Help:Editing

Editing can be confusing. Ask anybody. Even the admins get confused sometimes. This page will attempt to answer any questions you have, in the form of questions with answers. If you have any other questions, leave one of the admins a message or go to chat and ask someone there.

What is editing?[edit source]

Editing is changing the content of a page. What you do on the edit page will appear on the article.

How can I edit?[edit source]

Down the side there is the "edit" link. It is usually underneath "discussion" and above "history". You should be able to edit nearly every page you can find.

What if I can't edit a page?[edit source]

This could be due to two reasons:

It is protected. This means only users with certain rights can edit it, usually due to too much spam. You should ask an admin to edit it for you.
You are blocked.

What does all these symbols mean?[edit source]

[[Star Wars]] produces Star Wars, a link to the Star Wars article.
[[Star Wars|cake]] produces cake, a link to the Star Wars article, that appears on the article as "cake".
[https://www.google.co.uk/ Google] produces Google, a link to another website. The text after the space is how it will appear on the page.
''italics'' produces italics.
'''bold''' produces bold.
makes a
new line start.
{{SWsets}} makes the SWsets template appear on the page. For more on templates see Help:Templates

What is an edit summary?[edit source]

What is a minor edit?[edit source]

New section

Subsection

Sub-subsection


== New section ==

=== Subsection ===

==== Sub-subsection ====

:

A single newline has no effect on the layout.

But an empty line starts a new paragraph.

( disables this paragraphing until or the end of the section)

(in Cologne Blue two newlines and a div tag give just one newline; in the order newline, div tag, newline, the result is two newlines)


A single
newline
has no
effect on the
layout.

But an empty line
starts a new paragraph.

You can break lines
without starting a new paragraph.

Sufficient as wikitext code is , the XHTML code is not needed, the system produces this code.

You can break lines<br>
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 the list.

Of course
you can
start again.

* 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 the list.
*Of course
*you can
*start again.

Numbered lists are also good
1. very organized
2. easy to follow
A newline
in a list

marks the end of the list.

New numbering starts
with 1.

# Numbered lists are also good
## very organized
## easy to follow
#A newline
#in a list  
marks the end of the list.
#New numbering starts
#with 1.

You can even do mixed lists
1. and nest them
  - like this
    or have newlines
    inside lists

* You can even do mixed lists
*# and nest them
*#* like this<br>or have newlines<br>inside lists

You can also
- break lines
  inside lists
  like this

* You can also
**break lines<br>inside lists<br>like this

Definition list: list of definitions
item: the item's definition

; Definition list : list of definitions
; item : the 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 of plain text 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 and hence less readable. Never start ordinary lines with spaces.

(see also below)

 IF a line of plain text 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.

<div align="center">Centered text.</div>

A: above

and below.

(However, in most cases a section header is more useful. The horizontal dividing line should only be used if what follows is logically part of the same section; otherwise that part would be hidden in the TOC.)

A horizontal dividing line: above
----
and below.

Summarizing the effect of a single newline: no effect in general, but it ends a list item or indented part; thus changing some text into a list item, or indenting it, is more cumbersome if it contains newlines, they have to be removed; see also w:Wikipedia:Don't use line breaks.

Links, URLs[edit source]

