Wikipedia:Tips

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Tips on using and contributing to Wikipedia

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This is Wikipedia's tip library. 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, but are listed here by title and organized by subject area for your convenience.

See also Tip of the day and the Tip of the day talk page (where the tips are written). For other useful directories, see the navigation bar above.


Tip of the day...
External links
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Wikipedia is not a web directory; no page should consist solely of a collection of external links. Wikipedia prefers internal links over external links. However, adding a limited number of relevant external links is of valuable service to our readers.

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Small, smiling humanoid with pointed ears and a huge bell-shaped cap
WikiGnomes are welcome here. Please proofread our tips!

Tips about Wikipedia as a whole[edit]

Don't believe everything you read
Help Wikipedia help you
Copyrights? Copyleft
How reliable is Wikipedia?
What the world knows about us
How popular is Wikipedia?
"Where do I begin?"

Tips on accessing Wikipedia pages[edit]

Wikipedia for your cell phone or PDA

Finding your way around Wikipedia and beyond[edit]

"Where do I begin?"
To see everything on Wikipedia about a subject area...
Wikipedia has 20 sections, called namespaces
Namespace entry points
How to see a list of the pages in a namespace
Wikipedia's alphabetical index of articles
Getting a subpage listing
How to get a list of a page's subpages
Wikimedia links and shortcuts
Linking to non-Wikimedia wikis
Can't find what you are looking for?

Tips on searching[edit]

Highlight text on any website, then search Wikipedia for it with a single click
Wikipedia-search with auto-completion
How to search Wikipedia with Lycos
Using Wikipedia's search box:
When a search fails, check your spelling
How to jump to the search box
When "Go" doesn't work, try "Search"
Using the prefix in searches
Searching Wikipedia with Google:
Search Wikipedia faster with Google search tricks
Wikipedia-specific Google searchbox
Wikipedia-specific searching with Google
Search Wikipedia with Google's site-specific search feature
Wikipedia-specific Google searchbox
When and how to exclude Wikipedia from your Google search
Another way to search Wikipedia with Google
Search Wikipedia and Google at the same time
Google Toolbar Current Site Search Button
Firefox search tips:
Wikipedia-specific searching within Firefox
Wikipedia Search Box for Firefox

Tips on bookmarking, creating access points, etc.[edit]

How to change your default Main Page
Wikipedia toolbar for Firefox

Getting help[edit]

Are you looking for help?
Go to the right desk
Ask intelligent questions I
Ask intelligent questions II
Keep track of your questions
Do you need administrator assistance?
Where to post requests

Tips for contributors on getting started[edit]

Create a user account
Why create an account?
How to sign your name on talk pages
Advanced Signatures I
Advanced Signatures II
Please read department instructions
Displaying Tip of the day on your user page
Create your sister accounts now
The five pillars
Are you lost?
Speed up your learning curve...

Tips on working with articles[edit]

Be neutral, like Wikipedia
Be neutral when editing Wikipedia
Look before you leap
How to create a new page
Page history
SuggestBot is a fun way to pick pages to edit
A fun way to pick pages to edit
The three revert rule
List the things to do for an article
The lead section
Lead section edit trick
Placing a page's Table of Contents
Section edit button
Avoid trademarks
Avoid using neologisms
Cite your sources
Where did that fact come from?!
Don't use forums or emails as sources
Forums and emails are not acceptable sources
Citation Requests
Acronyms and initialisms
S.W.A.T., T.I.M, & the U.S.D.A
Preventing markup glitches
Working with table formatting
Pretty tables
Using Math
Placing "External links" sections
How to create reusable boilerplate
Footnotes
Please fill-in edit summaries
Remember: fill-in the edit summary
Abbreviating edit summaries
Edit summary memory trick
Spellcheck before you hit "Save"
Spell Checkers
Use "Show preview" to check your work before you hit "Save"
Moving pages
Fix double redirects
Collaborations

Tips on creating and editing links[edit]

Using Special:MyPage to make private links
Linking to another article
How to create a link to another article
Time-saving links: the "pipe trick"
Time-saving links II
Linking to a section
Linking articles: the internal link
Link tricks
When not to use links
External links
Interwiki links and shortcuts
Create links faster with link tricks
Placing interlanguage links
How to provide a link to a specific Google Search
Short link pipe trick
How to link to word definitions
How to link to a category
Sister projects & interwiki linking
Time-saving links
How to make links look the way you want
Google search link
My link disappeared!
How to link to a section of an article
How to link to a category without categorizing the page
How to use red links
Placing "External links" sections
Wikimedia links and shortcuts
Linking to non-Wikimedia wikis

