Help:How to create an article

On Vikidia, you can read, edit, and create articles.

There are a number of tips you need to know to create an article. It's not that complicated, but it's recommended that you read this help page.

Adults as well as children can write articles. One of the goals is to encourage children to participate in the writing, but we also want adults to consistently develop the content!

Don't worry, articles can be corrected if they contain a few errors, particularly in terms of formatting.

Writing

Vikidia is an encyclopedia intended for children aged 8-13, or anyone looking for articles that are easy to understand. Its articles must have:

• a simple definition/introduction;
• a clear and engaging development;
• examples;
• sources and possibly external links;
• If possible, images or even diagrams, sounds, videos, etc.

The more experienced contributors tend to add:

• interwiki links to Vikidia versions in other languages if the articles exist, as well as to the Simple English Wikipedia and Wikikids (in Dutch) if the articles exist,
• one or more categories and possibly a banner linking to the corresponding portal.

Writing is not always easy and requires time to produce quality work.

How to create articles?

Many articles contain "red links." These are internal links that lead to a non-existent page. When you encounter a "red link," it means that a contributor thought it could become an eventual article, but it has not been made yet. You can create an article by simply clicking on a red link; by doing so, the following message appears:

You are creating an article on Vikidia!
If you are here by mistake, click your browser's back button.

This is to let you know you've clicked on a red link. While this message is shown, it means you haven't saved the article yet, so it doesn't always mean a mistake has been made by clicking on the red. Next, type your text. This is the hardest part!

It is recommended that you click the "Show preview (without saving)" button at least once as you write the article. It gives you a preview of what has been written, allowing you to better control the spelling and presentation of the article.

When you create or edit a page, you can optionally enter a summary of your edit in the form directly below "Summary", which is right below the editing window. This is a comment that appears in the article's history.

Finally, click on the Save button. This creates a new article, changing any links to it from red to blue.

Be careful, you must click on Save. If you don't save, the article will not be created, and all the work will be lost.

• You can also create an article without clicking on a red link. First, search for an article using the "search" function in the search box; this allows you to first verify that the article does not exist. To be on the safe side, search with other words on the same subject and check the spelling. If the article doesn't exist, the following text appears:

There were no results matching the query. Create the page "..." on this wiki!

A link at the top of the page will prompt you to create the article. Then follow the steps above.

• To make things simple, you can enter an article title in the box below and click "Create page".

Enter the title of the article to create here:

Before creating a new article: make sure the topic is eligible for the encyclopedia.

You must also follow the conventions for article titles, but the title can be changed quite easily if necessary by renaming it.

How to find an article to write?

You can write a new article if it covers a different topic. You can also write articles on school curriculum topics, but also on topics you don't study in school, such as musicians or films.

• First, draw on your own interests.
• Vikidia:Articles to create
• You can improve existing articles, for example, those that are less advanced, which can be found on the Category:Stubs page. See also the list of shortest articles, which you can expand.

If you get stuck, if you have technical problems, or if you have a question, don't hesitate to consult help or ask a question to other Vikidians!

How to wikify your article

Wikifying an article involves formatting the article, adding images, and adding internal or external links. This page aims to simplify wiki syntax as much as possible, limiting it to the bare minimum for newcomers.

Formatting

Headings allow the different parts of your article to be separate and improve readability and comprehension:

Syntax	Rendering
== Section Title == === Subsection 1 === ==== Subsection 2 ====	Section Title Subsection 1 Subsection 2

Bold is primarily used at the beginning of the article to indicate its name, while italics can be used for book names or quotes:

Syntax	Rendering
'''To make bold''' ''To make italic'' ''''To make bold and italic'''''	To bold To italicize To bold and italicize

For quotes, there are two almost identical templates:

Syntax	Rendering
{{quote|Here is the first template}} {{"|Here is the second template}}	“Here is the first template” —{{{2}}} “Here is the second template”

Adding images

Images are used to illustrate articles:

[[File:Image name|thumb|upright=(optional)|Caption]]

or in French:

[[File:Image name|thumb|upright=(optional)|Caption]]

The image will be placed on the right side. But it can be placed on the left side or in the center.

[[File:Image name|thumb|left|upright=(optional)|Caption]] [[File:Image name|thumb|center|upright=(optional)|Caption]]

Adding links

For internal links, they can be either red (the article will need to be created because it doesn't exist), or blue (the article can be updated because it does exist):

[[Article name]]

[[Article name|Display text]]

For external links, they allow you to include URLs from sites other than Vikidia:

Syntax	Rendering
[https://en.vikidia.org/wiki/Main_Page Vikidia home page]	Vikidia home page
https://en.vikidia.org/wiki/Main_Page Vikidia home page	https://en.vikidia.org/wiki/Main_Page
[https://en.vikidia.org/wiki/Main_Page]	[1]

Portal and Category

A category is used to classify an article in a specific field. For example, articles about video games would have the Category:Video games, or something more specific, like Category:Nintendo 64 games:

Syntax	Rendering
[[Category:Video games]]	Category:Video games

A portal is used to organize an article in a specific field. For example, articles about animals will have the Animals portal:

Syntax	Rendering
{{Portal|Animals}}	Template:Portal Animals

After the article is created

• Once created, an article can be read by anyone, corrected, and edited. Information can always be added, as can illustrations, even years later.
• The article title can be changed if it's not suitable. See Help:Renaming an article. So don't worry if you're unsure about an article title.
• Every page has a history: it lists all the changes made to the page. So when you create an article, you also create a history with an initial entry recording your creation. If you contribute as a registered user, you see your username in the history. If you are not logged in, your IP address will be record.
• To edit an article, use the "edit" tab, located at the top of the page. The rules are the same as when you create an article, but you have the source text of the page you're editing. All you have to do is modify your text, or that of articles created by others.

Copyright

By publishing an article that is the result of your work on Vikidia, you are placing it under a free license, meaning that you authorize anyone to use it, copy it, modify it, etc. However, you must give credit to its authors, generally the pseudonyms of the Vikidia contributors who wrote and improved it.

Below is a warning: It is forbidden to use copyrighted works without express permission. Respect this instruction! Indeed, if your text is an illegal copy, it will be deleted. In plain language, this means that texts easily copied from the Internet are usually protected by rights (copyright), they are not free. It also encourages

You can draw inspiration from texts found on the internet or in books, but you must express the information in your own sentences and indicate the source at the bottom of the page.

Why create articles?

• to share your knowledge and passion;
• for the pleasure of contributing to a shared project;
• to raise awareness of a topic;
• etc.

See also

• Vikidia:New page
• Vikidia:What to do on Vikidia?
• Help:Jargon
• Vikidia:What is a good article?
• Help:How to edit a page?
• Help:Article in progress
• Help:Syntax
• Help:Summary of wiki syntax
• Vikidia:Conventions for article titles
• Project:Writing
• Dozens of articles to be done on Vikidia:Articles to create.

Portal maintenance — Access Vikidia articles about help and maintenance.

Help portal — All help pages on Vikidia.