View source for Wiki143:Editing the main page

{{information page|WP:ETMP}}
{{Main Page toolbox}}
The [[Main Page]] is usually  updated by editing a number of pages in the Template namespace that are [[Wikipedia:Transclusion|transcluded]] onto the main page. The only section that is currently hard-coded directly on page is the top "Welcome to Wikipedia" banner.
The Main Page and all the templates used on it have been protected for many years, and can only be edited by [[Wikipedia:administrators|administrators]]. Images and templates are also temporarily protected while they are featured on the Main Page via [[Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2007-01-15/Cascading protection|cascading protection]]. Changes can be suggested on [[Talk:Main Page]] if you do not have administrator access.

Alternatively, you can edit the [[Wikipedia:Main Page alternatives/(simple layout)|table-free version]] of the main page. Also see [[Wikipedia:Main Page alternatives]] for more editable main pages.

Each section has its own guidelines that you should follow before editing it. These guidelines will be found on that section's talk pages, on [[Talk:Main Page]], or on other guidelines pages.

[[Wikipedia:Today's featured article|Today's featured article]], [[Wikipedia:Picture of the day|Today's featured picture]], and the [[Wikipedia:Selected anniversaries|On This Day]] sections automatically update every midnight [[Coordinated Universal Time]] (UTC). The [[Wikipedia:Today's featured list|Today's featured list]] section currently only appears on Mondays and Fridays. The [[Template:Did you know|Did you know]] section is updated every twelve hours (at 00:00 and 12:00 UTC) or twenty four hours (at 00:00 UTC). The [[Template:In the news|In the news]] section is usually updated in real time as needed.

Click the [{{fullurl:Main Page|action=purge}} Main Page cache purge] whenever a change has been made to any of the template pages displayed on the Main Page. This clears the Main Page's [[Web cache|cache]] (located on the [[meta:Wikimedia servers|Wikimedia servers]]) so that non-logged-in users can see the update.

The guidelines that were written for the old main page can be found at [[Wikipedia:Selected Articles on the Main Page]]. 
{| style="width:100%;border-spacing:8px;margin:0;"
| class="MainPageBG" style="width:55%; border:1px solid #cef2e0; background:#f5fffa; vertical-align:top; color:#000;"|
{| cellpadding="2" cellspacing="5" style="width:100%; vertical-align:top; background:#f5fffa;"
! <h2 style="margin:0; background:#cef2e0; font-size:120%; font-weight:bold; border:1px solid #a3bfb1; text-align:left; color:#000; padding:0.2em 0.4em;">Today's featured article [{{fullurl:Wikipedia:Today's featured article/{{CURRENTMONTHNAME}} {{CURRENTDAY}}, {{CURRENTYEAR}}|action=edit}} <small>'''edit'''</small>]</h2>
|-
|style="color:#000"| <!-- START FA -->
* [[Wikipedia:Today's featured article|Guidelines]]
* [[Wikipedia talk:Today's featured article|Discussion]] 
* [[Wikipedia:Today's featured article/requests|Suggest a new entry]]
<div style="float:right;" class="noprint">  
'''[[Wikipedia:Today's featured article/July 2006|Archive]]''' &ndash; '''[[mail:daily-article-l|By email]]''' &ndash;  '''[[Wikipedia:Featured articles|More featured articles...]]''' 
</div>
|-
! <h2 style="margin:0;background:#cef2e0;font-size:120%;font-weight:bold;border:1px solid #a3bfb1;text-align:left;color:#000;padding:0.2em 0.4em;">Did you know... [{{fullurl:Template:Did you know|action=edit}} '''<small>edit</small>''']</h2>
|-
|style="color:#000"| <!-- START DYK -->
*[[Wikipedia:Did you know|Guidelines]]
*[[Wikipedia talk:Did you know|Discussion]]
*[[Template talk:Did you know|Make a suggestion]]

