Wikipedia talk:Tip of the day/Archive 2

Bullet points

 * Not sure how best to add comments here, so I've put these as bullet points. I recently thought of two things that I found useful, and came here to add them as a tip of the day. The problem is that I don't know whether it is already a tip of the day! How can you search previous tips of the day? Carcharoth 18:53, 1 April 2006 (UTC)


 * You can look at what tips are currently scheduled by clicking here or by clicking on the project tab at the top of the page. --Hetar 22:30, 1 April 2006 (UTC)


 * The first tip I wanted to add: When linking to another section somewhere else on the same page, you can use just the anchor (#) symbol, and not write out the whole name. For example, to link to "New entries" above, you could either write, or Wikipedia talk:Tip of the day. The latter, full reference, shows up on "What links here". The former, internal, reference, doesn't show up on "What links here". Also, if a page is moved or renamed, then the former style will work, but not the latter. Obviously, both link styles will break if the section name changes - but that is true of all anchor-links. Carcharoth 18:53, 1 April 2006 (UTC)
 * I have written a tip on this. Please see the new tips section above and feel free to improve it or move it to the Ready to post section. --Hetar 23:19, 2 April 2006 (UTC)
 * See tip Tip of the day/May 6, 2006 "Linking to a section". Don't worry about duplicating tips.  Some tips need to be redisplayed more often than others, and if they are rewritten from scratch, it keeps them fresh for the next time they are to be displayed.


 * The second tip was one I spotted on the Help Desk. Normally, to edit the lead of an article, you have to click the "edit this page" link at the top, and edit the whole page. This can lead to edit conflicts. However, despite the lack of an "edit" link for the lead, it is still possible to edit it as a section and (presumably) avoid edit conflicts. You merely click on any of the section edit links, and then change section=x to section=0 in the URL in the browser window. Reload the URL and there you go: editing the lead as a section! Probably only useful when an edit conflict is likely, such as on high-traffic pages. Carcharoth 18:53, 1 April 2006 (UTC)


 * I have written a tip on this. Please see the new tips section above and feel free to improve it or move it to the Ready to post section. --Hetar 23:19, 2 April 2006 (UTC)
 * Cool little trick. I didn't know this one.  I like.  Keep 'em coming! --The Transhumanist 23:52, 6 April 2006 (UTC)


 * I'm also hoping to get an answer about how to sort "What links here" links by namespace (as you can currently do for your contributions list). That would be a very useful tip, if the software allows it. Carcharoth 18:53, 1 April 2006 (UTC)
 * I'm working on a tip library, where the tips shall be displayed by title rather than by date. What there is of it so far is available through the category system. --The Transhumanist 23:52, 6 April 2006 (UTC)


 * Also, is it possible to tag tips by subject areas and how "advanced" they are. Then, if the tips start to number in the hundreds, it is easier to find and browse them. I know I would be disappointed if the tip of the day for several days running was stuff I already knew... Carcharoth 18:59, 1 April 2006 (UTC)
 * This can be done for the tip library, I'm pretty sure. --The Transhumanist 23:52, 6 April 2006 (UTC)
 * Category:Wikipedia_tips is, I guess, the tip library you are referring to. One of my other interests on Wikipedia is Categorisation. I'd be happy to help categorise the tips. I'll start with the ones that are there already. Is there a place where those interested could discuss the setting up of a categorisation system (maybe based on the divisions of the current Help pages)? Some category criteria I've thought of already are based on things such as "topic", "essential tips everyone needs to know", and "complexity level" (basic, moderate, advanced). It should end up very similar to the help pages, but easier to browse and the tips would be useful summaries of certain points expanded on in the help pages. One thing - is it encouraged to rewrite the tips if you find they are wrong or out of date? Carcharoth 15:27, 7 April 2006 (UTC)


