Team:UCL/FAQ/WikiDesign

From 2014.igem.org

(Difference between revisions)
Line 43: Line 43:
<!-------- This is the beginning of the expanding box-------->
<!-------- This is the beginning of the expanding box-------->
<div class="collapse-card" data-step="3" data-position='top' data-intro="So you're looking to build your wiki! Think about your layout, and how you want to present your work. I suggest looking at the wikis of past iGEM teams (especially those who won awards for their wiki). There are two things to think about when building your wiki: content and design."><div class="title">
<div class="collapse-card" data-step="3" data-position='top' data-intro="So you're looking to build your wiki! Think about your layout, and how you want to present your work. I suggest looking at the wikis of past iGEM teams (especially those who won awards for their wiki). There are two things to think about when building your wiki: content and design."><div class="title">
-
<i class="fa fa-spinner fa-spin fa-2x fa-fw"></i><strong>
+
<i class="fa fa-clock-o fa-2x fa-fw"></i><strong>
<!--- Title start --->
<!--- Title start --->
How will I get my wiki done on time?
How will I get my wiki done on time?
Line 59: Line 59:
<!-------- This is the beginning of the expanding box-------->
<!-------- This is the beginning of the expanding box-------->
<div class="collapse-card" data-step="4" data-position='top' data-intro="I thought it best to approach this by breaking it down into sections based on what you see in front of you."><div class="title">
<div class="collapse-card" data-step="4" data-position='top' data-intro="I thought it best to approach this by breaking it down into sections based on what you see in front of you."><div class="title">
-
<i class="fa fa-pencil-square fa-2x fa-fw"></i><strong>
+
<i class="fa fa-book fa-2x fa-fw"></i><strong>
<!--- Title start --->
<!--- Title start --->
UCL iGEM 2014: Our wiki story
UCL iGEM 2014: Our wiki story
Line 80: Line 80:
<!-------- This is the beginning of the expanding box-------->
<!-------- This is the beginning of the expanding box-------->
<div class="collapse-card" data-step="5" data-position='top' data-intro="Over here, I'm just going to explain the following: inserting your javascript and css into a template, linking that template into your wiki page, and how to ensure members (who aren't as tech savvy as you are) can edit content on the page without having to read between a bunch of code they don't understand at all. The best way to do this is to use an example, so use this page as an example - open the source and have a look at how it's laid out."><div class="title">
<div class="collapse-card" data-step="5" data-position='top' data-intro="Over here, I'm just going to explain the following: inserting your javascript and css into a template, linking that template into your wiki page, and how to ensure members (who aren't as tech savvy as you are) can edit content on the page without having to read between a bunch of code they don't understand at all. The best way to do this is to use an example, so use this page as an example - open the source and have a look at how it's laid out."><div class="title">
-
<i class="fa fa-pencil-square fa-2x fa-fw"></i><strong>
+
<i class="fa fa-cubes fa-2x fa-fw"></i><strong>
<!--- Title start --->
<!--- Title start --->
Wiki how-to: Basics
Wiki how-to: Basics

Revision as of 02:22, 16 October 2014

Goodbye Azodye UCL iGEM 2014

About Our Project

Every iGEM team must produce a wiki to upload and present their work. When it comes to building your wiki, it helps to have some members with experience in web design.

If you haven't had the chance to familiarise yourself with these basic aspects of web design, w3schools offers a good beginners platform to web design. Sooner or later, you'll be able to recognise whats going on.

In the first section, I'll explain the basics of making a website. If you're looking to learn about wiki building approaches, read the second section. The third section explores the design process of our UCL iGEM 2014 wiki, and the fourth section explains a little about the basics of building your very own iGEM team wiki.


How can I make a website?
Firstly, the bread and butter: HTML and CSS. HTML is the backbone of your website, and CSS is the design and styling.

Of course, I'm really really simplifying this; so if you really want to learn more, I suggest checking out mozilla developer, codecademy and w3schools.

I suggest you get on Tumblr and start playing around with the themes and learn the ropes there. In web design as a beginner, you just need to imagine what you want. The community of web developers is perhaps one of the most helpful online communities out there, it's just a matter of trial and error.


