Most recent change of NewUserIntroduction

Edit made on January 22, 2020 by ChrisPurcell at 09:36:52

Deleted text in red / Inserted text in green

WC
HEADERS_END
!! Welcome to the "Topics In Maths" editable web site!

Hi there, and welcome.

!!! What is this site?

This site is unusual, so we'd ask that you just take a minute and
read through this, otherwise you're going to get a bit frustrated.
This is not a traditional site, and your experiences elsewhere on
the web won't (necessarily) have prepared you for it.

!!! Where's the Navigation bar?

There aren't the usual navigation tools. Since people can create
pages, and links between pages, any index or structure would very
quickly become out-of-date. Instead we have a simple list of
all pages, the ability to search for text, and a facility to see
which pages to link to the one you're viewing. You can see these links
in the box at the very top right of the page.

!!! What ... wait ... people can edit?

If you're a member, you can edit most pages. Some pages
are restricted to committee members, but most pages are completely
open for members to edit. That means that if you see something
wrong, you can go in and fix it.

!!! So how do I know what's happening?

You can see a list of recent changes, or you can view the details
of the changes made to a given page. You can also just get a list
of random pages, which is ideal if you're in the mood for browsing.


!!! It seems complicated, with all these links

[[[>50
Some of these links will be spurious. In the paragraph at left we
speak of "the ~real magic" and the word "~real" is turned into a link
to the page about real numbers. You can regard that as a nuisance,
or as a happy coincidence. In cases where it's truly inappropriate
such links can be inhibited simply by prepending a tilde. ]]]

But the real magic is in the linking. No special markup is needed,
you can just type text into the page you're editing and if there's
the chance to link to another page, the system will do it for you.
We call it automatic linking, and it is what creates the connections
between pages, and hence between topics.

This site was born from the desire to see maths not as a collection
of unrelated topics, but as a richly interwoven mesh of ideas, all
inter-dependent, none standing in splendid isolation.

!!! Where do I go next?

COLUMN_START^
That's up to you. At right is a selection

Most of the things you'll want can be found in the box of links at
the top right, or at the bottom of the page.

We look forward to your contributions!

COLUMN_SPLIT^
| Advice For New Users | Site Navigation |
| Random Pages | All Pages |
| Formatting | Automatic Linking |

COLUMN_END
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