the source of the transcluding page, when you save that page; the copy of the template contents can then be edited normally (and separately from the original in the template page). Note: don’t use this if you are looking to continually propagate changes from the source template to the page(s) that references it.
Add your template to the ‘Templates’ page
Once you have created a template it is a good idea to record your new template on the ‘Templates’ page so that other people can use it or to remind yourself of the name that you gave it!
Custom Physiopedia search for Mac users
If your a Mac user and would like a quick and easy way to search Physiopedia without having to open up your browser, take a look at this great video by Mike Pascoe…
Setting Up a Custom Search for physiopedia in Alfred from Mike Pascoe on Vimeo.
Wish I had a Mac!!
Adding PDF Files to Physiopedia
Sometimes we might wish to direct Physiopedia readers to a document that we have created or have permission to use. We can do this by turning the document into PDF file and uploading it to Physiopedia in a similar way to that in which we add images to Physiopedia. The only difference being that when added to the article that we are writing the PDF file will not show on the page like an image does, instead there will be a link to the PDF as shown below:
To add a pdf file to a page you first need to upload the file to Physiopedia:
Uploading PDF Files to Physiopedia
- First you will need to save the file that you wish to use to your computer.
- Once you have saved the file to your computer you need to upload it to Physiopedia. At the bottom of the left sidebar under the toolbox heading you will see the Upload File link. Click on this.
- This will take you to the upload file page where you should fill in the details of the file that you wish to use. Browse for the file on your computer to fill in the ‘Source filename’ box.
- In the summary box add any neccesary reference for the file.
- Then click the Upload File button.
Once uploaded you will be directed to the page in Physiopedia related to the file that you have just uploaded. Take a note of the file name i.e. example.pdf . Now you are ready to put the image on to your Physiopedia page:
Inserting files on pages
To insert a pdf file in a Physiopedia page:
- Go to the Physiopedia page that you are editing. Click on the wikitext in the toolbar of the editing box.
- Add the following code where you want the link to the pdf file to appear.
- {{pdf|example.pdf|Example}}
Where:
- example.pdf is the name of the file that was uploaded to Physiopedia
- Example is the text that will appear on the Physiopedia page as a link to the pdf.
Click Save.
Please remember that you must have permission from the creator of the PDF document to upload it to Physiopedia. If you don’t have permission, find the document that you wish to use on the web and make an external link to this.
Wondering what to do in Physiopedia?
Once you have had your Physiopedia account activated you might be left wondering what to do? As you will have noticed, having an account in Physiopedia does not give you access to any more materials or information. That is because Physiopedia is an Open Educational Resource giving free access to all the information on the site to anyone that is interested enough to have a read. However, as a registered user what you do gain is the opportunity to edit pages on the site. The idea being that if we all contribute a little (or a lot!) of our knowledge to the site, between us we will create an invaluable and constantly evolving resource for the physiotherapy and physical therapy profession. This international collaboration will contribute to a global understanding within the profession and also the promotion of our profession to clients and colleagues within health care.
So what should you do now?
If you need help have a look at our help tutorials which will guide you through any of the above actions, plus many more!
If your wondering why you should become involved in this project and spend your valuable time creating resources for other people, take a little look at these reasons:
- It is a great CPD activity that can contribute to your CPD portfolio.
- By researching the topic and creating pages, you will learn and develop your own knowledge.
- Feel good by knowing that you will be helping someone else to learn and develop their knowledge.
- Know that you will contribute to a global knowledge base and understanding.
- Build an on-0line profile. The more you contribute to Physiopedia the more links there will be to your profile, which can contain links to your research, work and business.
Looking for images to use?
Adding images to article pages in Physiopedia is a great idea! Not only do they make the page look nicer and help to engage the reader with the topic, they can also help to improve the readers understanding of the topic.
There are so many pictures out there on the web which we could use, but it is important in Physiopedia that we have permission to copy them before we use them. This is not often possible with pictures that are randomly found however there are a few good image libraries out there that have images that we can use. We recommend searching these libraries for images to decorate your page:
- Wikimedia Commons – A database of freely usable media files to which anyone can contribute. They have some good anatomy images including the full collection from Grays.
- Welcome Images – The Biomedical Collection holds over 40 000 high-quality images from the clinical and biomedical sciences. Selected from the UK’s leading teaching hospitals and research institutions, it covers disease, surgery, general healthcare, sciences from genetics to neuroscience including the full range of imaging techniques.
Both of these image libraries release most of their images under the Creative Commons Licence which allows users to copy, distribute and display the freely downloadable version of the image under the terms of this licence. It is important that when you upload an image from either of these sources to Physiopedia that you always add an attribution to the provider in the summary box. When a reader then clicks on an image in Physiopedia they will be taken to a specific Physiopedia page for that image where the attribution can be seen. For added attribution you could also reference it on the page in Physiopedia that you add it to!
