WikiCigar:Tip of the day

{{Wikipedia:Tip of the day/Breadcrumb}} Template:Totd

For the complete library of tips arranged by subject, see Wikipedia:Tips.

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This is the tip of the day (a.k.a. TOTD) project, providing useful daily advice on how to use or develop Wikipedia more effectively. This project is responsible for maintaining the Wikipedia:Tip of the day#Tip templates, and the collection of daily tips that are displayed by those templates.

History

The Tip of the Day was started on February 18, 2004 as an original feature of the newly created Community Portal. There were about 50 tips, displayed one per day, on a rotating basis.

In 2006 the project was revamped and expanded to a tip page for each day of the year. Later that year, a "yearless tip" was created, with no year included in the page titles, so that the same pages could be displayed automatically year after year. The tip collection grew to about 300 tips - still about 66 tips short of a full supply.

The tip of the day was added to the main help page, Help:Contents, on March 13, 2006. That page was renamed on September 20, 2012, to Help:Menu, to make way for a new main help page. In 2015, the tip of the day project underwent an overhaul, during which the display template functionality was enhanced and simplified, many new tips were added, replacing obsolete and duplicate tips. The tip of the day was added to the current help page on November 22, 2015.

Over the years, Tip of the Day project regulars, and other helpful editors have maintained the set of auto displaying tips, updating them, and creating new tips to replace redundant or obsolete tips.

Check the prominent locations

The three main places that the Tip of the Day is displayed, are the Community portal page (since 02/18/2004), the Help:Contents page (the top-level help page), and the Help:Menu (this was Help:Contents until 09/20/2012).

Another place where the tip resides is the Welcome to Wikipedia page (since 01/08/2007).

Sometimes the tip gets removed from those pages, either through vandalism or by an overly bold edit. If you notice it missing from any of them, please put it back. Thank you.

Displaying tips on your user pages

To add one of the many versions of the tip of the day template to your user page, go here.

Participating...

To participate in developing, proofreading, and scheduling new tips, see the instructions on the talk page.

Tip of the day scheduling queue

Chronological list of tips

Template:Today cell     

See also: Alphabetical list of tips, to help spot duplicate tips.

