User:Sthompson/Sandbox

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Watch a video on how to choose a user name

Unformatted version of editing practice

help tnr There are two types of discussion pages, more commonly called talk pages:

Standard talk pages, which are used to discuss a Ballotpedia article, a template, a category, etc. User talk pages, which are used to communicate with other users or leave them messages.

Every page has an associated talk page, except pages in the Special cateogry. If there has never been any text on a talk page, the link to the talk page from the article, category, etc., will be red. You can still discuss the page – you will just be the first person to edit the respective talk page.

Article talk pages are provided for discussion of the content of articles and the views of reliable published sources. They should not be used by editors as platforms for their personal views.

Accessing a talk page

To access a talk page look for a tab or link labeled talk, discussion, or Talkpage. These tabs or links will be found either at the top of the page or on the left hand side (near edit this page).

The name of a standard talk page is "Talk:" plus the article's title. For example, the talk page of the article Ballot is Talk:Ballot. For a page name that has a prefix, "talk" is added to the prefix before the colon. For example, the talk page associated with the user page User:January is User talk:January.

You have new messages After someone else edits your user talk page, the alert "You have new messages" is automatically displayed on all pages you view, until you view your user talk page, if you have a registered account.

Using talk pages

On a talk page, "this page" usually refers to the main page (i.e. the page the talk page is associated with). If the talk page itself is referred to, write "this talk page".

When debating the name of the page or discussing merging it with another page, always mention the current page name. Otherwise after renaming (moving) a page, references to "this page name" become ambiguous.

Post a comment

The "Post a comment" feature (the small "+" sign on a separate tab, at the top of a talk page) allows you to start a new section without needing to edit the whole page. The section header becomes the edit summary at the time you save the page, so there is no edit summary displayed when you use this feature.

Formatting

Because the wiki software platform provides for a wide range of formatting styles, proper or at least consistent formatting is essential to maintaining readable talk pages.

The reference of a comment is determined by the number of colons (':') in front of it. If a reply is made to a statement, you should add a colon to the number of colons used in the statement being replied to. This style of conversation is easy to read.

Some indenting practice:

How's the soup? -- It's great!! -- Not too bad. -- Did you make it yourself? I sure did! --

Quotations on talk page

Sometimes it is necessary to display a sentence or paragraph from the article on the talk page so that other editors can easily understand what is being discussed.

In order to place quoted material within the body of a talk page, just add a space at the beginning of the first line. Include line breaks or it will run as one long line off the page to the right. This method is only effective for a small amount of text. This will place your quotation in a shaded box with a dashed border.

To quote words, phrases, or short sentences, hit your space bar one time at the beginning of this line. You can even move text inward by hitting your space bar multiple times.

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AG tracker sample

2010 Attorney General Races
Current AGs: 32 Democrats | 18 Republicans

Democrat 17	Toss-up 2	Republican 17

2 Safe or Not Up	8	2	1	7	8	2 Safe or Not Up

26 state AG seats needed for majority

Safe D	Likely Dem.	Leans Dem.	Toss Up	Leans GOP	Likely GOP	Safe R
DE: Biden (D) MD: Gansler (D) Not up: KY: Conway (D) LA: Caldwell (D) ME: Mills (D) MS: Hood (D) MO: Koster (D) MT: Bullock (D) NH: Delaney (D) NJ: Dow (D) NC: Cooper (D) OR: Kroger (D) TN: Cooper (D) WV: McGraw (D) WY: Salzburg (D)	AR: McDaniel (D) CT: Open (D) IL: Madigan (D MN: Swanson (D) NV: Masto (D) NM: King (D) RI: Open (D) VT: Bill Sorrell (D)	MA: Coakley (D) NY: Open (R)	IA: Mauro (D)	AL: Strange (R) CA: Open (D) CO: Suthers (R) FL: Open (R) KS: Six (D) MI: Open (R) OH: Cordray (D)	AZ: Open (D) GA: Open (D) ND: Stenehjem (R) OK: Open (R) SC: Open (R) SD: Jackley (R) TX: Abbott (R) WI: Van Hollen (R)	ID: Wasden (R) NE: Bruning (R) Not up: AK: Sullivan (R) HI: Bennett (R) IN: Zoeller (R) PA: Corbett (R) UT: Shurtleff (R) VA: Cuccinelli (R) WA: McKenna (R)

Tutorial table

How to check your work before you save:	Example:
•It is vitally important to check your work. Because editing an article takes you into the editing window, which contains code, it can be easy to make mistakes. For example, you may ask yourself, "Did I put one set of brackets, or two?" (It makes a difference!) •Follow these steps to check your work before you save: 1. To check your work, click the box at the bottom of the page that says "show preview." This option shows you the page that will be rendered on the top of the window, and the edit box for that page on the bottom. Keep in mind that the outer scroll bars that you see on the right of your window will scroll through the rendered page, and the inner scroll bar will move you up and down within the edit box. 2. Go to the preview of your page and click through the links you have added. Check to see that your internal and external links actually go to the place that you intended. If it does not, go to the edit box and edit the link. 3. Spell check by right clicking on any word in your edit box that has a red wavy line under it, for spelling suggestions. Choose the word from the list and left click. The correction will be made.