Editing Incubator escapee wiki:Help desk/Archive 1 (section)

== Cross referring while editing ==

While editing an article I often need to refer to another to check (for example) its exact title. With most web pages I can hold the shift key while clicking on a link. This opens a new window which I can then close before returning to my editing window. Unfortunately, holding the shift key while clicking on GO does not open a new Wikipedia window. Instead I find I have to click the back button to return to my edits, which I then find I have lost! Okay, I suppose folk have to learn from their mistakes but I have done this several times now so I just thought I'd ask whether it's technically possible for such a feature to be added. [[User:Shantavira|Shantavira]] 08:51, 21 Apr 2004 (UTC)

:I don't know about the technical GO solution -- I agree it might be handy.  The rest is a matter of personal habit.  I usually open two or three separate browser windows when I'm doing research and editing -- one for the Edit page, one for searching Wikipedia (which I usually do via the Search Site button on my [http://toolbar.google.com/ Google toolbar], rather than via the Wiki search -- saves a step), and a third for searching the web via Google, if necessary.  I always start my edit by clicking "Show Preview" -- that way if I need to investigate any of the links within the article, I can do your Shift-Click trick on article links from there, open a new window to check the related article then close the window, then simply scroll back to the edit box to continue working.

:When checking related pages, I often Shift-Click on "What Links Here" in the sidebar, opening a new window with the list of related links.  This makes it very easy to use my Back button (or better yet, the drop-down list next to my IE Back button) to return straight to the list after investigating something on it.

:For a really long edit, you can compose offline in Notepad or a word processor, then copy and paste the whole thing into the edit box -- saves headaches with lost edits.  If the server begins behaving strangely, you can select and copy all your text with some quick keyboard shortcuts (click in edit box, CTRL-A, then CTRL-C) before clicking any Save/Preview/Go buttons -- that way you can easily paste your edits back in if you get a server error.  (Check the page history first, though, since your edit might have gone through after all.)

:Good luck, and happy editing! [[User:CatherineMunro|Catherine]] 19:03, 21 Apr 2004 (UTC)

::Another tip which you might find useful is to click "show preview" when you're part way through editing, you will then see a copy of the article with any changes you've made - red links are immediately obvious, and you can shift click on any of the links in the previewed text to open a new window if you find you need one.  [[User:Fabiform|fabiform]] | [[User talk:Fabiform|talk]] 11:12, 22 Apr 2004 (UTC)

:::Also, if you feel that being able to open search results in a new window would be useful, you can [http://sourceforge.net/tracker/index.php?func=browse&group_id=34373&atid=411195&set=custom&_assigned_to=0&_status=1&_category=100&_group=100&order=open_date&sort=DESC&offset=0 suggest this at Sourceforge] or [[m:bugs|discuss it at Meta]]. [[User:Angela|Angela]][[user talk:Angela|.]] 20:15, Apr 22, 2004 (UTC)

: Not to be too much of an evangelist, but a complex editing task is often made much easier by using a browser that supports ''tab navigation''.  I personally use [[Mozilla]], but folks also use [[Konqueror]] and [[Opera (browser)]] which have the same feature.  I typically have five or six tabs (they're just windows, but they're easier to handle that full-on toplevel windows) open to wikipedia, with at least one for doing wikipedia searches and another for doing google searches. -- [[User:Finlay McWalter|Finlay McWalter]] | [[User talk:Finlay McWalter | Talk]] 20:28, 22 Apr 2004 (UTC)

::Also worth evangelising about is that forms retain their state when you click ''back'' in Mozilla - i.e. you can start editing, follow a link, click the back button, and your edits will still be in the edit box. I don't know what other browsers do about this. - [[User:IMSoP|IMSoP]] 23:39, 22 Apr 2004 (UTC)