View source for Wiki143:Help Project

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<div style="font-size: 2em;">Welcome to the Wikipedia '''Help Project'''!</div>
This is a centralized project for improving and maintaining Wikipedia's [[Help:Contents|help system]].
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The current project collaboration is '''[[Wikipedia:Help Project/Assessment|Assessment]]''' of help pages.
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==The trouble with help pages==
{{shortcuts|WP:WPHELP|WP:HELPWP}}
The [[H:?|help pages of Wikipedia]] are a rabbit warren of various types of pages, written to [[Wikipedia:Tutorial|differing]] [[Help:Contents/Editing_Wikipedia|levels]] of [[Wikipedia:How_to_edit_a_page|technical]] [[Help:Wikipedia:_The_Missing_Manual|expertise]] and in [[Wikipedia:Editor's_index_to_Wikipedia|widely]] [[:Category:Wikipedia_how-to|varying]] [[Wikipedia:Simplified_ruleset|styles]]. The effect can be quite overwhelming! The help system has also become bloated, and continues to grow: in redundancy, in wordiness, and via [[instruction creep]].

This WikiProject provides an oasis of order amidst the chaos - a place where editors can meet up, share opinions, and support each other with the mammoth task of help cleanup. Many of the help pages have few, if any regular maintainers, so having a place to record ideas can ensure that good ideas endure.

'''Please join.  We can use all the ''help'' we can get.  (Pun intended). See also [[Wikipedia:Help desk patrol]]'''
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==Goals==
Our overall goal is to improve the help pages for readers, new editors and experienced editors alike.

Our ongoing objectives with respect to the help system are to:
* Streamline it: simplify, consolidate, and reduce redundancies
* Combat [[instruction creep]] and bloat wherever they appear
* Increase its ease of navigation
* Improve its accessibility
* Edit help page text for clarity
* Update obsolete information

==How to get involved==
# <big>'''[[Wikipedia:Help Project/Participants|Sign up]]'''</big> to participate and get our project newsletter.
# Read the Help Project '''[[Wikipedia:Help Project/Guidelines|guidelines]]'''.
# Look for an '''[[#Open_tasks|open task]]''' and get involved with improving Wikipedia's help pages.
# Leave comments on the '''[[Wikipedia talk:Help Project|talk page]]'''.

==Open tasks==
:''[[Special:Prefixindex/Wikipedia:Help Project|List of subpages]]''
*Redesign our [https://pageviews.wmcloud.org/?project=en.wikipedia.org&platform=all-access&agent=user&redirects=0&range=latest-20&pages=Help:Introduction|Help:Introduction_to_Wikipedia|Help:Introduction_to_policies_and_guidelines/1|Help:Introduction_to_editing_with_Wiki_Markup/1|Help:Introduction_to_editing_with_VisualEditor/1|Help:Introduction_to_navigating_Wikipedia/1|Help:Introduction_to_the_Manual_of_Style/1|Help:Introduction/Conclusion tutorial] so people will read through it.
* <s>Improve the [[Template:Welcome|Welcome template]]  to encourage people to click links that will guide New Editors to the best help resources. 
* Identify areas of the help system that are in need of some attention.</s>
* Improve navigation between help pages by:
** Developing nav templates in [[/Overview]], with the possibility of using them on the help pages to aid users, too.
** Navbox - [[Wikipedia:Help Project/Overview/Accessible Nav Box]].
** New template that could be useful: {{tl|Breadcrumb2}}.
* Cleanup [[:Category:Wikipedia help]] and sub-categories.

* Revamp the [[WP:Task Center]] to make it suitable for use as the "Go-To Place" for instructing new editors on where they can help out.


