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Help:Preferences

From the RuneScape Wiki, the wiki for all things RuneScape

Once you have created an account and are logged in, you can change your preferences. This help page is to help you understand what you can do with your preferences. Once you have changed your preferences, they will be the same across all Wikia.

Contents

[edit] User profile

This is the first tab. First of all, you can give your real name and e-mail address. While both are optional, giving your e-mail will allow Wikia to e-mail your password to you if you forget it. If you also "Enable e-mail from other users", then others can e-mail you from your user page or user talk page by using the "E-mail this user" feature in the sidebar under the search box. You can also change your password in this tab.

[edit] Signature

Next you can create a signature for yourself. This will appear whenever you type four tildes (~~~~). By default, your signature is [[User:Your user name|Your user name]].

[edit] Non-raw signature

Next is a box with "Raw signatures" beside it. Checking this box will allow you to greatly customize your signature, explained below. If you plan on leaving your signature as it is, then you do not have to click this box.

[edit] Raw signatures

If "Raw signature" is checked, then:

  • Nothing is added to the text that you specify. What you specify is what is used between the two dashes and the timestamp.
  • Wiki markup and some HTML markup can be used: the wiki-code is processed, and the HTML is passed on, allowing the browser to interpret it. Please do not make large signatures.

For example, with the box checked, you can make a signature like this: [[User:Your user name|Your custom user name]] <sup>[[User talk:Your user name|talk]]</sup>. This will appear as: Your custom user name talk

[edit] Skin

This is the second tab. Here, you can select the skin you would like to view the RuneScape Wiki in. The skins listed are:

The Quartz and Monaco skins have different themes: Sapphire, Slate, Jade (Monaco only), Smoke (default), Beach, and Gaming. They are all different colours. For example, the RuneScape Wiki's default skin is currently Monaco Sapphire. You can also have own custom skin. For more information, go to RuneScape:Theme.

[edit] Files

Limit images on image description pages to:  320x240
                                             640x480
                                             800x600
                                            1024x768
                                           1280x1024
                                         10000x10000
Thumbnail size: 120px
                150px
                180px
                200px
                250px
                300px

This is the third tab. Here, you can select the size of images on image description pages and thumbnail sizes. The largest limit, 10000x10000, will show you full images. If you have a slow connection, it is recommended you use small sizes.

[edit] Date and time

Time zone
Server time 16:29
Local time 12:29
Offset*: 
* The number of hours your local time differs from server time (UTC).

This is the fourth tab. Here, you can select the way you would like time to be displayed. You can also select whether you would like to use the server's time (usually UTC) or your local time.

[edit] Editing

Editing
Rows:           Columns:  
o Enable section editing via [edit] links
o Enable section editing by right-clicking on section titles (JavaScript)
o Edit pages on double click (JavaScript)
o Edit box has full width
o Show edit toolbar
o Show preview on first edit
o Show preview before edit box
o Add pages I create to my watchlist
o Add pages you edit to your watchlist
o Mark all edits minor by default
o Use external editor by default
o Use external diff by default
o Prompt me when entering a blank edit summary
o Use in-page editor

This is the fifth tab. Here, you can customize your editing tools.

  • Rows, Columns: Here you can set up your preferred dimensions for the textbox used for editing page text.
  • Enable section editing via [edit] links: An edit link will appear to the right of each sub-heading to allow editing of that subsection only.
  • Enable section editing by right-clicking on section titles (JavaScript): In compatible browsers, if this option is checked, a right-click on the section title will bring up the edit box for that section only.
  • Edit pages on double click (JavaScript): In compatible browsers, if this option is checked, a double click anywhere on the page will bring up the edit box for the entire contents of the page.
  • Edit box has full width: If this box is checked, the edit box (when you click "Edit this page") will be the width of the browser window.
  • Show edit toolbar: In compatible browsers, a toolbar with editing buttons can be displayed.
  • Show preview on first edit: When pressing the edit button or otherwise following a link to an edit page, show not only the edit box but also the rendered page, just like after pressing "Show preview": This is especially useful when viewing a template, because even just viewing, not editing, typically requires both.
  • Show preview before edit box: If you select this option, the preview will be displayed above the edit box when you click the "Show preview" button while editing a page.
  • Add pages I create to my watchlist: If this option is selected, any page you create will automatically be added to your watchlist.
  • Add pages you edit to your watchlist: If this option is selected, any pages that you modify will be automatically added to your watchlist.
  • Mark all edits minor by default: This option automatically selects the "This is a minor edit" checkbox when you edit pages.
  • Use external editor by default: Changes editing from online version to external program.
  • Use external diff by default: Changes diffing from online version to external program.
  • Prompt me when entering a blank edit summary: If selected, the editor will display a warning message when no edit summary is added to the edit summary box, after the "Save page" button is pressed.
  • Use in-page editor: This is a new edit window. Using this in-page editor is very different from the default. A new edit toolbar is used along with a category cloud. This editor may be the default in the future, so if you don't like it make sure you uncheck the box.