 * How ironic - whoever wrote the tip of the day made the basic error of not subst'ing the template... :-) I was wondering why the category at the bottom of this page said that this page needed to cite its sources!! Maybe this can be turned into a "common mistake" type of tip of the day? OTOH, I learnt something today, which was that even when you subst a template (effectively copying the template and turning off the regenerating ability of the template), you still need to go and manually remove the category tag if you are only demonstrating it as an example, as here. So overall, take care when using templates and know when to subst and when to leave it as an updating template. Carcharoth 23:08, 1 April 2006 (UTC)
 * Yes, that is funny. Another good tip though.  Would you like to write that one up?  --The Transhumanist 23:52, 6 April 2006 (UTC)


 * I'm sorry to inform that the tip on June 28th is the same as that of April 2nd - both about signing comments --Lemontea 02:13, 2 April 2006 (UTC)
 * Actually, that tip is scheduled to display, with different wording, about once per month. It covers a very common problem that new users have (not knowing how to sign a message).  All its permutations are already in place up until the end of the year.  --The Transhumanist 23:52, 6 April 2006 (UTC)


 * My suggestion: Wikipedia strives to be neutral. Remember, you have a POV.  Think about whether your edits will breach this.  If you think other users will think it is POV, then run it past other editors using the talk page for the article.  Doing this means people are far less likely to mass revert your edit(s) and is also nice.    --Midnighttonight 07:52, 2 April 2006 (UTC)
 * Thanks for the tip. I'll write it up when I get a chance.  Each of the major policies needs a tip. So if anyone wants to write them, please feel free to do so!  --The Transhumanist 23:52, 6 April 2006 (UTC)


 * Tip idea: I'm not sure how useful this is, so I've not placed it above.  I have put  on my user page, so I can look at tomorrow's featured article and make "last-minute" improvements.  &mdash; MSchmahl 11:45, 5 April 2006 (UTC)
 * I have written a tip on this. Please see the new tips section above and feel free to improve it or move it to the Ready to post section. --Hetar 18:21, 5 April 2006 (UTC)


 * Tip of the day/June 23, 2006 should probably reference the Google toolbar for Firefox since it provides spell-checking and seems easier and more intuitive for a new user. Gflor e sTalk 21:54, 5 April 2006 (UTC)
 * I've got one of those for the Picture of the day. Concerning the topic of the above tip, I'm in discussion with CBDunkerson, who has done a lot with date math on Wikipedia.  We are discussing how to set up a warning template for Picture of the day and another for Tip of the day.  They would show the entry a month in advance, so that we would have advanced warning that the buffer is starting to run low. If I can find the time, I'll program it myself.  --The Transhumanist 23:52, 6 April 2006 (UTC)


 * While it might be easier to install, the current spellchecker is a lot less obtrusive and more specific to its purpose. --Hetar 22:16, 5 April 2006 (UTC)
 * Can you provide a link? I'm not sure to which spellchecker you are referring.  --The Transhumanist 23:52, 6 April 2006 (UTC)
 * Sure, its called Spellbound and its at: . --Hetar 19:30, 7 April 2006 (UTC)

TOTD - April 7th (today)
There's a new option in "my preferences" to enforce edit summaries. No user scripts are needed. I hope you don't mind, but I just updated this TOTD to reflect this. --Aude ( talk | contribs ) 00:46, 7 April 2006 (UTC)
 * No prob. Accuracy is good.  Thanks.  --The Transhumanist 21:20, 8 April 2006 (UTC)

Alternate template, and format suggestion
I wanted a more compact version, with some minor changes, so I created totd b (b for brief or b for second in the series).

I would suggest that the code for the Prior tip - Next tip links be moved out of the individual tip pages and into the template. Aside from simplifying the editing of daily tips, it allows alternative templates (like totd b) to use their own format. In particular, I would like to add - List of tips.