===Ongoing tasks===
* Discuss problems and ideas related to Wikipedia's help system on the '''[[Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Help|project talk page]]'''.
* Tag any pages that should be within the scope of the project with {{tl|Wikipedia Help Project}} on their talk pages.
* Try to direct questions to the correct areas, and reduce the workload of editors in each of the specific areas, to relevant queries.
* Ensure pages are written to answer common questions, ''clearly'', in help pages to reduce the amount of unnecessary questioning on talk pages.
* The help system needs "Watchdogs", to check for test edits on articles and talk pages, and to redirect misplaced questions by New Users. You can see recent changes of pages within this project's scope by using, [[Special:RecentChangesLinked/Category:Wikipedia_Help_Project_pages]].
* Address specific article concerns as listed below or on the talk page.

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<s>{{Wikipedia:Help Project/News}}</s>

==Page alerts==
{{/Article alerts}}

==Assessment==
{{Wikipedia:Version 1.0 Editorial Team/Help articles by quality statistics}}

==Bird's-eye view==
To survey Wikipedia's huge collection of help pages, try the following pages:
* [[Help:Menu]]
** [[Help:Menu/Site map]] – all the browse pages presented on a single page
* [[Help:Contents/Directory]]
* [[Wikipedia:Editor's index to Wikipedia]] – includes operational pages
* [[Wikipedia:List of shortcuts#General information, help, and tutorials]]
* [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special%3APrefixIndex&prefix=&namespace=12 All pages index]
Note that [[Wikipedia:Department directory]] lists Wikipedia's operational (task-oriented) pages, but itself could be considered a help page.
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==Pages needing work==
Pages requiring some work or further thought listed on [[/PageTLC|this]] page (which also lists completed missions).
{{/PageTLC}}

==Relevant Wikipedia project pages==
{{main|Help:Directory|Help:Menu/Site map}}
*[[:Category:Wikipedia information pages]] and [[:Category:Wikipedia how-to]] are the main subcategories listing help pages.
*[[Wikipedia:Help desk]] (interactive) for questions about how to use or edit Wikipedia.
*[[Wikipedia:Teahouse]] (interactive) helps new editors become accustomed to community culture, ask questions, and develop community relationships.
*[[Wikipedia:Contributing to Wikipedia]] parent article on how and where editors can contribute to Wikipedia.
*[[Help:Getting started]] links to the basics needed to use, comment on, and contribute to Wikipedia.
*[[Help:Wikipedia: The Missing Manual]] is a whole help guide.
*[[Wikipedia:A Primer for newcomers]] explains editing and policy basics.
*[[Wikipedia:Article wizard]] helps to guide editors creating their first article.
*[[Wikipedia:The Wikipedia Adventure]] is an interactive tutorial for new editors.
*[[Wikipedia:Annotated article]] illustrates the different sections of an article.
*[[Wikipedia:Workshop]]'s [[Wikipedia:Workshop/Sample_one-day_workshop|Sample one day workshop]] presents an outline for workshop leaders that also is a guide for new users.
{{Sister project links|Help:Contents|d=Help:Contents}}
*[[Wikipedia:Tips]] is the complete library of tips arranged by subject.
*[[Wikipedia:Tip of the day]] project develops and maintains the ''tip of the day'' templates which are displayed throughout Wikipedia.
*[[Wikipedia:Article Feedback Tool/Tutorial]] is a page linked to some articles encouraging readers to edit.

===Related WikiProjects===
* [[WP:WikiProject Editor Retention|WikiProject Editor Retention]] – devising ways of keeping good editors here (new and old).
* [[WP:WikiProject Manual of Style|WikiProject Manual of Style]] – coordinating pages which form the [[WP:MOS|Manual of Style guidelines]]: reducing size, increasing readability and consistency.
* [[WP:WikiProject Policy and Guidelines|WikiProject Policy and Guidelines]] – one of their main goals is making policy and guideline pages easier to understand.
* [[WP:WikiProject Usability|WikiProject Usability]] – aims to make Wikipedia easy and pleasant to use, focussing on accessibility for all potential users, interface etc.

===Other resources===
*[[mw:Help:Growth/How to create help contents|Instructions for creating help contents from the WMF's Growth project]]

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