A WikiHow Experience

WikiHow is a great tool if you want to find step by step instructions on a variety of tasks, projects, and activities. WikiHow has a large variety of topics and none of them duplicated. Being creative from the start helps you plan a unique article that no one else has thought of yet. In order to make a wikiHow article you have to remember to be very clear in your instructions otherwise no one will be able to follow it. Many recipes have been added to the site. Below is an article about how to make spicy tortilla roll up appetizers.

Using a recipe is beneficial because there is an exact order you need to follow for everything to come out the way its supposed to. It's easy to know when each step ended and the next one began. The tough part is getting all the details appropriately into each step. Everything has to be explained either through text or a photo, even if it seems like something that is common sense. For your article you can take photos of the steps using a phone camera. If your photos don't turn out as well as you had hoped they would, try switching to a new camera. This will allow for your photos to be of better quality. Be aware that some photos will develop a strong blue tint using a phone camera such as the Galaxy S3 and can be adjusted on Photoshop so that they are usable.


Making a how to article is good practice for being a clear and concise writer. You will gain knowledge and have a better understanding of how to write to an audience after creating this article as well as being able to explain and have someone follow a process with ease. Trying to make the directions simple while still communicating everything the reader needs to know was can be a real challenge. You will notice that when you're making food you don't want to have to read a lot or sift through lots of information. It's distracting to actually making something.

This article is a good way to see how other people interpreted your writing. Throughout the writing process you may write numerous drafts for your recipe. It may to be helpful to have a friend read over your recipe first to see if the steps made sense and were easy to follow. Next you will want them actually try to make your recipe which can a big and influential part of your experience. You will able to watch him or her read through the directions and then follow the steps to the best of their ability. You will want the instructions to make sense and it's beneficial to know if they would be easy to follow without the picture first. You can make clarifications on certain steps and elaborate on others.

When it came to deciding how to take the pictures you want them to be in a more functional role rather than just aesthetically nice looking photos. It would be best to take most of the pictures of what the step looked like when it was done. That way people can be able to compare what their tortilla roll ups looked like to yours. Of course you want your pictures to look good too but you don't want them to show something basic like spreading the cream cheese. People wouldn't need to see that but instead how the completed step looks. That way for steps like spreading the cream cheese you could see how close the cream cheese was spread to the edge of the tortilla shell or how it was evenly spread out without any globs in the middle.

After everything is set with your recipe and photos you will have to do the coding. It is interesting that wikiHow uses its own system for coding. It seems to be unnecessary and they could have made a simpler system for coding. Seeing as how they immediately changed everything about my articles format I don't know why they would offer a setting that allows you to write your own code. If a site is going to go through the trouble of rewriting so many articles, before it even makes it to the public stage to be contributed to, then they should say here is exactly how we want you to do a recipe or an activity.

You use the guides they offer on wikiHow to help with your coding. You still  may find it to be difficult to get everything on the first try or even after a couple tries. You need to consistently attempt their instructions then hit the preview button to check what you had just done. You may find yourself  going back to the guideline and rereading the instructions for coding again. You will eventually get everything the way you want it to look including having the steps numbered correctly and having a  bullet list for certain steps such as baking instructions and for the tips sections. Another problem with this site is the coding was never saved upon reentry to the site. All progress was transferred to the normal editing or just deleted. You may find this very annoying.

While writing your article you may want to preview other articles on wikiHow to get an idea of how it should look and how others have written their articles. You may find an article that has a recipe that is similar to yours but may not be the same in serving sizes and uses different ingredients. You may also find articles for an appetizer which can potentially give some good ideas. You can search for a  third article about how to follow any recipe which can act as a good guide to think about while writing your own article.

Writing a wikiHow article has its ups and downs. Some may say that their experience wasn't the most user friendly site but was a good exercise for writing.