Category tips[edit]

How to add an article to a category
How to create a category
How to create a subcategory
Category tips
Placing category tags
Sorting entries in the categories

Tips on working with specific types of pages[edit]

Redirects
Redirect synonymous topic names
Band articles
Working on the Main Page
Featured content
Beware of instruction creep
When to use subpages

List tips[edit]

Topic list
The topic list
Why have lists when there are categories?
List building
Alphabetical list of articles

Disambiguation page tips[edit]

Formatting disambiguation pages

Tips on working with images[edit]

Placing images
How to find legal photographs and graphics
Tag your image uploads
Cite the source on all image uploads
Uploading Free Images
Inserting a picture in an article

Boilerplate/template tips[edit]

Templates
What are templates used for?
Transclusion
Placing templates
How to transclude a page into the page you are editing
Transclusion caveat
Inclusion vs. Transclusion

User page tips[edit]

Your very own Wikipedia bookmark page
Need ideas for your user page design?
How to display the tip of the day on your user page
User Sub Pages
Userboxes

Other ways to contribute[edit]

Be a Help Desk volunteer
Welcoming Committee
Join the fight against vandalism
Become an Administrator
Help test the MediaWiki software

Communicating with other editors[edit]

Talking to Wikipedians
What to do about unsigned comments
What did he say?
Wikijargon
Be forgiving to new users
Gain feedback on your editing from other editors
Posting on the Wikipedia Community Bulletin Board
How to catch admin attention fast
Love thy neighbor
In conflicts, reach consensus
Explaining Wiki markup to other users
Wikimedia-wide issues
Strikeout button
Centralizing project discussion
Screenshots
Wikimedia has mailing lists

Watchdogging (monitoring) Wikipedia[edit]

Preview tomorrow's featured article
Use your watchlist
How to watch for pages that don't exist yet
How to enable the Enhance recent changes setting
Join the Recent Changes Patrol!
Join Wikipedia's Counter Vandalism Unit
To count your edits, use Essjay's Edit Counter
Editcountitis

Configuring and customizing your account[edit]

Reserve your username on the sister projects, before it gets taken
How to change your username
Keeping track of time
How to adjust the height of your edit window
Making the edit summary input field larger
How to enable right-click section editing
Double click editing
How to disable the section edit links
How to enable the Enhance recent changes setting
Customize appearance of dates
User scripts
User scripts
Install your first javascript

Tips on working faster[edit]

Your customizable Wikipedia navigation hub
Think outside the box
Think outside the box
Wikipedia search box focus
The edit toolbar
How to enable right-click section editing
Double click editing
Shortcuts
Navigate fast using shortcuts
Navigate faster using Wikipedia shortcuts
Use Wikipedia shortcuts to navigate faster
Work faster with keyboard shortcuts
Keyboard shortcuts
Fast Wikipedia editing with AutoWikiBrowser
Power-editing with AutoWikiBrowser
Navigation popups
Power tool: Navigation Popups

MetaTips[edit]

Wikipedia's dozen most essential tips
Wikipedia's dozen most powerful tips
Wikipedia's top ten essential tips
Wikipedia's top ten power tips
Six of one, half-a-dozen of the other

These need sorting into the above categories[edit]

Be sure to check for duplication - don't include them if they are already there!

When is a Wikipedia project a WikiProject?
The Wikipedia Curriculum
Spoken Wikipedia
Mediation Cabal
Wiki-exploration: beyond Wikipedia...
Fansites, Forums, & other Webpage Articles
Viewing Persondata
Making the editbox more visually pleasing
Permission Requests
The Lead Section
Try and see it my way!
Pick from a list of template parameter choices
World of fiction
Same titles, different meanings
Brilliant pictures
Undoing edits
No copies of primary sources
Dynamic date conversion
Find stubs and expand them
How to look at the changes to an article
How to customize your signature
When to use external links
How to add a picture to an article
How to skip scrolling and clicking
Wikipedia etiquette = Wikiquette
Section editing
What writing style to use
Where to write about current events
Link articles to their foreign-language counterparts
Automating tasks on Wikipedia
Wikipedia needs pictures. How you can help...
Accuracy, quality and peer review
What can be included in Wikipedia?
Freedom of speech and profanity
Your user page
Upgrade Recent Changes in my preferences
Watching for changes
If you have privileged access to web pages...
Troubleshooting Wikipedia's look and feel with skins
Go Search
Not everything that's true is verifiable
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