Wikipedia Easy Search

This is an archive of past discussions about Wikipedia:Tip of the day. Do not edit the contents of this page. If you wish to start a new discussion or revive an old one, please do so on the current talk page.

Archive 1

Archive 2

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wikEd

New and advance users can edit pages with ease by installing wikEd on your browser (works on all except opera and IE). http://en.wikipedia.orgview_html.php?sq=Qlik&lang=&q=User:Cacycle/wikEd_installation Harsh 2580 (talk) 09:17, 1 May 2012 (UTC)

— Preceding unsigned comment added by Harsh 2580 (talk • contribs) 09:11, 1 May 2012 (UTC)

Peacock words

Try not to use words like greatest and best unless it has been statistically proven. Use (Singer X is considered by many as the best singer) instead of (Singer X is the best singer)

Use your userpage

Use your User page to do stuff you can't normally do on Wikipedia. Try out techniques, have userboxes, try out your template skills, and make a user page worthy of Wikipedia!

Editing

If you are stumped on what to edit next, try using User:SuggestBot. They, however, need to know what you've edited previously. For other ideas on what you can contribute, check out Wikipedia:Contributing to Wikipedia.

"Am I logged in?" Don't be confused.

Do you sometimes make edits, without realising that you weren't logged in? There is an easy way to avoid this. Log in, go to preferences, and choose a different skin. Or change the quickbar so it is on a different part of the page. That way, it's obvious straight away whether you are logged in or not. E.g. you may wish to use the Cologne Blue skin.

If another Wikipedian uses the same computer and likes the same skin, one of you could place the quickbar on the right hand side so that it's obvious who is logged in.

Read more: Wikipedia:Customisation#Skins

Omniwiki!

With this trick you can look up any Wikipedia article directly from any web page by merely highlighting the word you want to know more about and clicking a button! Use the javascript below as a link on your browser toolbar. Make sure you get it all on one line, a simple Copy/Paste will probably only get the first line:

javascript:q = %22%22 + (window.getSelection ? window.getSelection() : document.getSelection ? document.getSelection() : document.selection.createRange().text); if (!q) q = prompt(%22Enter a Wikipedia topic:%22, %22%22); /* if (q!=null) { location=%22http://en.wikipedia.orgview_html.php?sq=Qlik&lang=&q=%22 + escape(q).replace(/ /g, %22+%22);} void 0; */ if (q!=null) { WindowObjectReference = window.open(%22http://en.wikipedia.orgview_html.php?sq=Qlik&lang=&q=%22 + escape(q).replace(/ /g, %22+%22), %22DescriptiveWindowName%22, %22resizable=yes,scrollbars=yes,status=yes%22); } void 0;

Now, when you highlight any word on a webpage and click this link, a new window will open up with the Wikipedia article for that word! You can also change the URL and have the link take you to Wiktionary definitions, or even perform a Google search on the term (put in "http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=") So there it is, have fun with it!

You Got Your Sig Together?

At some point after you open an account with Wikipedia you'll probably want to "fancify" your signature, make it more "unique". And Wiki allows for a lot of creativity on your part. Read about that at Customizing your signature.

Here's a tip! You might decide to put a space in your sig, perhaps between your Username link and your Talk-page link. Unless you want your sig to "break in two" at the end of a line, don't just hit the space-bar key, use one of Wiki's "non-breaking space" options. It's real easy, and that way all of your sig will completely wrap around to the next line. Now that's keeping your sig together!

Read more about it here: Non-breaking_space
and also here: Wikipedia:Line_break_handling

To the administrator: The perfect form?

This Tip Is Lineboggling!

There might be times when you want to use lines as separators on your pages. Wikipedia gives you the Wiki four-hyphen code, like this: ---- and you can also use the HTML <hr> tag. Watch this...

---- renders as a line all the way across...

<hr> gives the same line...

<hr width=50%> renders...

<hr width=30%> yields...

and so on.

Visualizing redirects

There is a way to make redirects stand out from a long list of links by visualizing them. This quick and easy solution was found by Kim van der Linde using customized CSS:

Go to "My preferences", click on the tab "Appearance", and click the "Custom CSS" link behind the skin you use. It opens a page, and you can add there the following code (just copy and paste it):

.mw-redirect {
color: #006633;
}
.mw-redirect:visited {
color: #009900;
}
.mw-redirect:hover {
color: #990000;
}
.mw-redirect:active {
color: #990000;
}

Change the color codes if you want. Save the page, and reload (bypass your cache) to force the new CSS to be included. All redirects will now show up as green links!

