User:Mothball/Toolset

My Shortcuts

[Insert the addresses of all the places you are working on or otherwise access often. If you open Wikipedia with this page (in lieue of the Main page), i.e., bookmark this page, you will then be able to reach wherever you want to go with a single click.]

Welcome Wagon

MUST READ: Links for newcomers:

[Hint: You can learn a lot just by clicking on the edit this page tab at the top on this or any other page and seeing how the various effects are actually produced. Don't forget to click Cancel— below the window on the right hand side— to make sure you don't inadvertantly change anything. Also, if you have made a planned edit, don't forget to Save page it, or your edits will be lost! Also, it's polite to leave an Edit summary (see above or below window), if you have changed anything, telling what you changed.]

1.

on talk and discussion pages using four tildes (~~~~); this will automatically produce your name and the date. (Three tildes will produce your name only.)
Note: <nowiki> and </nowiki> are codes used to suppress expansion of Wikipedia and HTML code tags so that the codes will show for illustration. They should normally not be used in standard text where the codes are intended to be expanded.
2. Questions? ==> check out
3. Write to the target audience: A related question, is who should the pages be written for? Most writers are in college or past college. However, there is evidence that most readers are high-school students, or others not too familar with a topic. (Else, why would they be looking it up in an encyclopedia?) What is obvious or of minor relevance to a CS student or grad, may be very unclear or important to a high-school student, someone who is thinking of returning to college, or just someone looking for information (but not a learned treatise). Of course, Wikipedia has yet to define its target audience very well.

• Discussion of Reading level

ToDo

Really, Really Important things

Spelling/Grammar checking

'Whenever doing anything but minor editing, copy and paste to a word-processor with real time spelling/grammar checking!

Information & Resources for Contributors & Editors

This is clearly not an exhaustive list. It is an eclectic collection intended to include the main features of Wikimedia, especially those not likely to reveal themselves easily to the novice. However, most of the very advanced features are not referenced here. (Note for Gen X, Y, Z, etc.— Think of Wikipedia, and Wikimedia in general, as a giant adventure game, where there is always something new around the corner...)

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More Style Stuff:

See also

Other Links:

Summary:

• Write first for the Educated Layperson (that's hard... But I would suggest using the "New Scientist" as a style example).
  • ...then try to do it better and write for the beginner (that's harder)
• If an educated layperson can't figure it out by following the wikilinks, then it's too hard.
  • Yes, we're experts (more or less) but we're writing for a general audience. We could write a clever, concise, deep sentence to explain something...but it's useless if it isn't easy to understand.
• Eschew argot, jargon, technicality and cant.

Formating:

How Users Read on the Web

• See Help:Editing

<!-- and --> (For hidden inserted comments.)  

Indenting by one space causes this box to form and suppresses certain codes.

Images

To insert an image into an article, edit the article and insert

File:Wiki Fairy.gif

[[Image:FILENAME.jpg| -- | -- | -- |Caption]]

For example, [[Image:Wiki Fairy.gif|thumb|right|160px|[[Wikipedia:WikiFairy|A Wiki fairy in the wild.]]]] Gives you the image on the right, where the caption is a wiki-link.

To have an image deleted, edit its description page and put
{{deletebecause|redundant to image FOO.jpg}} (but of course you would insert the name of the FOO.jpg image. Everything to the right of the | is comment. )

Redirects

• Help on Redirect
• Wikipedia Redirect (formatting)

#REDIRECT [[NAME OF REDIRECT TARGET]]

To go (back) to a redirect page itself (e.g., to change or delete the redirect), click http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=X_page&redirect=no and change the page name (here X_page) in the address bar of your browser. Type it in canonical form, i.e., starting with a capital letter and using underscores for spaces.)

Box Formats

Date	rank - name	main space edits	edits last 30 days	rank change
Month 27, 200x	000 UserName	0000	000	↑ 000

Formatting ISBN

• simply typing ISBN 3-540-60521-5 produces the special reference display
  ISBN 3-540-60521-5

$$$ Barnstar:

Be generous in your Barnstar awards.

Image:$$$ barnstar.png|Identify Barnstar

Congratulations!!! I hereby award a $$$ Barnstar to SomeEditor for Some Reason beyond the call of duty! UserName ~date~ (UTC)

Test Templates:

(For newcomers' greetings and vandals' 'greetings.')—

HTML Colors

HTML Colors for use in color=color Wikipedia (named color) codes, e.g., in place of the color=#FEDCBA98 (hexidecimal color) codes.

Personal Ditrious: