The Sandbox is a page designed for testing and experimenting with wiki syntax and the VisualEditor.

N.B. Please remember to update the Strawinthewind user page after making any change to this page.

The Sandbox was created as a place with fewer rules and policies than other pages on Wikipedia. For example, you don't have to follow the Manual of Style or reach community consensus before making a major change. However, it must not be used for malicious purposes, and policies such as no personal attacks, civility, and copyrights (such as non-free content criteria) still apply.

The beginner's guide to editing on WIkipedia is the MISSING MANUAL, which is here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:Wikipedia:_The_Missing_Manual/Editing,_creating,_and_maintaining_articles/Editing_for_the_first_time.

Before STARTING A NEW ARTICLE, read this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:Wikipedia:_The_Missing_Manual/Editing,_creating,_and_maintaining_articles/Creating_a_new_article.

WIKITEXT MARKUP LANGUAGE GUIDE IS HERE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:Wiki_markup.

A more concise CHEAT SHEET is here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:Cheatsheet.

Wikipedia does have its own MANUAL OF STYLE. It's here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Manual_of_Style.

Citations: Generally sources are added directly after the facts they support at the end of the sentence and after any punctuation. Wikipedia permits editors to use any citation system that allows the reader to understand where the information came from, and strongly encourages use of inline citations to do so. Common methods of placing inline citations include footnotes, shortened footnotes and parenthetical references. Inline citations are most commonly placed by inserting a reference between tags, directly in the text of an article. When one saves, that will display in the text as a footnote (e.g.[1][2]), and the source you keyed in will appear on the page in a collated, numbered list corresponding to the footnote numbers in the text, wherever a template or tag is present, usually in a section titled "References" or "Notes". If you are creating a new page, or adding references to a page that didn't previously have any, don't forget to add a references section with this display markup. There are a number of tools available to help with citation placement and formatting, some of which are internal tools and scripts while others are available from external sites. For an example of the former, RefToolbar is a JavaScript toolbar displayed above the edit box that provides the ability to automatically fill out various citation templates and insert them in the text already formatting inside tags. For an example of the latter, the Wikipedia citation tool for Google Books converts a Google Books address (URL) into a filled-out template ready to be pasted into an article.

See also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:Referencing_for_beginners, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citing_sources, and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:Introduction_to_referencing_with_VisualEditor/1.

Some basic markup elements

Bold: three single speech marks before and after text. example

Italics: two single speech marks before and after text. example

Bold and italics: five single speech marks before and after text. example

Underline: a "u" between two angle brackets before text and a "/u" between angle brackets after text. example

Section headings: precede and follow text of headings by an equivalent number of equals signs to the rank of the heading, for example two equals signs before and after for a ==Level 2== heading, and so on up to ======Level 6======:

Level 2

edit
Level 6
edit

Bulleted list: start the line with an asterisk, followed by a space before the item.

  • Example 1.
  • Example 2.

Numbered list: start the line with a hash sign followed by a space before the item.

  1. First example.
  2. Second example.

For indented sub-lists, use an extra hash sign.

    1. First level of indent.
      1. Second level of indent.

Indented text: start the line with a colon followed by a space. Add colons for the appropriate number of indents.

First level of indent.
Second level of indent
Third level of indent.

See Cheat Sheet for outdent to return to the left margin after indents.

Link to another page on on WIkipedia: two single square brackets before and after text. China

If the page doesn't exist, the link will appear in red. Marcus Blimfeld

Plain website link: just the URL text with no extra punctuation. Example: http://www.amazon.com

Link a website in an endnote: single square bracket before and after the URL. Example: [1]

To name a website in a link: single square bracket before and after the URL, placing the name after the URL, separated by a space, and before the final square bracket. Example: Amazon