[edit] Recent changes

Titles in recent changes: 
o Hide minor edits in recent changes
o Enhanced recent changes (JavaScript)

This is the sixth tab. Here, you can set the preferences for viewing the recent changes.

  • Number of titles on recent changes: You may select the number of changes which will be shown by default on the recent changes and watchlist page. Once on those pages, links are provided for other options.
  • Hide minor edits in recent changes: You may choose to mark edits as being minor (meaning fixes too trivial for trusting users to check up on). It applies to the recent changes and enhanced recent changes, but not to the watchlist. It also affects related changes, but currently in an odd way: if the last edit of a page linking to the current page was minor, then neither that nor the last major change is shown.
  • Enhanced recent changes: In compatible browsers, enhanced recent changes group recent changes per day by article, display the titles of the changed articles in order from new to old latest change, or in the case of hiding minor edits, latest major change. This feature applies also to related changes, and, in the case that "Expand watchlist to show all applicable changes" has been selected, to the watchlist.

[edit] Watchlist

Number of days to show in watchlist: 

o Expand watchlist to show all applicable changes
Number of edits to show in expanded watchlist: 

o Hide my edits from the watchlist
o Hide bot edits from the watchlist
o Add pages I edit to my watchlist
o Add pages I create to my watchlist
o Add pages I move to my watchlist
o Add pages I delete to my watchlist

[edit] Search

Hits per page: 
Lines per hit: 
Context per line: 
Search in these namespaces by default:
o (Main) 
o Talk 
o User
o User talk
o RuneScape
o RuneScape talk
o Image
o Image talk
o MediaWiki
o MediaWiki talk
o Template
o Template talk
o Help 
o Help talk
o Category
o Category talk
o Forum
o Forum talk
  • Hits to show per page: You may choose the number of results returned on each page of search results.
  • Lines to show per hit: This is somewhat cryptic; specifying a number n means: "do not show any context if the search term occurs beyond line n in the page"; here a paragraph, as well as the blank line between two paragraphs, each count as one "line"; line breaks in the source, even when not affecting the lay-out of the page (and even when not directly visible in the edit box of the article), affect the line count. Setting the parameter to 5000 or more gives context for every occurrence.
  • Characters of context per line: The number of characters of context per occurrence; however, the context is anyway restricted to the "line" (see above) it occurs in. To get the whole line, put a large number like 5000.
  • Search in these namespaces by default: Shows a list of all namespaces, allowing you to select which ones are searched by default.

[edit] Misc

Threshold for stub display: 
Underline links
o Format broken links like this (alternative: like this?).
o Justify paragraphs
o Auto-number headings
o Show table of contents (for pages with more than 3 headings)
o <tog-marketing>
o Disable page caching
o Enable "jump to" accessibility links
o Don't show page content below diffs
  • Threshold for stub display: see Stub feature on Meta-Wiki.
  • Show hoverbox over wiki links: This option determines whether a link title is put in the HTML code. The result depends on the browser: putting the mouse pointer over a link often displays this title in a hover box. However, some browsers show the URL anyway, so a link title may be superfluous. If enabled, the link title is the page name in the case of an internal link, the page name with prefix in the case of an interwiki link, and the URL in the case of an external link.
  • Underline links: Normally, link text will be underlined. Optionally, you may request that links not be underlined, although your browser may not respect this setting. Normally links that are not underlined can still be recognized by colour. However, one can then not distinguish between two consecutive words being a single link or two links, without pointing at the words with the cursor. For further choices of style of links in general and/or types of links you can use CSS (site-wide for all skins, site-wide per skin, user-specific per skin, or web-wide, user-specific).
  • Format broken links like this. An internal link to a non-existing pages is automatically a link to the edit page. By default the link label of [[b]] and [[a|b]] is "b", just like for links to existing pages. Alternatively the link label is a question mark inserted after "b", like this: A red link?. The appearance of the link is further determined by the style specified for css selectors "a.new" and "a.new:hover" (the example on the preferences page wrongly uses class="internal" for the question mark). Internal links to pages which do not yet exist currently appear on your browser like this one. Normally, this is underlined and in red. With the trailing question mark link one can then not distinguish between a single word being linked or a phrase of more than one word, without pointing at the question mark with the cursor. Also, remember that the question mark does not mean that the information is uncertain.
  • Justify paragraphs: If set, article paragraphs will be formatted to avoid jagged line endings. If unset, the paragraphs will be formatted as-is.
  • Auto-number headings: This adds hierarchical outline-style numbering to headers in articles.
  • Show table of contents (for articles with more than 3 headings)
  • Disable page caching: This turns off page caching. This is useful if you're experiencing problems of seeing outdated versions of pages, but this comes at a cost of longer loading times.
  • Enable "jump to" accessibility links: Provides or hides the two links "Jump to: navigation, search" at the top of each page, to the navigation bar and the search box.
  • Don't show page content below diffs

