Wikipǣdia:How to edit a page - Wikipǣdia, sēo frēo wīsdōmbōc
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Fram Wikipǣdian
Sceortpæþ
WP:HEP
See also
Help:Editing
m:Help:Editing
Þis geƿrit hæfþ ƿordcƿide on
Nīƿenglisce
Wikipedia
is a
Wiki
, which means that anyone can easily edit any
unprotected
article
and have those changes posted immediately to that page.
Editing a Wiki page is easy:
Simply click on the "
Edit this page
" tab at the top (or the edit link on the right or bottom) of a Wiki page. This will bring you to a page with a text box containing the editable text of that page. (If you want to experiment, please do so in our
sandbox
, not here. You could open the
sandbox
in a separate window or tab to be able to see both this text and your tests in the sandbox.)
Type away, write a short
edit summary
on the small field below the edit-box. You may use shorthand to describe your changes, as described in the
legend
, and when finished, press
preview
to see how your changes will look. Then press "Save". Depending on your system, pressing "Enter" while the edit box is not active (when there is no typing cursor in it) may have the same effect as pressing the "Save" button. Also, please do not vandalise the information on Wikipedia.
You can also click on the "
Discussion
" tab (or the "
Discuss this page
" link) to see the corresponding
talk page
, which contains comments about the page from other Wikipedia users. Click on the "
" tab (or "
Edit this page
") to add a comment.
More information on editing wiki pages
This page is the reference for
wiki markup
. You may also want to learn about:
How to start a page
Informal tips on
contributing to Wikipedia
Editing tasks in general at the
Wikipedia:Editing FAQ
Why not to rename pages
boldly
, at
Wikipedia:How to rename (move) a page
Preferred layout of your article, at
Guide to Layout
(see also
Wikipedia:Boilerplate text
Style conventions in the
Wikipedia:Manual of Style
General policies in
Wikipedia:Policies and guidelines
Wikipedia:Naming conventions
for how to name articles themselves
If you are making an article about something that belongs to a group of objects (a city, an astronomical object, a chinese character...) check out if there is a
WikiProject
on the group and try to follow its directions explicitly.
Finally, for a list of articles about editing Wikipedia consult
Wikipedia:Style and How-to Directory
or
Wikipedia:Utilities
Tips on editing Wikipedia articles
Please use a
neutral point of view
, and please
cite your sources
so others can check and extend your work.
It is often more convenient to copy and paste the text first into your
favorite
text editor
, edit and spell check there, and then paste back
into the browser to
preview
. This way, you can also keep a local backup copy of the pages you authored so that you can make changes offline. Some text editors can be specially adapted to edit Wikipedia articles: see
Wikipedia:syntax highlighting
If during editing you want to see the current version again, open "Cancel" in a new window. This does not cancel your edit.
After making a new page, it's a good idea to
With your page displayed, use
What links here
to check the articles that already link to it, and make sure that they are all expecting the same meaning that you have supplied;
Use the Search button to launch a Google search of Wikipedia for your topic title (and possibly variants), to find articles that mention it, and make links from them if appropriate;
Check for corresponding articles in the Wikipedias of other languages that you can read.
Safari browser 60-second timeout
If you use the Safari browser on Mac OS X, you may find that the 60-second browser timeout is shorter than the amount of time it takes for your edit to be acknowledged, especially when server load is high. Clicking "Save page" again will cause the edit to be repeated, which can be disastrous when doing section edits. You may want to install
SafariNoTimeout
, a free extension that will increase the 60-second timeout to 10 minutes. Note that this "haxie" does not require Application Enhancer. Alternatively, the Safari plug-in
Saft
also allows you to alter the timeout, although it is not free.
Minor edits
See also
Wikipedia:Minor edit
When editing a page, a
logged-in
user can mark that edit as "minor". Minor edits generally mean spelling corrections, formatting, and minor rearranging of text. It is possible to
hide
minor edits when viewing
Wikipedia:Recent Changes
. Marking a significant change as a minor edit is considered bad behavior, and even more so if it involves the deletion of some text. If one has accidentally marked an edit as minor, the person should edit the source once more, mark it major (or, rather, ensure that the check-box for "This is a minor edit" is not checked), and, in the summary, state that the previous change was a major one.
The wiki markup
In the left column of the table below, you can see what effects are possible. In the right column, you can see how those effects were achieved. In other words, to make text look like it looks in the left column, type it in the format you see in the right column.
You may want to keep this page open in a separate browser window for reference. If you want to try out things without danger of doing any harm, you can do so
in the
Sandbox
Sections, paragraphs, lists and lines
What it looks like
What you type
Start your
sections
as follows:
New section
Subsection
Sub-subsection
Start with a second-level heading (
==
); do not use first-level headings (=).
