Wikipedia:Faster editing

There are several methods for faster editing of pages. Wikipedia currently contains over 6.9 million articles, so rapid editing allows more pages to be updated, or added. The faster-editing tactics include (each linked below): disable extra screen formatting, use a personal text editor, use utility templates, ask other people,

Disable extra screen formatting

There are some aspects of Wikipedia screen-display formatting, perhaps added into the MediaWiki software in recent months, which can slow some browsers for several seconds, or even delay the viewing by several minutes every hour. In the Special:Preferences page, set the following 4 options, under tabs for "Appearance" and "Editing" and "Usability" then click [SAVE] preferences.

Appearance: [_] Enable collapsing of items in the sidebar in Vector skin [x] Exclude me from feature experiments Editing: [ ] Show edit toolbar (requires JavaScript) Usability features: [ ] Enable dialogs for inserting links, tables and more

Each of those 4 options has different effects on the speed of redisplaying the screen, and each option can be reset to on/off, as needed when working on various types of editing. In general, set all of those options as unchecked, but also select "Exclude me from feature experiments" and click [SAVE] preferences.

Use a personal text editor

For some people, they already know quick ways to edit text, by using their own personal text editor on their computers. For editing many pages, often the fastest updates can be made by wp:copy/paste of the edit-buffer markup text into an external text-editor program. So, after extensive, or rapid, edits, then the text can be copy/pasted back into the Wikipedia edit-screen for more edit-previewing when reformatting with the current templates others might have updated.

Use utility templates

There are many pre-canned, specially-designed templates which can accept certain parameters and generate the formatted output. Among the most-common are:

• Template:nowrap - join separate words to stop wrapping (as: {{nowrap|set of words}})
• Template:Convert - for conversions of measurements into other unit names/symbols
• Template:Convert/spell - for conversions where the numbers must be spelled as words
• Template:ns - to insert 1-80 non-breaking spaces to separate text
• Template:bg - to set the  background  color of text

For a larger list of other templates, see:

• Category:Wikipedia utility templates

Every week, even more utility templates are being written.

Ask other people

There is a saying, "The best 'text editor' is another person with time to work" and so perhaps, just ask other people if they would like to edit the pages that need to be updated. In several cases, an experienced editor might update a page within just a few minutes which would take another editor hours of tedious frustration to accomplish. Some editors have canned scripts or other tools, to quickly perform numerous cumbersome changes. For some pages, it can be amazing how fast others are willing to help, if contacted.

Let others fix it

In some cases, the nature of the topic will automatically attract numerous other editors who are likely to edit the related pages and update the text, such as for current events in the news. Use that fact to re-focus efforts on selected areas where other people would be less likely to perform the edits. In general, by shifting focus into the neglected areas, then more tasks can be accomplished overall, by allowing other people to edit/update the most-popular areas and broaden the work by enabling others to help in areas they would feel comfortable. If the help seems slow in coming, then perhaps consider posting a reminder to various noticeboards, to kick start additional work from other users eager to help. However, after a while, it can become obvious as to which pages, or topics, other people will automatically come to edit.

Let it go

In many cases, the work can be resolved instantly, by letting it go. There are often situations where people have imagined unrealistic needs to have pages edited, but from a larger perspective, there is really no need to rush. One of the most misleading perceptions is the goal of "consistency" such as having 700 articles all share a similar format; however, most people either do not view enough of the 700 pages to notice the inconsistent formats or they just simply do not care when viewing other styles. Instead, consider the 80/20 Rule, where about "80%" of issues are found in roughly "20%" of pages, or similar divisions such as 70/30, 85/15, or 90/10. In extreme cases, there might be a 99/1 split, where 99% of all readers view only 1% of those articles, and the remaining 99% of those pages do not need the consistency, or rearrangement, or numerous details of the 1% being viewed most often. Even in cases of 70/30, then consider editing mainly the 30% of pages being viewed more often, as the higher priority, and leave the rare 65% for another month, or another year. It is far more important to update an article read 7,000x or 1,000x times per day, rather than obsess about rare pages read one or even 6 times per day. Prioritize and learn when to let it go.

Recap

Overall, remember the major tactics to faster editing (each linked above): disable extra screen formatting, use a personal text editor, use utility templates, ask other people, let others fix it, or just let it go.

See also

• wp:Advanced article editing
• wp:Advanced footnote formatting
• wp:Advanced table formatting
• wp:Thinking outside the infobox