(This also makes it easier if there's ever a change to be made to the format of these links - so it can be made globally. Better now while there's just a few tips.) --Singkong2005 04:35, 7 April 2006 (UTC)


 * See also: totd3 — MSchmahl… 06:48, 7 April 2006 (UTC)


 * From a programming perspective, I don't know how this could be done. Each tip is named by date, and the code for the Prior - Next links generates the links' page names from the current page name (whichever date-named subpage that happens to be) via a variable and some date math templates.  This allows all the tips to be linked together in a chain, so you can keep pressing prior or next again and again until you've come to the first or last tip in the whole set.  In order to accomplish this, the link pair had to be included twice:  once with  and once with , so that it would work from the template (which can only lead to the next or previous day's entry based on the current date) and also work from the tips themselves (to lead to the next or previous page in the sequence, based on the date in the name of the currently displayed tip).  --The Transhumanist 22:07, 8 April 2006 (UTC)
 * Thinking that through again, I believe the "includeonly" link pair could be moved to the template. --The Transhumanist 22:13, 8 April 2006 (UTC)

Template:Totd3
Maybe it's only my browser, but today's tip (April 9) didn't work as expected on pages like Help:Reader. The original long URL managed to overrule the width 240 in and also the width 20% relevant for four help pages with the Totd (Help, Reader, Editor, Moderator - anything else belongs to a chapter of the handbook with its own sidebar). Here's what I've done, just in case if similar problems pop up again: The fourth point finally managed to display the original version of today's tip without using the width of the long URL for the overall box. Actually my browser displayed a truncated URL. With the original tip (long URL) would still cause havoc with my browser. If anybody else has similar issues maybe replace Totd3 by MediaWiki links, the latter is designed to survive within width 20% set outside of it. --&#160;Omniplex 17:20, 9 April 2006 (UTC)
 * 1) Trimmed URL in today's tip.
 * 2) Added width="240" to for old browsers without CSS - it already had inline style="width: 240".
 * 3) Simplified messy to get two rows, customized header + Totd. That's the template automagically used by the four overview help pages.
 * 4) Forced width="240" for the Totd in its 2nd row.
 * I'm loving the new template. May I suggest placing a small lightbulb at the bottom of the box? (^'-')^ Covington 14:23, 14 April 2006 (UTC)

Problem with tomorrow's TOTD
Tomorrow's tip of the day concerns counting edits, and has a link to Interiot's edit counter. Unfortunately, as of last week the English Wikipedia is no longer replicated on the Wikimedia toolserver, so while the edit counter still works, it displays edit counts as of April 13, and will not be updated for the forseeable future. The contributions tree is similarly affected. I'm not sure what to do with the TOTD entry, particularly at such short notice, but I thought I ought to point this out – Gurch 10:14, 18 April 2006 (UTC)
 * Perhaps we could postpone it? Computerjoe 's talk 10:19, 18 April 2006 (UTC)
 * Yes, swap it with something prepared for later. --&#160;Omniplex 10:24, 18 April 2006 (UTC)

I fixed the tip, btw, they are working on a fix for this, so hopefully it won't be a permanent thing. --Hetar 19:16, 18 April 2006 (UTC)

Why are we giving tips to do Bad Things? Kim Bruning 22:43, 18 May 2006 (UTC)


 * Is using Interiot's edit counter a "bad thing?" I understand the concerns behind editcountitis but that doesn't mean that looking at someones contributions shouldn't be used as a very rough and quick form of determining their work/interests.


