Editing Incubator escapee wiki:Help desk/Archive 8 (section)

== Editing before sections ==

I find the "edit section" option very useful, since I allows me to edit certain big pages without problems due to my slow connection. The thing is, sometimes I must edit the text at the start of the article, before any section started, and so the only way of doing this is editing the whole page.

Is there any way to edit only the "pre-section" text at the start?
If not, is that some feature we'd likely to add in the future?
Where can I suggest such feature to Wikipedia?

Thanks [[User:Kieff|<nowiki></nowiki>]] &mdash; [[User:Kieff|Kieff]] | [[User talk:Kieff|Talk]] 14:34, Sep 24, 2004 (UTC)

:It ''is'' possible, but unfortunately the [edit] link to actually do it is not provided on the page (it used to be).  If you look at the  URL when you section edit, you'll see "&section=XX" at the end,  (this section is currently 68, for example); the number for the pre-section is 0, so if you select a different section to edit and then replace the last number with 0, it'll work. - 15:26, 24 Sep 2004 (UTC) [[User:ScudLee|Lee]]  [[User Talk:ScudLee|<small>(talk)</small>]]

:There is a way of doing this and it's not altogether obvious, but makes sense and is helpful once you've been told about it. When you click on a section edit link you will be sent to a URL that looks something like <nowiki>http://en.wikipedia.org/w/wiki.phtml?title=Wikipedia:Help_desk&action=edit&section=68</nowiki>. The edit link next to the first subheading of an article will take you to an edit screen for section number 1, second section's URL has number 2, etc., so all you have to do is manually change the number at the end to 0 and you will find yourself at an edit screen for the introduction. It's rather unfortunate that this simple task has to be achieved in a way that requires explanation each time someone wants to know how to do it, but maybe the developers will come up with a way of making editing the introduction more intuitive. &mdash; [[User:Trilobite|Trilobite]] [[User_talk:Trilobite|(Talk)]] 15:32, 24 Sep 2004 (UTC)
::My apologies Lee you appear to have beaten me to it! &mdash; [[User:Trilobite|Trilobite]] [[User_talk:Trilobite|(Talk)]] 15:33, 24 Sep 2004 (UTC)

If the large page in question is not in the main article namespace, you can also add a wikilink to accomplish what Lee and Trilobite explained above:
*<code><nowiki>[{{SERVER}}{{localurl:{{NAMESPACE}}:{{PAGENAME}}|action=edit&section=0}} edit]</nowiki></code>
appears as:
*[{{SERVER}}{{localurl:{{NAMESPACE}}:{{PAGENAME}}|action=edit&section=0}} edit]
Obviously, this is too distracting to appear on articles themselves, but for lengthy talk pages and the like, it's useful. [[User:Benc|•&nbsp;Benc]][[User_talk:Benc|&nbsp;•]] 20:54, 24 Sep 2004 (UTC)
:PS - or use {{Template|section0}}, which I just created. :-) [[User:Benc|•&nbsp;Benc]][[User_talk:Benc|&nbsp;•]] 20:58, 24 Sep 2004 (UTC)

::::Thanks everyone. The template or wikilinks weren't really needed, but still, thanks anyway :P [[User:Kieff|<nowiki></nowiki>]] &mdash; [[User:Kieff|Kieff]] | [[User talk:Kieff|Talk]] 03:38, Sep 25, 2004 (UTC)