Do not skip levels (e.g., second-level followed by fourth-level).
==New section==
===Subsection===
====Sub-subsection====
A single
newline
generally has no effect on the layout.
These can be used to separate
sentences within a paragraph.
Some editors find that this aids editing
and improves the
diff
function
(used internally to compare
different versions of a page).
But an empty line
starts a new paragraph.
When used in a list, a newline
does
affect the layout (
see below
).
A single [[newline]]
generally has no effect on the layout.
These can be used to separate
sentences within a paragraph.
Some editors find that this aids editing
and improves the ''diff'' function
(used internally to compare
different versions of a page).
But an empty line
starts a new paragraph.
You can break lines
without starting a new paragraph.
Please use this sparingly.
You can break lines
without starting a new paragraph.
Lists are easy to do:
Start every line with a star.
More stars means deeper levels.
A newline in a list
marks the end of a list item.
An empty line starts a new list.
* Lists are easy to do:
** Start every line with a star.
*** More stars means deeper levels.
**** A newline in a list
marks the end of a list item.
* An empty line starts a new list.
Numbered lists are also good
very organized
easy to follow
# Numbered lists are also good
## very organized
## easy to follow
You can even do mixed lists
and nest them
like this
* You can even do mixed lists
*# and nest them
*#* like this
Definition list
list of definitions
item
the item's definition
another item
the other item's definition
One item per line; a newline can appear before the colon, but using a space before the colon improves parsing.
; Definition list : list of definitions
; item : the item's definition
; another item
: the other item's definition
A colon indents a line or paragraph.
A manual newline starts a new paragraph.
This is primarily for displayed material, but is also used for discussion on
Talk pages
: A colon indents a line or paragraph.
A manual newline starts a new paragraph.
IF a line starts with a space THEN
it will be formatted exactly
as typed;
in a fixed-width font;
lines won't wrap;
ENDIF
this is useful for:
* pasting preformatted text;
* algorithm descriptions;
* program source code;
ASCII art
* chemical structures;
WARNING:
If you make it wide, you
force the whole page to be wide
and hence less readable, especially for people who use lower resolutions. Never start ordinary lines with spaces.
IF a line starts with a space THEN
it will be formatted exactly
as typed;
in a fixed-width font;
lines won't wrap;
ENDIF
this is useful for:
* pasting preformatted text;
* algorithm descriptions;
* program source code;
* [[ASCII art]];
* chemical structures;
Centered text.
horizontal dividing line
this is above it
and this is below it.
Mainly useful for separating threads on Talk pages.
Also used to
disambiguate
within an article without creating a separate page.
A [[horizontal dividing line]]:
this is above it
----
and this is below it.
Links and URLs
Hwæt hit æfterhyriaþ
Hwæt þu wrítst
London hæfþ
public transport
Bend tó óðrum Wicipǽdiangewrite.
Internally, the first letter of the target page is automatically capitalized and spaces are represented as underscores (typing an underscore in the link has the same effect as typing a space, but is not recommended).
Thus the link above is to the
URL
, which is the Wikipedia article with the name "Public transport". See also
Wikipedia:Canonicalization
London hæfþ [[public transport]].
San Francisco éac hæfþ
public transportation
Same target, different name.
This is a
piped link
San Francisco also has
[[public transport|public transportation]].
San Francisco also has
public transportation
Examples include
buses
taxis
and
streetcars
Endings are blended into the link.
Preferred style is to use this instead of a piped link, if possible.
San Francisco also has
[[public transport]]ation.
Examples include [[bus]]es, [[taxi]]s
and [[streetcar]]s.
See the
Wikipedia:Manual of Style
Bend tó óðrum
namanstede
See the [[Wikipedia:Manual of Style]].
Economics#See also
is a link
to a section within another page.
#Links and URLs
is a link
to a section on the current page.
#example
is a link to an
anchor that was created using
an id attribute
The part after the number sign (#) must match a section heading on the page, or an identifier created in some other way. Matches must be exact in terms of spelling, case and punctuation. Links to non-existent sections aren't broken; they are treated as links to the top of the page.
Identifiers may be created by attaching an
id="...">
attribute to almost any HTML element.
[[Economics#See also]] is a link
to a section within another page.
[[#Links and URLs]] is a link
to a section on the current page.
[[#example]] is a link to an
anchor that was created using
Automatically hide stuff in parentheses:
kingdom
Automatically hide namespace:
Þorpes Wiella
Or both:
Manual of Style
Ac ná:
[[Wikipedia:Manual of Style#Links|]]
The server fills in the part after the pipe character (|) when you save the page. The next time you open the edit box you will see the expanded piped link. When
previewing
your edits, you will not see the expanded form until you press
and
Edit
again. The same applies to links to sections within the same page (
see previous entry
).