 * Well, there's a lot of things that are "dual use" say. But which are mostly abused more than used. It's kind of interesting to point people at them, knowing that say 90% will abuse them. Are there any good ways to prevent such abuse upfront? Kim Bruning 23:03, 18 May 2006 (UTC)
 * Maybe explain editcountitis, and how its the quality of the edits, not the quantity. And there's always Interiot's javascript tool. -Reuvenk[T][C] 23:24, 18 May 2006 (UTC)
 * I just added a new tip for editcountitis to address this issue. --Hetar 21:16, 25 May 2006 (UTC)

Next tip link
The next tip link has stopped working for every tip. -- George Mon  e  y Talk   Contribs 03:49, 20 April 2006 (UTC)
 * It appears to be a problem with . Instead of returning
 * it returns
 * Someone should fix it because I don't know how! Sorry. Isopropyl 00:40, 22 April 2006 (UTC)
 * Someone converted the template to the new ParserFunctions methodology, but didn't get the 'year' part quite right. Should be fixed now. --CBDunkerson 01:06, 22 April 2006 (UTC)
 * Sweet, thanks. Isopropyl 01:14, 22 April 2006 (UTC)
 * Someone converted the template to the new ParserFunctions methodology, but didn't get the 'year' part quite right. Should be fixed now. --CBDunkerson 01:06, 22 April 2006 (UTC)
 * Sweet, thanks. Isopropyl 01:14, 22 April 2006 (UTC)

Protect tip
Just corrected some vandalism on the current tip of the day, should it be protected?--Rayc 14:05, 7 May 2006 (UTC)


 * I had the same idea today after I fixed it, which would be impossible if it's protected. Maybe semi-protection is good enough (?) --&#160;Omniplex 01:33, 30 May 2006 (UTC)

May 30, 2006
As far as I saw it the TotD worked fine for some weeks on pages like Help:Reader and Help:Editor, in a MediaWiki links sidebar with width="20%". Today it was excessively long, therefore I've "truncated" it by &lt;noinclude&gt; excluding the bullet list. --&#160;Omniplex 01:31, 30 May 2006 (UTC)

Formatting required for entries: - IE6 display bug
When the Tip of the day is displayed on the Community Portal, it causes a display error for IE6 users. The culprit is centering using " Tip title  ". Would it be possible to change the format to left-justified using " Tip title " ? Rfrisbietalk 18:14, 1 June 2006 (UTC)


 * Wouldn't the best way to fix this be by editing Template:Tip of the day - community portal? Or is there another way to change the centering so its work in IE6? --Hetar 19:13, 1 June 2006 (UTC)
 * That uses .  The centering formatting is in every subpage.  There's no "template" to fix. :-( Rfrisbietalk 19:26, 1 June 2006 (UTC)

Does no reply mean no problem with requested change, no support, or no interest in this concern? Rfrisbietalk 05:20, 4 June 2006 (UTC)


 * From what I read at the Community Portal talk they decided it wasn't worth changing the format for. I'd still be open to ideas or changes, but we need to find a way to do it so that it still displayers centered, otherwise it makes its section of the Community Portal (and elswewhere) look like crap. --Hetar 05:35, 4 June 2006 (UTC)

Random tip template
Does anyone know how to make a template which displays a random page whenever the page it is on is accessed?

I for one would like to have a version like that on my user page. --The Transhumanist 06:17, 2 June 2006 (UTC)


 * See . Randomly picks one of the currently defined tips. --CBDunkerson 16:26, 2 June 2006 (UTC)
 * Awesome. Thanks! --The Transhumanist 04:11, 4 June 2006 (UTC)

If daily support ceases for this project, the main templates can be set up to randomize. At that time, it would be more accurate to call it Tip of the moment. :-) --The Transhumanist 05:13, 4 June 2006 (UTC)

Template for project monitoring
This template is for monitoring project maintenance, to make sure the tip has been prestocked so the main template doesn't show up blank on the many pages of Wikipedia upon which it is displayed. --The Transhumanist 05:05, 4 June 2006 (UTC)

TOTD barnstar
I've already posted the above award to CB's talk page, but I thought everyone should get a chance to see it. Thanks CB! --The Transhumanist 05:11, 9 June 2006 (UTC)
 * Thank you. I'm glad my template work could help with technical stuff for this project. Keep on being tipsy. :] --CBDunkerson 12:42, 9 June 2006 (UTC)