Help:Editing FAQ

This page is meant to accompany Help:Editing.

These questions and answers have been culled from some of the talk pages of the various editing-related Help: pages. If you see a useful answer there or anywhere else, please add it here.

Editing

Q: How do I sign the content I edit?

Three consecutive tildes (~~~) will insert a link to your user page. Four (~~~~) will insert that link and the save time and date. Five (~~~~~) insert just the time and date.

Q: Can I link to a specific section header if there are multiple section headers of the same name? If so, how?

A: Yes, you can. Each section header, regardless of size or depth, has a number corresponding to how many times that header's name has already appeared on the page. The number is "1" for the very first instance, "2" for the next, "3" for the next, and so on. You can link to each header just like a normal header, but using that number after the header's name (i.e. if there are three headers named "Foo," then the first can be linked to like so: [[#Foo 1]], the second. [[#Foo 2]], and the third, [[#Foo 3]]). Using the number "1" for the first header is generally superfluous, as the software will automatically link to the first header without using the number (i.e. [[Foo]]). If you don't want the number to show, then you have to use a piped link (e.g. [[Foo 2|Foo]]).

If you don't know how many times a given header has already appeared on a page (and thus the number to use), there are two ways to find out.

1. Use the table of contents.

   If a table of contents appears on the page, click on the header that you wish to link to. The page will jump to that header. Now, look at the URL. At the end, it will show the ID of the header in question. An example of a URL that has just been linked to a header named "Foo" that has already appeared twice (and so is the third instance):

   http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Example_article#Foo_3

   The header link at the end of the URL shows that to link to this header, you would use [[#Foo 3]].

2. Look at the source.

   While looking at the source, first find the section you're looking for, and then look at its ID tags. It will show the number in that tag. An example for a header named "Foo" that has already appeared once (and so is the second instance):

   <p><a name="Foo_2" id="Foo_2"></a></p>

   <h3>Foo</h3>

   The ID and name tags (the ones that say "a name=" and "id=") show that this header can be linked to with [[#Foo 2]].

Miscellaneous

Q: How do I get a page deleted?

See Wikipedia:Deletion policy. The simplest case is where an editor has created a sub-page of their user page and wishes it to be deleted. Put the code {{db-user}} at the top of the page, and save; an administrator will then delete the page for you.

Q: How do I archive my User Talk page?

Various possibilities are laid out at Help:Archiving a talk page. A convenient method, automatic once it has been set up, is to let a bot do the work. Copy the markup displayed at User:lowercase sigmabot III/Archive HowTo#Example 2 - incremental archives to the top of your user talk page, replacing the word "example" with your actual user name.

Tables

Q: Can I make transparent borders and rules on a table?

A: Yes.

That's a tough one because there is no "cellborder" directive for the table style. You can play with the BORDER and RULE attributes of table, but it seems that you cannot rely upon your browser to interpret that stuff the way you want it.

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

abc def ghi jkl mno pqr

{|style="background:white" |- style="background:lightgrey;" | abc || def ||ghi |- style="background:lightgrey;" | jkl || mno || pqr |}

Links

Q: Can I make a link to open in a new page?

See: http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Manual:Opening_external_links_in_a_new_window VoskampM 08:38, 10 March 2006 (UTC)