User:Atvelonis/Editing

I use this page to teach various things about editing in Source Mode. It is essentially a summarized guide to everything you should know if you want to get started with editing, and then some. Speak to me on my talk page, the Chat, or elsewhere if you think there's something I should expand on here. I recommend you read this guide bit by bit, rather than trying to absorb the entire thing in one sitting. I tried to cut as much fluff out of the guide as possible, but there is still a lot of content to learn.

Note that this guide is intended to teach you how to edit, and should supplement (not replace) the policies and guidelines and style and formatting guides, which are designed to explain the rules and requirements for articles. If you are new to editing, you might also be interested in reading our official glossary, which explains some wiki terms that you may not be familiar with.

Note to self—add these:
 * As much as I despise it, VisualEditor tabs would be appropriate.
 * Signatures
 * Includeonly/noinclude
 * Audio
 * Images
 * Licensing
 * Fonts?
 * Preload templates
 * Actual images to this
 * "Advanced" section?
 * CK/CS
 * CSS/JS
 * More templates in general
 * Renaming pages
 * Sic
 * Other formatting quirks like 
 * :w: links (expand upon existing)''
 * Talk pages (how to leave messages, signing, etc.)
 * File/Category pipe link...?
 * Tabber
 * Poll

General links
Links are used to access different pages on the wiki. A word or series of words is linked by adding before it and  after it. Here are some examples:


 * Skyrim
 * Nordic Empire
 * Ruins of Kemel-Ze

This would make:


 * Skyrim
 * Nordic Empire
 * Ruins of Kemel-Ze

Pipe links
On many articles, however, links appear as different words than the name of the page that they link to. This is called pipe-linking. Here is how you do it:


 * The Fatherland
 * First Empire of the Nords
 * This book

This would make:


 * The Fatherland
 * First Empire of the Nords
 * This book

Extra link text
Sometimes, the way a sentence is worded will require you to make a link in plural, past tense, and so on. Instead of using a pipe link, there is another way to make a link show the grammatically correct text while still pointing to the proper page. Here is how you do it:


 * Redguards
 * Enchanted
 * Magical

This would make:


 * Redguards
 * Enchanted
 * Magical

External pipe links
For an external pipe link, you add a space after the final character in the URL of the outside page you're linking to and type what you want the reader to see. Here is how you do it:

Bethesda's official site

This would make:

Bethesda's official site

Same-page links
Occasionally, especially on lengthier pages, you may want to link to a different section of the page you are already on, so that readers do not have to scroll around to find it. This type of link also does not reload the page, making it a quick and easy solution. Here is how you do it:

User:Atvelonis/Editing

This would make:

User:Atvelonis/Editing

Alternatively, this can be shortened to simply an octothorpe # and the heading name. Here is how you do it:



This would have the same result:



Sub-page links
Some pages are so extensive that they require what are called sub-pages, indicated with a forward slash / followed by a descriptive title, which are connected by the article's overarching prefix.

To give an example, the Console Commands (Skyrim) article relies on sub-pages for better organization. In this case, they are used to separate lists of IDs for various things in the game. Here is how you use these links:


 * Console Commands (Skyrim)/Books
 * Console Commands (Skyrim)/Characters
 * Console Commands (Skyrim)/Locations

This would make:


 * Console Commands (Skyrim)/Books
 * Console Commands (Skyrim)/Characters
 * Console Commands (Skyrim)/Locations

Remember that these are all sub-pages of the main Console Commands (Skyrim) page. If you happen to be on the hub page such as that for a bunch of sub-pages, there is a way to link to the sub-pages more neatly. Here is how you do it:


 * /Books
 * /Characters
 * /Locations

This would make:


 * /Books
 * /Characters
 * /Locations

Keep in mind that this only works if you are on the main hub page for the sub-pages. Otherwise, you would have to write out the full link.

Special links
Special links are links to any pages that have a prefix. This includes Project, Special, MediaWiki, Forum, File (see below) and so on. To make a special link, simply add the prefix before the name of the page in the link. Here is how you do it:


 * Special:ListFiles
 * MediaWiki:Common.css
 * Forum:Index

This would make:


 * Special:ListFiles
 * MediaWiki:Common.css
 * Forum:Index

It is the same process for most other namespaces. Forum links, however, are treated slightly differently. Instead of writing the name of the forum thread in a link, you use the thread number, which can be found in the page's URL. Here is how you do it:

Thread:380847

This would make:

Thread:380847

Another exception can be the Project namespace, which can be lengthened to "The Elder Scrolls Wiki:" or shortened to "TES:." Here is how you do it:


 * Project:Weekly Updates
 * The Elder Scrolls Wiki:Weekly Updates
 * TES:Weekly Updates

This would make:


 * Project:Weekly Updates
 * The Elder Scrolls Wiki:Weekly Updates
 * TES:Weekly Updates

These links all do the same thing, although "TES:" is the most compact and as such is used most frequently.

