Wikipedia:Tips

Wikipedia's tips library Welcome! Here you can digest how to use Wikipedia in bite-sized morsels. The tips listed below were created for the Tip of the day project, or the Styletips project, but are listed here by title and organized by subject area for your convenience. See also the Tip of the day talk page where most of the tips are written. Feel free to join in! Tip of the day... Please sign your name on talk pages It is proper "Wikiquette" (WI-kee-ket) to sign your messages on talk pages. This prevents readers from confusing your posts with messages by other users. To sign a message, move the cursor to the end of the message, and then with your mouse click on the signature icon () in the toolbar at the top of the edit box. This inserts the signature code (~~~~) where the cursor is. When you save the page, these tilde characters are converted to your signature followed by a date stamp. You can also type this code in manually with the four tilde characters ~+~+~+~. To sign without a date stamp, use three tildes ~~~ ~+~+~ instead. To sign only the date stamp, use five tildes ~~~~~ ~+~+~+~+~. Prior tip – Tips library – Next tip Read more: Sign your posts on talk pages   Talk page guidelines   Become a Wikipedia tipster To add this auto-updating template to your user page, use {{totd2}} Tips about Wikipedia as a whole Wikipedia in brief How popular is Wikipedia? Do not believe everything you read How reliable is Wikipedia? What the world knows about us How does Wikipedia stack up? Advice for parents Wikipedia etiquette = Wikiquette Copyrights? Copyleft Welcome to Wikipedia! "Where do I begin?" Help Wikipedia help you The Wikipedia Adventure! Flashback to Wikipedia's past Spreading the WikiLove Ten things you may not know about Wikipedia What did they say? How to use Wikipedia offline: xowa Tips on accessing Wikipedia pages Explore Wikipedia's contents Digital audio support Spoken Wikipedia Screen readers for accessibility Wikipedia for your mobile... Mobile view sidebar from the desktop Browsing Mobile Wikipedia on your big screen Editing articles for web accessibility Souping up your Smartphone editing of Wikipedia Finding your way around Wikipedia and beyond Introduction to navigating Wikipedia Wikipedia's Quick directory To see everything on Wikipedia about a subject area... The Wikipedia Curriculum Wikipedia has 34 sections, called namespaces Namespace entry points How to see a list of the pages in a namespace Wikipedia's alphabetical index of articles When to use subpages Getting a subpage listing How to get a list of a page's subpages Wiki-exploration: beyond Wikipedia... Wikimedia links and shortcuts Linking to non-Wikimedia wikis Wikipedia Database reports Cannot find what you are looking for? Tips on searching How to easily recall a username Wikipedia industrial-powered search Highlight text on any website, then search Wikipedia for it with a single click Power search Wikipedia using AutoWikiBrowser Searching Wikipedia with regular expressions (regex) Search Wikipedia from any website Using Wikipedia's search box: Wikipedia Search box - basic Wikipedia Search box - advanced Jump to the search box ⇧ Shift+Alt+F To search a specific namespace, include the prefix in searches Title searches Searching Wikipedia with Google: How to search Wikipedia with Google How to provide a Google search in a link Wikipedia-specific searching with Google When and how to exclude Wikipedia from your Google search Another way to search Wikipedia with Google Firefox search tips: Wikipedia-specific searching within Firefox Wikipedia Search Box for Firefox Tips on bookmarking, creating access points, etc. Wikipedia toolbar for Firefox Getting help Help for new contributors Where to look for help Go to the right desk Ask for help at Wikipedia's Help Desk Stop by the Reference Desk A comprehensive index for editors Getting real-time help via IRC (Internet Relay Chat) Come visit the Teahouse Visit the Village Pump for technical issues Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) Ask intelligent questions Keep track of your questions Wikipedia's Manual of Style How to catch admin attention fast How to request help on your Talk page Where to post requests Please return the favor Tips for contributors on getting started Create a user account Why create an account? The five pillars A plain & simple introduction A self-guided tutorial Please read department instructions Where to begin? Use the Article Wizard to easily create new articles Articles for Creation (AFC) process Avoiding common mistakes How to improve Wikipedia's reliability Speed up your learning curve... Are you lost? Now what? (Are you lost, and do not know what to do?) What is a Talk page? Article construction stages Article development Article quality assessments Accuracy, quality and peer review Good article nominations Featured article candidates Good article reassessment Referencing for beginners Please sign your name on talk pages How to customize your signature Custom signatures Advanced signatures How to move/rename a page How to add hidden editor notes in an article Watching for changes How to look at the changes to an article What are page history diffs? How to review user contributions Page history Where to write about current events What can be included in Wikipedia? Freedom of speech and profanity Tips on working with articles Be neutral, like Wikipedia Be neutral when editing Wikipedia Look before you leap What writing style to use No copies of primary sources Not everything