What it looks like	What you type
Sue is reading the video policy. First letter of target is automatically capitalized. Internally spaces are automatically represented as underscores (typing an underscore has the same effect as typing a space, but is not recommended). Thus the link above is to http://meta.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_policy, which is the page with the name "Video policy".	Sue is reading the [[video policy]].
Link to a section on a page, e.g. List_of_cities_by_country#Morocco; when section linking does not work the link is treated as link to the page, i.e. to the top; this applies for: links to non-existent sections links in redirects interwiki links	[[List_of_cities_by_country#Morocco]].
Link target and link label are different: answers. (This is called a piped link).	Same target, different name: [[User:Larry Sanger\|answers]]
Endings are blended into the link: official positions, genes	Endings are blended into the link: [[official position]]s, [[gene]]s
Automatically hide stuff in parentheses: kingdom. Automatically hide namespace: Village pump. The server fills in the part after the \| when you save the page. Next time you open the edit box you will see the expanded piped link. A preview interprets the abbreviated form correctly, but does not expand it yet in the edit box. Press Save and again Edit, and you will see the expanded version. The same applies for the following feature.	Automatically hide stuff in parentheses: [[kingdom (biology)\|]]. Automatically hide namespace: [[Wikipedia:Village pump\|]].
When adding a comment to a Talk page, you should sign it. You can do this by adding three tildes for your user name: Karl Wick or four for user name plus date/time: Karl Wick 08:10 Oct 5, 2002 (UTC)	When adding a comment to a Talk page, you should sign it. You can do this by adding three tildes for your user name: : ~~~ or four for user name plus date/time: : ~~~~
The weather in London is a page that doesn't exist yet. You can create it by clicking on the link. To create a new page: Create a link to it on some other page. Save that page. Click on the link you just made. The new page will open for editing. Have a look at how to start a page guide and the naming conventions page for your project.	[[The weather in London]] is a page that doesn't exist yet.
Redirect one article title to another by putting text like this in its first line.	#REDIRECT [[United States]]
A link to the page on the same subject in another language or, more generally, to a page on another wiki: fr:Wikipédia:Aide. For more info see m:Help:Interwiki linking.	[[fr:Wikipédia:Aide]], [[:fr:Wikipédia:Aide]]
"What links here" and "Related changes" can be linked as: Special:Whatlinkshere/Wikipedia:How to edit a page and Special:Recentchangeslinked/Wikipedia:How to edit a page	[[Special:Whatlinkshere/ Wikipedia:How to edit a page]] and [[Special:Recentchangeslinked/ Wikipedia:How to edit a page]]
External links: Nupedia, [1]	External links: [http://www.nupedia.com Nupedia], [http://www.nupedia.com]
Or just give the URL: http://www.nupedia.com. In the all symbols must be among: A-Z a-z 0-9 ._\/~%-+&#?!=()@ \x80-\xFF. If a URL contains a different character it should be converted; for example, ^ has to be written %5E (to be looked up in). A blank space can also be converted into an underscore.	Or just give the URL: http://www.nupedia.com.
To link to books, you can use links. ISBN 0123456789X See Help:ISBN links	ISBN 0123456789X
Link to Request for Comments: RFC 123 (URL specified in mediawiki:Rfcurl)	RFC 123
To include links to non-image uploads such as sounds, use a "media" link. Sound	[[media:Sg_mrob.ogg\|Sound]]
Use links for dates, so everyone can set their own display order. Use Special:Preferences to change your own date display setting.	[[July 20]], [[1969]] , [[20 July]] [[1969]] and [[1969]]-[[07-20]] will all appear as 20 July 1969 if you set your date display preference to 1 January 2001.

Images[edit source]

What it looks like

What you type

A picture:

For many projects, only images that have been uploaded to the same project or the Commons can be used. To upload images, use the upload page. You can find the uploaded image on the image list

A picture: [[Image:Wiki.png]]

or, with alternative text (strongly encouraged)

[[Image:Wiki.png|Star Wars Wiki]]

s render alternative text when not displaying an image -- for example, when the image isn't loaded, or in a text-only browser, or when spoken aloud. See for help on choosing alternative text. See for more options.

Clicking on an uploaded image displays a description page, which you can also link directly to: Image:Wiki.png

[[:Image:Wiki.png]]

To include links to images shown as links instead of drawn on the page, use a "media" link.
Image of a Tornado


[[media:Tornado.jpg|Image of a Tornado]]

Character formatting[edit source]