Interlanguage links
The wiki exists in multiple other languages, so linking articles in English to ones in German, Spanish, Russan, and so on is very useful to non-English speakers. These links are placed at the bottom of articles and include the ISO 639-1 language codes as a prefix and then the name of the article in the corresponding language after that. Here is how you do it:

Ulfric Sturmmantel Ulfric Capa de la Tormenta Ульфрик Буревестник

This would add links to the Ulfric Stormcloak article to its respective pages on the German (de), Spanish (es), and Russian (ru) TESWikis. A list of existing interlanguage TESWikis can be found here and a list of ISO 639-1 language codes can be found here.

Interwiki links
It is also possible to link to both another wiki on Wikia or something on Wikipedia by using special prefixes. To link to another wiki on Wikia, you must type "w:c: :" and then the article title. For Wikipedia, simply write "Wikipedia:" as the prefix, followed by the article title. Here are some examples:


 * w:c:fallout:Sanctuary Hills
 * Europe

This would make:


 * w:c:fallout:Sanctuary Hills
 * Europe

And of course, those links may be turned into pipe links just as any other links would be.

Redirects
Redirects are a special kind of link frequently used to improve coherence in article source code. In link-heavy pages, including a longer pipe link may be cumbersome and mildly distracting to editors. Thus, redirect links can be used in place of a pipe link.

For example, the link ESO actually points to the article. So, when an ESO link is clicked, the reader is automatically directed to the full article without any further input (in other words, it works just like a normal link).

So, instead of having to type out ESO every time you want to use that abbreviation, you can simply type ESO and it will have the same effect. Here is the code on the ESO redirect page that makes it point to the The Elder Scrolls Online article:


 * 1) REDIRECT The Elder Scrolls Online

Furthermore, a redirect is automatically created when a file or article is renamed. For example, if you rename the file "Jarl Balgruuf the Greater.png" to "Ballin' Balgruuf.png," there will be a redirect from the old title to the new one, in case you forget to update the links. Even if the file redirect is used instead of the new title, it displays the same image.

Categories
Categories are keywords placed at the bottom of most articles to group similar articles together to help readers and editors find other articles which could also help them.

They can be added in three ways. First, to click the "Add category" button at the bottom of an article, and type in the name of the category. The second way is to go into the editor and add the name of the desired category via a box on the bottom right. The third way is to manually add it like a link in the main body of the article. Here are some examples:

If you want to simply link to a category from an article, place a colon in between the first set of brackets and the name of the category. Here are some examples:

Category:Skyrim: Characters Category:Online: Books Category:Lore: Events

This would make:

Category:Skyrim: Characters

Category:Online: Books

Category:Lore: Events

Simple formatting
On most articles, there are three different types of text. Regular, unmodified text, bolded text, italicized text, underline text, and strikeout text. Some articles have more advanced types of text, which will be explained below. Here is how simple formatting code works:


 * This is plain text.
 * This is bolded text.
 * This is italicized text.
 * This is underlined text.
 * This is struckout text.

This would make:


 * This is plain text.
 * This is bolded text.
 * This is italicized text.
 * This is underlined text.
 * This is struckout text.

Additionally, italics can be created with two apostrophes  in the place of the  and , and bold can be created with three apostrophes  in the place of the  and ' , respectively. Both are accepted methods, but apostrophes are generally preferred where applicable.

Headings
Headings, such as the one directly above this paragraph, are used to separate different topics in an article. They are created by adding == before and after a word or phrase. Additional, smaller headings can be created by adding more equals signs. Here is how you do it:

Subheading 3
After four or more headings are introduced to an article, a Table of Contents is automatically created to help readers easily skip to specific sections.

Indentations
To make an indentation, place a colon before the text you wish to indent. If you want it to be more indented, place more than one colon. It is often used to document in-game dialogue or to reply to another editor's message on a talk page. Here is how you do it:

This line is not indented.
 * This line is indented once.
 * This line is indented twice.
 * This line is indented three times.
 * This line is indented four times.
 * This line is indented five times.

