Wikipedia:User page design guide/Navigation aids

When you are logged in to Wikipedia, a link to your user page is displayed at the top of every page.

That makes your user page one of the most easily accessible pages to you on Wikipedia, making it a powerful tool.

One of the things you can use your user page for is navigation. It is the perfect place for bookmarks and navbars/navboxes, to get you where you need to go on Wikipedia and related destinations fast.

Basic heading and list format to organize your Wikipedia bookmarks
You could use headings and bullet items to create your own fast and easy navigation aid, like this:


 * My bookmarks
 * Key Wikimedia-related pages
 * commons · mailing lists · meta · simple · wiktionary · sister projects
 * bugzilla · charts · catgraph · 6° · mirror filter
 * vpp · vpr · vpt


 * Key help pages
 * template · user page · watch
 * cheatsheet · catalogue of CSS classes
 * web colors · list of colors


 * Key templates

general (dab) · cleanup warnings
 * citation templates · stub types
 * templates
 * welcome messages


 * Interesting spaces
 * fiction · unusual articles


 * Key projects
 * proj Lists · proj topics (basic)
 * proj Cats · dab cleanup
 * proj Usability
 * proj Arts · proj Biography · proj Culture
 * proj Geography · proj Health · proj History
 * proj Mathematics · proj Philosophy · proj Religion
 * proj Science
 * proj Technology

Navigation bars
Navigation bars are templates which have an assortment of links usually based around a theme. They are designed to stretch across a page, usually at the top. Here are some examples you can clone and stylize for your user page:

Wikipedia contents pages nav header:

Reference desk nav bar:

Frequently asked questions nav bar:

Editorial nav bar:

Communications nav bar:

Wikipedia principles nav bar:

Writing guides nav bar:

Tools nav bar:

Report abuse nav header

Search nav bar using Google custom

Administrators' nav bars:

A user page nav bar (not shown here) Navbar

Jennavecia's nav box: User:Jennavecia/InfoCenter

News and navigation boxes
Here's a useful tools menu from Diannaa's user page: 

See also the Wikipedia department directory