This FAQ answers the most common questions about editing Wikipedia. Editing most Wikipedia pages is easy. Wikipedia uses two methods of editing: the new
VisualEditor (VE), and classic editing through
wiki markup (wikitext). The explanations on this page deal with wikitext editing (the method most used). For instructions on using VisualEditor see the
VisualEditor user guide.
Double square brackets: [[page name]]. If you wish to link to a page while displaying text different from the page name, use [[page name|text]].
To add a link, find an article that supports both the immediate context and main topic. The spelling of the page name can come from visiting the target and copying its title, from the
search box name-completion.
Markup the link, and then you may activate a
preview to test the new link. A missing link will be
red. Finally, follow a new link to
prove its intent.
Press the Enter key twice, and Wikipedia will start a new paragraph. To force a single new line (for instance, when you want to insert a poem) insert the
HTML element<br /> after the line.
Autoconfirmed users can
move a page; this moves the page content and edit history to a new title, and creates a
redirect page at the old title. Use the "Move this page" tab at the top of the article to perform a move or rename. Once you have moved a page, click the "What links here" link in the "toolbox" in the right column and fix the links to the old page (which will be labelled as a redirect in the "What links here" list).
The easiest way to edit the redirected page is to click on the link you see at the top of the page after being redirected: "redirected from ...". For example, if you try to go to the
William Jefferson Clinton page, you are redirected to the
Bill Clinton page. At the very top of that page, you will see a message: "(redirected from
William Jefferson Clinton)", Click on the
William Jefferson Clinton link, and you can edit the redirect page.
The mobile version often displays a "subtitle" or "subheading" below the page name and in search results. These pages have a "{{
short description}}", and works like this: {{short description|subtitle}}. See
Wikipedia:Short description.
First, you need the right to publish the picture under the
GNU Free Documentation License, an acceptable
Creative Commons license or another
free license. This means that either you created the picture and therefore own the copyright, or it is in the public domain. If you have a registered account that is four days old with at least ten edits, you can use
Wikipedia:File Upload Wizard to upload the image to Wikipedia, including it in wiki pages by including its file name, the thumbnail option, and a caption: [[File:NameOfImage.png|thumb|A descriptive caption]].
Click on the image to get the description page. Also, when you upload the file everything you put in the upload summary is placed into the
image description page. See
File:Boat.jpg for an example of what goes onto one of these pages.
Are there any tools to make editing easier/faster?
This is normally due to a mistake in the
markup for citing sources; look for a
HTML tag without a matching tag ('closing tag'), and add that closing tag in the appropriate place on the page. For more information, see
Wikipedia:Footnotes.
Where can I find information on the markup used in editing, eg <br /> and <noinclude>?
Your edits were deemed disruptive by an administrator, or it may be due to an automatic block by the software, see
Wikipedia:Autoblock. If you want to appeal your block, then put the text {{unblock|''reason''}} tag on
your talk page, putting the reason you think you have been wrongly blocked in for reason. An administrator will come and take a look, and decline or accept your request.
How can I insert a new section in an article?
See
Help:Section. There is no automated way to create a new section within an article, it is done manually by placing ='s around a heading, for example:
Is there a way to edit without having to deal with wikicode?
VisualEditor (VE) is a way to edit pages without needing to learn wikitext markup. For instructions on using VisualEditor, see
Help:VisualEditor. VisualEditor is in the beta testing stages and may contain bugs and glitches.