This would make:

This line is not indented.
 * This line is indented once.
 * This line is indented twice.
 * This line is indented three times.
 * This line is indented four times.
 * This line is indented five times.

Line breaks
There are two ways to create a line break. The first way, to simply press the Enter/Return key on your keyboard twice, is used for new paragraphs and leaves a space in between. Here is how you do it:

This is in the first paragraph.

This is in the second paragraph.

This would make:

This is in the first paragraph.

This is in the second paragraph.

The second way to make a line break leaves no space and is often used in infoboxes. Here is how you do it:

This is on the first line.

This is on the second line.

This would make:

This is on the first line.

This is on the second line.

Lists
There are several ways to format lists on the wiki. The most common is via bullets, which are created with asterisks *. Here is how you do it:


 * This is part of a bulleted list.
 * This is part of a bulleted list.
 * This is part of a bulleted list.

This would make:


 * This is part of a bulleted list.
 * This is part of a bulleted list.
 * This is part of a bulleted list.

Alternatively, you can number lists by using an octothorpe # instead of an asterisk. Here is how you do it:


 * 1) This is part of a numbered list.
 * 2) This is part of a numbered list.
 * 3) This is part of a numbered list.

This would make:


 * 1) This is part of a numbered list.
 * 2) This is part of a numbered list.
 * 3) This is part of a numbered list.

Columns
On some articles, lists are extremely long and become difficult to read. To solve this, we use multiple columns for the list; usually no more than three. To make for example a two-column list, you would use "2" as an argument within the following:


 * This is in the first column.
 * This is in the first column.
 * This is in the first column.
 * This is in the second column.
 * This is in the second column.
 * This is in the second column.

This would make:


 * This is in the first column.
 * This is in the first column.
 * This is in the first column.
 * This is in the second column.
 * This is in the second column.
 * This is in the second column.

Sup
Occasionally, text must be raised to represent for example a squared or cubed number or a trademarked or registered symbol. This can be done with sup. Here is an example:

There are over 104 characters in The Elder Scrolls Online.

This would make:

There are over 104 characters in The Elder Scrolls Online.

Small
Text size can also be decreased for a variety of situations. Here is how you do it:

This is small text.

This would make:

This is small text.

Nowiki
Occasionally, you might have to write out the code for something as an example to show someone else without without making it function. Here is an example:

This would make:

Code
Code works exactly the same way as nowiki, except it changes the font of anything within it to a new one to differentiate from regular text. Here is an example:

This would make:

Pre
You may want to show the code for something but make it very obvious. Pre works the same way as nowiki and code, but produces a significantly more noticeable code area. It is very prevalent in this guide for this very reason. To use pre, place  before the code and   after it. Here is an example:

Code!

Poem
Some topics, especially songs, poems, or inscriptions, call for specific formatting in terms of new lines and text alignment. Although a new line can be created with , it is sometimes impractical to use in the case of lengthier records, and cannot be used to align text horizontally. Using before a document after it creates the poem format. Here is an example:

Dovahkiin, Dovahkiin, naal ok zin los vahriin, Wah dein vokul mahfaeraak ahst vaal! Ahrk fin norok paal graan fod nust hon zindro zaan, Dovahkiin, fah hin kogaan mu draal!

This would make:

Dovahkiin, Dovahkiin, naal ok zin los vahriin, Wah dein vokul mahfaeraak ahst vaal! Ahrk fin norok paal graan fod nust hon zindro zaan, Dovahkiin, fah hin kogaan mu draal!

Of course, this text can be manipulated to appear in italics, bold, underline, and so on. Here is an example:

 Dovahkiin, Dovahkiin, naal ok zin los vahriin, Wah dein vokul mahfaeraak ahst vaal! Ahrk fin norok paal graan fod nust hon zindro zaan, Dovahkiin, fah hin kogaan mu draal! 

This would make:

 Dovahkiin, Dovahkiin, naal ok zin los vahriin, Wah dein vokul mahfaeraak ahst vaal! Ahrk fin norok paal graan fod nust hon zindro zaan, Dovahkiin, fah hin kogaan mu draal! 

Most tags, including, can be manipulated to do slightly different things, such as to center text. Here is an example:

  Dovahkiin, Dovahkiin, naal ok zin los vahriin, Wah dein vokul mahfaeraak ahst vaal! Ahrk fin norok paal graan fod nust hon zindro zaan, Dovahkiin, fah hin kogaan mu draal! 