<div style="text-align: right;" class="noprint">'''[[Wikipedia:Recent additions|Archive]]''' &ndash; '''[[Help:Starting an article|Start a new article...]]'''</div>
|}<!-- Start of right-column -->
| class="MainPageBG" style="width:45%; border:1px solid #cedff2; background:#f5faff; vertical-align:top;"|
{| cellpadding="2" cellspacing="5" style="width:100%; vertical-align:top; background:#f5faff;"
! <h2 style="margin:0; background:#cedff2; font-size:120%; font-weight:bold; border:1px solid #a3b0bf; text-align:left; color:#000; padding:0.2em 0.4em;">In the news [{{fullurl:Template:In the news|action=edit}} '''<small>Edit</small>'''</h3>]
</h2>
|-
|style="color:#000"|<!-- START ITN -->

* [[Wikipedia:In the news|Guidelines]]
* [[Wikipedia talk:In the news|Discussion]]
* [[Wikipedia:In the news/Candidates|Make a suggestion]]
<div style="text-align: right;margin:0.4em 0" class="noprint">'''[[n:Main Page|Wikinews]]''' &ndash; '''[[Deaths in 2006|Recent deaths]]''' &ndash; '''[[Portal:Current events|More current events...]]'''</div>
|-
! <h2 style="margin:0;background:#cedff2;font-size:120%;font-weight:bold;border:1px solid #a3b0bf;text-align:left;color:#000;padding:0.2em 0.4em;">On this day...[{{fullurl:Wikipedia:Selected anniversaries/{{CURRENTMONTHNAME}} {{CURRENTDAY}}|action=edit}} '''<small>edit</small>''']</h2>
|- 
|style="color:#000"|<!--START OTD -->
*[[Wikipedia:Selected anniversaries|Guidelines]]
*[[Wikipedia talk:Selected anniversaries|Discussion]]
*[[Wikipedia talk:Selected anniversaries|Make a suggestion]]
{{SelAnnivFooter|Month={{CURRENTMONTHNAME}}}}
|}
|}<!-- Start of Featured List -->
{| style="width:100%;border-spacing:8px;margin:0;"
| class="MainPageBG" style="border:1px solid #f2cedd; background:#fff5fa; vertical-align:top; color:#000;"|
{| cellpadding="2" cellspacing="5" style="vertical-align:top; background:#fff5fa; color:#000; width:100%;"
!  <div style="margin:0; background:#f2cedd; font-size:120%; font-weight:bold; border:1px solid #bfa3af; text-align:left; color:#000; padding:0.2em 0.4em;">Today's featured list ''(Mondays and Fridays only)''</div>
|-
|style="color:#000"|

* [[Wikipedia:Today's featured list|Guidelines]]
* [[Wikipedia talk:Today's featured list|Discussion]] 
* [[Wikipedia:Today's featured list/requests|Suggest a new entry]]
|}
|}<!-- Start of Featured Picture -->
{| style="width:100%;border-spacing:8px;margin:0;"
| class="MainPageBG" style="border:1px solid #ddcef2; background:#faf5ff; vertical-align:top; color:#000;"|
{| cellpadding="2" cellspacing="5" style="vertical-align:top; background:#faf5ff; color:#000; width:100%;"
!  <div style="margin:0; background:#ddcef2; font-size:120%; font-weight:bold; border:1px solid #afa3bf; text-align:left; color:#000; padding:0.2em 0.4em;">Today's featured picture</div>
|-
|style="color:#000"|

* [[Wikipedia:Picture of the day|Guidelines]]
* [[Wikipedia talk:Picture of the day|Discussion]]
* [[Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates|Suggest a new entry]]
|}
|}<!-- Start of reference section -->
----
===[[Template:Other areas of Wikipedia|Other areas of Wikipedia]] '''<small>{{ed|template:Other areas of Wikipedia}}</small>'''===
===[[template:WikipediaSister|Wikipedia's sister projects]] '''<small>{{ed|template:WikipediaSister}}</small>'''===
===[[template: Wikipedialang|Wikipedia languages]] '''<small>{{ed|template:Wikipedialang}}</small>'''===
</div>__NOTOC__ __NOEDITSECTION__
{{Main Page topics|state=collapsed}}
[[Category:Main Page help]]