What it looks like	What you type
Emphasize, strongly, very strongly. These are double and triple apostrophes, not double quotes.	''Emphasize'', '''strongly''', '''''very strongly'''''.
You can also write italic and bold if the desired effect is a specific font style rather than emphasis, as in mathematical formulas: F = ma However, the difference between these two methods is not very important for graphical browsers, and many people choose to ignore it.	You can also write <i>italic</i> and <b>bold</b> if the desired effect is a specific font style rather than emphasis, as in mathematical formulas: :<b>F</b> = <i>m</i><b>a</b>
A typewriter font for `technical terms`.	A typewriter font for <tt>technical terms</tt>.
You can use small text for captions.	You can use <small>small text</small> for captions.
You can ~~strike out deleted material~~ and underline new material.	You can <strike>strike out deleted material</strike> and <u>underline new material</u>.
Umlauts and accents: (See MediaWiki User's Guide: Creating special characters) è é ê ë ì í À Á Â Ã Ä Å Æ Ç È É Ê Ë Ì Í Î Ï Ñ Ò Ó Ô Õ Ö Ø Ù Ú Û Ü ß à á â ã ä å æ ç è é ê ë ì í î ï ñ ò ó ô œ õ ö ø ù ú û ü ÿ	è é ê ë ì í À Á Â Ã Ä Å Æ Ç È É Ê Ë Ì Í Î Ï Ñ Ò Ó Ô Õ Ö Ø Ù Ú Û Ü ß à á â ã ä å æ ç è é ê ë ì í î ï ñ ò ó ô &oelig; õ ö ø ù ú û ü ÿ
Punctuation: ¿ ¡ « » § ¶ † ‡ • - – —	¿ ¡ « » § ¶ &dagger; &Dagger; • - – —
Commercial symbols: ™ © ® ¢ € ¥ £ ¤	™ © ® ¢ € ¥ £ ¤
Subscript: x₂ Superscript: x² or x² The latter method of superscript can't be used in the most general context, but is preferred when possible (as with units of measurement) because most browsers have an easier time formatting lines with it. ε₀ = 8.85 × 10⁻¹² C² / J m. 1 hectare = 1 E4 m²	Subscript: x<sub>2</sub> Superscript: x<sup>2</sup> or x² or in projects with the templates sub and sup: Subscript: x{{sub\|2}} Superscript: x{{sup\|2}} ε<sub>0</sub> = 8.85 × 10<sup>−12</sup> C² / J m. 1 [[hectare]] = [[1 E4 m²]]
Greek characters: α β γ δ ε ζ η θ ι κ λ μ ν ξ ο π ρ σ ς τ υ φ χ ψ ω Γ Δ Θ Λ Ξ Π Σ Φ Ψ Ω	α β γ δ ε ζ η θ ι κ λ μ ν ξ ο π ρ σ &sigmaf; τ υ φ χ ψ ω Γ Δ Θ Λ Ξ Π Σ Φ Ψ Ω
Math characters: ∫ ∑ ∏ √ − ± ∞ ≈ ∝ ≡ ≠ ≤ ≥ × · ÷ ∂ ′ ″ ∇ ‰ ° ∴ ℵ ø ∈ ∉ ∩ ∪ ⊂ ⊃ ⊆ ⊇ ¬ ∧ ∨ ∃ ∀ ⇒ ⇔ → ↔ ↑	∫ ∑ ∏ √ − ± ∞ ≈ &prop; &equiv; ≠ ≤ ≥ × · ÷ ∂ ′ ″ ∇ &permil; ° &there4; &alefsym; ø ∈ ∉ ∩ ∪ ⊂ ⊃ &sube; &supe; ¬ &and; &or; ∃ ∀ ⇒ ⇔ → ↔ ↑
x² ≥ 0 true. To space things out, use non-breaking spaces - ` `. ` ` also prevents line breaks in the middle of text, this is useful in formulas.	<i>x</i><sup>2</sup>  ≥  0 true.
Complicated formulae: <math>\sum_{n=0}^\infty \frac{x^n}{n!}</math> See TeX markup	<math>\sum_{n=0}^\infty \frac{x^n}{n!}</math>
For comparison for the following examples: arrow → italics link	arrow → ''italics'' [[link]]
Use <nowiki> to suppress interpretation of wiki markup, but interpret character references and remove newlines and multiple spaces: arrow → ''italics'' [[link]]	<nowiki>arrow → ''italics'' [[link]]</nowiki>
Use <pre> to suppress interpretation of wiki markup and keep newlines and multiple spaces, and get typewriter font, but interpret character references: arrow → ''italics'' [[link]]	<nowiki><pre>arrow → ''italics'' [[link]] </nowiki>
Use leading space on each line to keep newlines and multiple spaces, and get typewriter font: arrow → italics link	arrow → ''italics'' [[link]]
Use typewriter font: `arrow →` `italics` `link`	<tt>arrow →</tt> <tt>''italics''</tt> <tt>[[link]]</tt>
Show character references: →	&rarr;
Commenting page source: not shown in page Used to leave comments in a page for future editors.	<!-- comment here -->

Hover box[edit source]

A hover box without a link is possible: inch gives inch. With Template:Tcw one can use {{title|2.54 cm|inch}}.

Combined with a link, with an independent hover box text: inch *

Since it depends on the browser whether the hover box appears, it should only be used for non-essential information, for example information one can also find by following the link.

Some browsers show the hover box only a number of seconds. Even though it reappears when the cursor is moved away and back, this makes the hover box unsuitable for long or complicated text. Example: this is too long.

Details of what the browser shows may vary, e.g. "Title:" in front, indentation, code like "" being shown, with or without newline, etc.

Templates[edit source]

Some part of a page may correspond in the edit box to just a reference to another page, in the form {{name}}, referring to the page "Template:name" (or if the name starts with a namespace prefix, it refers to the page with that name; if it starts with a colon it refers to the page in the main namespace with that name without the colon). This is called a template. For changing that part of the page, edit that other page. Sometimes a separate edit link is provided for this purpose. A convenient way to put such a link in a template is with a template like m:Template:ed. Note that the change also affects other pages which use the same template.

Page protection[edit source]

In a few cases the link labeled "Edit this page" is replaced by the text "Protected page" (or equivalents in the language of the project). In that case the page cannot be edited.

Position-independent wikitext[edit source]

Wikitext for which the result does not depend on the position in the wikitext page:

interlanguage links (see also above) - the mutual order is preserved, but otherwise the positions within the page are immaterial
category specification - ditto
__NOTOC__, __FORCETOC__, see Help:Section

Separating edits[edit source]

When moving or copying a piece of text within a page or from another page, and also making other edits, it is useful to separate these edits. This way the diff function can be usefully applied for checking these other edits.

Error message[edit source]

If, due to server problems, a save command results in an error message, either the saving has failed, or just the confirmation. Check e.g. My Contributions to find out.

External links[edit source]

Special characters in HTML

Template:H:f

--->