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Help:EasyTimeline syntax

The EasyTimeline feature produces an embedded image from wikitext. The image can be a one-dimensional diagram (horizontally or vertically), or a two-dimensional one. The name "EasyTimeline" refers to the possibility to apply the feature with a time scale horizontally or vertically, possibly with another parameter in the other direction, but there are also various other possiblities.

See also EasyTimeline, Help:EasyTimeline examples, EasyTimeline activation on other MediaWiki installations

Introduction
Graphical timelines can be produced by providing a script between special tags:

EasyTimeline will then be invoked to render a PNG image and (optionally) a clickable map.

Disclaimer: Even though EasyTimeline is designed for ease of use, a complicated graphical timeline is a non-trivial affair. A simple timeline may take half an hour to compose (or even less, when a suitable example is taken as a basis). Large timelines may take a few hours for composition and fine-tuning. However, adding to or correcting a timeline, no matter how complex, should be a relatively straightforward affair, even for contributors who have no expert knowledge of the syntax described here.

Feel free to ask the author of EasyTimeline for advice.

Available commands
The script commands define:
 * Overall layout: ImageSize, PlotArea, Colors, BackgroundColors, AlignBars
 * Interpretation and presentation of dates and periods: DateFormat, Period, ScaleMajor, ScaleMinor, TimeAxis
 * Events, periods and descriptive texts: PlotData, TextData
 * How to order, divide, and name groups of events and periods: BarData, Legend, LineData
 * Shorthands for pieces of script code that occur multiple times: Define

The following commands are mandatory: ImageSize, PlotArea, Period and TimeAxis. At least one of the following commands is required: PlotData and/or TextData. Either or both can occur multiple times. All other commands are optional.

Case: Commands and their attributes can be specified in lower, upper or mixed case. Please try to be consistent in applying case as this will further readability, e.g. use mixed case for all commands and lowercase for all attributes.

General syntax rules
A script can contain commands and comments. Each command is followed by one or more attributes.

Commands
Commands should start on the first position of a line. Some commands can be followed by multiple lines of data and/or options. These extra lines should start with at least one space or be completely empty (the latter is useful for visually grouping related data lines).

Commands have one of the following forms, depending on the type of command:

Command = attribute(s) DateFormat = dd/mm/yyyy Command name = attribute(s) Color Jp = value:red legend:Japan

Command = attribute(s)  attribute(s)  etc. PlotData = fontsize:XS width:20 bar:Japan from:start till:19/02/1945 color:JT bar:Japan from:19/02/1945 till:14/03/1945 color:AI

Comments
Single and multi line comments can be specified:
 * Text following the hash sign # will be regarded as a comment
 * Text between #> and <# will also be regarded as a comment. Comments can span multiple lines, when tagged this way.

Examples: Dateformat = dd/mm/yyyy # European date format

Period = from:01/09/1939 till:02/09/1945 #> this chart will show the complete duration of World War II <#

Attributes
When several attributes can be specified for a certain command, they are notated as 'name:value' pairs. When several values can be specified for one attribute they have to be enclosed between parentheses.

Examples: AlignBars = justify Color SB = value:rgb(0.8,0,0.7) legend:Sea_Battles

Parameters vs data items
Most commands only accept attributes that are specified on the same line.

Data blocks: some commands, like BarData, PlotData, TextData, Colors expect a data block consisting of one or more data lines. Data lines should start with one or more spaces. A data block is considered complete when a line starting with a non-space is encountered (exception: empty lines are ignored, they may be used to group related data lines within a block).

Attributes in a data block can conceptually be divided into parameters and data items. Data blocks can contain parameters and data items intermingled.

Data items: in data lines attributes text, from, till and at always apply only to the line in which they occur.

Parameters: in data lines attributes like color and fontsize have different implications depending on the context. If these parameters occur on a line without data items, they set new defaults for the data lines that follow. If they appear on a line mixed with data items they apply only to that line, thus overruling a default that was previously set.

Example:

 * 1) In this example two sets of bars are drawn, in red and blue respectively,
 * 2) but in each set one bar (marking war periods) will be drawn in green.

PlotData = color:red fontsize:S                              # set defaults bar:USSR from:1919 till:1922 text:Lenin           # red bar bar:USSR from:1922 till:1953 text:Stalin          # red bar bar:USSR from:1939 till:1945 text:WWII color:green # green bar bar:USSR from:1953 till:1964 text:Krushchev       # red bar color:blue                                        # change default color bar:US from:1913 till:1921 text:Wilson            # blue bar bar:US from:1917 till:1918 text:WWI color:green   # green bar bar:US from:1921 till:1923 text:Harding           # blue bar

even when the previous line does not start with a space<#
 * 1) > this multiline comment does not end command PlotData,

bar:US from:1923 till:1929 text:Coolidge          # blue bar

TextData =                                          # now PlotData is considered complete tabs:...etc

Special characters

 * #, #>, <# (hash, hash+"greater than", "less than"+hash): see Comments
 * ~ (tilde) in texts means: line break
 * ^ (caret) in texts means: tab
 * _ (underscore) in texts means: space
 * $ (dollar sign) precedes any user defined constant

Command Reference
For each command the valid attributes are listed. Some commands and/or attributes are optional (O).

For some commands certain attributes are mutually exclusive (will be explained where applicable).

AlignBars
Bars will always be drawn at equal distances. This command specifies whether the bars should be spaced as much apart as possible, or some white space should be reserved between the left/top side of the chart and the first bar or between the last bar and the right/bottom side of the chart.

 * early (default) : The first bar will be placed on the leftmost/topmost position of the chart ('glued' to the axis), leaving space between the last bar and right/bottom side of the chart.
 * late : Opposite from early: the last bar will be placed as far to the right/bottom side of the chart as possible, leaving space between the axis line (left/top side of chart) and the first bar.
 * justify : The first and last bars will be placed as far apart as possible, leaving no empty space on either side of the chart. When only one bar is present, justify will be interpreted as "centered".

Examples:

BackgroundColors
This command allows the specifiction of background colors for various parts of the chart. Any color ids specified should be defined first using Colors.
 * canvas (O) : Specify a background color for the whole image.
 * bars (O) : Specify a background color for all bars.

Examples: BackgroundColors = bars:darkgrey

BackgroundColors = canvas:lightgrey bars:darkgrey

BackgroundColors = canvas:lightgrey

BarData
This is an optional command which if present determines which bars will be drawn on the chart and in which order. If it is omitted then bars will be drawn in order of their appearance in command PlotData.

For complex timelines with many bars, usage of this command is recommended:
 * It will ease reordering of the displayed data.
 * Bar names specified in PlotData can be validated against this list, thus preventing typing errors.

 * bar : defines the bar id. Other commands (notably PlotData) will expect this id for reference. This will also be the label to be shown along the axis, unless attribute text is present. The bar id should not contain any spaces: use underscores instead, these will be converted to spaces, as wih article titles.
 * text (O) : When specified this specifies the text to be presented along the axis, instead of the bar id. See also rules for text input. The text may include one embedded link (see Note 1).
 * link (O) : Specify a web link (see Note 1) (URL). The label along the axis will be shown as a blue clickable link.

Notes
 * 1) Either use attribute link, or an embedded link in attribute text, not both.

Examples: BarData = bar:Japan bar:US      text:"United States"  # refer in PlotData to bar "US" but show "United States" bar:China   text:China        # label China will be shown as blue clickable link to the English Wikipedia article about China

The following lines produce the same output (only reference in PlotData changes): bar:US           text:United_States

bar:US           text:"United States" link:http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States

bar:United_States                     link:http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States

Colors
This command allows colors to be defined and coupled to an id (identification tag). Other commands will refer to colors with the id specified here. This command expects one or more color definitions, each on a separate indented line.

 * id :Other commands will use this id to specify text, bar or background colors.
 * value : Actual color definition. Color values can be either be specified as:
 * predefined color constant, for which 32 predefined color names are recognized (see the Ploticus color page where all these constants are defined).
 * rgb (red,green,blue): specify 3 numbers between 0 (minimal) and 1 (maximal)
 * hsv (hue, saturation, value): specify 3 numbers between 0 and 1
 * gray (value): specify a number between 0 (black) and 1 (white)
 * legend (O) : Specifies the text that should be displayed in the legend for this color. If this attribute is omitted no entry will appear in the legend at all. See Text Input for rules.

Example: Colors = id:war      value:red   legend:War Period id:peace    value:blue  legend:Peace Time id:treaty   value:rgb(0.6,0,0.6) id:lightgrey value:gray(0.9) id:darkgrey value:gray(0.1)

DateFormat
This comand defines how dates, specified in other commands, should be interpreted.

Valid dateformats are:

 * dd/mm/yyyy : Dates are interpreted as day/month/year
 * Note: this format is only allowed for dates starting from 01/01/1800

 * mm/dd/yyyy : Dates are interpreted as month/day/year
 * Note: this format is only allowed for dates starting from 01/01/1800

 * yyyy : this deals with integers from -9999 to +9999

Example: DateFormat = mm/dd/yyy

Define
This command allows definition of text constants, i.e. shorthands for pieces of script code that occur multiple times. Text constants should always start with a $ (dollar sign).

Example: Define $broad      = width:30 Define $narrow     = width:10 Define $bardefaults = $broad fontsize:S

ImageSize (mandatory)
This command defines the overall size of the final image. Specify values in absolute measurements.
 * width : Width of final image: maximum is 1600 pixels, minimum is 25
 * height : Height of final image: maximum is 1200 pixels, minimum is 25

For maximum flexibility you can let the script calculate the height or width of the image, based on the number of bars and the amount in pixels to add per bar. Specify height:auto (for horizontal time axis) or width:auto (for vertical time axis).

This is especially helpful when the number of bars in a timeline is likely to change over time again and again. Or to ensure equal distances between bars in images with many narrow bars where differences in amount of white space would soon be noticed (see for a real example en:Template:Vocal and instrumental pitch ranges). Or to make sure several related timelines always use the same distance between bars, no matter how many bars each contains (see for a real example List of popes (graphical). In short it is a good idea most of the time.

 * barincrement : Amount in pixels that should be added to the image size for each bar specified (mandatory and only allowed in combination with width:auto or height:auto).

Examples: ImageSize = width:800 height:600

ImageSize = width:800 height:auto barincrement:30

Legend
A legend will only be shown when this command is present. There are several ways to define the appearance and position of the legend. Some attributes are mutually exclusive (see below).