This would make:

  Dovahkiin, Dovahkiin, naal ok zin los vahriin, Wah dein vokul mahfaeraak ahst vaal! Ahrk fin norok paal graan fod nust hon zindro zaan, Dovahkiin, fah hin kogaan mu draal! 

Colored text
To make text colored, you must use HTML color codes. Here is how you do it:


 * This text is red.
 * This text is orange.
 * This text is yellow.
 * This text is green.
 * This text is blue.
 * This text is indigo.
 * This text is violet.

This would make:


 * This text is red.
 * This text is orange.
 * This text is yellow.
 * This text is green.
 * This text is blue.
 * This text is indigo.
 * This text is violet.

In-game references
References are extremely important to use on articles, lore articles in particular, to show readers where the information on the page is coming from. They are added with a short

On its own, this would not actually do anything. If you left it like this, you would see the following message at the bottom of the page:

'''Cite error: tags exist, but no tag that is needed as well as a ==References== header. Here is how you do it:

Out-of-game references
We separate in-game sources from out-of-game sources in the References section for more specificity for readers. They work basically the same way as regular references, but they also include something to note that they are out-of-game references. Here is how you do it:

Landfall is a future event in which Nirn is destroyed.

If you left this on its own, you would see the following message at the bottom of the page:

'''Cite error: tags exist for a group named "OOG", but no corresponding tags, except they are used almost exclusively in infoboxes to display certain IDs, such as an NPC's RefID. Here is how you use it:

This would make:

IDs from a DLC such as have a unique naming system, which is explained on the xx page. To accommodate this, the DLC ID template is used instead of ID on DLC pages. Here is how you use it:

This would make:

Template documentation
When creating a template, you must also create a documentation page for it. A documentation page is simply what you will actually put into an article, excluding page-specific information. To create a template documentation page, you would use the  tag and then the template name and parameters that you would put in an article, and then close it with. For example, Template:OnlineCharacters/doc.

Images
Images are used to give an article's text visual support in order for readers to gain a better understanding of what is being spoken about, or how exactly something works. They are rarely used entirely in place of text, and are much more often used simply as a supplement to it.

Uploading images
To be able to use an image on the wiki, you must first upload it. Following that link takes you to the page necessary to upload an image, however without prior knowledge it can be confusing to do it correctly. Firstly, as the page states, your image must be allowed under our image policies.

Assuming it is appropriate for the wiki, you must copy and paste the following template into the text box titled "Summary," which is near the bottom of the page.

Unlike other templates, Information requires Clr to be placed immediately after it, so that the image licenses are formatted properly.

Not every parameter of the template has to be filled out, however the four most important ones are Description, Source, Filespecs, and Licensing. Here is an example of a properly filled-out template:

This would make:



Obviously, the information about your upload may be different from this example. Fill the template out accordingly. For example, if the image you are uploading is from a website, record the web address of where you found the image under the "Source" parameter.

Once you have done that, select a license from the drop-down tab immediately below the "Summary" box. The tab is titled "Licensing."


 * If you took the image yourself, and it is from a game developed by Bethesda, you should generally select, "This image is from 'The Elder Scrolls' series of games and qualifies as fair use."
 * If you took the image yourself, and it is from a game developed by ZeniMax, you should generally select, "This image is from 'The Elder Scrolls Online' game and qualifies as fair use."
 * If you found the image on the Internet, and its usage is covered under Fair Use (meaning you are allowed to publish it elsewhere if you give proper attribution to the original source), you should generally select, "This is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike License."

If your image does not fall under one of those categories, you should probably not upload it to the wiki.

An alternative to using the drop-down tab is simply to include a specific licensing template after the Clr template, but only if you took the image yourself from one of the games. Each game has these templates for large topics, such as SkyrimCharacterImages, DaggerfallQuestImages, MorrowindBookImages, and so on. If you use this method instead, do not select anything from the drop-down tab.

Lastly, you must click on the "Choose File" button in the "Source file" section of the page. Once there, you must locate the image on your computer and select it to be uploaded. Then, scroll to the bottom of the upload page and click "Upload file."

At this point, you will be taken to the file location of the image on the wiki. Copy the name you gave the image, and then edit the appropriate article and add the image.

Multiple-upload
If you happen to have a large number of images that you would like to upload to the wiki, there is a similar page to help you upload larger quantities of images more efficiently. While the regular upload page is at Special:Upload, if you want to upload multiple images at the same time you would use Special:MultipleUpload.

MultipleUpload works the same was as the regular Upload page, for the most part. However, you may select up to twenty images from your computer instead of only one. The text you place in the Summary box will appear the same way for each image once it is uploaded.

