Help:Editing pages/draft

Editing refers to the changing of a page by a MediaWiki user. Unless certain restrictions are in effect, such as protection, all pages are editable, by everyone. Some wikis now offer an alternative way to edit using the VisualEditor software, which allows users to edit without knowing wiki markup. Please read the VisualEditor user guide for help on editing with VisualEditor. This article provides help mainly on editing using the original wiki editor, which allows users to type wiki markup (also known as wikitext) directly onto the page.

In short
It's very easy to edit the contents of a wiki:


 * 1) Click the "edit source" tab at the top of the page (for MediaWiki versions up to ? the tab is labelled "edit").
 * 2) Make changes to the text.
 * 3) Click the "" button.

Simple as that!

Restrictions
Some pages cannot be edited by everyone. A special function known as protection can be applied to a page by administrators, making the said page uneditable to certain classes of users. There are several degrees of protection: There are various reasons why a page might be protected. Vandalism and spam can lead to semiprotection, while content wars and other severe cases can lead to full protection. There are other times where Office actions come into play. For the most part, protection is temporary and editing privileges are then restored. In any case, everyone can view the source of any page, irrespective of its level of protection.
 * If a page is semiprotected, it can be edited by everyone except IPs and accounts that have not yet been confirmed.
 * If a page is fully protected, only other admins can make edits to the page.
 * A page can also be protected so that it cannot be moved.
 * In some cases, an admin might see fit to protect a page from being created.
 * It is possible to apply "cascading" protection, wherein every page that is transcluded onto a page is protected too. Some wikis apply cascading protection to their main page.

Editing rules, editing conventions, and formatting
The number one rule of wiki editing is to be bold. Go ahead - make changes. Other people can correct any mistakes you make, so have confidence, and give it a try! There are all kinds of editing conventions, rules, and philosophies for the editing of wiki pages, but the "be bold" rule is the most important of these!

An edit can contribute whole new paragraphs or pages of information, or it can be as simple as fixing a typo or a spelling mistake. In general, try to add or edit text so that it is clear and concise. Most importantly, make sure you are always aiming to do something which improves the contents of the wiki.

When you need to use some type of formatting, such as for a new heading or bolding of text, you may be able do this using the edit toolbar if this is installed above the editing zone. Alternatively you can type the wikisyntax directly. See Help:Formatting for some of the common types of formatting used.

Edit summary
Before you save a change, you can enter a short note in the "" box describing your changes. Don't worry too much about this, or spend too much time thinking about it: just put in a short description of what you just changed. For example, you might say "fixed typo" or "added more information about sunflowers".

This summary gets stored alongside your edit, and allows people to help-tracking1>Special:MyLanguage/Help:Tracking changes|track changes in the wiki more effectively.

Preview
It's a good idea to use the "" button to see what your change will look like, before you save it. This is also related to help-tracking2>Special:MyLanguage/Help:Tracking changes|tracking changes because every time you save, this is displayed to others as a separate change. This isn't something to worry about too much, but it's good to get into the habit of eliminating mistakes in your own work, by using a preview before saving, rather than saving, then having to do another edit just to make one or more minor corrections.

Show changes
The "" button allows you to see the differences between the current version and your draft version, before saving.

Anti-spam features
Some wikis use anti-spam features to combat spam edits. If the page you are editing uses an anti-spam feature, you will need to follow the instructions on completing the anti-spam task, before clicking on "".

Minor edit
There is a checkbox below the edit summary, which if checked will mark the edit as "minor". An edit marked as minor appears on the right of a lower case, bolded "m" character (m) in the page history. It is used when the edit results only in superficial changes to the page, such as spelling corrections, formatting and presentational changes, rearranging of text without modifying the content. A minor edit is a version that the editor believes requires no review and could never be the subject of a dispute.

By contrast, a major edit is a version that should be reviewed to confirm that it is consensual to all concerned editors. Therefore, any change that affects the meaning of an article is not minor, even if the edit is a single word; for example, the addition or removal of "not", which can vastly change the meaning of a sentence, paragraph, section or article.

The distinction between major and minor edits is significant because editors may choose to ignore minor edits when reviewing recent changes; logged-in users might even set their preferences to not display them. If there is any chance that another editor might dispute a change, it is best to not mark the edit as minor.

Edit conflict
If two or more users are editing at the same time, the first user to save the page will succeed in saving the page in the normal way. On clicking "" the other users will go to an "edit conflict" page. This page will show the latest saved version of the page in an edit box at the top and the version which the later editor has drafted in an edit box at the bottom. In between these the difference between the two versions is shown. The later editor will need to amend the version in top box, ideally incorporating the changes of both editors in the final version to be saved. See meta article on edit conflicts for further details.

Discussion
Every article has its own "talk page" where you can ask questions, make suggestions, or discuss corrections. See help-talkpage>Special:MyLanguage/Help:Talk pages|Help:Talk pages.

Additional editing tools

 * Wikipedia tools