Help:Editing FAQ

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This page complements Help:Editing pages.

Below are curated questions and answers from editing-related "Help:" pages. If you find valuable information elsewhere, feel free to contribute it here.

Editing a page

Q: How can I edit a page that already exists?

A: To edit a Wiki page, click the "edit" tab at the top of the page for full-page editing, or click the "edit" link next to a specific section for editing that section only. See the Introduction to Wikipedia Editing for more guidance.

Q: How can I sign the content I edit?

A: Use three tildes (~~~) for a link to your user page, four (~~~~) for the link and save time, and five (~~~~~) for just the time and date.

Q: Is it possible to link to a specific section header if there are multiple sections with the same name? If so, how?

A: Yes, each section header (in any size or depth) is numbered based on how many times its name appears on the page. For example, if there are three headers named "Foo," they can be linked as [[#Foo 1]], [[#Foo 2]], and [[#Foo 3]]. The number "1" is usually unnecessary, as linking to the first header automatically occurs with [[Foo]]. To hide the number, use a piped link like [[Foo 2|Foo]].

If you're unsure how many times a header appears on a page, there are two ways to find out.

Refer to the table of contents.
To link to a specific header in a webpage with a table of contents, you can click on the header you want, and the page will jump to it. The will display the ID of that header at the end. For instance, if the header name is "Foo" and it's the third instance, the URL might look like this:
http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Example_article#Foo_3

To create a link to this header, you would use [[#Foo 3]].
Inspect the source.
When inspecting the source code, locate the desired section and note its ID tags, which display a numerical value. For instance, if the section header is named "Foo" and it's the second occurrence, its tags would be:
<p><a name="Foo_2" id="Foo_2"></a></p>

<h3>Foo</h3>

This indicates that the section can be linked with [[#Foo 2]].

These numbers will unfortunately change as the article is edited, which can be resolved by following the process at Linking sections using an arbitrary id.

Other

Q: Can preformatted text be included in a numbered list?

A: Using HTML List Elements: One approach involves using HTML list elements directly within the table cell:

Ordered list:

Use ordered lists (OL) to begin each item with a number.
End a list item before starting a line with spaces.

Here is a pre-formatted text.
Enclosed within a border.

And the last item

<ol>
<li>Use ordered lists (OL) to begin each item with a number.</li>
<li>End a list item before starting a line with spaces.</li>
<pre>
Here is a pre-formatted text.
Enclosed within a border.
<li>And the last item</li>
</ol>

Unordered list:

one

two

Here are a couple lines...
...of preformatted text

and the numbering
starts over

<nowiki>
<ul>
<li>one</li>
<li>two<pre>

Here are a couple lines...
...of preformatted text

and the numbering

starts over

</nowiki>

Q: Signing?

Even though I use the four tildes as instructed, my username isn't linked to my user page.

I type the four tildes as it says every time, but where my name is there isn't a link to my user page and after I do it the SineBot says I haven't signed it (even though you can see my name there) and then it signs it for me. Bsrboy 22:58, 25 March 2009 (UTC) <<< see? >>>

A: Ensure that your username is linked to your user page when signing comments you can do this by confirming that your signature appears as a link to your user page. For example, Network-charles. Also double-check that you are using four tildes (~) correctly, sometimes, errors in typing or formatting can prevent the signature from registering properly.

Q: Can I create a frame structure on a Wiki page?

I want to embed a chart into my Wiki page.

A: You can achieve this using HTML <div> elements with inline CSS styles. Set the <div> height and width, and enable scrolling with the overflow property.

Using Tables

Q: Is it possible to create transparent borders and rules for a table?

A: Yes, it's possible. However, it's challenging because there isn't a specific "cellborder" command for table styles. You can adjust the BORDER and RULE attributes, but browsers may not always interpret them as desired.

I think the easiest way to write this is using wiki table notation with a different background for the table and for each row.

123	456	789
987	654	321

{|style="background:white"
|- style="background:lightgrey;"
| 123 || 456 ||789
|- style="background:lightgrey;"
| 987 || 654 || 321
|}

Using Links

Q: How can I create a link that opens in a new tab or window?

see: Manual:Opening_external_links_in_a_new_window