The Spinning of the World Wide Web

 Building the Web from the OLD Web

Web users may think Web 1.0 was no better than a service that brought books to you. Like a book the information you were looking for was out there in the world, or in this case on the Web, you just had to know where to look for it. For the better Web 1.0 has improved the way we are able to store and accumulate information. It also meant you could have access to it from your home. But during this time, books were more portable than information on the Web. We didn't have the technology yet that came around during Web 2.0 which allowed us to access all of the information on the Web from virtually anywhere we wanted. Web 2.0 was like having a library of information tucked away in your pocket. Web 1.0 was only the starting point of a long race. Web 3.0 is the next stretch of that race.

Again, web users may think Web 2.0 became about expanding your reach around the world. As automobiles, trains and planes once brought people closer together now the Web aimed to bring them closer. People could interact with each other from half a world away. Web 1.0 was about information and Web 2.0 in my opinion was the next step in communication. Web 2.0 was a major improvement to Web 1.0 because it combined the storage of information from Web 1.0 and added the ease of sharing the information with the connections and involvement of people that came during Web 2.0.  The Web only improved with time.

With Web 2.0 you saw the emergence of certain hubs on the Web. YouTube became a hub for videos, Flickr became a hub for photos, and sites like Tumblr for blogs and written post. Sites like Facebook emerged that allowed one to directly connect each other to these Hubs. This was a big part of Web 2.0 because this is where the change, in how we use the Web, brought us to today.

Web 3.0 will be the next big change in how we use the Web. Compared to Web 2.0 the next change will just add new aspects and features as to how we can use the Web, building on the Web that we already have. Web 3.0 will link everything together through the internet. You'll be able to control everything that is an electronic device through the the Web. In addition the Web will be completely able to know its user. It will help a person look for websites and steer your Web navigation process. Although this means that someone will always be tracking your data, knowing what you like, where you like to go, and much more personal information. This helps advertisers to get closer to people but people most likely don't want that sort of attention and intrusiveness all the time. No one likes to be spied on and watched. Web 3.0 will be able to do that and even predict where you'll go from there. This will also mean that people are constantly connected to the internet. This can be a good step way from the computers and smartphones for a while, you don't always need to be connected.

As the Web develops it will influence our lives and that it can help us move and share data quicker. At the same time our reliance on the internet hinders us. Many people would struggle at work, at home, and socially without the internet. The Web has its goods and bads but as it evolves it only tries to make our lives easier.

 

Connecting the Threads

 

The World Wide Web changes quickly and will continue to do so for a long time. The Web has changed how it looks and functions but it has also changed how people interact and function as well. The changes in the Web have created "Web eras."

One major leap first happened during a change in the use of the Web's abilities. This leap was an idea that is called Web 2.0. It was a shift from how the web was originally being used. Web 1.0 consisted of pockets of information that were hard to access and what seemed like raw information on a document. There was no depth to these documents. With Web 2.0 the era of connecting and interacting with one another had begun. People connected to other people faster and were able to share more than just information. The idea that people are all contributors and makers of the information shaped this era of the Web. The Web became more about molding it self to what users wanted, a place for social media. You could put a video on one website and share it to another, linking the two website. People now became collectively involved in what was on the Web and how they use the Web together.

As the Web expanded with more and more sites and links a need for finding specific information arose. Search engine optimization made it easier to track and find what you wanted through the search of key words. This created a space that allowed users to more easily navigate the Web.Web 2.0 definitely surpassed Web 1.0. With these changes information was at your fingertips in an instant. You could subscribe to RSS feeds which alerted you to when new information became available and that would bring you back to that website. Websites were no longer just a pocket of information but now a connection of ideas, interest, images, and videos.

There were some negatives to this era too though. Now that information could come from multiple sources it became harder to distinguish who was a credible source and what was credible information. All this information got mixed together. Just because someone can contribute doesn't always mean they should but its not so easy to stop people from doing so.