 * orientation (O) : Specify hor[izontal] or ver[tical] (default).
 * restriction: orientation = 'horizontal' and position = 'right' are mutually exclusive

 * position (O) : Defines placement of the legend relative to the chart area. Specify top, bottom (default) or right.
 * restriction: orientation = 'horizontal' and position = 'right' are mutually exclusive

 * columns (O) : Specify 1, 2, 3 or 4. When this attribute is omitted the number of columns is determined as follows:
 * orientation horizontal : Attribute columns does not apply here. All entries will be on the same line.
 * orientation vertical' :
 * position right : All entries will be in one column
 * position top or bottom : The number of columns depends on the number of entries to be shown: 1-5 entries: 1 column, 6-10 entries: 2 columns, 11 or more entries: 3 columns.

Tip: you may consider omitting the following parameters at first, and only add them when defaults settings are not satisfactory.

 * columnwidth (O) : Defines the distance between columns. You can specify an absolute distance or a relative distance (as percentage of the page width).
 * restriction: this parameter is ignored when columns = 1 is defined or implied.

 * left (O) : Defines the distance between the left side of the legend and the left side of the page. You can specify an absolute distance or a relative distance (as percentage of the page width).
 * top (O) : Defines the distance between the top of the legend and the bottom of the page. You can specify an absolute distance or a relative distance (as percentage of the page height).

Examples: Legend = orientation:vertical position:bottom columns:3 columnwidth:140

Legend = orientation:horizontal position:bottom

Legend = left:100 top:120 columns:3

LineData
Some timelines extend over several clearly distinct periods. A line demarcating these periods may serve as a visual aid.

 * at : Draws a line perpendicular to the time axis (default at maximal length, see also below). Specify the date/year where the line should be drawn, in compliance with the specified DateFormat.
 * color : Specify the color in which the line should drawn.
 * Note: The color id specified should be defined first with command Colors.

 * layer : Specify front or back (default). Defines whether the line should appear in front of or behind all time segment bars.
 * width : specify value between 0.1 (very thin) and 10 (very thick)

Only in rare cases the following extra attributes may be needed for full flexibility:

Advanced positioning options

You can draw lines in any direction. The following options are available:
 * Perpendicular to the time axis with arbitrary start and stop points: at:date frompos:position tillpos:position
 * Parallel to the time axis with arbitrary start and stop points from:date till:date atpos:position
 * In any direction with arbitrary start and stop points: points:(x1,y1)(x2,y2)

Attributes at, from and till expect a date or year, in compliance with the specified DateFormat. Attributes frompos, tillpos, atpos expect coordinates (e.g. pixels values)

Example:

LineData = layer:front                                           # all lines in front of bars unless stated otherwise at:1                        color:yellow              # perpendicular to time axis full length at:2                        color:orange  layer:back  # perpendicular to time axis full length but behind bars at:4 frompos:50 tillpos:105 color:green               # perpendicular to time axis, with specified start and stop points from:5 till:8 atpos:50      color:red                 # parallel to time axis points:(100,20)(170,105)    color:blue    width:3     # from one arbitrary absolute position to another, extra thick

Period (mandatory)
Defines the time period that will be displayed in the chart. Both parameters are mandatory. Specify dates in compliance with specified DateFormat.
 * from : Timeline starts here. The specified value can be referenced as start in commands like PlotData and TextData.
 * till : Time ends here. The specified value can be referenced as end in other commands.

Example: Period = from:01/09/1939 till:02/09/1945

PlotArea (mandatory)

 * width : Specify value in absolute or relative measurements. (do not use anymore, see below)
 * height : Specify value in absolute or relative measurements. (do not use anymore, see below)
 * left : Margin between left side of image and left side of plot area. Specify value in absolute or relative measurements.
 * top : Margin between top of image and top of plot area. Specify value in absolute or relative measurements.
 * right : Margin between right side of image and right side of plot area. Specify value in absolute or relative measurements.
 * bottom : Margin between bottom of image and bottom of plot area. Specify value in absolute or relative measurements.

width/height attributes

These attributes are only retained for downward compatibility. Earlier a plot area could only be defined by its total width and height, and left and bottom margins. Now you can specify all four margins, and are advised to do so, and not use width and height attributes anymore. The advantage is added flexibility: when you change the overall image size, you do not need to adjust the plotarea definition as well. This is even more important when the image size is calculated automatically (see ImageSize).

Example: PlotArea = left:40 bottom:60 top:10 right:10 # e.g. extra space to the left and below the plot area for axis labels and legend

PlotData
Used to define bars (symbolizing a time period), and add text next to these bars on a specific position.

For texts which are not related to a certain period or date/year or which require extensive formatting use command TextData.

Attributes text, at, from and till always apply only to the line on which they occur. All other attributes, when not combined with one these four, act as default for the remainder of the command block or until a new default is specified, and may be overruled for a single line. See Parameters vs Data Items for more info and an example.

PlotData accepts a lot of attributes, some of which are mutually exclusive. These attributes can be grouped as follows:
 * Positional attributes
 * Bar related attributes
 * Text attributes
 * Marker attribute

Positional attributes

 * at : Specifies at which date/year a text should be positioned. Depending on attribute align the text either starts, ends or is centered at this position. Use date/year format as specified in DateFormat or specify start or end which refers to time frame defined by command Period.
 * NB: This attribute can not be combined with attributes from or till.

 * from : Specifies at which date/year a bar should start. Use date/year format as specified in DateFormat or specify start which refers to time frame defined by command Period.
 * NB: This attribute should be used in combination with attribute till and can not be combined with attribute at.

 * till : Specifies at which date/year a bar should end. Use date/year format as specified in DateFormat or specify end which refers to time frame defined by command Period.
 * NB: This attribute should be used in combination with attribute from and can not be combined with attribute at.

 * shift : Specifies a horizontal and vertical displacement in absolute measurements for a text. This allows:
 * Texts to be shifted to avoid overlaps
 * Placement of text beside a bar, instead of on top of it.

Examples: PlotData= bar:Japan from:start     till:19/02/1945 color:JT bar:Japan from:19/02/1945 till:14/03/1945 color:AI bar:Japan from:02/09/1945 till:end       color:AO

at:07/12/1941 shift:(0,-15) text:"<-- WW2 reaches Asia"

Bar related attributes

 * bar : Specifies to which bar all other attributes apply.
 * When command BarData has not been used, bars will be drawn in the order in which they occur in any PlotData data block. The id specified here will also be the text presented along the axis, next to the bar.
 * When command BarData has been used, bars will presented in the order specified there, also the bar id specified here will be validated against that list. Also the text presented along the axis will depend on the definition in BarData.

 * color : Specifies the color is which the bar should be drawn.
 * The color id specified should be defined first with command Colors.

 * width : Specifies the width of the bar in absolute or relative measurements.

Example: BarData= id:US text:United States id:SB text:Sea Battles

Colors= id:US value:blue legend:United_States id:SB value:rgb(0.8,0,0.7) legend:Sea_Battles

PlotData= width=0.3                                                           # see note 1 bar:SB    from:07/08/1942 till:09/02/1943 text:Guadalcanal color:SB # see note 2 bar:US    from:start      till:end color:US                         # see note 3 bar:Midway from:start     till:end color:US                         # see note 4 bar:US    at:07/12/1941   text:7/12 Pearl Harbour                   # see note 5 Notes:
 * 1) this line establishes a default bar width for the remainder of the data block
 * 2) this line specifies a bar to be drawn and a text to placed on it at the same time
 * 3) bar US will be drawn before bar SB, even when specified after it, because command BarData determines the sequence
 * 4) bar Midway will be rejected because it is not declared with command BarData
 * 5) the last line will not result in a bar being plotted, it merely specifies on which bar the text should be placed

Text attributes

 * text : Defines a text that should be plotted on or near a bar. The anchor position can be defined either explicitly with attribute at, or implicitly with attributes from and till. In the latter case the text will be positioned in the middle of the defined bar segment. See also Text Input for rules
 * The text may include embedded links (see Notes 1 & 2) for use in clickable maps.

 * textcolor (O) : Defines the color of the text. The color id specified should be defined first with command Colors. When not specified color black will be assumed.
 * fontsize (O) : Specify a point size between 6 and 30, or (preferably) one of tags XS, S (default), M, L or XL. See Font Support for more details.
 * align (O) : Specify center (default), left or right.
 * link (O) : Specify a web link (see Note 1) (URL) for use in clickable maps. The text will be shown as a blue clickable link.

Notes
 * 1) Either use attribute link, or an embedded link in attribute text, not both.
 * 2) On PNG images only one clickable link will be shown per text segment (text with line breaks (~) constitutes several segments).

Example: PlotData= bar:US at:07/12/1941 align:left textcolor:black fontsize:XS text:7/12 Pearl Harbour

produces the same result as:

PlotData= bar:US at:07/12/1941 align:left textcolor:black fontsize:XS text:"7/12 Pearl Harbour" link:http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pearl_Harbour

Marker attribute

 * mark : Places a marker in a bar at the specified position. Specify as mark:(symbol, color). The only value for symbol supported to date is line. The color id specified should be defined first with command Colors. When not specified color black will be assumed.

Example: PlotData= bar:test width:15 color:red from:1900 till:2000 at:1990 mark:(line,white)

will be shown as:

ScaleMajor
This command divides the timeline into smaller periods, either
 * Graphically, through thin vertical or horizontal lines in the chart
 * Textually, through stubs in the time axis, below or to the left of the chart
 * Both graphically and textually

Note: the orientation of the lines and/or placement of the stubs depends on the orientation of the TimeAxis.

 * gridcolor (O) : Defines the color for the grid lines. When this attribute is omitted no grid lines will be drawn.
 * Note: The color id specified should be defined first with command Colors.

 * unit (O) : Specifies the unit by which the grid spacing is incremented. Specify day, month or year (default).
 * Note: When DateFormat yyyy is specified, only unit year is allowed.

 * increment (O) : Specifies the numbers of units by which the grid spacing is incremented. Default is 1.
 * start (O) : Specifies where the first grid line and/or stub should be displayed. Defaults to start of defined Period.

Examples: ScaleMajor = gridcolor:red start:1940

ScaleMajor = gridcolor:red unit:month increment:3 start:01/09/1939

ScaleMinor
This command defines a further subdivision of the timescale. See ScaleMajor for syntax.

