Invariably, there will always be pages on the wiki that can be improved. Some need many updates to fill in the missing sections. Others need to have image galleries or categories added. And some just need a few updates to transform them from an average page to one that can qualify for Featured Article status.
This page will list different ways that you can help improve the rest of the wiki.
Recent changes[]
In the main Userbar area that is on the left side of every page is a link to the Recent changes. If you click on it, it will show everything that has been changed on the wiki in the past few days.
You can help your fellow editors out by looking over what they've done. Click on "diff" (differences) after the name of the page to be shown a before and after comparison of what they changed. If many people have edited the same page during a single day, you might have to click on "hist" (history) to see what each person changed. Here's what a single edit looks like:
- 01:48 Phineas and Ferb Get Busted (diff; hist) — followed by the name of the person who made the edit and the summary of what they changed (if they put one in)
Sometimes you will see mistakes they might have missed. Sometimes you'll see that the edit wasn't correct and needs to be fixed or undone.
In either case, include a reason for your edit in the "Summary" at the bottom of the edit window. You can also put a check mark in "Minor edit" if your edit was only a minor change.
Incomplete Summaries and Under Construction[]
A special category has been set up to mark pages that are in need of significant updates: the "Incomplete Summaries" category. Pages listed there need special attention and any updates will be appreciated.
Many of these pages will also show up in the "Help needed" widget. Refer to the Widgets section of "Customizing your page" for more details.
A larger number of pages have been marked as "Under Construction", meaning that they have quite a bit of information, but are still quite far from being finished. You can see a list of these pages at the Articles under Construction page.
Orphans and Dead-ends[]
An orphaned page is one that does not contain any links to other articles, and no other articles link to it.
To take the page out of orphan status, edit it and add a link that will connect it to another page. It's a good practice to also go to that other page and add a link back to the orphaned page.
Dead-end pages are linked to by some other page, but does not contain any links itself to lead back out. Add a link to it so that the reader will be able to go on to other parts of the wiki.
Wanted pages, files and templates[]
Wanted pages is a list of articles that have not been created yet. A link to each of them has been made, but the pages themselves haven't been created. The higher the number of links in parentheses, the more pages that are already trying to link to it.
Creating a page that's on the Wanted list means you will be the first to work on that subject.
Two other Wanted reports are: Wanted files and Wanted templates. Similar to the "Wanted pages" described above, these show the files and templates that have been linked to but have not yet been created. Check each one to see if the file or template is still needed. If it is, upload the file with the Add image page or create the template by making a new page with "Template:" in front of the name of the page.
Short pages and Stubs[]
Short pages is a list of articles that have the least amount of information on them. Many of these pages are marked as one or more "Stub" categories, such as Article stubs or Actor stubs.
Some subjects do not have a lot of information revealed about them in an episode and will remain as a short page and a stub. But many can be expanded tremendously. View the list of short pages and see if there's one you can help fill out.
Unused images[]
Sometimes after an image is uploaded, it isn't used on a page. The Unused files page shows them. Look at a few pictures and see if they can be added to a page or gallery. But don't add them just for the sake of adding them. It's okay for images not to be used for a while.
Uncategorized pages[]
Each page and file on this wiki should have at least one category. Uncategorized pages, Uncategorized files and Uncategorized templates show the ones that do not any categories.
When editing a page, you can add a category at the bottom of a page by typing in [[Category:ABC]], where "ABC" is the name of the category, such as "Images" or "Agents".
Adding categories without editing[]
You can also add a category without having to edit the page. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and you will see a small box that says "Add category". If you click on it, the area above it will expand and you will have a chance to type in categories that apply to the file or page.
As you type, categories that have previously been used will be listed. For example, if you type "Images", it lists several choices like "Images", "Images from I, Brobot", "Images from Rollercoaster", etc. Once you see the category you need, you can stop typing and just click on that choice to add it. You can add as many as appropriate. Click on Save when you are done editing the categories.
Picture categories[]
Picture files should have a minimum of three categories: "Images", the "Images from" the episode the picture came from, and the category for the person or object that appeared in the picture. If you look at picture Paf041.png, you will see that it has categories for the 5 characters shown in the picture, as well as the episode it came from.
Categories that are automatically added[]
Some categories are automatically added by templates. Infobox on the right side of character pages that lists the statistics for them do this. For example, the Infobox for Phineas lists the color of the Infobox as "Kid", and this automatically adds Phineas to the "Kids" category. As such, it is not necessary to add the "Kids" category to his page.
Missing categories[]
Like Wanted pages, categories that have been linked to but not created yet show up in the Wanted categories page. See if you can get that category started by placing a short explanation of what the category is for.
For example, if the wanted category was "Vivian Garcia-Shapiro images", you might add the following to get the page started:
- This category shows images relating to [[Vivian Garcia-Shapiro]], [[Isabella]]'s mother.
Categorizing categories[]
As mentioned before, each page should belong to a category. This applies to categories themselves. The Uncategorized categories page shows which categories do not belong to any other categories.
Categories should be organized like a tree: the tree trunk has large branches, the large branches divide off into smaller branches, and then into twigs. Be careful to not create a loop where one category ties into another category, which ties back to the first category. For example, do not add a category of "Hispanic" to the "Garcia-Shapiro" category, then add "Garcia-Shapiro" to the "Hispanic" category.
- For more information, refer to the Help:Categories page.
Unused categories[]
If a category page has been set up, but no other pages reference it, it is listed on the Unused categories page. The Unused category page should be checked to see if it is needed, and if it is, that category should be added to the appropriate pages.
To recommend additional topics that need to be included on this Help page, list them on the Discussion page.