that is true is verifiable Avoid trademarks Avoid using neologisms Preventing markup glitches How to start a new article How to create a new page Article deletion process Tagging pages for problems Find articles for cleanup Copyright Cleanup CopyPatrol tool Basic copyediting SuggestBot is a fun way to pick pages to edit What is BRD? the BOLD, revert, discuss cycle The three revert rule List the things to do for an article Table of contents Article size Lead section size Cite your sources Where did that fact come from? Fixing bare URLs to prevent link rot Do not use forums or emails as sources Forums and emails are not acceptable sources If you have privileged access to web pages... Citation Requests Acronyms and initialisms S.W.A.T., T.I.M, & the U.S.D.A How do you pronounce that? Link to Wiktionary word definitions using Wikt: Introduction to tables How to make a table on a page Pretty tables Using Math Footnotes Please fill in edit summaries Please summarize your work using the Edit summary box Abbreviating edit summaries Automatic edit summary reminder Spell Checkers Fix double redirects Collaborations Tips on editing Check your work before you save, using Preview Undoing edits Search and replace while editing an article Test-drive your edits using a sandbox Dates in Wikipedia articles Section editing Section edit button How to enable right-click section editing Double click editing Edit Wikipedia faster with AutoWikiBrowser Power-editing with AutoWikiBrowser Search & replace in thousands of articles with AWB A better wiki editor: WikEd Counting your edits Getting your edit count Editcountitis How to reduce or enlarge font sizes Style tips From Wikipedia:Styletips: Ampersand Block quotes Case in expanded abbreviations Circa Currency symbols Current Dashes in article titles Dates (I) Dates (II) Downcase the generics Emphasizing a word Formatting titles of literature and art Gender-neutral language Hanging hyphens Hyphens can avoid ambiguity Including Instructional and presumptuous language Italics for emphasis No hyphen after -ly adverbs No initial the or a in article and section titles Number signs Overlinking Percentage ranges Pluralizing abbreviations Points and spaces in abbreviations Quotations within quotations Quotations: allowable typographical changes Seasons Subset terms The year 1995 Unit symbols: figures Unit symbols: spacing US or U.S.? Within-text attribution Tips on creating and editing links How to make links to articles How to create a link to another article Linking articles: the internal link When not to use links How to make links look the way you want Create links faster using tricks Short link pipe trick Time-saving links: the "pipe trick" Time-saving links II How to use red links My link disappeared! Linking to a section of an article How to link to a section of an article Using Special:MyPage to make private links External links When to use external links Placing "External links" sections How to link to a category How to link to a category without categorizing the page Interwiki links and shortcuts Google search link How to provide a link to a specific Google Search Sister projects & interwiki linking How to link to word definitions Wikimedia links and shortcuts Placing interlanguage links Link articles to their foreign-language counterparts Linking to non-Wikimedia wikis Category tips Category tips How to add an article to a category Placing category tags Sorting entries in the categories Find uncategorized articles How to create a category How to create a subcategory How to plant a CategoryTree! Find stubs and expand them Tips on working with specific types of pages Biographies Biography articles needing attention Portals Difference between wikiprojects and portals? Subject bar template Working on the Main Page Main page - Did you know Featured content Featured world of Wikipedia Articles about notable books Another way to read or share Wikipedia: Books World of fiction Using the Authority control template Beware of instruction creep Redirects Redirect synonymous topic names Fansites, forums, & other web page articles Band articles Editing projects for school and university classes List tips General topics lists The topic list Why have lists when there are categories? List building Alphabetical list of articles Disambiguation page tips Same titles, different meanings Formatting disambiguation pages Tips on working with images Image processing tools Graphics Lab How to find legal photographs and graphics Permission requests Where to upload images and media files Uploading Free Images Tag your image uploads Cite the source on all image uploads Where on the page to put images How to insert a picture into an article How to add a picture to an article Captions Brilliant pictures Boilerplate/template tips How to create reusable boilerplate What are templates used for? Using templates Placing templates Displaying one page within another = Transclusion How to transclude a page into the page you are editing Transclusion caveat Transclusion vs. Substitution Pick from a list of template parameter choices User page tips Your user page Are you jealous of others' user pages? (WP:UPDG) Calendar date display for your user pages Displaying Tip of the day on your user page Displaying tips on your user page Motto of the day... Your very own Wikipedia bookmark page User Sub Pages Userboxes Other ways to contribute Help reduce the Wikipedia backlog Wikipedia:Today's articles for improvement Translating content Join a WikiProject When