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List of tips by date

This is the tip of the day scheduling queue. The TOTD system operates on the Rolodex approach, in which each daily tip page is automatically displayed again year after year. Each tip needs to be proofread before its upcoming presentation date arrives, to ensure that it has not grown out of date or become obsolete! Please help. For questions, comments, or to submit a new tip please go to our Project's Talk page. Now, without further ado, here are Wikipedia's daily tips, by presentation date: January 1 – Where to begin? January 2 – Article development January 3 – Are your hands full? (Use search box as a small but convenient clipboard) January 4 – How to make your watchlist easier to read January 5 – How to improve Wikipedia's reliability January 6 – How to send a message to other editors January 7 – Image processing tools January 8 – What are dummy edits good for? January 9 – Digital audio support January 10 – Introduction to navigating Wikipedia January 11 – Captions January 12 – Avoiding common mistakes January 13 – A self-guided tutorial January 14 – Article quality assessments January 15 – Archives for lengthy pages January 16 – Article banner templates January 17 – What is a Talk page? January 18 – How to easily recall a username January 19 – Preview tomorrow's Featured Article January 20 – User scripts examples January 21 – Good article nominations January 22 – How to reduce or enlarge font sizes January 23 – Search and replace while editing an article. January 24 – Search & replace in thousands of articles with AWB January 25 – Ask for help at Wikipedia's Help Desk January 26 – Souping up your Smartphone editing of Wikipedia January 27 – The semi-automated article peer-reviewer January 28 – How to request help on your Talk page January 29 – Intruder alert! Intruder alert! (Vandalism-level warning) January 30 – What are page history diffs? January 31 – Find articles for cleanup February 1 – Automatic page loader. February 2 – Redirect synonymous topic names February 3 – Fixing bare URLs to prevent link rot February 4 – Join a WikiProject. February 5 – Getting real-time help via IRC (Internet Relay Chat) February 6 – Articles about notable books February 7 – How to provide a link to a specific Google Search February 8 – Wikipedia Search box - basic February 9 – Please summarize your work using the Edit summary box February 10 – Referencing for beginners February 11 – Another way to search Wikipedia with Google February 12 – Introduction to tables February 13 – Shortcut for minor edit box February 14 – Spreading the WikiLove February 15 – Templates for Age and Dates February 16 – Thanks - send a notification February 17 – Mobile view sidebar from the desktop February 18 – Using the Authority control template February 19 – When to use subpages February 20 – How to enable right-click section editing February 21 – Biographies February 22 – Wikipedia banners and buttons February 23 – Help for new contributors February 24 – Calendar date display for your user pages February 25 – Screen readers for accessibility February 26 – Editing projects for school and university classes February 27 – What is Page curation? February 28 – Writing articles for The Signpost February 29 – Please sign your name on talk pages March 1 – How to plant a CategoryTree! March 2 – Test-drive your edits using a sandbox March 3 – Become clairvoyant with Navigation Popups March 4 – Supercharge your browser March 5 – How to create a link to another article March 6 – Use the Article Wizard to easily create new articles March 7 – Please fill-in edit summaries March 8 – How to get a list of a page's subpages March 9 – Becoming an Administrator March 10 – Where to post requests March 11 – How to make links look the way you want March 12 – Please sign your name on talk pages March 13 – Are you lost? March 14 – How to create a new page March 15 – Wikipedia's top ten power tips March 16 – How to catch admin attention fast March 17 – How to make redirects appear green to you March 18 – Breaking the 500-edit limit in "View History" March 19 – Create links faster using tricks March 20 – Running MediaWiki on your own computer March 21 – Navigate faster using Wikipedia shortcuts March 22 – Searching Wikipedia with regular expressions (regex) March 23 – Getting your edit count March 24 – Transclusion vs. Substitution March 25 – Link to Wiktionary word definitions using Wikt: March 26 – SuggestBot is a fun way to pick pages to edit March 27 – Work faster with keyboard shortcuts March 28 – Ask intelligent questions March 29 – Working on the Main page - I March 30 – Working on the Main page - II March 31 – Toolbar links to access the WP pages you use the most April 1 – Do not believe everything you read April 2 – Visit the Village Pump for technical issues April 3 – Stop by the Reference Desk April 4 – Where to upload images and media files April 5 – How to fix unsigned comments April 6 – Do not use forums or emails as sources April 7 – Automatic edit summary reminder April 8 – Collaborations April 9 – Search box bookmarklet for your browser April 10 – Cite your sources April 11 – Edit Wikipedia faster with AutoWikiBrowser April 12 – Help Wikipedia help you April 13 – Motto of the day... April 14 – Create a user account April 15 – Copyrights? Copyleft April 16 – Uploading Free Images April 17 – Are you jealous of others' user