Wikicrumbs

Here is where we find out if you can do with a wiki what you can do with Google Labs Breadcrumbs.

This begins with finding a secret in Wikispaces editing: beside where it says "Save" on the editing bar, there is an arrow pointing down. Click on that and go to "Wikitext Editor." This is where you can do some pretty neat stuff and we will explore how to do the basic functions of Breadcrumbs: creating a "page" and navigating between "pages." By the way, you'll know you are in the Wikitext Editor because there will be no formatting to the page, there will be some strange stuff (by the end of this, some of it won't be so strange), and the font will be Courier.

Our topic is on how to write the blues, since that is not a complex form of poetry but it does require some brainstorming.

In wikitext, the "page" number has a different format--it uses # instead of enclosing a number in parentheses. You can also use words to name your "pages" instead of numbers, but for the sake of simplicity, we'll use numbers. Here is an example: #1

Navigation is also a little different but basically the same idea. Instead of making a link with one set of brackets, wikitext uses two, like this:

Now the funny thing: just as you cannot see all the navigation and page numbers when you are actually reading a breadcrumbs story, wikitext navigation (and many other things) becomes invisible to the reader of the page. In other words, if you have a link to "" such as: "wikicrumbs" and you write that in the wikitext editor instead of the standard editor (which is more or less WYSIWYG), it will function just as it is supposed to, but you won't see it. The reason you can see those things in this paragraph is that they were written in the standard editor and not the wikitext editor.

Here is a basic story about writing the blues:

Let's Write the Blues What are we gonna write about? Well, the blues is a feeling...lots of times you have "the blues" such as when things don't work out as you want or expect them to. So, let's brainstorm.

You may have an idea right now, which means you need to start writing instead of hanging out here on the brainstorm page. This page is exclusively reserved for thinking about what you could write. So, stay here to think and go to writing to write. Got it?

We're in search of not just any ol' kind of idea but a ** BLUES ** idea. Our blues and not anyone else's. So, let's look around.

The blues are about betrayal, having no money, loss, being lonesome, but also what you love and want. Got some ideas? Jot down a few. You can write about your experiences but you can also write about someone else's experiences, real or made up.

Maybe you need some inspiration: media type="youtube" key="V_nNNIYTy9g" height="349" width="425"

media type="youtube" key="qEIBmGZxAhg" height="349" width="425"

Or, maybe you have the talking blues: media type="youtube" key="fxQS9ZOpB70" height="349" width="425"