is a Wikipedia project a WikiProject? Welcoming Committee Wikipedia needs pictures. How you can help... Wikipedia banners and buttons How to help prepare the Main page Giving editor awards Help test the MediaWiki software Running MediaWiki on your own computer Becoming an Administrator Writing articles for The Signpost Communicating with other editors Be forgiving to new users Love thy neighbor Talking to Wikipedians Explaining Wiki markup to other users How to send a message to other editors How to fix unsigned comments Thanks - send a notification Guestbooks Screenshots Posting on the Wikipedia Community Bulletin Board How to catch admin attention fast Try to see it my way! The fastest way to end a conflict: walk away Report problems on noticeboards In conflicts, reach consensus Mediation Centralizing project discussion Wikimedia-wide issues Wikimedia has mailing lists Watchdogging (monitoring) Wikipedia Use your watchlist How to make your watchlist easier to read How to watch for pages that do not exist yet Preview tomorrow's Featured Article Join the Recent Changes Patrol How to enhance Recent changes What is Page curation? Intruder alert! Intruder alert! (Vandalism-level warning) Join the fight against vandalism Configuring and customizing your account How to change your username Customize appearance of dates Setting Wikipedia time to your time zone Super-customize your account with gadgets Troubleshooting Wikipedia's look and feel with skins How to adjust the height of your edit window How to enhance Recent changes Upgrade Recent Changes in my preferences User scripts User scripts examples Prove it with ProveIt Install your first javascript Tips on working faster Speed up your learning curve... Automating tasks on Wikipedia Automatic page loader The semi-automated article peer-reviewer What are dummy edits good for? Breaking the 500-edit limit in "View History" Making the editbox more visually pleasing Shortcut for minor edit box Supercharge your browser Toolbar links to access the WP pages you use the most Article banner templates Templates for Age and Dates Archives for lengthy pages Search box bookmarklet for your browser Wikipedia search box focus Are your hands full? (Use search box as a small but convenient clipboard) Shortcuts Shortcuts Navigate faster using Wikipedia shortcuts Work faster with keyboard shortcuts Keyboard shortcuts Navigation Use your browser's toolbar to navigate Wikipedia Your customizable Wikipedia navigation hub Navigation popups Power tool: Navigation Popups Become clairvoyant with Navigation Popups How to skip scrolling and clicking How to turn links to disambiguation pages orange so you can see them How to turn redirects green MetaTips Wikipedia's dozen most essential tips Wikipedia's top ten essential tips Wikipedia's top ten power tips Wikipedia's ten most powerful tips Six of one, half-a-dozen of the other These need sorting into the above categories Be sure to check for duplication - do not include them if they are already there! Note: this section is currently empty. Tip of the moment... Lead Section Size The lead section of a Wikipedia article is the section before the first heading. The table of contents, if displayed, generally appears between the lead section and the first subheading. Rule of thumb: If a topic deserves a heading or subheading, then it deserves short mention in the lead. The lead section should contain up to four paragraphs, depending on the length of the article, and should provide a preview of the main points the article will make, summarizing the primary reasons the subject matter is interesting or notable. The lead should be capable of standing alone as a concise overview of the article, should be written in a clear and accessible style, should be carefully sourced like the rest of the text, and should encourage the reader to want to read more. The following table has some general guidelines for the length of the lead section: < 15,000 characters medium size > 30,000 characters one or two paragraphs   two or three paragraphs   three or four paragraphs Prior tip – Tips library – Next tip Summary essay: WP:CREATELEAD   Read more: Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Lead section   Become a Wikipedia tipster To add this auto-randomizing template to your user page, use {{totd-random}} See also Help desk Tip of the day related Wikipedia:Tip of the day – main page Chronological list of tips Alphabetical list of tips Tip display template types Tip display template gallery Manual of Style related Wikipedia:Simplified Manual of Style – an overview of commonly used style guidelines. Wikipedia:Styletips – a list of advice for editors on writing style and formatting n a bullet-point format Help:Introduction to the Manual of Style – a quick introduction to the style guide for articles User:Tony1/Beginners' guide to the Manual of Style – a summary of the main Manual of Style page Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Reading schedule – a reading schedule designed to assist editors in becoming familiar with Manual of Style General formatting Wikipedia:Contributing to Wikipedia – a page that provides information on the basics needed to edit Wikipedia. Wikipedia:Writing better articles – guidance on how to improve articles Help:Cheatsheet – a page that provides the most commonly used wiki markup Wikipedia:Dos and don'ts – summaries of Wikipedia's policies, guidelines, and formatting standards in a bullet-point format

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