Automatically hide stuff in parentheses:
[[kingdom (biology)|]].
Automatically hide namespace:
[[Wikipedia:Þorpes Wiella|]].
Or both:
[[Wikipedia:Manual of Style (headings)|]]
Ac ná:
[[Wikipedia:Manual of Style#Links|]]
The weather in London
is a page
that doesn't exist yet.
You can create it by clicking on the link (but please don't do so with this particular link).
To create a new page:
Create a link to it on some other (related) page.
Save that page.
Click on the link you just made. The new page will open for editing.
For more information, see
How to start a page
and check out Wikipedia's
naming conventions
Please do not create a new article without linking to it from at least one other article.
[[The weather in London]] is a page
that doesn't exist yet.
Wikipedia:How to edit a page
is this page.
Self links
appear as bold text when the article is viewed.
Do not use this technique to make the article name bold in the first paragraph; see the
Manual of Style
[[Wikipedia:How to edit a page]] is this page.
When adding a comment to a Talk page,
you should sign it by adding
three tildes to add your user name:
Montrealais
or four to add user name plus date/time:
Montrealais
08:10 Oct 5, 2002 (UTC)
These both provide a link to your
user page
Five tildes gives the date/time alone:
12:57, 22 Aug 2004 (UTC)
When adding a comment to a Talk page,
you should sign it by adding
three tildes to add your user name:
: ~~~
or four for user name plus date/time:
: ~~~~
Five tildes gives the date/time alone:
: ~~~~~
Redirect
one article title to another by placing a directive like the one shown to the right on the
first
line of the article (such as at a page titled "
USA
").
Note that it is not possible to redirect to a
section
. For example, "
#REDIRECT [[United States#History]]
" will redirect to the
United States
page, but not to any particular section on it. This feature
will not
be implemented in the future, so such redirects should not be used.
#REDIRECT [[United States]]
Link to a page on the same subject in another language by using a link of the form:
[[language code:Title]]
It does not matter where you put these links while editing as they will always show up in the same place when you save the page, but placement at the end of the edit box is recommended.
Please see
Wikipedia:Interlanguage links
and the
list of languages and codes
[[fr:Wikipédia:Aide]]
What links here
and
Related changes
pages can be linked as:
Special:Whatlinkshere/Wikipedia:How to edit a page
and
Special:Recentchangeslinked/Wikipedia:How to edit a page
'''Hwæt bindeþ hér''' and '''Related changes'''
pages can be linked as:
[[Special:Whatlinkshere/Wikipedia:How to edit a page]]
and
[[Special:Recentchangeslinked/Wikipedia:How to edit a page]]
A user's
Contributions
page can be linked as:
Special:Contributions/UserName
or
Special:Contributions/192.0.2.0
A user's '''Contributions''' page can be linked as:
[[Special:Contributions/UserName]]
or
[[Special:Contributions/192.0.2.0]]
To put an article in a
Wikipedia:Category
, place a link like the one to the right anywhere in the article.
[[Category:Character sets]]
To
link
to a
Wikipedia:Category
page without putting the article into the category, use an initial colon (:) in the link.
[[:Category:Character sets]]
Three ways to link to external (non-wiki) sources:
Bare URL:
(bad style)
Unnamed link:
(bad style)
Named link:
Nupedia
See
MetaWikiPedia:Interwiki_map
for the list of shortcuts.
Square brackets indicate an external link. Note the use of a
space
(not a pipe) to separate the URL from the link text in the "named" version.
In the
URL
, all symbols must be among:
A-Z a-z 0-9 . _ \ / ~
% - +
! = ( ) @ \x80-\xFF
If a URL contains a character not in this list, it should be encoded by using a percent sign (%) followed by the
hex
code of the character, which can be found in the table of
ASCII printable characters
. For example, the caret character (^) would be encoded in a URL as
%5E
See
Wikipedia:External links
for style issues.
Three ways to link to external (non-wiki) sources:
# Bare URL: http://www.nupedia.com/
# Unnamed link: [http://www.nupedia.com/]
# Named link: [http://www.nupedia.com Nupedia]
Bendung tó óðrum wicis:
Interwiki
link:
Wiktionary:Hello
Named interwiki link:
Hello
Interwiki link without prefix:
Hello
All of these forms lead to the URL
Note that interwiki links use the
internal
link style.
See
MetaWikiPedia:Interwiki_map
for the list of shortcuts; if the site you want to link to isn't on the list, use an external link (
see above
).
