SmashWiki:Show preview: Difference between revisions

When editing a Wiki, there will come situations in which users may wish to make complex edits to a page, edits to multiple sections on a page, or otherwise make changes which users will be tempted to implement in multiple edits. However, all edits made to a page, even multiple small edits made to the same page in succession, are listed on the [[Special:RecentChanges|Recent Changes]] page. As a result, when users make multiple small edits to a page in succession, it becomes very easy for these edits to clog the Recent Changes page, making edits harder to sift through. It also makes checking the overall changes made to the page more time consuming, by requiring users to navigate the page's history and compare multiple revisions, rather than simply using the diff tool on the edit's Recent Changes entry.

[[File:ShowPrevGL.png|thumb|right|300px|In all versions of the Wiki editor, the show preview button is located next to the save page button.]]

When using the Wiki editor, you may want to be able to see how individual changes to a page will affect the page as a whole. As such, you may be tempted to save edits to a page, even when you are not done editing it yet. However, this can be accomplished without causing the aforementioned issues for users of the site. The show preview button, located next to the save page button, will display a preview version of the article or section you are editing. This will allow you to see how the article would look, were you to save your edits at that point.

If you are not finished editing a page yet, '''you should not save the changes you have made so far''', as you will need to make further edits to the same page. Instead, '''you should use the show preview button to view how your changes look so far''', and then continue making changes within the same edit. Furthermore, it is generally good practice to check a preview of your changes before publishing any edit you make, especially if that edit involves the use of features such as tables, templates, images and other forms of Wiki formatting. You may have formatted things incorrectly, or positioned things in a way which does not look good in the article, which will force you to have to make further edits if you do not realize this until saving the edit.{{clr}}