It may take a few seconds longer than normal to actually upload the images if there are more than a few of them, and a small "percent complete" bar may show up in your browser to show you how much progress has been made during the upload. Once the images have been uploaded, you will be taken to a list of each image you uploaded. Clicking on the name of an image listed there will take you to the file location of that image on the wiki.

Formatting images
There are a lot of ways you can format images. The most common way is to do so in an infobox. Using a sample infobox, ere is how you would write a file name to make the image appear in an infobox:

This would make:

Some older templates may require that you use the full formatting for an image to appear instead of simply the image's name, which is explained in the next example.

The size of the image may be adjusted if an image is too small or too large. Here is how you do it:

Use any number smaller than 250px to make the image smaller. For example:

Use any number larger than 250px to make the image larger. For example:

Galleries
If you have a large number of images that cannot be placed in the main body of an article, you can use a gallery to group them together in one section, usually near the end of the page. You can also add captions to the images with a second parameter. Here is how you do it:

The second parameter controls the large heading that each image has, "linktext" controls the smaller description underneath it, and "link" allows you to make the image link to an article when it is clicked on. There are a lot more tags you can apply to galleries in order to change the way they appear, which you can view on this page.

Blockquotes
Various forms of blockquotes are used to document dialogue, among other things.

Classic blockquotes
This version is not used very frequently, but is the most basic type of blockquote, and has no background.

This is a classic blockquote.

This would make:

This is a classic blockquote.

Character blockquotes
Character blockquotes are also not used very frequently, but they are generally used to strongly emphasize the information within them. Here is how you make one:

This is a character blockquote.

This would make:

This is a character blockquote.

Dividing blockquotes
In terms of dialogue, dividing blockquotes are used to document conversations between two or more characters (NPCs). The speaker's name goes in bold, while their response is not bolded. This is how you make a dividing blockquote:

This is a dividing blockquote.

This would make:

This is a dividing blockquote.

Or, if it is italicized using two apostrophes on either side of the text, it would make this:

This is an italicized dividing blockquote.

Note that if there are multiple paragraphs in a blockquote, they must each be italicized; it does not carry over through multiple paragraphs. For example:

This is the first paragraph of an italicized dividing blockquote.

This is the second paragraph of an italicized dividing blockquote.

This would make:

This is the first paragraph of an italicized dividing blockquote.

This is the second paragraph of an italicized dividing blockquote.

Dialogue boxes
Dialogue boxes are used to document conversations between the player and a character (NPC). The player's dialogue goes in bold, while the character's response is not bolded. Here is how you make a dialogue box:

This is the player's dialogue. "This is the response."

This would make:

This is the player's dialogue. "This is the response."

Half blockquotes
Blockquotes can also be cut in half for aesthetic purposes. Here is how to make a halved character blockquote:

 This is a halved character blockquote.

This would make:

 This is a halved character blockquote.

Alternatively, you can cut a dividing blockquote in half. If italicized, it will act the same way as a regular dividing blockquote.

This is a halved dividing blockquote.

This would make:

This is a halved dividing blockquote.

Dialogue boxes can also be cut in half. Here is how you do it:

This is the player's dialogue. "This is the response."

This would make:

This is the player's dialogue. "This is the response."

Book container
The content of books is generally placed in a specialized blockquote called a book container. Here is an example:

"How did I get here?"

"The guards, Cyrus, you don't remember?"

This would make:

"How did I get here?"

"The guards, Cyrus, you don't remember?"

Tables
Tables are used to store large amounts of information in an orderly, readable fashion.

Classed tables
There are several different kinds of "classed" tables. A "classed" table in this context means one that falls under a game class, which usually just changes its color.


 * onqtable –
 * dbqtable –
 * dgqtable –
 * skqtable –
 * obqtable –
 * shqtable –
 * knqtable –
 * mwqtable –
 * dfqtable –
 * arqtable –

Here is an example:

This would make:

Changing the  to, for example,   would render the same result, but in a different color:

Likewise, changing it to  would yield another similar result:

As stated previously, every class would give this table a different color. Of course, you want to match the color with the game that the information is from, so in an article you would only use  for the above examples, as the dialogue is from Ulfric Stormcloak in Skyrim.

As with regular wikitables, you can also add things like,  , etc. to the table in order to format it differently. This allows for much more complex tables than the above ones; for example, quest journals (example) and large data tables (example) sometimes make use of more complicated formatting.