This page is here to give you all sorts of information about InterestGroups. For a list of IGs, please visit CategoryInterestGroup.
Index
What is an Interest Group?
An interest group is a subsection of the AGDev community that specialises in a certain area of game development or design. Currently we will all be sharing the same discussion forum but pages can be created on this Wiki to store any more permanent resources that the interest groups produce for themselves and the rest of the community.
Guidelines for Setting up a Group
There are some guidelines for creating an interest group. They are here so that we can ensure navigation around the different parts of the Wiki is consistent, yet still allow each group's pages to be formatted individually.
The group's home page should be named InterestGroupMyTopic - This allows all groups to be named consistently. All words run together, no spaces, and the first letter of each word is capitalised.
At the bottom of the home page, include the word CategoryInterestGroup - This allows all groups to be found easily.
Use subpages to create sections below the home page of your group - This ensures that there will not be any name clashes when creating new pages within groups and also allows page names to be shorter. For more information, please read HelpOnEditing/SubPages.
Remember to include a link to the home page of the group's founder at the top of the group's home page. The suggested format for this is to add the line "'''Group contact point:''' FirstnameLastname" on the first line of the page.
Read on for more detailed instructions on setting up interest group home pages.
Quick Steps To Starting An Interest Group
If you are certain you understand the guidelines on starting an interest group, and have read them, follow these simple steps to actually start a new interest group. There are two ways of doing this task. Please select one that you are most comfortable with.
Edit The CategoryInterestGroup Page
This is the standard method for creating new pages in a Wiki, as described in more detail on the HelpOnPageCreation section.
Edit an existing page, adding a WikiName to it (i.e. if you wanted to create a new interest group you would bring up the CategoryInterestGroup page and click the edit link). The CategoryInterestGroup page lists all interest groups and you can add a new interest group to the list of interest group links by editing the page and creating a new link in the list.
Next, you would add text to the page, in the list/links of interest groups, such as "InterestGroupMyGroup" for example. Note the Wiki format InterestGroupMyGroup and that each word starts with a capital letter.
Finally click on save.
The Wiki will then add a link to this new page on the one you've just edited. To create the home page for the new interest group:
Click the link and you'll be brought to the new interest group's home page that is currently non-existent. You will be told "This page does not exist yet. You can create a new empty page, or use one of the page templates. Before creating the page, please check if a similar page already exists." And then there is a link "Create new empty page".
You should select the "Create new empty page" link. This will take you to an edit box for you to type the information for the home page for the interest group you just created. From the interest group home page, you should setup links that link to sub-pages that link back to the home page for the interest group you just created. For an example of this, see the interest groups InterestGroupDirectx or InterestGroupBusinessManagement.
Once you've edited the group's home page, click the "Save" button. You can then go on to edit any subpages you've set up using this same procedure.
If you have any questions about how to set up groups, please don't hesitate to ask for help. To view all known interest groups, visit the CategoryInterestGroup page.
Create the New Page Directly
You may also like to use this method for creating new pages. It is very similar to the above procedure but allows you to keep your new page private whilst editing the first revision of it.
Pick a name for an interest group such as "InterestGroupMyGroup" and note the Wiki format for the name. Note the Wiki format InterestGroupMyGroup (the first letter of each word is capitalised and all words run together/no spaces in the name). You must make sure the name you pick is a valid WikiName, otherwise you won't be able to create links to your page later on. A valid WikiName does not end in a capital letter.
Press CTRL+L, or CONTROL+O (Internet Explorer), to open a web page and type www.agdev.org/InterestGroupMyGroup and press enter
You'll be brought to the new interest group's home page that is currently non-existent. You will be told "This page does not exist yet. You can create a new empty page, or use one of the page templates. Before creating the page, please check if a similar page already exists." And then there is a link "Create new empty page" and you should select this link. This will take you to an edit box for you to type the information for the home page for the interest group you just created.
From the interest group home page, you should setup links that link to sub-pages that link back to the home page for the interest group you just created. For an example of this, see the interest groups InterestGroupDirectx or InterestGroupBusinessManagement.
Remember to include a link on the CategoryInterestGroup page to the home page of the group you just started - otherwise there will be no route for users to get to the new group.
Again, if you have any problems, please don't hesitate to ask for help.