Help:Editing

The most basic wiki feature is the 'edit' tab. With a few exceptions, you can edit every page on Wikisource. By the nature of Wikisource, original texts should not be changed, except for correcting transcription errors. However, you are encouraged to help in the proofreading process and to add new primary source texts. The Sandbox exists solely for tests, so feel free to use it to experiment.

Basic editing
When you click edit at the top of a page, you'll find yourself in the 'edit view'. The box contains the text and code of the page in the Wiki markup format explained below; make any changes you think improve the page. Above the edit box are buttons which will emphasize selected text and other shortcuts. Below the box, you'll find the insert box. Click on a symbol inside this box to automatically insert it into the edit box where you last placed your cursor.

A very useful feature to use before saving is the Show preview button. This will show you the page exactly as it will appear after you save, so it's a good way to make sure everything is working correctly. Once you're done, please write a brief summary of your changes in the edit summary box. The summary can be very descriptive or very terse, as you see fit; for example, other editors will understand that the edit summary "typo" means you are correcting a minor spelling or punctuation correction. Accurate edit summaries are considered good etiquette.

If it's a very minor change, you can mark it as minor by checking the appropriate box below the edit summary. This feature is only available to registered users. It's possible to hide minor edits in the recent changes list. Note that marking an obviously major edit as minor is widely considered bad behaviour. If you accidentally mark a major edit as minor, make a trivial edit to the page (like changing one space) and write "the previous edit was not minor" or some such in the edit summary. The Show changes button will provide a side-by-side comparison of your revision with highlighted differences.

Once you're done, click the Save page to save your edits. The new version of the page will be visible immediately.

Wiki markup
Wikisource uses a special syntax called Wikitext or Wiki markup to format and link text. Wiki markup is specially designed to be easy to use.

In the boxes below, you can read the finished version on the right, and what you type is on the left.

Templates for other effects
For more complex layout, templates are normally the favored approach in Wikisource. These are indicated by a pair of braces, with a name and other information following a | character inside.


 * See also hanging indent, drop initial, gap, etc., in Category:Formatting templates. The use of running header, Hyphenated word start, etc., is explained at Help:Proofread

Categories

 * It's important to add a new page to one or more categories by placing a wikilink in the page in the form . See Help:Categories. The top of the tree is at Category:Categories and you can find the others from there.
 * If you want to create a link to a category, use the following format . Note that there is a colon  before the word "category."
 * For advanced Category help, see Help:Category on the Meta-Wiki.

Tables
The basic form of a table to produce the result on the right-hand side is shown below. {|
 * width=300 |


 * }

For details, see Help:Tables.

Headings
Headings (Such as "Headings" above) are sometimes used to divide a page into sections. This markup is used on Author and other Wikisource pages, it is not recommended for headings and sections in main pages.
 * (Should almost never be used, equivalent to the page title at the top of this page.)
 * (The most common heading level, equivalent to "Wiki markup" above.)
 * (A subsection – the word "Headings" above this passage is a third-level heading.)
 * (A sub-subsection.)

Genealogy diagrams
These can be produced using the familytree or chart2 templates. Here is an example:

Advanced
See mw:Help:Editing_pages for advanced help. (The instructions there are general, not specific to Wikisource.)