Here you can digest how to use Wikipedia in bite-sized morsels. The tips listed below were created for the Tip of the day project, or the Styletips project, but are listed here by title and organized by subject area for your convenience.
There are two main ways to use templates on articles:
Transclusion – also called "inclusion", and accomplished by using {{Template Name}}
Substitution – notated like this {{subst:Template Name}}
Transclusion will include the content of Template Name on the fly whenever the article is loaded, while the latter will permanently insert the content of the template into the article. With substitution, even if the template content is modified at a later date, the article's content will not change.
Substitution is the preferred method for long-term, permanent notices because it is less confusing, and it even helps to lighten the load on the database. Substitution has the further advantage in that a template's content may be de-linked from any associated category or slightly modified to suit the circumstances, such as when the template is used on a talk page. Transclusion is preferred for displaying material that is normally updated, that way, all the places it appears are updated in a single operation.
Sometimes Wikipedians sound like they are speaking in a foreign language, even when they are not. This is because Wikipedians have created a great number of specialized terms (jargon) pertaining to Wikipedia and the activity of Wikipedians. Fortunately, being the encyclopedists that they are, they have also created a Wikipedia Glossary to explain these terms.
Remember, actual encyclopedia articles should be written in jargon-free language which is readily understandable without specific knowledge of the Wikipedia project.
For a listing of current collaborations, tasks, and news, see the Community portal. For a listing of ongoing discussions and current requests, see the Dashboard.