Example: ScaleMajor = grid:red unit:year  increment:1 start:01/01/1940 ScaleMinor = grid:blue unit:month increment:3 start:01/10/1939

TextData
Used to define a text block that can be positioned anywhere on the chart.
 * text : The actual text. See also Text Input for rules. The text may include embedded links (see Notes 1 & 2).
 * pos : Defines the top-left corner of the text block in absolute or relative measurements. Define as pos:(x,y).
 * link (O) : Specify a web link (see Note 1) (URL) for use in clickable maps. The label along the axis will be shown as a blue clickable link.
 * textcolor (O) : Defines the color of the text. The color id specified should be defined first using Colors. When not specified, the color is black.
 * fontsize (O) : Specify a point size between 6 and 30, or (preferably) one of tags XS, S (default), M, L or XL (see Font Support for more details).
 * tabs (O) : Defines position and alignment for tab character: ^ (caret). Specify multiple tab settings as tabs: (x1-a1,x2-a2,x3-a3, etc..) where
 * xn is the horizontal displacement in absolute measurements from the left side of the text
 * an is the alignment for the text segment (specify center, left or right)

Notes:
 * lineheight (O) : Defines spacing between consecutive lines in absolute measurements. Specify a value up to 40 pixels or 0.4in. When not specified a default lineheight will be based on the font size currently in use.
 * 1) Either use attribute link, or an embedded link in attribute text, not both.
 * 2) On PNG images only one clickable link will be shown per text segment (text with tabs (^) constitutes several segments).

Example: TextData = pos:(20,67) textcolor:black fontsize:S tabs:(10-right,14-left,50-left,90-left,230-left) text:^1^1940^27/9^Germany,Italy and Japan sign Tripartite Pact text:^10^1944^1-22/7^Bretton Woods 44 nations establish text:^^^^^IMF and World Bank will be shown as:

TimeAxis
Defines the orientation of the time axis, and textual representation of stubs along that axis.
 * format (O) : Specify in which format dates should be presented along the time axis.
 * Currently only format yyyy (default) is supported. More formats may follow.

Example: TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal format:yyyy
 * orientation (O) : Specify hor[izontal] (default) or ver[tical].
 * order (O) : specify reverse as the option to reverse the time flow

Presets
At the moment two presets are available:
 * Preset = TimeVertical_OneBar_UnitYear
 * Preset = TimeHorizontal_AutoPlaceBars_UnitYear

Not clear if whether there is documentation about them.

Scales for size and position
Absolute measures may be used for specifying sizes, positions and position shifts, measured in pixels.

Example: PlotArea = width:800 height:600 left:50 bottom:50

Relative measures may be used for specifying sizes and positions. Specify a number between 0 and 100, immediately followed by a % (percentage) sign. For horizontal measurements the percentage is related to image width, for vertical measurements to image height.

The first coordinate is horizontal from left to right, the second is vertically upward.

Example: PlotArea = width:80% height:80% left:10% bottom:5%

Text Input
Text input is subject to a few rules:

1 Only a subset of unicode is allowed for font rendering, but unicode in links should work for all characters. See also font support.

2 When text should contain spaces, either specify these by using underscores or place the text between double quotes.
 * Exception: when the text attribute is the last attribute on a line, spaces are allowed (no confusion will arise where the text stops and the next attribute starts, that is—to be precise—when no colons occur in the text).

Example: (the following are all equivalent)

BarData = text:Japanese_mandate_since_1914 bar:Marshalls

BarData = text:"Japanese mandate since 1914" bar:Marshalls

BarData = bar:Marshalls text:Japanese mandate since 1914

3 In data lines following command TextData two characters have special meaning:
 * ~ (tilde) means line break
 * ^ (caret) means tab

Example showing line breaks: TextData = .. text:Generated for Wikipedia~Version 1.1 - 2 Januari 2004

 * 1) will be shown as:
 * 2)  Generated for Wikipedia
 * 3)  Version 1.1 - 2 Januari 2004
 * 1)  Version 1.1 - 2 Januari 2004

Example showing tabs: TextData = tabs:(4-right,12-right,14-left,34-left) text:^1^1940^27/9^Berlin Ger,It,Jap sign Tripartite Pact text:^10^1944^1-22/7^Bretton Woods 44 nations establish text:^^^^^IMF and World Bank

 * 1) will be shown as:
 * 2)      1    27/9 Berlin Ger,It,Jap sign Tripartite Pact
 * 3)     10  1-22/7 Bretton Woods 44 nations establish
 * 4)                                    IMF and World Bank
 * 1)                                    IMF and World Bank

Clickable maps
Both output formats available in MediaWiki, i.e. PNG and SVG, can contain clickable links. Texts shown in blue, and bars, may then be clicked, to surf to another web page.

Links can be specified with commands BarData, PlotData and TextData, either with attribute link, or as embedded links, via attribute text.

You can specify one link per text segment.

Embedded links
Embedded links are links that are (part of a) displayable text, specified with attribute text. Their counterpart are explicit links (URL only) which are defined with attribute link.

Both type of links can be specified with commands BarData, PlotData and TextData and are used for clickable maps.

In embedded links, internal link style is as usual, interwiki link style does not work, external link style is as usual with single brackets, but here with a pipe instead of a space.

Examples: text:example Help:Link internal link will be shown as: text:Link will be shown as:

text:|Rembrandt van Rijn paints Night Watch will be shown as:

Attempt to use interwiki link style:

text:Main_Page and similar with nl: and m: give:

The third one to Meta-Wikipedia works properly, except from Meta itself, the other links work like Main_Page (internal page, the prefix is ignored) or e.g. /w/Main_Page (gives File not found), depending on the URL of the referring page (e.g. different for a preview page and a diff page).

Special characters:

Blank spaces and underscores in the url should be written as %20.

The tilde character (~) is normally interpreted as line break. When a tilde is part of an url write it as is two tildes. For example, link to www.site.com/~mysite as: text:[www.site.com/mysite|My site]

The number sign (#) is normally interpreted as start of comment. When a number sign is part of an url make sure the text is embedded in double quotes as follows: text:"More at [www.site.com/mysite#section2|My site]"

Actually it may be a good idea to always put texts between double quotes.

Font Support
Timeline has somewhat limited unicode support. It uses FreeSans.ttf font, which supports a subset of all the possible glyphs (it supports cyryllic alphabet, east-europe diactrics and kana for instance, but lacks kanji). No other fonts are available at this time.

As a legacy of bitmap font usage, only five font tags are predefined. They will render at slightly different sizes in PNG and SVG images to produce optimal readability for both platforms. It is advised to use these tags instead of numbers whenever possible. They are: XS=eXtra Small, S=Small (default), M=Medium, L=Large, XL=eXtra large

This documentation is originally a wikified version of the original EasyTimeline documentation.

