Wikipedia:To-do list

As its name implies, the To-do list on an article's talk page shows the list of improvements suggested for the article. It is created and formatted using the To do template. The list is maintained by editors, writers, reviewers or readers like you as a way to focus your collaborative efforts. As such, they represent a tentative consensus that helps improve the efficiency of the editing process. A To-do list for this page may look like this:

The template (tag) to include the above is. The dynamic list in the box is drawn from a subpage of the talk page represented simply by "to do."

For a list of all articles with to-do lists, see Category:Wikipedia pages with to-do lists. Check the category page from time to time if you're looking for articles to help out on. This is a great way to contribute to Wikipedia.

To-do lists focus on improving otherwise adequate articles: tasks in to-do lists are important, significant, but not urgent (example: "insert a history section", or "provide more examples in the introduction").

The "to do" collaboration mechanism has the following advantages:
 * the list of tasks is permanently visible in the talk page of the article, i.e. where most editors will see it.
 * articles with To-dos are automatically listed in the list of articles with To dos, so that additional editors unaware of the article are also attracted to it. More specialized sub-categories can be defined for specific purposes (e.g. for a WikiProject).

Feel free to discuss to-do lists in the talk page of articles, to add new tasks, or to work on pending tasks. We also encourage you to contribute to other articles by visiting the list of "articles with To-dos", at Category:Wikipedia pages with to-do lists.

Please note that the to-do list is edited in a special to-do page which is separate from the talk page of the article. However, its content automatically appears at the top of the talk page. Therefore, you cannot edit the normal talk page to modify the to-do list, as you may have expected. This is further explained in the detailed procedures below.

Procedure
To discuss a task and help reach a consensus:
 * in most cases, you just edit the task as described below, summarizing the change and its reason in the edit summary as necessary
 * if more discussion space is needed, enter a new heading at the bottom of the talk page of the article (not in the to-do page) to start a new discussion

To start a new to-do list:
 * go to the talk page of the article
 * edit it
 * at the top of the edit box, enter  
 * save your edit : the talk page is now shown with an empty to-do list

To add a task to the to do list:
 * click the "edit" link at the top of the to-do list
 * you can now either:
 * use the default template text by using "Task" fields as explained in Template:Tasks
 * remove the default template text and simply enter "*" followed by the description of the task. Please begin with a verb such as "explain", "discuss", "justify" to clearly describe the task.


 * enter an edit summary as needed, select "watch", and save your changes.
 * you can now go back to the talk page to check your entry. If necessary, click the purge or refresh button to refresh it by copy the URL and paste it back, then clicking Enter.

Similarly, to edit or remove a task from the to-do list:
 * click the "edit" link at the top of the to-do list
 * edit or remove the task in the edit box
 * enter an edit summary as needed, select "watch", and save your changes
 * you can now go back to the talk page to check your entry. If necessary, click the purge button to refresh it.

To add an article to a "To do" sub-category:
 * go to the talk page of the article: you see its to-do list
 * click the "edit" link at the top of the to-do list
 * add in the edit box, where you replace "sub-category" by the name of the sub-category in which you want to include the article
 * enter an edit summary as needed and save your changes

To mark an item as in progress:
 * from the talk page of the article click the "edit" link on the to do list
 * add In progress to the end of desired item.
 * save your edit