pages? (WP:UPDC) April 18 – How to change your username April 19 – Preview tomorrow's Featured Article April 20 – Explore Wikipedia's contents April 21 – Featured article candidates April 22 – Wikipedia search box focus April 23 – How to move/rename a page April 24 – The Wikipedia Adventure! April 25 – Super-customize your account with gadgets April 26 – Keyboard shortcuts April 27 – Now what? (Are you lost, and do not know what to do?) April 28 – Getting a subpage listing April 29 – Setting Wikipedia time to your time zone April 30 – How to make links to articles May 1 – To search a specific namespace, include the prefix in searches May 2 – Time-saving links: the "pipe trick" May 3 – Prove it with ProveIt May 4 – Time-saving links II May 5 – Browsing Mobile Wikipedia on your big screen May 6 – Linking to a section of an article May 7 – Sister projects & interwiki linking May 8 – Displaying one page within another = Transclusion May 9 – Using templates May 10 – General topics lists May 11 – Userboxes May 12 – List building May 13 – When is a Wikipedia project a WikiProject? May 14 – Centralizing project discussion May 15 – Redirects May 16 – Footnotes May 17 – How to add hidden editor notes in an article May 18 – How to review user contributions May 19 – Use your browser's toolbar to navigate Wikipedia May 20 – Formatting disambiguation pages May 21 – Featured content May 22 – Table of contents May 23 – Transclusion caveat May 24 – Go to the right desk May 25 – Please return the favor May 26 – Check your work before you save, using Preview May 27 – Where on the page to put images May 28 – Placing templates May 29 – Placing "External links" sections May 30 – Main page - Did you know May 31 – Shortcuts June 1 – Placing category tags June 2 – Page history June 3 – Tag your image uploads June 4 – Placing interlanguage links June 5 – Sorting entries in the categories June 6 – Look before you leap June 7 – How to start a new article June 8 – Talking to Wikipedians June 9 – Cite the source on all image uploads June 10 – Preventing markup glitches June 11 – Use your watchlist June 12 – Navigation popups June 13 – How to insert a picture into an article June 14 – Wikipedia-specific searching within Firefox June 15 – Section edit button June 16 – Ask intelligent questions June 17 – Beware of instruction creep June 18 – Fix double redirects June 19 – Alphabetical list of articles June 20 – Screenshots June 21 – Please read department instructions June 22 – When not to use links June 23 – A better wiki editor: WikEd June 24 – Change text size quickly (with Ctrl-mouse wheel) June 25 – Portals June 26 – What are templates used for? June 27 – Pretty tables June 28 – Ask intelligent questions June 29 – Wikipedia for your mobile... June 30 – Custom signatures July 1 – Citation Requests July 2 – Love thy neighbor July 3 – Posting on the Wikipedia Community Bulletin Board July 4 – Band articles July 5 – List the things to do for an article July 6 – Wikipedia's Manual of Style July 7 – Welcoming Committee July 8 – The three revert rule July 9 – Avoid using neologisms July 10 – The fastest way to end a conflict: walk away July 11 – Jump to the search box with Template:Key press July 12 – How to use red links July 13 – Wikipedia:Today's articles for improvement July 14 – Using Math July 15 – Be forgiving to new users July 16 – Search Wikipedia from any website July 17 – Join the fight against vandalism July 18 – Short link pipe trick July 19 – Ten things you may not know about Wikipedia July 20 – How to make a table on a page July 21 – Displaying tips on your user page Note. Do not change this tip. It is a linked tip on displaying tips! :-) July 22 – What did they say? (Wikijargon) July 23 – Wikipedia industrial-powered search July 24 – Forums and emails are not acceptable sources July 25 – Wikipedia in brief July 26 – Wikipedia's dozen most essential tips July 27 – Wikipedia's ten most powerful tips July 28 – Your very own Wikipedia bookmark page July 29 – Get more out of Wikipedia search July 30 – Wikipedia's Quick directory July 31 – How to link to a category without categorizing the page August 1 – Customize appearance of dates August 2 – Find uncategorized articles August 3 – The lead section August 4 – Articles for Creation (AFC) process August 5 – In conflicts, reach consensus August 6 – How to add an article to a category August 7 – Title searches August 8 – How to watch for pages that do not exist yet August 9 – Abbreviating edit summaries August 10 – How to create a category August 11 – How to search Wikipedia with Google August 12 – How to create reusable boilerplate August 13 – Acronyms and initialisms August 14 – To see everything on Wikipedia about a subject area... August 15 – Explaining Wiki markup to other users August 16 – How to create a subcategory August 17 – Article size August 18 – How does Wikipedia stack up? August 19 – Speed up your learning curve... August 20 – What the world knows about us August 21 – How reliable is Wikipedia? August 22 – When and how to exclude Wikipedia from your Google search August 23 – How to link to a category August 24 – Power-editing with AutoWikiBrowser August 25 – Where to look for help August 26 – How to link to a section of an article August 27 – Join the Recent Changes Patrol! August 28 – Where did that fact come from? August 29 – How popular is Wikipedia? August 30 – Google search link August 31 – My link