title: Help:EasyTimeline syntax


text:
Help talk:EasyTimeline syntax

Meta:Help:EasyTimeline syntax authors and history
= From Meta:Help talk:EasyTimeline syntax =
 * 15:51, 26 November 2005 User:83.16.52.194 (→TimeAxis - order: reverse)
 * 15:29, 26 November 2005 User:83.16.52.194 (→Text Input - more update on unicode)
 * 15:21, 26 November 2005 User:83.16.52.194 (→Font Support)
 * 15:20, 26 November 2005 User:83.16.52.194 (→Font Support - timeline has some unicode support now)
 * 03:29, 9 November 2005 User:Bodnotbod m (→Commands -  copyedit by Bodnotbod from en:)
 * 01:54, 21 October 2005 User:65.94.171.81 (→Introduction)
 * 05:33, 9 October 2005 User:Lobotomy m (→Embedded links -  Correct example URLs (use valid format).)
 * 10:24, 13 September 2005 User:Erik Zachte (rv link spam)
 * 07:53, 13 September 2005 User:Gobkind
 * 23:30, 24 August 2005 User:Erik Zachte (→Clickable maps - one link per text segment)
 * 01:31, 7 July 2005 User:Erik Zachte m (→ImageSize (mandatory))
 * 01:27, 7 July 2005 User:Erik Zachte m (→PlotArea (mandatory))
 * 01:26, 7 July 2005 User:Erik Zachte (→PlotArea (mandatory) - + attr top/right + about deprecation)
 * 01:12, 7 July 2005 User:Erik Zachte (→ImageSize (mandatory) - 'new' value auto + attribute barincrement)
 * 00:40, 7 July 2005 User:Erik Zachte (→LineData - 'new' attributes)
 * 23:40, 6 July 2005 User:Erik Zachte (cmd DrawLines renamed to LineData)
 * 00:33, 20 June 2005 User:Erik Zachte m (→TextData - link fix)
 * 00:31, 20 June 2005 User:Erik Zachte m (→TextData - link fix)
 * 21:15, 29 May 2005 User:202.1.193.10 (→Available commands - oh well.. previous one did not work... fixing again)
 * 21:13, 29 May 2005 User:202.1.193.10 (→Available commands - fix subsection links)
 * 23:37, 21 April 2005 User:TheDJ (h:h and h:f)
 * 06:42, 25 March 2005 User:YebisYa m (→EasyTimeline code with a template parameter is not allowed - )
 * 06:40, 25 March 2005 User:YebisYa (+)
 * 00:39, 18 March 2005 User:217.19.95.41 (→Marker attribute)
 * 20:17, 15 March 2005 User:Erik Zachte (revert vandalism)
 * 15:16, 15 March 2005 User:193.190.134.66 (→Marker attribute)
 * 23:25, 27 February 2005 User:200.121.44.20 (→EasyTimeline code with a template parameter is not allowed)
 * 23:24, 27 February 2005 User:200.121.44.20 (→EasyTimeline code with a template parameter is not allowed)
 * 02:13, 27 February 2005 User:Erik Zachte m (→TextData - nowiki)
 * 02:04, 27 February 2005 User:Erik Zachte m (+ es:)
 * 01:55, 27 February 2005 User:Erik Zachte (presentation examples)
 * 01:24, 27 February 2005 User:Erik Zachte m (layout)
 * 01:22, 27 February 2005 User:Erik Zachte (→Legend - layout)
 * 02:01, 26 February 2005 User:Erik Zachte (→Embedded links - note on special characters)
 * 13:12, 23 February 2005 User:213.36.45.120 (fr:)
 * 02:11, 17 January 2005 User:Moverton (→Colors - add link to Ploticus color page)
 * 18:31, 4 December 2004 User:Erik Zachte (+ link)
 * 15:33, 3 November 2004 User:Angela m (Reverted edits by 61.49.188.142 to last version by Patrick)
 * 14:44, 3 November 2004 User:61.49.188.142
 * 20:28, 30 September 2004 User:Patrick m (Reverted edits by 195.39.223.7 to last version by Patrick)
 * 15:30, 30 September 2004 User:195.39.223.7
 * 15:30, 30 September 2004 User:195.39.223.7
 * 15:29, 30 September 2004 User:195.39.223.7
 * 14:41, 30 September 2004 User:Patrick m (rm dup)
 * 14:41, 30 September 2004 User:Patrick m (presets)
 * 14:25, 30 September 2004 User:Patrick m
 * 14:21, 30 September 2004 User:Patrick (The name "EasyTimeline" refers to the possibility to apply the feature with a time scale horizontally or vertically, possibly with another parameter in the other direction, but there are also various)
 * 11:50, 29 September 2004 User:Patrick m
 * 11:44, 29 September 2004 User:Patrick (The EasyTimeline feature produces an embedded image from wikitext. The image can be be one-dimensional diagram (horizontally or vertically), or a two-dimension)
 * 06:57, 29 September 2004 User:Patrick (==EasyTimeline code with a template parameter is not allowed==)
 * 06:50, 29 September 2004 User:Patrick (→Embedded links)
 * 06:32, 29 September 2004 User:Patrick (→Embedded links)
 * 06:24, 29 September 2004 User:Patrick (→Embedded links)
 * 21:36, 28 September 2004 User:Patrick (→Measurements - The first coordinate is horizontal from left to right, the second is vertically upward.)
 * 21:23, 28 September 2004 User:Patrick m (mv down)
 * 21:17, 28 September 2004 User:Patrick m (→Font Support - mv down)
 * 13:17, 28 September 2004 User:Patrick
 * 13:14, 28 September 2004 User:Patrick (presets documentation?)
 * 09:17, 28 September 2004 User:Patrick (→Embedded links - external link style is as usual with single brackets, but here with a pipe instead of a space. Blank spaces and underscores in the url should be written as %20.)
 * 08:55, 28 September 2004 User:Patrick m (→TextData)
 * 08:50, 28 September 2004 User:Patrick m (→Legend)
 * 08:42, 28 September 2004 User:Patrick (→Available commands - TimeAxis mandatory)
 * 07:02, 28 September 2004 User:Patrick (→Period - (mandatory))
 * 07:00, 28 September 2004 User:Patrick (→PlotArea - (mandatory))
 * 07:00, 28 September 2004 User:Patrick (→ImageSize - (mandatory))
 * 06:54, 28 September 2004 User:Patrick m (→Embedded links)
 * 06:52, 28 September 2004 User:Patrick m (→Clickable Maps)
 * 06:50, 28 September 2004 User:Patrick m (→Parameters vs Data Items)
 * 06:47, 28 September 2004 User:Patrick m (→Available Commands)
 * 14:22, 27 September 2004 User:Patrick (→Embedded links)
 * 14:15, 27 September 2004 User:Patrick (→Embedded links)
 * 14:09, 27 September 2004 User:Patrick (→Embedded links)
 * 14:00, 27 September 2004 User:Patrick (→Embedded links)
 * 13:54, 27 September 2004 User:Patrick (→Embedded links)
 * 13:49, 27 September 2004 User:Patrick (→Embedded links - compare with link styles outside timelines)
 * 12:57, 27 September 2004 User:Patrick (→Embedded Links - interwiki links do not seem to work)
 * 11:57, 27 September 2004 User:Patrick m (→Font Support)
 * 11:56, 27 September 2004 User:Patrick m
 * 21:04, 29 August 2004 User:Zenogantner m (→Embedded Links - fix error messages)
 * 23:17, 8 August 2004 User:137.226.181.173 (→Positional attributes)
 * 22:56, 8 August 2004 User:137.226.181.173 (→DrawLines)
 * 11:09, 5 July 2004 User:Erik Zachte (+ Category:MediaWiki User's Guide)
 * 19:52, 2 July 2004 User:Erik Zachte m (→Define)
 * 11:29, 27 June 2004 User:141.53.194.251 (→DateFormat - is this correct? -10000-+10000)
 * 09:20, 27 June 2004 User:Patrick (EasyTimeline/Index)
 * 09:08, 27 June 2004 User:Patrick (See also EasyTimeline.)
 * 17:10, 3 June 2004 User:Erik Zachte m (→Attributes)
 * 16:13, 3 June 2004 User:Erik Zachte (MajorScale -> ScaleMajor, MinorScale -> ScaleMinor)
 * 16:08, 3 June 2004 User:Erik Zachte (→Marker attribute - + example)
 * 15:45, 3 June 2004 User:Erik Zachte (→TextData - + example)
 * 13:06, 3 June 2004 User:171.21.80.126 (→Embedded Links - + examples)
 * 12:46, 3 June 2004 User:171.21.80.126 (→Font Support - + example)
 * 00:42, 3 June 2004 User:Erik Zachte (→AlignBars - + examples)
 * 00:20, 3 June 2004 User:Erik Zachte (→Font Support - + category)
 * 11:34, 24 May 2004 User:PhilBoswell (Removing warning now that bug as been fixed)
 * 10:59, 24 May 2004 User:PhilBoswell (Copying from TestWiki before it gets nuked)

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Help talk:EasyTimeline syntax


text:
Help:Edit conflict

This page discusses edit conflicts, and how to deal with them. To understand what an edit conflict is, consider the following situation:

 * Alice clicks "Edit this page" on a page.
 * Bob clicks "Edit this page" on the same page.
 * Alice finishes her edits and clicks "Save page". The page is saved with Alice's version.
 * Bob finished his edits and clicks "Save page". Bob gets an "edit conflict" page.

Layout of the edit conflict page
At the top is Alice's version of the whole page, even if Bob is doing section editing.

At the bottom is the text Bob was going to submit. This will be Bob's version of the page, if he edited the entire page, or Bob's version of the section he edited, if he was editing just one section.

In the middle is a diff of the two pieces of text. For the section Bob is editing it shows Bob's changes and Alice's possible changes, except what both have changed in the same way. For the other sections it shows the full new text as if all that text was added.

Bob can edit the upper text and press Save. In the case Bob was doing section editing this will be interpreted as the new version of the section, hence produce duplication of the other sections, unless Bob deletes them before saving. (This seems to be a bug.)

When pressing Save and the system is slow, one may be able to make another edit and press Save again before the system responds. This gives an edit conflict with oneself. In this case the upper text may be the old version instead of the one involving the first edit, i.e. the system notices the earlier change but has not processed it yet. A moment later. while one is looking at the edit conflict page, the first change is carried out in the background, and the upper text no longer is the current one. Hence, the diff shows the combined edit, and in the case of section editing, like before, the "addition" of the other sections.

Resolving an edit conflict
If Bob only made small changes, and Alice made large changes, he may choose to work from Alice's version, and re-merge his changes in. Bob might choose to add some text like "via edit conflict" to warn Alice and others that he had to do this - Alice can then peer review his merging for accuracy.

If Bob made large changes, and Alice made small changes, he may choose to work from his version. One option is for Bob to copy the bottom text into the top text (or just copy over the one section of the top text, if Bob was section editing), with an appropriate edit summary (eg "via edit conflict, will remerge"). Then Bob can view the page history, determine Alice's changes, and re-apply them to his version, in a separate edit.

If both Alice and Bob made large changes, matters become complicated, and Alice and Bob just have to do the best they can. For example, if both Alice and Bob simultaneously add a large section of text on the same subject, then it may be best for Bob to submit his changes, and then for Alice and Bob to both have a look at the two versions and decide between themselves which version is better.

Bob should not just post his changes over the top of Alice's. It is a good idea to double-check merges by using the diff feature.

Logical edit conflicts
Some people edit by copying the source text into a text editor, making lots of changes (reorganising, adding new content, etc...), and then, when they're done, pasting the whole thing back onto Wikipedia as a single edit. If someone else has made changes in the meantime these changes would get lost in the paste back. People who edit in this manner should check the page history for such edits, and merge the changes before pasting back.

Reverting
When saving a previous version (i.e. when reverting) or a new version based on that (a modified reversion) the edit conflict warning and prevention system is not triggered and a possible new edit made in the meantime is unintentionally reverted also, see Reverting a page to an earlier version. To avoid this problem one can copy the text from the edit box of the old version into the edit box of the latest version. In some sense, this can cause hidden edit conflicts: you may overwrite someone else's changes without realising that you are doing so. It's always wise to check the diff after performing a revert, just as you would after posting via edit conflict. Preferably, one can simply try to avoid reversion wars.

Prevention
Because edit conflicts are irritating and time-consuming, you may choose to alter your editing habits to render them less frequent: aiming to make more edits to pages that have not been edited recently, such as those listed on ancient pages, for example.

Another means of avoiding edit conflicts is to make a single larger change, rather than frequent smaller changes: this makes it more likely that you will get an edit conflict, but less likely that you will cause others to get an edit conflict. Using the "Show preview" button helps here.

To reduce the chance of edit conflicts, Wikipedia has an "In Use" notice in its Template namespace that people may use when editing a page over a long period of time. Simply put   on an article before proceeding with a major edit, and remove the template when the editing is complete.

New since v.1.3 is CVS-style edit conflict merging, based on the diff3 utility. This feature will only trigger an edit conflict if users attempt to edit the same few lines. See also automatic merge.