Now, if you're familiar with HTML and CSS; let's delve a bit deeper into web design concepts. Javascript was something I stayed away from for a long time. Being able to simple incorporate javascript into your website makes it so much better. Over the course of the summer, I have learned to use and manipulate jQuery plugins. jQuery plugins offer a huge bunch of formatting and styling oppotunities. If you are looking for a bunch of jQuery plugins, have a look at unheap!

There are other web design languages and other aspects to Javascript as well, but my lack of experience with those means I won't be able to explain any further. When it comes to the basics of web design, the best thing to do is experiment. Download a text editor for coding, and experiment different things you come across. There are many different styles, plugins etc. out there; and whilst some may be a little difficult to work with, many are simple and elegant on a variety of web pages.


How will I get my wiki done on time?
Firstly, lets talk content. You want to be able to, in detail, explain your entire project on your wiki; and if you don't get your content together before the last few weeks, you'll probably find yourself scrambling to get something onto your wiki as the deadline approaches.

Now, lets talk design. It's the most creative and fun part, but you'll have to work as a team to decide what sort of design you want. I suggest researching on good layouts and designs to base your wiki on; and remember, simple and functional beats problematic and complex.

UCL iGEM 2014: Our wiki story
First, the header. Lewis Iain was the source of inspiration for this, I think it caught his eye whilst he was browsing for different website design templates. He looked through a bunch of code and managed to pull it out of the bag, and even spice it up a little (if you view our site on a mobile device, or simple make your window smaller; there's a keen feature he managed to fix up). Our team then decided on our colour scheme and it was all set. We decided to go with a simplistic approach, breaking our content into 3 main categories: Project, Science and Humans. It works well because it ensures we avoid having a menu full of clutter, and allows users to go through each aspect of our project step by step. Next, the header images. Oran Maguire, who contributed in UCL iGEM 2013 was happy to lend a hand in the graphics team this year as well. Initially, we used a bunch of photos that were all different sizes; but with a more consistent set of images, everything looks a little neater now. Now, there are a few keen features you may have noticed on our pages. The tabs feature, the expanding box, the hover tooltip, the carousel gallery, and the sticky note! That's all jQuery plugins, something I had a real good bit of fun experimenting with. On some of our pages, you may have come across the mini tutorial feature; that's yet another jQuery plugin. Our wiki does well with a good number of images, as do all wikis. I strongly suggest you keep a camera with you at all times, because those images will go a long way; plus it makes for a great bit of eye candy to go with a bunch of text! Lastly, we have our footer, it's simple yet elegant. All the necessary info, and of course our Twitter feed! Be sure to follow UCL iGEM on Twitter, and keep up with our progress and of course keep up with the 2015 UCL iGEM team!

Wiki how-to: Basics
Firstly, lets talk about loading your js and css files onto your page. Firstly, you'll want to create a template (Team:Name/Template:TemplateName.###(where ### could be js or css depending on your file)). Create the template page and load your css and js files onto them. The next step is to create another template, to hold the links to all your js and css files, for example this page (Team:UCL/Template:BioprocessStyles and Team:UCL/Template:WikiDesignStyles). It simply loads all the js and css templates, and it makes it a lot easier to insert onto your page (it also makes all the clutter disappear!) Once you've done that, load it onto your page, and voilà, it's all working! What we've done to ensure all our members can easily edit the pages, it using comments in the source code (it also makes it easy for you to go through and copy out bits of our code). This allows our members to know exactly where to start typing and what they can touch; it really helps avoid someone coming along and breaking an entire page! Now, you might be wondering if I'm going to explain about the nitty gritty coding that we've got going on. The good thing is, I don't have to! In the process of making all those comments for our own team members to understand the code, you can just as easily look at the source code and understand it yourself! Two birds with one stone!

Contact Us

University College London
Gower Street - London
WC1E 6BT
Biochemical Engineering Department
Phone: +44 (0)20 7679 2000
Email: ucligem2014@gmail.com

Follow Us