Wikipedia:How to create a page

This page sets forth the nuts and bolts of creating a page in any namespace – the mechanics of doing so. Please note that only logged in users can create pages in non-talk namespaces.

This page does not delve into the reasons one should or should not create a page, what to consider before doing so, nor what content would or would not be appropriate. For a more general treatment regarding the DOs and DON'Ts of article creation, please see Wikipedia:Your first article. For a general introduction to contributing, see Wikipedia:Contributing to Wikipedia and consider taking a tour through the Wikipedia:Tutorial. For a guided process to create an article (and for which these technical instructions will not be needed), see the article wizard and Wikipedia:Articles for creation, where a proposed article will first be created as a draft and then submitted for review before possible "publication" by a move to the article mainspace.

For relevant considerations before creating an encyclopedia article, please see the main notability guideline, our policies on verifiability, writing from a neutral point of view, our restrictions on original research and our guide to what Wikipedia is not. For styling issues, see the manual of style and the article layout guideline. For what title to choose for an article, see the article titling policy.

How a page is created

All Wikipedia pages are created by accessing a page title that does not yet exist, usually by clicking on a red-colored link (which denotes non-existence, as opposed to a blue link which, with some exceptions, indicates the linked page exists). Creation is simple: upon clicking a red link, you will be transported to a blank page. Once there, enter any text and then click the Publish changes button. That's it; the page should have been created.

Many pages are created after a user sees an existing red link on a page, and then follows these steps. The methods explored below describe how to access a non-existent page when a red link is not already presented to you, in order for you to follow these steps to creation.

Method 1: searching

Enter text in the search field that you seek to create as a page title. If the title you entered does not already exist, is not technically restricted and is not creation protected, the resulting page will i) tell you that it does not exist; ii) advise that you can create the page, and iii) will provide a red link to the page title. It will normally appear in the following form (it may vary depending on the skin you have set):

   There were no results matching the query.

   You may create the page "Red-linked Text You Searched For".

Method 2: previewing a red link

  1. Click edit on any accessible page;
  2. Surround the page title you want to create in doubled brackets, e.g., [[Proposed Title]];
  3. Click the Show preview button (not the Publish changes button);
  4. Click on the red link revealed.

Method 3: saving a red link

Often you will want to have easy continuing access to a page you create. One way is to save a link at your user page, or sometimes, on your user talk page. Once you save a red link there, and create the page, the link will turn blue and will be accessible anytime you visit it.

  1. Go to your user or user talk page (both permanently linked at the top of any Wikipedia page);
  2. Surround the page title you want to create in doubled brackets, e.g., [[Proposed Title]];
  3. Click the Publish changes button;
  4. Click on the red link revealed.

Method 4: changing a URL

If you click edit on any existing page or page section and then change the title of the page shown in the URL of your browser's address bar to the name of a non-existent page, and then hit return/enter, the resulting page shown will be the same as if you clicked on a red link, allowing you to create a page by the title entered. For example, were you to click edit at the top of this page, you would see this URL in your browser's address bar:

https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:How_to_create_a_page&action=edit

To make a page called "Proposed Title" using it, you would change it to:

https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Proposed Title&action=edit

Namespace considerations

Wikipedia data structure
Subject namespaces Talk namespaces
0 (Main/Article) Talk 1
2 User User talk 3
4 Wikipedia Wikipedia talk 5
6 File File talk 7
8 MediaWiki MediaWiki talk 9
10 Template Template talk 11
12 Help Help talk 13
14 Category Category talk 15
100 Portal Portal talk 101
108 Book Book talk 109
118 Draft Draft talk 119
446 Education Program Education Program talk 447
710 TimedText TimedText talk 711
828 Module Module talk 829
2300 Gadget Gadget talk 2301
2302 Gadget definition Gadget definition talk 2303
-1 Special
-2 Media

Articles versus other namespaces

Only encyclopedia articles are created without a namespace prefix. All pages outside of the article mainspace are prefixed by the namespace followed by a colon before the title, e.g., your user page's title starts with the prefix  User: The various namespaces are shown in the table to the right.

The red links one would thus create for any page that is not an encyclopedia article must start with the namespace prefix. For example, to create a proposed article in the Draft namespace, it would be created via a red link to [[Draft:Proposed Title]].

Category namespace exception

One exception to the instructions above regarding saving or previewing a red link is that links to pages in the Category namespace will not work unless a colon is also placed before the namespace prefix (missing this step will result in the page being placed into the category you typed). For example, if one wanted to create a category for "Canadian lute players", the red link would be invoked by previewing or saving the code: [[:Category:Canadian lute players]].

File namespace exception

The file namespace is another exception in that media files are not created directly by any of the methods discussed above. Rather, media files are uploaded, which is done through a separate and dedicated interface, accessed by clicking on "Upload file" from the tool menu on the left of a page. (Please note that media files that are in the public domain or which bear a free copyright license compatible with the free licenses borne by Wikipedia's content should be uploaded to the Wikimedia Commons rather than to Wikipedia, so that all Wikimedia projects have access to the media file.)

Restricted namespaces

There are four namespaces that are restricted from creation except by administrators and certain other users with higher access levels: Special pages, MediaWiki pages, Module pages and Education Program pages. However, any user may create talk pages of these namespaces, except for those in the Special namespace, which do not have direct talk pages at all.
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