As you read this book, any time you're curious about a point, we very much encourage you to follow up by exploring and editing the live site at the same time. Wikipedia is open and welcoming to newcomers who make positive contributions, and you should be able to make a good start armed with the information we give.
Be bold is an old saying on the site. Be bold means that Wikipedia editors should update or change the encyclopedia whenever they see a problem and shouldn't feel inhibited by the editing process, which is forgiving. As you learn about Wikipedia, we encourage you to be bold in improving the site, and we hope you find it as exciting as we do.
If you want to get started right away and are unfamiliar with wiki editing, here are the basic concepts for how Wikipedia works:
| Open and instantaneous editing Wikipedia does not require that you register for an account to edit or create articles. Anyone who has a web browser and an Internet connection can add to or change content on the site. All changes are made instantaneously and are immediately visible online. (See Chapter 5.) |
| A full record of edits Wikipedia keeps a complete record of all changes that are made to any page. This page history is viewable by everyone. Each time a page is changed, a new version is saved, but the old versions are not lost. (See Chapter 4.) |
| Special editing syntax All content written on Wikipedia is formatted using a markup language, or wikisyntax. This special language is considerably easier to learn than HTML, the source language of web pages. (See Chapters Chapter 5, Chapter 8, and Chapter 9.) |
| Linked pages All pages on Wikipedia are linked to other Wikipedia pages to form a web of hypertext or interlinked pages. (See Chapters Chapter 3 and Chapter 8.) |
| Multimedia content Wikipedia has hundreds of thousands of images, sounds, and videos. (See Chapters Chapter 9 and Chapter 16.) |
| Content standards Wikipedia doesn't take everything; all articles must be encyclopedic, neutral, and verifiable. (See Chapters Chapter 1 and Chapter 6.) |
| Content up for discussion Each wiki page and article has an associated discussion or talk page. Interested editors can discuss any changes to an article. (See Chapters Chapter 4 and Chapter 12.) |
| Incremental improvements to articles You may see warning or cleanup messages on articles as you browse; these alert you to problems and let other editors know that work needs to be done to that article. Wikipedia is a work in progress. (See Chapters Chapter 4 and Chapter 7.) |
| Collaborative decision-making Decisions are made through discussion and achieving consensus and through processes in which anyone can take part. Disputes are resolved the same way. (See Chapters Chapter 7, Chapter 12, Chapter 13, and Chapter 14.) |
| Community A dedicated and complex volunteer community is behind Wikipedia, developing content, policies, and practices. Interactions with other editors should be civil and productive. (See Chapters Chapter 2, Chapter 11, Chapter 12, and Chapter 13.) |
| Not just the English-language Wikipedia Wikipedias exist in many languages, and several other wiki reference projects with different types of content are all part of the Wikimedia Foundation. (See Chapters Chapter 15, Chapter 16, and Chapter 17.) |
| Totally free All Wikipedia content is free to use and access; anyone is free to contribute; and all of the site's content is released under a free license, which means anyone may reuse it elsewhere. Wikipedia is a noncommercial project and has no advertisements. (See Chapters Chapter 1, Chapter 2, and Appendix A.) |
Everyone can contribute to Wikipedia. This is possible because Wikipedia is a wiki: Simply click Edit This Page at the top of an article and start writing. Here's a syntax cheatsheet to get you started. Happy editing!
Table 1. Wikisyntax Cheatsheet
Wiki Syntax | Result |
|---|---|
| italic |
| bold |
| bold and italic |
==heading== ===level 2=== ====level 3==== =====level 4===== | Section headings in different sizes |
| Internal link to another article on the wiki (links to pages that don't exist will show up in red) |
| Internal link with description |
| Internal link to Wikipedia namespace page with description |
External link | |
[http://www.example.org | External link with description |
---- | Horizontal line |
* one * two * three | Bulleted list:
|
# one # two # three | Numbered list:
|
<nowiki>Ignore wiki formatting; displays [[syntax]] as entered </nowiki> | Ignore wiki formatting; displays [[syntax]] as entered |
| struck text |
| User signature with timestamp (date and time); for use on discussion pages only |
| Produces |
| Image with alternate Text |
| Thumbnail image with Caption |
| Thumbnail image aligned right, with Caption |
|
| Thumbnail image aligned right, 300 pixels wide, with Caption |
| Link to audio file named File.ogg |
| Include Cleanup template in a page (see [[Template:Cleanup]] for template text) |
| Cleanup template with date parameter |
| Interwiki link to the French-language Wikipedia (appears under Languages on the left-hand sidebar) |
| When placed on an article, will add article to category Example |
| Link directly to Category:Example without categorizing the page |
| Redirect one page title to another page |
<ref> | The |
| Place this tag where you want footnotes to appear, typically under |
|
| |
| |
| Produces hidden comment in wikitext, only visible to other editors |