title: Help:Edit conflict


text:
Help talk:Edit conflict

Meta:Help:Edit conflict authors and history
= From Meta:Help talk:Edit conflict =
 * 17:33, 17 November 2005 User:Uncle G (Fixed hyperlinks that break when this page is copied to other projects.)
 * 17:32, 17 November 2005 User:Uncle G (Fixed hyperlinks that break when this page is copied to other projects.)
 * 14:27, 29 October 2005 User:Who m (rv  edits by 222.65.142.23 to last ver by Messi, link spam)
 * 13:13, 29 October 2005 User:222.65.142.23
 * 15:48, 14 October 2005 User:Messi m (rv)
 * 14:20, 14 October 2005 User:222.65.156.54
 * 21:52, 13 October 2005 User:Who m (rv edits by 219.148.86.36 to last ver by Who; link spam)
 * 17:18, 13 October 2005 User:219.148.86.36 (billclin)
 * 20:54, 12 October 2005 User:Who m (rv edits by 81.214.99.135 to last ver by Who; link spam)
 * 20:23, 12 October 2005 User:81.214.99.135
 * 08:03, 11 October 2005 User:Who m (rv edits by 222.65.155.220 to last ver by Who; link spam)
 * 07:45, 11 October 2005 User:222.65.155.220 (asd)
 * 13:04, 10 October 2005 User:Who m (rv edits by 222.65.158.252 to last good version; link spam)
 * 12:49, 10 October 2005 User:222.65.158.252 (按时的)
 * 13:06, 6 September 2005 User:216.241.47.198 (→Layout of the edit conflict page)
 * 13:04, 6 September 2005 User:216.241.47.198 (→Layout of the edit conflict page)
 * 06:46, 5 September 2005 User:Amgine (rv wikispam)
 * 06:42, 5 September 2005 User:220.161.151.218
 * 05:32, 31 August 2005 User:66.75.239.227
 * 05:32, 31 August 2005 User:66.75.239.227
 * 19:17, 25 August 2005 User:Yann m (Reverted edits by 81.214.99.179 to last version by ABCD)
 * 19:09, 25 August 2005 User:81.214.99.179
 * 00:40, 12 August 2005 User:ABCD (go around redirect)
 * 19:42, 4 August 2005 User:Datrio m (Reverted edits by 85.101.226.18 to last version by Patrick)
 * 19:41, 4 August 2005 User:85.101.226.18
 * 20:11, 21 July 2005 User:Patrick m (Reverted edits by 85.100.228.13 to last version by 4.228.252.126)
 * 19:49, 21 July 2005 User:85.100.228.13
 * 22:30, 17 July 2005 User:4.228.252.126 (rv last version by Patrick)
 * 20:38, 17 July 2005 User:85.97.134.108
 * 05:40, 23 June 2005 User:Patrick m (Reverted edits by 81.213.171.157 to last version by Angela)
 * 23:06, 22 June 2005 User:81.213.171.157
 * 23:45, 8 June 2005 User:Angela m (Reverted edits by 81.215.233.67 to last version by Jni)
 * 23:28, 8 June 2005 User:81.215.233.67
 * 13:42, 1 June 2005 User:Jni m (rv. spam)
 * 11:30, 1 June 2005 User:81.214.162.213 (→Layout of the edit conflict page)
 * 21:50, 24 May 2005 User:Patrick m (Reverted edits by 81.214.101.220 to last version by Bjh21)
 * 21:36, 24 May 2005 User:81.214.101.220
 * 13:44, 16 May 2005 User:Bjh21 (→Prevention - is a template now)
 * 20:50, 8 May 2005 User:Patrick m (Reverted edits by 85.99.132.19 to last version by TheDJ)
 * 17:32, 8 May 2005 User:85.99.132.19 (→Resolving an edit conflict)
 * 23:21, 21 April 2005 User:TheDJ (add h:h and h:f)
 * 16:40, 18 April 2005 User:Patrick m
 * 09:39, 3 March 2005 User:Patrick m (→Logical edit conflicts)
 * 09:36, 3 March 2005 User:Patrick (→Logical edit conflicts - rephrase)
 * 09:30, 3 March 2005 User:Patrick (→Layout of the edit conflict page - Hence, the diff shows the combined edit, and in the case of section editing, like before, the "addition" of the other sections.)
 * 09:10, 3 March 2005 User:Patrick (In this case the upper text may be the old version instead of the one involving the first edit, i.e. the system notices the earlier change but has not processed it yet. A moment later. while one is lo)
 * 09:02, 3 March 2005 User:Patrick (When pressing Save and the system is slow, one may be able to make another edit and press Save again before the system responds. This gives an edit conflict with oneself.)
 * 08:55, 3 March 2005 User:Patrick (Bob can edit the upper text and press Save. In the case Bob was doing section editing this will be interpreted as the new version of the section, hence produce duplication of the other sections, unles)
 * 08:42, 3 March 2005 User:Patrick (→Layout of the edit conflict page - At the top is Alice's version of the whole page, even if Bob is doing section editing.)
 * 08:41, 3 March 2005 User:Patrick (For the section Bob is editing it shows Bob's changes and Alice's possible changes, except what both have changed in the same way. For the other sections it shows the full new text as if all that was)
 * 08:25, 3 March 2005 User:Patrick m (Reverted edits by 219.82.143.97 to last version by Goplat)
 * 07:32, 3 March 2005 User:219.82.143.97 (→Prevention)
 * 03:16, 19 February 2005 User:Goplat m (rv spam)
 * 02:08, 19 February 2005 User:61.242.178.231
 * 01:29, 19 February 2005 User:Patrick m (Reverted edits by 61.242.178.231 to last version by 24.30.101.127)
 * 01:24, 19 February 2005 User:61.242.178.231
 * 15:44, 11 September 2004 User:24.30.101.127 (→Prevention - Expand description of "in use" notice)
 * 08:43, 11 September 2004 User:Patrick m
 * 20:02, 10 July 2004 User:Patrick m (rv test)
 * 16:33, 10 July 2004 User:67.41.207.9
 * 02:15, 13 June 2004 User:Patrick m (→Prevention)
 * 02:14, 13 June 2004 User:Patrick m (→Prevention)
 * 02:14, 13 June 2004 User:Patrick (→Prevention - New since v.1.4 is CVS-style edit conflict merging, based on the diff3 utility. This feature will only trigger an edit conflict if users attempt to edit the same few lines.)
 * 06:29, 17 April 2004 User:24.156.5.10
 * 03:22, 28 February 2004 User:Merphant m (fix "diff" links)
 * 02:53, 28 February 2004 User:Merphant (paste from Wikipedia, with some changes/omissions)

title: Help talk:Edit conflict


text:
Help:Edit summary

When editing an article, there is a small field labeled "Summary" under the main edit-box. It looks like this:

 * [[Image:Edit_Summary-2.png|Edit summary text box]]

Most projects highly recommend to use it to its full capacity, to summarize and/or explain the changes made.

When you do the editing in an article the formats can't be changed.

Capacity
The capacity is one line of 200 characters, with horizontal scrolling. Attempting to paste more than this results in extra characters falling off. Insertions do not work if the line is full, one has to delete text at the end (or elsewhere) first to make room. An insertion action of e.g. 10 characters in a line of 195 characters results in the first 5 characters being inserted.

Edit summary
The text in the edit summary box will appear in black italics on the Recent changes page, in the page revision history (see below), and on the Diff page.

In the case of a small addition to an article it is highly recommended to copy the full text of this addition to the summary field, giving a maximum of info with a minimum of effort. Put "ft" in front, as abbreviation of "full text"; this way the reader knows that checking the edit further does not make sense. These kinds of edits with this code "ft" allow checking of Recent changes, Page history and User contributions (see below) very efficiently, both for the user and for the servers.

If the addition is more than 200 characters, so it does not fit fully in the edit summary box, you should write a short summary of the changes you have introduced into the article. For an addition of e.g. 400 characters you can also save time by simply copying that into the summary field, the excess will fall off, and the first 200 characters will usually be acceptable as a crude "summary".

Unfortunately one can copy only one "line" (in the sense of the text until a newline) into the edit summary box. The contents of further lines can be pasted at the end of the line. Thus e.g. a bulleted "see also" list is cumbersome to put in the edit summary box. One possible workaround for a new list is putting the list on one line, separated by the asterisks for the bullets, copying it to the edit summary box, and then, in the main edit box, putting the newlines before the asterisks.

In addition to a summary of the change itself, the summary field may also contain an explanation of the change; note that if the reason for an edit is not clear, it is more likely to be reverted, especially in the case that some text is deleted. To give a longer explanation, use the Talk page and put in the edit summary "see Talk".

After saving the page the summary can not be edited, an extra reason to avoid spelling errors.

An important guideline is always fill in the summary field. Even a short summary is better than no summary. An edit summary is even more important if you delete any text; otherwise, people may think you're being sneaky. Also, mentioning one change but not another one can be misleading to someone who finds the other one more important; add "and misc." to cover the other change(s).

In addition to the distinction major/minor change, accurate summaries help people decide whether it is worthwhile for them to check a change. We've found that summaries often pique the interest of wikipedians with an expertise in the area. This may not be as necessary for "minor changes", but "fixed spelling" would be nice even then.

In the case of important omissions or errors in the edit summary, you can make a dummy edit just to put the correction in the edit summary.

Section title as automatic edit summary
When applying the section editing feature the section title is automatically inserted as initial version or first part of the edit summary. Put more details after this text. In the case that you provide a long summary yourself you can delete the section title in order to stay within the limit of 200 characters.

When inserting a section by applying section editing on the section before or after it, delete the automatic edit summary to avoid confusion.

Since MediaWiki version 1.3 (May 2004), the automatic part of the summary is no longer surrounded by "="-signs, but it appears by default in grey text, with the manually typed part being in black text. The old style remains in edits from that time.

From MediaWiki version 1.4 (Dec 2004), the section title that forms the automatic part of the edit summary is preceded by a right arrow that links to the section. For this purpose the section title within the marks /* and */ is preloaded in the edit summary box. However, such code works also if one enters it oneself.

Abbreviations
See Edit summary legend for a list of commonly used abbreviations in edit summaries.

"Post a comment" feature
When starting a new thread on a Talk page, optionally the "Post a comment" feature can be used. Then the edit summary is automatically the same as the new section header.

Places where the edit summary appears
The edit summary appears on the diff page, as well as in the following lists:

 * Lists of edits that the system can produce (containing some or all of their edit metadata):
 * all edits from a given time and/or up to a given number: Recent changes
 * for a given page: Page history
 * by a given user: User contributions
 * real time: see Wikipedia IRC channels

 * Lists of pages that have been changed, from a selection of pages:
 * from a user's list of watched pages, from a given amount of time ago: Watchlist (logged-in users only)
 * from the pages linked from a given page, from a given amount of time ago and/or up to a given number: Related changes

 * These show the edit summary of the last edit. Since one is typically interested in all recent changes in these articles, with all edit summaries, these features are used in conjunction with the page histories of the articles shown.

 * List of new pages: shows the edit summary of the creation.

Searching
The Wikimedia search function can not search edit summaries, and they are not indexed by external search engines.

Upload summary
When uploading an image one can supply an upload summary. This serves multiple purposes:
 * as second part of the automatically created edit summary of the upload log (the first part giving the file name)
 * as text in the entry of the image history
 * in the case that the file name of the image is new:
 * as edit summary for the creation of the image page
 * as wikitext for the editable part of the image page, which includes the following possibilities:
 * briefly describe the image
 * provide internal or external links
 * call templates
 * specify one or more categories the image is in

The capacity of the upload summary is one line of 250 characters; in the upload log the last part may fall off, because this can contain 255 characters, including "uploaded "filename"".

Note that there is no preview function to check the code for the links, template calls and category tags, but of course, if needed one can edit the image page after uploading, to correct errors and also to extend the text.

See also Help:Image page.

Rendering of wikitext; URLs
Text in edit summaries renders internal links, including piped links, and interwiki links, even when enclosed within and. Therefore, copying wikitext in the edit summary box may be preferable to copying text from the preview, except when one wants to save space.

Other wikitext coding is not interpreted.