As Web 2.0 has progressed the emergence of a new era is beginning to take place and change the Web again. This era is know as Web 3.0 and it looks to take a change in a different way than Web 2.0. Web 3.0 isn't limited to your home computer. The Web can be accessed from your smartphone, your car and even your house. The Web looks to become apart of your every day experience, this has been referred to as the internet of things. It isn't just a source for finding information but rather a tool that can be used.

This change in the Web yet again aims to make the search for information and everything else easier. Now the Web looks to know you and almost anticipate your next search. This can be good and bad. It can make things faster and easier but it can also limit your search because now that the Web is searching for you. Its only looking for things that you might like based on past searches and involvement in the Web. Through this you will build a search portfolio. This data is accessed by the Web and then it tries to bring websites and information to you rather than you searching for them. It can be scary when you Google something like shoes and then you go on Facebook you begin seeing ads for shoes. This is the Web reacting to you. The Web is now personalized to you. It is a little less about connecting with others and more about connecting you to what you want. Machines are trading information to get you the most personalized Web navigating experience you can have.

My First How To Recipe

Spicy Tortilla Roll Up Appetizers (WikiHow Draft)

Ingredient List:

•          Eight soft tortilla shells
•         Eight ounces of cream cheese
•          Eight table spoons of salsa
•         One taco seasoning packet
•          One bag of shredded cheese
•          Half a cup of jalapeños

Spicy tortilla roll ups are an easy and quick to make appetizer. If you are having guests over you can thinly slice your tortilla roll ups. If you need to serve only a few guests the tortilla roll ups may be sliced a little thicker. This is an appetizer that is not very messy which makes them good for a party or just a quick snack. All of the ingredients can be found for a relatively cheap price at your local grocery store.

Step One

• Lay out eight soft tortilla shells on a flat surface

Step Two

•         Measure out one ounce of cream cheese per tortilla shell
•         Next spread the cream cheese over the entire surface of each tortilla shell evenly

Step Three

•          Sprinkle about one third of the taco seasoning from the packet across all eight tortilla shells on top of the cream cheese

Step Four

•          Measure out one tablespoon of salsa per tortilla shell
•          Next spread the salsa in a thin strip across the tortilla shell

Step Five

•          Sprinkle a thin layer of shredded cheese evenly across each tortilla shell

Step Six

•          Slice up a half cup of jalapeño peppers (The peppers should be sliced thin so that they can be spread out more)
•          Evenly distribute the jalapeños on each tortilla shell

Step Seven

·         To roll up the tortilla start by tucking the edge of the side of the tortilla into its self. Then roll them all the way across

·         They should be rolled tight so nothing falls out but not so tight that the tortilla shell with rip

·         Repeat with each tortilla shell

Step Eight

•          Cut the roll ups into bite sized pieces
•          Make them thin if serving more guest or thick for less guest

Step Nine (Optional)

Baking instructions

•          Pre heat oven to 350 degrees
•          Place bite sized tortilla roll ups on a baking sheet spaced evenly apart from each other
•          Place baking sheet on the middle rack in the oven
•          Bake for ten minutes
•          Let stand for two minutes to cool down

Step Ten

•          Place your spicy tortilla roll ups on a dish and enjoy

The process to make the spicy tortilla roll ups should take about ten minutes and then another ten minutes to bake them with a two minute cool down so depending on how fast your oven pre heats the whole process should take about twenty five minutes to complete. This is an easy recipe to incorporate different ingredients into and experiment with once you know how you like them.

Tips

•          When rolling up the tortilla shells they should be around a one inch in width
•          When cutting up the tortilla roll ups cut off the ends of each roll up and throw them away because this part of the roll up is usually mostly just the tortilla shell
•          You can served these roll ups cold or bake them in an oven or toaster oven
•          If baking, bake until they are golden brown on top and remove from oven
•          Sticking toothpicks in each bite sized roll up helps them stay together
•          You can incorporate different dips and spreads depending on what you like