Editing most pages is easy. There are two methods of editing: classic editing through wiki markup(wikitext) and through a newer VisualEditor (VE).
To practice editing, go to the sandbox, and click the "Edit" tab. An editing window that contains the text for that page will be displayed. Type in something, or make changes to the text you'll find there. Then click the Save page button and see what the result looks like.
Wiki markup editing is chosen by clicking the Edit tab at the top of a page. This will take you to a new page containing the editable contents of the current page. Wiki markup is used extensively throughout Wikipedia for such things as hyperlinks, tables and columns, footnotes, inline citations, special characters and so on.
The VisualEditor option is intended as a user-friendly, "What You See Is What You Get" (WYSIWYG) editing aid allowing anyone to edit pages without the need to learn wikitext markup. It is only available to registered logged-in users through an opt-in choice available through your personal preferences.
- Two editing environments: wikitext and VisualEditor
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Edit box showing the wikitext markup. You can change the formatting and contents of the page by changing what is written in this box. -
Screenshot showing the same article in VisualEditor. Unlike the wiki markup display, VisualEditor will show the text being edited almost as if it were already saved.
Edit summary
First, any time you edit a page, it is considered good etiquette (or "Wikiquette") to enter an explanation of your changes in the Edit summary box, which you will find below the edit window. It is okay for your explanation to be quite short. For example, if you are making a spelling correction, you might just type "typo." Also, if the change you have made to a page is minor, such as correcting a spelling or grammar error, check the box "This is a minor edit" (this box is only available if you have logged in).
Show preview
Second, you should always use the Show preview' button. After you have entered a change in the edit box, click the Show preview button instead of Save page. This lets you see what the page will look like after your edit, before you actually save. We all make mistakes; this feature helps you catch them before other people see them. Using Show preview before saving also lets you try format changes and other edits without cluttering up the page history.
Save the page
Provided an edit summary? Previewed the page? Then you are ready for the final step: Click the Save page button.
Before starting a new article, you should read about Wikipedia's notability guidelines. In short, the topic of an article must have already been the subject of publication in reliable sources, such as books published by major publishing houses, newspapers, magazines, peer-reviewed scholarly journals and websites that meet the same requirements as reputable print-based sources. Information on Wikipedia must be verifiable; if no reliable third-party sources can be found on a topic, then it should not have a separate article. Wikipedia's concept of notability applies this basic standard to avoid indiscriminate inclusion of topics.
Only registered users may create articles directly. Before creating an article, please search Wikipedia online to make sure that an article does not already exist on the subject you want to write about.
VisualEditor is a way to edit pages without needing to learn wikitext markup. It works more like a word processing application and is only available to registered, logged-in editors who have opted in.