Read more:List of ISO 639-1 codes

-- ☩Damërung ☩. -- 14:17, 10 July 2009 (UTC)

Contractions aren´t suitable

When writing in their computer, people often make use of contractions. Contractions like "IDK", "lag", "lol", "u" (slang) are obviously not suitable to use in article namespace, however, even common things like: "aren´t", "it's", "should´ve" and others, are neither suposed to be part of an article text, so when writing an article, keep in mind to avoid contractions and other informal writing. Also avoid:

The use of scrolling lists in article prose
Using images to display text
Such phrases as "remember that..." and "note that...", which address readers directly in an unencyclopedic tone

Read more:WP:CONTRACTION, Manual of style, Internet slang

-- Damërung ^{...ÏìíÏ...}_{__Ξ_} . -- 18:09, 28 June 2009 (UTC)

Orphans

An important aspect of Wikipedia is how well articles can be reached from other articles by means of linking. An article that has fewer than three links to it in other articles, however, is called an "orphan," and should be dealt with in a number of ways:

Tag the article as an orphan using the {{Orphan}} template.
Create necessary links on other articles to the orphaned article (but make sure they're relevant).
Remove the {{Orphan}} template from the article when there are three or more links to it.

Keep in mind that links from disambiguation pages, redirects, lists, soft redirects, talk pages, and Wikipedia pages outside of article space do NOT count towards the three links to a given article.

Also, keep in mind some of the ways to avoid creating orphaned articles...like browsing the templates with red links page when considering making a new article.

Read more: Orphans, WikiProject Orphanage

ARTICHOKE-BOY (Talk) 15:45, 28 June 2009 (UTC)

Discussions in other user´s talk pages

In the talk page of an article´s section, wikipedia section or portal section (amog others), if you post a question or comment, you will get your reply in that same section. However, some users will reply comments in your talk page instead of their own. This makes reading back a conversation quite cumbersome; having to switch talk pages back and forth in order to make sense of the conversation, something even worse when the discussion involves more than two users. This is why is suggested as a tip to answer a message in the same section it was created.

For this matter, templates such as {{Talkback}}, {{Usertalkback}} and {{Shoutbox}} became useful:

{{Usertalkback}} - To post the message of this hint in your talk page.
{{Talkback}} or {{tb}} - To notify other user that you have already replied.
{{Shoutbox}} - To make smaller coments (avoiding to create a whole new section for that) and even place the {{Talkback}} template inside.

Read more:Talkback, Talk back note, Shoutbox

-- Damërung ^{...ÏìíÏ...}_{__Ξ_} . -- 08:42, 24 June 2009 (UTC)

When Speedy Deletions are not Speedy

Occasionally, there are times where a long backlog for speedy deletions exists. Thus, don't panic if a speedy tag you placed on an article isn't acted upon immediately. Other times, a speedy tag may linger for a while because no admin is willing to accept or decline it. Consider taking the article to Articles for Deletion if it is such a case.

ηoian ‡orever ηew ‡rontiers 05:12, 16 June 2009 (UTC)

Get rid of the stress

Bored or tired a bit of writing tons of articles and sections? You can always find funny ways of relaxing here on wikipedia:

Customize your page or signature
Sign other guest books (or make your own)
Search secret pages among other users (some may give you an award)
Give out some barnstars, or hunt 'em
Spend some time in the department of fun
Participate in the Wiki-cup
Vote or nominate specific things like pictures or articles
Welcome the newbies
Join to specific discussions (perhaps in projects, perhaps to arbitrate or give neutral point of view...)

Just remember, wikipedia is not a forum or a blog, so just don´t move too away from wikipedia´s goal and scope.

Read more:WP:NOT, Wikipedia:Department of Fun

-- Damërung ^{...ÏìíÏ...}_{__Ξ_} . -- 08:03, 14 June 2009 (UTC)

Proper citations - an easy way

You need to have installed:

Firefox free open source browser (or Netscape Navigator or Flock)
Zotero free open source citation manager

Zotero can capture citation data from web pages, including library catalogs (WorldCat) and bibliographic indexes and export them in Wikipedia citation format.

Set Zotero:Actions(cog):Preferences to export Wikipedia citation template.

To cite:

Show the web page with citation information in your browser
Click the Zotero icon on the right of address line to capture the bibliographic data to a Zotero item
Highlight the bibliographic item in the Zotero window
Use Zotero Quick Copy (Ctrl-alt-C or Cmd-shift-C)
Click the Wikipedia <ref/ref> button to insert a reference.
Paste citation into the reference

Voila! A properly contructed wikipedia citation in a few seconds.

--Blouis79 (talk) 23:54, 23 July 2008 (UTC)

Avoid Double Redirects

Always try to avoid adding Double Redirects. Redirects are special pages that automatically causes the text of another page to be dispalyed in its place. A redirect which leads to another redirect is a double redirect. Wikipedia will not follow the second redirect making it unpleasant for readers.

Read more: Wikipedia:Double redirects

Juthani1 17:58, 4 May 2008 (UTC)

Barnstars

You can always appreciate another user, and you can always show it with a barnstar! Barnstars are are little award-like templates that have stars and messages in them! They can cheer up someone´s day and encourage that person to keep doing constructive edits on wikipedia (and staying in wikipedia). Barnstars are a joyful way to show recognition to the work of a wikipedian. You don't have to be an admin, in fact you don't have to be logged in! Anyone can hand them out, and remember, if you appreciate others, and you show it, then you can get a barnstar too. (you can also customize them, instead of the usual-given barnstar)

Wikipedia talk:Tip of the day/Archive 4