Help:Starting a new page
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Anyone, including you, can write for Wikipedia! Just type a title in the box below, click "Create page", and start writing:
A new page is distinguished from a blank page: the latter has a page history. However, creating a new page is just like editing a blank page, except that the message that is in MediaWiki:Newarticletext appears, which can be different per project.
New pages can be created by following a link to a nonexistent page ("red link") or by editing the last part of the URL of another page in the same project. It is useful to create a page by following a link, or create links to the new page right after creating the page, to avoid the new page being isolated.
(For general editing matters, in particular the markup language of the wikitext, see Help:Editing.)
General principles
- Search to see whether someone has written a similar page before you start one yourself.
- Review conventions of the project you are working in regarding e.g.:
- the naming; see also Help:Page name.
- whether a separate page is justified; perhaps it is better to add the text to a related page (especially if the text is not very long); that page can always be split later, after it has grown.
- Once you have created a new page, check 'What links here' in case your page name coincides with a link which previously pointed to a non-existent page and to which your new page is not relevant.
Starting a page from an existing link, after creating one, or after a search
To start a new page, you can start from a link to the title of the new page. On the English Wikipedia, due to w:MediaWiki:Nogomatch, another way is to perform a search (as you should have done before) with the Go button and coming up with nothing, pressing "create the article".
Internal links to non-existing pages are typically created in preparation of creating the page, and/or to encourage other people to do so. Typically they look different from links to existing pages, depending on settings: a different color or with a question mark (sometimes they are called "red links" after one of the default settings). Links to non-existent pages are created using the [[newpage]] inside the wiki editor (in this case an empty page "newpage" would be created).
Such a link is to the edit mode of the non-existing page, which allows creating it, just like editing a blank page.
Before following the edit link, decide whether you want to give the new page the suggested name. If not, first edit the link on the referring page.
Of course you can also create the link yourself, in a related page or index page. However, it may be better to wait with creating links until after creating the new page, especially if the link would replace one to an existing page. In that case you can create the link but just press Preview, not Save (a previewed link also works) or create the link first only on your user page.
Note that links on related pages are not only convenient for navigation, but also make people aware of the new page (those who happen to read a related page, but also those who watch such a page).
Starting a page through the URL
Entering the URL for a page that has not been created will still display a regular page.
The page at that URL will display the default 'no article' message. The new page will still have the usual edit link, which will allow anyone to begin adding content.
So a "broken link" from within or outside the project is, in a way, not really broken, as long as the first part of it is correct.
Editing the last part of the URL of an existing page (in the same project) is an easy way to create the URL for a new page.
An interwiki link to a non-existent page gives the same result, but is not recommended.
To get access to a MediaWiki project with all the links at the edges, but without superfluous loading of any page, you can bookmark a non-existing page.
Creating an empty page
Occasionally it is useful to create an empty page. How?? For example a template can be made such that, depending on a parameter, it produces either just a standard text or also an additional text. This is done by having it call another template, of which the name is a parameter; one version of the other template contains the additional text, the other version is blank. See optional text.
A blank page cannot be created directly; first create a non-blank page, e.g. with just one character, then edit the page to blank it.
From some other editing environment
Although pasting existing text into the wiki is often the simplest way to start, you may want to try converting from Word or HTML to wiki markup.
Protecting a page from being created
It is not really possible to protect a page from being created, but one can create a page with a standard text such as in w:en:Template:Deletedpage and protect that page. Note that sometimes a terminology like "This page should not be created." is used even though for the system the page exists. Therefore it is not suitable for demonstrating a link to a non-existing page.
Wikipedia-specific content and links to other help pages
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Part of the Style and How-to Series Here is how to start a Wikipedia page. A "page" can be an article, talk page, project page, template, or help page. You might also want to learn about:
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General principles
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Ways to start a new page
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Starting a page from an existing linkTo start a new page, you can start from a link to the title of the new page. As you're reading through Wikipedia articles, you'll see clickable links to pages that haven't been written yet (like this: Sample article title note this is not an actual functioning link). Links to unwritten pages appear in red (if you are logged in you can change this to a small question mark using the preferences). Click on the link, and you'll arrive at a page that says:
Just start typing your article in the edit-box. When you're finished, click the "show preview" button to check what the page will look like first and to check that you haven't made any errors. Then click the "Save" button at the bottom of the page. [edit]
Creating links to other pagesWhile you are editing some existing article, if a word or phrase you are typing strikes you as if it ought to have an article of its own linked from here, just put it in double square brackets, [edit]
Editing a URLAnother way to start a new page is to enter something like the following into your browser as a page address:
Replacing "Sample_article_title" with whatever you want the article to be called. For example, to create an article about frumpysnarf, type:
This will bring up a message that informs you that there is currently no text in the article yet. So, click on the "Edit this page" link at the top of that page, and presto! you are now editing your brand new article. Your careful attention to accuracy and neutrality will be greatly appreciated, of course. However, creating an article with this method often makes what we call here an orphan -- no other articles link to this new page. Orphans are bad -- they should be linked to (i.e. by creating a link to it in another article). [edit]
Start a page from the sandboxAnother way is to use the sandbox.
Note: The sandbox is periodically erased, so remember to bookmark the page(s) you have created, in order to edit them again in the future. If you are a registered user, it will also appear under "My contributions" in the Quickbar. Also, note the remark above regarding orphans. [edit]
Further infoWhen creating pages it is also good practice to run the text through a spell checker before submitting. You may find it more convenient to take a copy of the original page, work on it, then paste the edited copy back in. Also, creating brand-new topics is a great way to help Wikipedia increase its breadth (and depth). Note: Wikipedia is an open content encyclopedia. You are contributing to a free, publicly usable database of information. You automatically license everything you contribute under the GNU Free Documentation License; you can do that only if you own the copyright to the material (which you do if you created it), or if the material is in the public domain. See Wikipedia:Copyrights for details. Never submit copyrighted material without permission from the copyright owner. [edit]
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