When copying an external link from the preview into the edit summary box then, depending on the operating system, the "printable version" is copied, i.e. how it is normally rendered, and in addition, between parentheses, the URL; hence the same information as in the wikitext, but in a different format, and in addition the possible sequential number.

title: Help:Edit summary


text:
Help talk:Edit summary

Meta:Help:Edit summary authors and history
= From Meta:Help talk:Edit summary =
 * 08:25, 28 November 2005 User:69.234.77.165 (→Abbreviations - REALLY fix the link)
 * 07:56, 28 November 2005 User:69.234.77.165 (→Abbreviations - fix link)
 * 02:17, 27 November 2005 User:68.6.110.218 (→Capacity)
 * 05:41, 16 November 2005 User:Uncle G (Fixed hyperlinks that break when this page is copied to other projects.)
 * 05:28, 16 November 2005 User:Uncle G (Replacement of with )
 * 04:17, 16 November 2005 User:Uncle G (Fixed hyperlinks that break when this page is copied to other projects.)
 * 18:59, 13 October 2005 User:Apalamarchuk (revert)
 * 17:18, 13 October 2005 User:219.148.86.36 (billclin)
 * 00:54, 25 September 2005 User:Patrick m (Reverted edits by 218.11.177.13 to last version by Mindspillage)
 * 16:41, 24 September 2005 User:218.11.177.13
 * 05:49, 11 September 2005 User:Mindspillage m (Reverted edits by 220.161.154.90 to last version by ABCD)
 * 05:48, 11 September 2005 User:220.161.154.90
 * 00:39, 12 August 2005 User:ABCD (go around redirect)
 * 01:13, 29 July 2005 User:Patrick (→Section title as automatic edit summary - the section title within the marks - →and - is preloaded in the edit summary box. However, such code works also if one enters it oneself.)
 * 02:16, 18 July 2005 User:Angela m (Reverted edits by 81.214.161.234 to last version by Pianoman87)
 * 01:31, 18 July 2005 User:81.214.161.234
 * 12:04, 14 July 2005 User:Pianoman87 m (→Upload summary - sp)
 * 11:30, 18 June 2005 User:220.238.78.156 (→Edit summary - fixed grammar of sentence)
 * 08:12, 5 May 2005 User:Patrick m
 * 08:06, 5 May 2005 User:Patrick
 * 23:14, 21 April 2005 User:TheDJ (hc -> h:f)
 * 22:09, 21 April 2005 User:Patrick m
 * 19:37, 12 April 2005 User:Inter m (→Rendering of wikitext; URLs)
 * 19:36, 12 April 2005 User:Inter (→Rendering of wikitext; URLs - interwiki is a redirect. -> Help:Interwiki linking)
 * 12:16, 4 April 2005 User:Uncle G (Reverted to last version by Patrick)
 * 09:51, 4 April 2005 User:212.138.64.174
 * 09:50, 4 April 2005 User:212.138.64.171
 * 09:49, 4 April 2005 User:212.138.64.176
 * 20:18, 3 April 2005 User:Patrick m (Reverted edits by 61.149.190.50 to last version by 159.226.5.82)
 * 13:21, 3 April 2005 User:61.149.190.50
 * 09:06, 9 March 2005 User:159.226.5.82 (→Add zh.)
 * 15:45, 19 February 2005 User:Patrick (→Upload summary -*as text in the entry of the image history)
 * 04:25, 12 February 2005 User:Patrick m (→Upload summary)
 * 04:21, 12 February 2005 User:Patrick (Note that there is no preview function to check the code for the links, template calls and category tags, but of course, one can edit the image page after uploading, to correct errors and also to exte)
 * 03:48, 12 February 2005 User:Patrick (→Upload summary -The capacity of the upload summary is one line of 250 characters; in the upload log the last part may fall off, because this can contain 255 characters, including "uploaded "''file)
 * 03:16, 12 February 2005 User:Patrick (→Upload summary - ***specify one or more categories the image is in / misc)
 * 03:11, 12 February 2005 User:Patrick (→Upload summary)
 * 06:12, 27 December 2004 User:Patrick (→Section title as automatic edit summary - bug seems fixed)
 * 17:52, 23 December 2004 User:65.50.55.173 (→Edit summary - : minor copyediting fixes--added "in the" to "always fill summary field" in 3rd-last para for clarity; repunctuated 3rd sentence of that para to correct run-on/comma fault; & misc.)
 * 21:39, 11 December 2004 User:Patrick m (→Section title as automatic edit summary)
 * 21:36, 11 December 2004 User:Patrick (Only when applying the "previous edit" link from the diff page showing the difference from the first to some other version, an interwiki link in the edit summary of the first edit is (as wikitext, no)
 * 21:13, 11 December 2004 User:Patrick (→Section title as automatic edit summary - There is a bug: an interwiki link in the edit summary, including the link label, is lost.)
 * 21:09, 11 December 2004 User:Patrick (→Section title as automatic edit summary - From MediaWiki version 1.4 (Dec 2004), the section is preceded by a right arrow that links to the section.)
 * 13:19, 24 November 2004 User:210.49.42.126 (revert edits by 217.8.231.79 to last version by Patrick)
 * 08:51, 24 November 2004 User:217.8.231.79
 * 22:15, 13 November 2004 User:Patrick m (Reverted edits by 210.82.76.17 to last version by Patrick)
 * 03:44, 13 November 2004 User:210.82.76.17 (→Rendering of wikitext; URLs)
 * 12:09, 10 October 2004 User:Patrick m (Reverted edits by 210.82.76.17 to last version by IMSoP)
 * 08:37, 10 October 2004 User:210.82.76.17
 * 00:16, 22 September 2004 User:IMSoP (correct linking to point to Help:Editing rather than the old location)
 * 21:24, 15 September 2004 User:Patrick m
 * 10:48, 21 August 2004 User:Patrick m (→Section title as automatic edit summary)
 * 11:52, 23 July 2004 User:Patrick (→Edit summary -Help:Editing#Dummy_edit)
 * 11:06, 23 July 2004 User:Patrick m (→Capacity)
 * 10:48, 21 July 2004 User:Patrick (→Rendering of wikitext in edit summaries)
 * 11:04, 17 July 2004 User:Patrick m (→Edit summary)
 * 09:20, 16 July 2004 User:Patrick (Most projects highly recommend to use it to its full capacity, to summarize the changes made.)
 * 09:10, 16 July 2004 User:Patrick m
 * 09:07, 16 July 2004 User:Patrick (An insertion action of e.g. 10 characters in a line of 195 characters results in the first 5 characters being inserted.)
 * 09:02, 16 July 2004 User:Patrick (The capacity is one line of 200 characters, with horizontal scrolling. A copy action of more, results in the rest falling off. Insertions do not work if the line is full, one has to delete text at the)
 * 08:57, 16 July 2004 User:Patrick (One possible workaround for a new list is putting the list on one line, copying it to the edit summary box, and then, in the main edit box, putting the newlines and bullets.)
 * 08:45, 16 July 2004 User:Patrick (→Rendering of wikitext in edit summaries - copying wikitext in the edit summary box may be preferable to copying text from the preview, except when one wants to save space.)
 * 08:34, 16 July 2004 User:Patrick (→Edit summary -Thus e.g. a bulleted "see also" list is cumbersome to put in the edit summary box.)
 * 08:26, 16 July 2004 User:Patrick (Unfortunately one can copy only one "line" (in the sense of the text until a newline) into the edit summary box. However, the contents of a second line can be pasted at the end of the line.)
 * 22:35, 29 June 2004 User:Patrick (→Upload summary -Text in edit summaries is not interpreted, except for internal links, including piped links, and links to pages in other Wikimedia projects, even when enclosed within <nowiki> and)
 * 17:57, 12 June 2004 User:Patrick m (→Places where the edit summary appears)
 * 13:31, 12 June 2004 User:Patrick (→Section title as automatic edit summary - Since MediaWiki version 1.3 (May 2004), the automatic part of the summary is no longer surrounded by "="-signs, but it appears in grey text, with the manu)
 * 01:57, 30 May 2004 User:Angela (The edit summary is also on the Diff page.)
 * 10:00, 18 April 2004 User:Patrick m
 * 09:36, 18 April 2004 User:Patrick (MediaWiki version)
 * 09:22, 18 April 2004 User:Patrick (rv temp)
 * 09:20, 18 April 2004 User:Patrick (temporarily put version from en:, for use with diff, hold on)
 * 00:29, 18 April 2004 User:Angela (move from en, update links, add new features)
 * 00:19, 26 September 2003 User:Patrick (See en:Wikipedia:Edit summary.)

title: Help talk:Edit summary


text:
Help:Edit toolbar

what
In compatible browsers, an edit toolbar is automatically displayed with the edit box, provided that this has been set in the preferences. The functions are partly a typing aid, partly a reminder of required formats.

It works best with Internet Explorer, Mozilla, and Firefox.

Example of how to use it:

To make a piece of text an internal link, select it and press the third button.

In Mozilla and IE you get a select+click formatting, and if you click without a selection, it inserts sample text at the cursor. In other browsers, clicking on the button presents an explanation for each feature in an infobox.

If you do not want to display the toolbar, you can obtain some of the functionality of them using the Edit toolbar bookmarklets instead.

All of the toolbar options, and further editing options, are available in Bananeweizen's Firefox extension.

