Wikiquote:How to edit a page

This page has been adapted from one on the Wikipedia, and still needs further editing, keep this in mind if you are using it for guidance.

Introduction
Wikiquote is a wiki, meaning that anyone can edit with ease any article and have those changes posted immediately. This page is the reference for Wiki markup. You may also want to learn about:


 * How to start a page on Wikiquote
 * Informal tips on Contributing to Wikipedia
 * Editing tasks in general at the Wikipedia:Editing FAQ
 * Preferred layout of your article at Guide to layout
 * Style conventions in the Manual of style
 * General policies in Policies and guidelines
 * Wikipedia:Naming conventions for how to name articles themselves
 * Finally, for a list of all articles about editing Wikipedia, see Category:Wikipedia.

It's very easy to edit a Wiki page. Just click on the "Edit this page" link at the top or bottom (also on the sidebar) of a Wiki page to change the page itself, or click on "Discuss this page" link and then on "Edit this page" to write on the corresponding talk page. This will bring you to a page with a text box containing the editable text of that Wiki page.

Then type away, write a short edit summary on the small field below the edit-box and when finished press "Save"! You can also preview your changes before saving if you like. Depending on your system, pressing Enter while the edit box is not active (there is no typing cursor in it) may have the same effect as pressing Save.

Please use a neutral point of view, and please cite your sources so others can check and extend your work.

It is often more convenient to copy and paste the text first into your favorite text editor, edit and spell check there, and then paste back into the browser to preview. This way, you can also keep a local backup copy of the pages you authored so that you can make changes offline.

Minor edits
When editing a page, a logged-in user has the option of flagging the edit as a "minor edit". When to use this is somewhat a matter of personal preference. The rule of thumb is that an edit of a page that is spelling corrections, formatting, and minor rearranging of text should be flagged as a "minor edit". A major edit is basically something that makes the entry worth relooking at for somebody who wants to watch the article rather closely, so any "real" change, even if it is a single word, is a major edit. This feature is important, because users can choose to hide minor edits in their view of the Recent Changes page, to keep the volume of edits down to a manageable level.

The reason for not allowing a user who is not logged in to mark an edit as minor is that vandalism could then be marked as a minor edit, in which case it would stay unnoticed longer. This limitation is another reason to log in.

The wiki markup
In the left column of the table below, you can see what effects are possible. In the right column, you can see how those effects were achieved. In other words, to make text look like it looks in the left column, type it in the format you see in the right column.

You may want to keep this page open in a separate browser window for reference. If you want to try out things without danger of doing any harm, you can do so in the Sandbox.

Placement of the Table of Contents (TOC)
At the current status of the wiki makup language, at least four headers automatically trigger the TOC in front of the first header (or after introductory sections). Adding anywhere in the page forces a TOC for pages with fewer than four headers. Putting anywhere forces the TOC to disappear.

HTML tables
HTML tables can be quite useful as well. For details on how to use them and discussion about when they are appropriate, see Wikipedia:How to use tables.