disappeared! September 1 – Wikipedia's top ten essential tips September 2 – Spell Checkers September 3 – Install your first javascript September 4 – Guestbooks September 5 – How to use Wikipedia Offline: xowa September 6 – Subject bar template September 7 – Article construction stages September 8 – Wikipedia Search box - advanced September 9 – Good article reassessment September 10 – Biography articles needing attention September 11 – Article deletion process September 12 – Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) September 13 – Copyright Cleanup September 14 – Wikipedia Database reports September 15 – CopyPatrol tool September 16 – Featured world of Wikipedia September 17 – Highlight text on any website, then search Wikipedia for it with a single click September 18 – Difference between wikiprojects and portals? September 19 – Graphics Lab September 20 – Wikipedia toolbar for Firefox September 21 – How do you pronounce that? September 22 – External links September 23 – Counting your edits September 24 – Main page - Did you know September 25 – How to link to word definitions September 26 – Tagging pages for problems September 27 – What is BRD? the BOLD, revert, discuss cycle September 28 – Your customizable Wikipedia navigation hub September 29 – Topic lists September 30 – Interwiki links and shortcuts October 1 – How to display the Tip of the day on your user page October 2 – Wikimedia-wide issues October 3 – Editcountitis October 4 – Category tips October 5 – Avoid trademarks October 6 – Wikipedia-specific searching with Google October 7 – Please sign your name on talk pages October 8 – User scripts October 9 – Linking articles: the internal link October 10 – How to find legal photographs and graphics October 11 – Keep track of your questions October 12 – How to transclude a page into the page you are editing October 13 – Why have lists when there are categories? October 14 – Wikipedia Search Box for Firefox October 15 – Navigate faster using Wikipedia shortcuts October 16 – Power tool: Navigation Popups October 17 – Power search Wikipedia using AutoWikiBrowser October 18 – Six of one, half-a-dozen of the other October 19 – Translating content October 20 – The five pillars October 21 – Using Special:MyPage to make private links October 22 – Double click editing October 23 – Be neutral, like Wikipedia October 24 – Wikipedia has 22 sections, called namespaces October 25 – How to see a list of the pages in a namespace October 26 – A plain & simple introduction October 27 – Basic copyediting October 28 – S.W.A.T., T.I.M, & the U.S.D.A October 29 – How to enhance Recent changes October 30 – Namespace entry points October 31 – How to catch admin attention fast November 1 – Flashback to Wikipedia's past November 2 – Report problems on noticeboards November 3 – Wikipedia's alphabetical index of articles November 4 – Help reduce the Wikipedia backlog November 5 – Wikimedia links and shortcuts November 6 – Advanced signatures November 7 – Be neutral when editing Wikipedia November 8 – Linking to non-Wikimedia wikis November 9 – "Where do I begin?" November 10 – Editing articles for web accessibility November 11 – The Wikipedia Curriculum November 12 – Giving editor awards November 13 – Spoken Wikipedia November 14 – Mediation November 15 – Wiki-exploration: beyond Wikipedia... November 16 – How to make links to disambiguation pages appear orange to you November 17 – Fansites, forums, & other web page articles November 18 – How to provide a Google search in a link November 19 – User Sub Pages November 20 – A comprehensive index for editors November 21 – Welcome to Wikipedia! November 22 – Making the editbox more visually pleasing November 23 – Permission requests November 24 – Lead Section Size November 25 – Try to see it my way! November 26 – Pick from a list of template parameter choices November 27 – World of fiction November 28 – Same titles, different meanings November 29 – Brilliant pictures November 30 – Undoing edits December 1 – No copies of primary sources December 2 – Dates in Wikipedia articles December 3 – Find stubs and expand them December 4 – How to look at the changes to an article December 5 – How to customize your signature December 6 – When to use external links December 7 – How to adjust the height of your edit window December 8 – How to add a picture to an article December 9 – How to skip scrolling and clicking December 10 – Wikipedia etiquette = Wikiquette December 11 – Section editing December 12 – What writing style to use December 13 – Where to write about current events December 14 – Link articles to their foreign-language counterparts December 15 – Advice for parents December 16 – Automating tasks on Wikipedia December 17 – Wikipedia needs pictures. How you can help... December 18 – Accuracy, quality and peer review December 19 – What can be included in Wikipedia? December 20 – Freedom of speech and profanity December 21 – Cannot find what you are looking for? December 22 – Why create an account? December 23 – Your user page December 24 – Wikimedia has mailing lists December 25 – Upgrade Recent Changes in my preferences December 26 – Watching for changes December 27 – If you have privileged access to web pages... December 28 – Help test the MediaWiki software December 29 – Troubleshooting Wikipedia's look and feel with skins December 30 – Come visit the Teahouse December 31 – Not everything that is true is verifiable

