User:John Broughton/Editor's Roadmap

=Editor's Roadmap=

Getting started
Note: the links to screencasts are for demonstration purposes only; these are not screencasts about Wikipedia editing.

Estimated time: 20 to 60 minutes

Wikipedia is a wiki, a type of software for collaborative editing that includes strong version control. (4 minute "plain English" video)

To edit Wikipedia, it's best (though not mandatory) to create a Wikipedia user account. Before you do, think about what you want your user name to be. (1 page of information). After you create your user account (2 minute screencast), you should do some quick customization by changing a few preferences. (2 minute screencast)

Now that you're a registered editor, here's something you should always, always remember: You can edit a Wikipedia page in three steps: (1) At the top of the page, click the "edit this page tab"; (2) make your changes in the edit box; (3) below the edit box, click the "save page" button. But better editing is a five step process: (2 minute screencast)


 * 1) Click the "edit" link of the section of the article that you want to edit (to minimize an editing conflict/collision)
 * 2) Make your changes in the edit box
 * 3) [Additional step] Below the edit box, type a brief explanation of what you did, in the Edit summary box
 * 4) [Additional step] Below the edit summary box, click the Preview button, to review the changes you intend to make
 * 5) Below the edit box, click the "save page" button.

Now it's time to create your user page. (2 minute screencast) (Recommended text for your user page.) You can always come back and expand your user page; when you do, consider this page of suggestions.

Once your user page exists, you probably want to create subpages where you can practice editing, write drafts of articles, and so on. (3 minute screencast). Then you're ready to start editing articles, learning the basics of editing Wikipedia.

Copyediting and expanding articles
There are basically two ways to edit a Wikipedia article:
 * Copyediting, where you improve existing wording, delete inappropriate material, rearrange content, and otherwise improve readability without adding new information to an article.
 * Adding information and/or sources, where you use what Wikipedia calls reliable sources to add a footnote to an article, typically in support of text that you've just added.

You can do both types of editing at the same time, but the second type is more advanced, so it's covered in a separate section, below.

The basics of (copy)editing

 * Introduction to wiki markup
 * Creating an internal link (to another article)
 * Creating an external link (to a page outside of Wikipedia)
 * Understanding templates
 * Adding text (tone, avoiding copyright issues)
 * Avoiding and handling edit conflicts
 * Dealing with vandalism
 * Getting technical help