List of functions
(apart from the last two examples, these pieces of wikitext are created by typing abc, selecting it and clicking the buttons on the toolbar) {| class="wikitable" ! Icon !! Function !! What it shows when editing !! What it shows on the page
 * - bgcolor="#efefef"
 * [[Image:Bold icon.png]]
 * align="center"|Bold or strong emphasis
 * align="center"| abc
 * align="center"|abc
 * [[Image:Italic icon.png]]
 * align="center"|Italic or emphasis
 * align="center"| abc
 * align="center"|abc
 * [[Image:Button_link.png]]
 * align="center"|Internal link
 * align="center"| abc
 * align="center"|abc
 * [[Image:External link icon.png]]
 * align="center"|External link
 * align="center"| [abc.com]
 * [[Image:Headline icon.png]]
 * align="center"|Section heading
 * align="center"| == abc ==
 * align="center"| [abc.com]
 * [[Image:Headline icon.png]]
 * align="center"|Section heading
 * align="center"| == abc ==
 * align="center"|Section heading
 * align="center"| == abc ==

abc

 * [[Image:Image icon.png]]
 * align="center"|Insert image
 * align="center"|
 * align="center"|
 * [[Image:Media icon.png]]
 * align="center"|Insert media
 * align="center"| [[Media:abc.ogg]]
 * align="center"|[[Media:abc.ogg]]
 * [[Image:Math icon.png]]
 * align="center"|Mathematical formula
 * align="center"| $$abc$$
 * align="center"|$$abc$$
 * [[Image:Nowiki icon.png]]
 * align="center"|Ignore wiki formatting
 * align="center"| abc Bold text
 * align="center"| abc Bold text
 * [[Image:Signature icon.png]]
 * align="center"|Sign talk comments (with time stamp)
 * align="center"| --~
 * align="center"|--Gareth Aus 22:49, 11 February 2006 (UTC)
 * [[Image:H-line icon.png]]
 * align="center"|Horizontal line
 * align="center"|
 * align="center"| --~
 * align="center"|--Gareth Aus 22:49, 11 February 2006 (UTC)
 * [[Image:H-line icon.png]]
 * align="center"|Horizontal line
 * align="center"|
 * align="center"|

 * }

title: Help:Edit toolbar


text:
Help talk:Edit toolbar

Meta:Help:Edit toolbar authors and history
= From Meta:Help talk:Edit toolbar =
 * 20:41, 16 November 2005 User:212.88.92.66
 * 03:00, 16 November 2005 User:Uncle G (Fixed hyperlinks that break when this page is copied to other projects.)
 * 05:51, 8 November 2005 User:193.49.124.107
 * 20:50, 13 September 2005 User:Fermaf
 * 22:56, 2 June 2005 User:Patrick m (Reverted edits by 62.77.119.226 to last version by TheDJ)
 * 16:20, 2 June 2005 User:62.77.119.226
 * 23:09, 21 April 2005 User:TheDJ (hc -> h:f)
 * 16:09, 3 February 2005 User:195.19.219.144
 * 16:08, 3 February 2005 User:195.19.219.144
 * 10:49, 20 December 2004 User:211.140.10.9
 * 21:41, 3 November 2004 User:Angela (Firefox extension)
 * 13:19, 21 October 2004 User:168.105.117.98 (yes.. it works with firefox.)
 * 15:22, 15 October 2004 User:64.30.116.63
 * 15:31, 10 October 2004 User:Eloquence m (why a forced TOC?)
 * 15:31, 10 October 2004 User:Eloquence m
 * 15:24, 10 October 2004 User:Eloquence m (Reverted edits by 61.145.136.171 to last version by Patrick)
 * 14:30, 10 October 2004 User:61.145.136.171
 * 12:09, 10 October 2004 User:Patrick m (Reverted edits by 61.145.136.171 to last version by Patrick)
 * 10:28, 10 October 2004 User:61.145.136.171 (→List of functions)
 * 23:56, 5 October 2004 User:Patrick m (Reverted edits by 82.122.34.245 to last version by Patrick)
 * 17:08, 5 October 2004 User:82.122.34.245
 * 08:01, 10 September 2004 User:Patrick m
 * 15:46, 24 July 2004 User:Patrick m
 * 15:42, 24 July 2004 User:Patrick m
 * 15:35, 24 July 2004 User:Patrick ((apart from the last two, these pieces of wikitext are obtained after selecting "abc"))
 * 15:27, 2 June 2004 User:Patrick (It works best with Internet Explorer.)
 * 21:02, 25 May 2004 User:193.29.77.111
 * 00:49, 28 April 2004 User:Angela (remove " (Applies to all Wikimedia projects, except here on meta) - it does apply to meta)
 * 00:45, 15 April 2004 User:Jroes m (Added a link to the next page in the guide)
 * 07:49, 14 March 2004 User:Patrick (from Talk: The editing tool bar works for me on all Wikimedia projects I tried, except here on meta, the toolbar does not show up.)
 * 07:43, 14 March 2004 User:Patrick (from Talk)
 * 00:52, 29 February 2004 User:203.213.94.98
 * 08:27, 21 February 2004 User:Acebone m
 * 15:03, 31 January 2004 User:Kpjas m
 * 01:25, 31 January 2004 User:Angela (Bookmarklets)
 * 00:58, 31 January 2004 User:Angela (add image)
 * 19:39, 30 January 2004 User:Angela (Add image, but commented out for now as the upload won't work properly)
 * 12:19, 30 January 2004 User:Patrick (a start)

title: Help talk:Edit toolbar


text:
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.

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:, the second. , and the third, ). 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 ).

If you don't 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 whom 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 who has just been linked to a header, whose name has already appeared twice (and so is the third instance), and whose name is "Foo:"
 *  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.
 * 1) 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, whose name has already appeared once (and so is the second instance), and whose name is "Foo:"
 *
 *  Foo
 * The ID and name tags (the ones that say "a name=" and "id=") show that this header can be linked to with.

Q: How do I archive my User Page?
A: Four possibilities are:
 * 1) move talk page to page like User:a/b (history is now in this archive)
 * 2) move page contents to such a page (history is still in the regular talk page)
 * 3) just delete content (it is still in the history, but one can less easily search in that text) -- Patrick 14:32, 24 Jun 2005 (UTC)
 * 4) Use a link to an earlier version of the page in its history. It does not require creating "sub pages" for archives. You can see an example at wikibooks:Talk:Wikijunior_Solar_System/Solar_System.
 * 5) *Click on the history tab
 * 6) **Click on the first version listed there
 * 7) **Copy the URL from the address bar. Let's say it is  http://meta.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?User_talk:a&oldid=12345
 * 8) *Edit your talk page.
 * 9) **Delete all the stuff you want to remove from the current version of your talk page.
 * 10) **Link to the archive version as  Sept 2005 archive
 * 11) **Save the new version of your page.

Q: Can I put preformatted text inside a numbered list?
A: Yes, if you use the HTML <ol> and <li> tags and the <pre> tag like this:

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.

title: Help:Editing FAQ


text:
Help talk:Editing FAQ

Meta:Help:Editing FAQ authors and history
= From Meta:Help talk:Editing FAQ =
 * 06:34, 15 November 2005 User:Amgine (reverts more silliness)
 * 06:31, 15 November 2005 User:24.85.85.76 (amgine reverts silliness)
 * 06:29, 15 November 2005 User:216.239.58.136 (→Q: How do I archive my User Page?)
 * 06:29, 15 November 2005 User:216.239.58.136 (→Miscellaneous)
 * 06:28, 15 November 2005 User:216.239.58.136 (→Q: Can I link to a specific section header if there are multiple section headers of the same name? If so, how?)
 * 06:28, 15 November 2005 User:216.239.58.136 (→Editing)
 * 14:42, 2 November 2005 User:SV Resolution (→Q: Can I make transparent borders and rules on a table?)
 * 14:38, 2 November 2005 User:SV Resolution (→Q: Can I put preformatted text inside a numbered list?)
 * 00:04, 23 October 2005 User:Blackcap (typo, +editing section, minor formatting, new question)
 * 23:21, 7 October 2005 User:209.50.165.2 (→Q: How do I archive my User Page?)
 * 17:09, 6 October 2005 User:SV Resolution (Statement of purpose for this document.)
 * 17:01, 6 October 2005 User:SV Resolution m (→Q: Can I make transparent borders and rules on a table?)
 * 17:00, 6 October 2005 User:SV Resolution (→Q: How do I archive my User Page?)
 * 16:58, 6 October 2005 User:SV Resolution (→Q: How do I archive my User Page?)
 * 02:03, 4 October 2005 User:Patrick (→Q: How do I archive my User Page? - clarify)
 * 18:38, 3 October 2005 User:SV Resolution
 * 02:30, 3 October 2005 User:SV Resolution

title: Help talk:Editing FAQ


text:
Help talk:Editing Tips and Tricks

Meta:Help:Editing Tips and Tricks authors and history
= From Meta:Help talk:Editing Tips and Tricks =
 * User:Patrick (Help:Editing Tips and Tricks moved to Help:Editing tips and tricks: Like on the English Wikipedia, on Meta the standard is to capitalize only the first letter of the first word (after the prefix))

title: Help talk:Editing Tips and Tricks


text:
Help:Editing sections of included templates

Editing sections of included templates
This section appears both in Help:Section and in Help:Template[ .]

The editing facilities can also be applied to a section of an included template. This section, Help:Editing sections of included templates, is an example.

For the purpose of section editing the extent of a section is governed by the headers in the calling page itself. It may consist of a part before the template tag, the template tag, and a part after the template tag, even if the template has sections.

It tends to be confusing if the extent of sections according to the system is different from what the rendered page suggests. To avoid this:
 * if a template has headers, do not put any text before the first header
 * in the calling page, start a new section after a template that itself has sections

It may be convenient, where suitable, to start a template with a section header, even if normally the contents of the template would not need a division into sections, and thus the template is only one section. The edit facilities for editing sections can then be used for editing the template from a page that includes it, without specially putting an edit link. This template is an example, it does not need a division into sections, but has a header at the top.

The tag in any template affects both that template, the pages it's included on, and any other templates included on the same page.


text:
Help talk:Editing sections of included templates

Meta:Help:Editing sections of included templates authors and history
= From Meta:Help talk:Editing sections of included templates =
 * 02:27, 14 November 2005 User:Patrick (rm commented out part, obsolete)
 * 20:40, 13 November 2005 User:64.229.220.89 ("other duplication of content" does not exist.)
 * 15:38, 17 August 2005 User:Jdforrester m (Reverted edits by 59.92.131.45 to last version by Patrick)
 * 11:18, 17 August 2005 User:59.92.131.45 (→Editing sections of included templates)
 * 09:45, 4 June 2005 User:Patrick (→Editing sections of included templates)
 * 09:13, 3 May 2005 User:Patrick m (→Editing sections of included templates)
 * 09:10, 3 May 2005 User:Patrick m (→Editing sections of included templates)
 * 09:09, 3 May 2005 User:Patrick (→Editing sections of included templates - A complication is that the section level of the embedded section has to be the same in each embedding page.)
 * 08:45, 3 May 2005 User:Patrick (→Editing sections of included templates -more or less hidden purge link)
 * 08:37, 3 May 2005 User:Patrick (→Editing sections of included templates -testing higher level header)
 * 08:32, 3 May 2005 User:Patrick (→Editing sections of included templates - This section, Help:Editing sections of included templates, is an example.)
 * 08:24, 3 May 2005 User:Patrick (This section appears both in Help:Section and in Help:Template.)
 * 08:19, 3 May 2005 User:Patrick (moved from Help:Section, to be included as a template)


text:
Help:Editing shortcuts

There are three categories of automatic conversion of wikitext:

 * In a preview, the rendering of the result already shows up in the preview itself, but the conversion is not yet shown in the edit box (save and press Edit again to see the result of the conversion in the edit box, and to edit it):
 * ~ produces e.g. Patrick 10:58, 20 Jul 2004 (UTC). This is a piped link to the user page and the UTC time and date, for use on talk pages. The date format is in accordance with the preferences of the user concerned, at the time of saving the page, independent of the preferences of the reader.  An alternative link label (nickname) can be set in the User Data section of the preferences. The feature can even be used to create an additional link to the user talk page, etc. See also w:Wikipedia:Sign your posts on talk pages and Help:Editing.
 * Additionally, there are:
 * giving Patrick
 * giving 08:41, 25 Jul 2004 (UTC)
 * subst, see Help:Template
 * see Piped link
 * In a preview, the conversion is not yet shown at all:
 * extra lines of text (not extra text on the same line) after a redirect are automatically deleted
 * In a preview, the conversion is already shown, even in the edit box:
 * in MediaWiki projects which use ISO-8859-1 character encoding, special characters that are not available in the limited character set are automatically converted to their decimal numeric codes on Preview or Save.
 * in the Esperanto Wikipedia, a character like Ŝ is automatically converted into the alternative notation Sx, because in some browsers it may not display in the edit box, even if it displays in the webpage (and Sx, whether resulting from this conversion or just typed, is rendered as Ŝ)

As opposed to rendering matters (what webpage results from given wikitext), these conversions are not demonstrated in looking at existing wikitext and webpages: the wikitext only shows the result, not how it was entered.