See also
Wikipedia:How to link to Wikimedia projects
Linking to another language's wiktionary:
Wiktionary:fr:Bonjour
Bonjour
fr:Bonjour
All of these forms lead to the URL
Linking to other wikis:
# [[Interwiki]] link: [[Wiktionary:Hello]]
# Named interwiki link: [[Wiktionary:Hello|Hello]]
# Interwiki link without prefix: [[Wiktionary:Hello|]]
Linking to another language's wiktionary:
# [[Wiktionary:fr:Bonjour]]
# [[Wiktionary:fr:Bonjour|Bonjour]]
# [[Wiktionary:fr:Bonjour|]]
ISBN 012345678X
ISBN 0-123-45678-X
Link to books using their
ISBN
numbers. This is preferred to linking to a specific online bookstore, because it gives the reader a choice of vendors.
ISBN links do not need any extra markup, provided you use one of the indicated formats.
ISBN 012345678X
ISBN 0-123-45678-X
Date formats:
July 20
1969
20 July
1969
1969
07-20
Link dates in one of the above formats, so that everyone can set their own display order. If
logged in
, you can use
Special:Preferences
to change your own date display setting.
All of the above dates will appear as "
20 July
1969
" if you set your date display preference to "15 January 2001", but as "
July 20
1969
" if you set it to "January 15, 2001".
Date formats:
# [[July 20]], [[1969]]
# [[20 July]] [[1969]]
# [[1969]]-[[07-20]]
Sound
To include links to non-image uploads such as sounds, use a "media" link. For images,
see next section
Some uploaded sounds are listed at
Wikipedia:Sound
[[media:Sg_mrob.ogg|Sound]]
Images
What it looks like
What you type
A picture:
Wikipedia Encyclopedia
Ánlíce onlícnessa þe wurdon uppsended tó Wicipǽdian cunnon béon gebrocen. To upload images, use the
upload page
or the
Wikimedia commons
. Þu canst findan þá upsendedan onlícnesse on þǽre
onlícnesgetale
Séo the
image use policy
extended image markup/syntax
(also possibly
image HTML markup
) for more hints.
Alternative text, used when the image isn't loaded, in a text-only browser, or when spoken aloud, is
strongly
encouraged. See
Alternate text for images
for help on choosing it.
A picture: [[Ymele:Wikipedia-logo-v2(W2)-ang.svg]]
or, with alternative text
[[Ymele:Wikipedia-logo-v2(W2)-ang.svg|jigsaw globe]]
or, floating to the right side of the page and with a caption.
A picture: [[Ymele:Wikipedia-logo-v2(W2)-ang.svg|frame|Wikipedia Encyclopedia]]
or, floating to the right side of the page
without
a caption.
[[Ymele:Wikipedia-logo-v2(W2)-ang.svg|right|Wikipedia Encyclopedia]]
The frame tag automatically floats the image right. Always add alternative texts to images, even if it has no caption.
Clicking on an uploaded image displays a description page, which you can also link directly to:
Image:Wikipedia-logo-ang.png
[[:Ymele:Wikipedia-logo-v2(W2)-ang.svg]]
To include links to images shown as links instead of drawn on the page, use a "media" link.
Image of a Tornado
[[media:Tornado aircraft.jpg|Image of a Tornado]]
Character formatting
What it looks like
What you type
Emphasize
strongly
very strongly
These are double and triple apostrophes (single-quote marks), not double-quote marks.
''Emphasize'', '''strongly''', '''''very strongly'''''.
sin
ln
{\displaystyle \sin x+\ln y}
sin
+ ln
{\displaystyle \mathbf {x} =0}
= 0
Ordinary text should use
wiki markup for emphasis
, and should not use
or
. However, mathematical formulas often use italics, and sometimes use bold, for reasons unrelated to emphasis. Complex formulas should use
math
markup
, and simple formulas may use
math
; or
and
; or
''
and
'''
. According to
WikiProject Mathematics
, wiki markup is preferred over HTML markup like
and
sin''x'' + ln''y''
'''x''' = 0
A typewriter font for
monospace text
or for computer code:
int main()
For semantic reasons, using
code
where applicable is preferable to using
tt
A typewriter font for monospace text
or for computer code: int main()
You can use
small text
for captions.
You can use small text for captions.
You can
strike out deleted material
and
underline new material
You can also mark
deleted material
and
inserted material
using logical markup
rather than visual markup.
When editing regular Wikipedia articles, just make your changes and don't mark them up in any special way.
When editing your own previous remarks in talk pages, it is sometimes appropriate to mark up deleted or inserted material.
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