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Alphabetical list of tips

See also: Chronological list of tips

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List of tips by order of name

This is the tip scheduling queue arranged alphabetically. The TOTD system operates on the "yearless year" approach, in which each tip's page is automatically displayed year after year. There is also a chronological list of these tips. Each tip needs to be proofread before its upcoming presentation date arrives, to ensure that it hasn't grown out of date or obsolete! Please help. For questions, comments, or to submit a new tip please go to this Project's Talk page.

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Tip templates

This is the list of tip display templates (also posted at Wikipedia:Tip of the day/July 21). Here is a gallery of display templates for you to view the display templates listed below:

• {{totd}}

1. REDIRECT Template:Spaced en dash space

the main userspace version of the tip of the day template, with border, centered in the middle of the page. Complete with inspirational light bulb.

• • {{totd b}}

1. REDIRECT Template:Spaced en dash space

a more compact version of the above template. Useful for columns.

• {{totd3}}

1. REDIRECT Template:Spaced en dash space

a purple box version, useful for displaying the tip in columns.

• {{totd-random}}

1. REDIRECT Template:Spaced en dash space

this is the tip of the moment template, which automatically displays a different tip every time you enter a page it is on. If it doesn't update, try clearing your browser cache.

• {{totd-tomorrow}}

1. REDIRECT Template:Spaced en dash space

this shows tomorrow's tip, and is used by Wikipedia tipsters to make sure that the tips are up-to-date and corrected before they go live.

• {{tip of the day}}

1. REDIRECT Template:Spaced en dash space

the borderless version, with lightbulb.

• {{tip of the day with h3 heading}}

1. REDIRECT Template:Spaced en dash space

the tip in heading/paragraph format (No light bulb).

• {{totd2}}

1. REDIRECT Template:Spaced en dash space

the borderless version used on Wikipedia's Help page (which already has its own borders). (No lightbulb).

• {{totd CP}}

1. REDIRECT Template:Spaced en dash space

like the help page version, but with a box & light bulb. Spans the whole field (screen or column) that it is in.

• {{totd-static}}

1. REDIRECT Template:Spaced en dash space

like the totd version but the date is static. You have to manually change the date. Good for testing purposes.

Random tip

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The following template {{Totd-random}} is for Wikipedians who can't wait until tomorrow for their next tip! It presents a random tip each time you reload the page it is presented on:

Tomorrow's tip

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This template {{Totd-tomorrow}} is for monitoring the tip queue one day in advance for any editing needs:

Day-after-next's tip

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This template {{Totd-day-after-next}} is for monitoring the tip queue two days in advance to make sure the tip is proofread before it goes live anywhere in the world:

Note: with {{totd-tomorrow}}, it isn't tomorrow for all time zones, and so it may have already gone live for part of the world before you've edited it.

See also

• Wikipedia:Tips – the tip library arranged by subject.
• Wikipedia:Wikipedia tipster – about the people that write the tips
• Wikipedia:Department directory – the closest thing to a site map of the Wikipedia namespace.
• Wikipedia:Shortcuts – another map of the Wikipedia namespace.

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