It also means that when testing these features, one has to remember or record what one has entered.

title: Help:Editing shortcuts


text:
Help talk:Editing shortcuts

Meta:Help:Editing shortcuts authors and history
= From Meta:Help talk:Editing shortcuts =
 * 06:15, 16 November 2005 User:Uncle G (Fixed hyperlinks that break when this page is copied to other projects.)
 * 04:54, 16 November 2005 User:Uncle G (Fixed hyperlinks that break when this page is copied to other projects)
 * 04:35, 30 October 2005 User:Korg m (rv)
 * 14:32, 29 October 2005 User:196.12.55.9
 * 10:05, 13 October 2005 User:Pianoman87 (updated to reflect that wikipedia no longer uses the ISO 8859-1 character set; also simplified markup)
 * 07:36, 30 June 2005 User:Patrick m
 * 03:08, 30 June 2005 User:Uncle G (Other projects don't have the redirects)
 * 22:25, 21 June 2005 User:Patrick (The date format is in accordance with the preferences of the user concerned, at the time of saving the page, independent of the preferences of the reader)
 * 13:13, 15 June 2005 User:Patrick m
 * 23:08, 21 April 2005 User:TheDJ (hc -> h:f)
 * 22:02, 21 April 2005 User:Patrick m
 * 06:18, 9 January 2005 User:68.190.224.42
 * 06:18, 9 January 2005 User:68.190.224.42
 * 10:43, 22 November 2004 User:Patrick m
 * 15:31, 3 November 2004 User:Angela m (Reverted edits by 61.49.188.142 to last version by Patrick)
 * 14:15, 3 November 2004 User:61.49.188.142
 * 20:19, 8 October 2004 User:Patrick m (Reverted edits by 195.93.102.40 to last version by Patrick)
 * 13:21, 8 October 2004 User:195.93.102.40
 * 14:08, 2 September 2004 User:Patrick
 * 14:05, 2 September 2004 User:Patrick m
 * 14:02, 2 September 2004 User:Patrick (redirect)
 * 09:22, 25 July 2004 User:Patrick (rm bit, corrected in Help:Template#subst)
 * 08:58, 25 July 2004 User:Patrick m
 * 08:51, 25 July 2004 User:Patrick (This could also be applied for variations on the timestamp above, e.g. <nowiki> , {{subst:CURRENTTIME)
 * 08:45, 25 July 2004 User:Patrick ( etc.)
 * 07:53, 25 July 2004 User:Patrick m
 * 11:18, 20 July 2004 User:Patrick m
 * 11:10, 20 July 2004 User:Patrick m
 * 11:06, 20 July 2004 User:Patrick (An alternative link label (nickname) can be set in the User Data section of the preferences. The feature can even be used to create an additional link to the u)
 * 10:58, 20 July 2004 User:Patrick (*<nowiki>~</nowiki> produces e.g. ~. This is a piped link to the user page and the UTC time and date, for use on help:talk pages.)
 * 07:34, 6 July 2004 User:Patrick (decimal numeric codes)
 * 11:34, 3 July 2004 User:Patrick (in the Esperanto Wikipedia, a character like Ŝ is automatically converted into the alternative notation Sx, because in some browsers it may not display in the edit box, even if it displays in the webp)
 * 07:23, 3 July 2004 User:Patrick (*in MediaWiki projects which use ISO-8859-1 character encoding, such as the English Wikipedia and Meta, special characters that are not available in the limited character set are)
 * 11:59, 16 June 2004 User:Patrick (MediaWiki_User's_Guide:_Editing_overview#Links.2C_URLs.2C_images)
 * 11:48, 16 June 2004 User:Patrick (It also means that when testing these features, one has to remember or record what one has entered.)
 * 11:44, 16 June 2004 User:Patrick m
 * 11:30, 16 June 2004 User:Patrick (As opposed to rendering matters (what webpage results from given wikitext), these conversions are not demonstrated in looking at existing wikitext and webpages: the wikitext only shows the result, not)
 * 11:20, 16 June 2004 User:Patrick (small list with links)

title: Help talk:Editing shortcuts


text:
Help:Editing tips and tricks

Page protection
In a few cases, where an administrator has protected a page, the link labeled "" is replaced by the text "" (or equivalents in the language of the project). In that case the page cannot be edited. Protection of an image page includes protection of the image itself.

Edit conflicts
If someone else makes an edit while you are making yours, the result is an edit conflict. Many conflicts can be automatically resolved by the Wiki. If it can't be resolved, however, you will need to resolve it yourself. The Wiki gives you two text boxes, where the top one is the other person's edit and the bottom one is your edit. Merge your edits into the top edit box, which is the only one that will be saved.

Reverting
The edit link of a page showing an old version leads to an edit page with the old wikitext. This is a useful way to restore the old version of a page. However, the edit link of a diff page gives the current wikitext, even if the diff page shows an old version below the table of differences.

Error messages
If you get an error message upon saving a page, you can't tell whether the actual save has failed or just the confirmation. You can go back and save again, and the second save will have no effect, or you can check "My contributions" to see whether the edit went through.

Checking spelling and editing in your favorite editor
You may find it more convenient to copy and paste the text first into your favorite text editor, edit and spell check it there, and then paste it back into your web browser to preview. This way, you can also keep a local backup copy of the pages you have edited. It also allows you to make changes offline.

If you edit this way, it's best to leave the editing page open after you copy from it, using the same edit box to submit your changes, so that the usual edit conflict mechanism can deal with it. If you return to the editing page later, please make sure that nobody else has edited the page in the meantime. If someone has, you'll need to merge their edits into yours by using the diff feature in the page history.

Composition of the edit page
The editing page consists of these sections:

 * The edit toolbar (optional)
 * The editing text box
 * The edit summary box
 * Save/Preview/Cancel links
 * A list of templates used on the page
 * A preview, if you have requested one. Your preferences may place the preview at the top of the page instead.

Position-independent wikitext
No matter where you put these things in the wikitext, the resulting page is displayed the same way:
 * Interlanguage links
 * Categories
 * The magic words and . See Help:Section.

title: Help:Editing tips and tricks


text:
Help talk:Editing tips and tricks

Meta:Help:Editing tips and tricks authors and history
= From Meta:Help talk:Editing tips and tricks =
 * 04:50, 28 November 2005 User:Uncle G (→Position-independent wikitext - Corrected hyperlink.)
 * 04:49, 28 November 2005 User:Uncle G (Fixed hyperlinks that break when this page is copied to other projects.)
 * 04:23, 28 November 2005 User:Rspeer (clean up)
 * 07:01, 27 November 2005 User:Uncle G (Added link to Help:Administration.)
 * 19:50, 26 November 2005 User:Uncle G (Removed hyperlinks that break when this page is copied to other projects.)
 * 15:03, 26 November 2005 User:Curious1i m (→Page protection)
 * 14:57, 26 November 2005 User:Curious1i (→Page protection - Linked to explain what this is...)
 * 23:29, 24 November 2005 User:Uncle G (Preventing conflict with template on other projects.)
 * 03:21, 16 November 2005 User:Uncle G (Fixed hyperlinks that break when this page is copied to other projects.)
 * 01:52, 16 November 2005 User:Fitch (→Edit in your favorite editor - and spell checking)
 * 23:22, 4 October 2005 User:Mindspillage m (Reverted edits by 67.19.70.180 to last version by SV Resolution)
 * 23:10, 4 October 2005 User:67.19.70.180
 * 23:10, 4 October 2005 User:67.19.70.180
 * 23:09, 4 October 2005 User:67.19.70.180
 * 23:09, 4 October 2005 User:67.19.70.180
 * 23:09, 4 October 2005 User:67.19.70.180
 * 23:09, 4 October 2005 User:67.19.70.180
 * 23:09, 4 October 2005 User:67.19.70.180
 * 23:08, 4 October 2005 User:67.19.70.180 (→Hover box)
 * 23:08, 4 October 2005 User:67.19.70.180 (→Tips and tricks)
 * 22:56, 4 October 2005 User:67.19.70.180 (→Position-independent wikitext)
 * 22:56, 4 October 2005 User:67.19.70.180 (→Composition of the edit page)
 * 22:56, 4 October 2005 User:67.19.70.180 (→Differences)
 * 22:55, 4 October 2005 User:67.19.70.180 (→Edit in your favorite editor)
 * 22:55, 4 October 2005 User:67.19.70.180 (→Error message)
 * 22:55, 4 October 2005 User:67.19.70.180 (→Separating edits)
 * 22:55, 4 October 2005 User:67.19.70.180 (→Page protection)
 * 22:54, 4 October 2005 User:67.19.70.180 (→Hover box)
 * 22:54, 4 October 2005 User:67.19.70.180 (→Tips and tricks)
 * 13:46, 14 September 2005 User:SV Resolution m (Sentence-style capitalization of subsection heads)
 * 20:41, 13 September 2005 User:Patrick m (Help:Editing Tips and Tricks moved to Help:Editing tips and tricks)
 * 15:36, 13 September 2005 User:SV Resolution (A place for tips and tricks!)

title: Help talk:Editing tips and tricks


text:
Help talk:Editing toolbar

Meta:Help:Editing toolbar authors and history
= From Meta:Help talk:Editing toolbar =
 * User:Patrick (Help:Editing toolbar moved to Help:Edit toolbar)

title: Help talk:Editing toolbar