Contents

How to access Preferences from any page
Special:Preferences, showing the first tab.

The MediaWiki software allows logged in users set some personal preferences which tailor the way they read, write and edit on Wikia to your particular style.

Preferences are carried over to all Wikia sites, so you get the preferred behaviour at every wiki you visit.

See Special:Preferences for the options page.

What are the different tabs for?

User profile

From the user profile tab, you can see:

  • Your registered username.
  • Your user ID.
  • The number of edits made across all of Wikia.

In addition, you can change various things, including:

In detail:

  • Real name: This may be used to give you attribution for your work. Other users of the wiki will not see this! It probably won't be used for anything, either, though, as most wikis will credit you by your username.
  • E-mail address: Your preferred email address. It is strongly recommended that you give an email address you use and are likely to have for a long time. If you forget your password, this is the only way you can get it sent back to you!
  • Nickname: The name you would like to have displayed when you sign posts.
    • If you leave this blank, posts will be signed with your username. (For example, if your username is "jbrown123" but you would like to sign as "Jeff", put "Jeff" in the nickname field. If you would like to sign as "jbrown123", leave it blank.)
    • There are lots of ways you can customize your signature using HTML. If you'd like to see how you can do that, see Help:Signature. The "Raw Signature" box is for those using more advanced customized signatures, which you can find out about at the signature help page.
  • Language: The language you would like the interface (buttons, system messages) to be in. This can be different from the language that the wiki is in, however, The articles will stay in whichever language they were originally written in.
  • Change password: Use these fields if you would like to change your password. "Remember across sessions" stores a cookie on your machine so that you do not have to enter your password every time. (If you use a public computer, such as a library or school lab computer, you probably don't want to do this. But if you're using your home computer that no one else uses, it can be convenient.)
  • Email: Check the box if you do not want other logged-in users to be able to contact you via email. (Normally, the "e-mail this user" link, which is on the side of the screen when you look at any user's user page, will allow users to email you without seeing your email address.)


Skin

Here you can change the "skin", or page layout and design, that you see when you are browsing Wikia sites. There are several different options available, from the classic Monobook skin used at Wikipedia, to the new Monaco skin - each provides site navigation and links in a slightly different way. You can also choose whether to see all ads as if you are a logged out user, and whether to use the locally chosen site skin.

See Help:Skins for more information.


Files

From the files tab, you can choose how to display images. Adapting the options here can improve page display if you have an especially large or small monitor or display screen.

In detail:

  • Limit images on image description pages to: allows you to choose a size that will fit on your monitor when you click on an image to see the information about it.
  • Thumbnail size: allows you to choose how big images should be when small "thumbnail" versions are put on a page. Choose a size that you like and works best with your monitor.


Date and time

On this tab, you can set time zone and date formats.

The server time (on Wikia, this is UTC) usually differs from your local time; by pressing the "Fill in from browser" button, the correct value will automatically be entered into the offset box. If the server time was 18.00 and your local time was 21.00, the offset would be 03:00 hours. Note this won't automatically adjust for any local daylight saving changes.

When you save your changes, the time in various logs and lists around the wiki will be displayed in your local time and chosen format. This does not affect signatures.

Editing

The editing tab allows you to change certain details about the editing interface or editing process, which may help to make editing smoother, more intuitive, or less error-prone for you.

See Help:Editing preferences for more details.


Recent changes

Here you can:

  • Alter the number of titles displayed in recent changes (both by days and edits - whichever comes first will be the effective limit).
  • Decide whether or not you want the list to display minor edits (do you care about every typo fix and category change?).
  • If you have JavaScript enabled, enable Enhanced Recent Changes, a method of folding multiple edits to an article into a single recent changes entry. This is popular, and recommended.


Watchlist

The watchlist tab enables you to specify what you do and do not want to see on your watchlist, one of the best methods of keeping an eye on changes to articles you care about.

"Expand watchlist to show all applicable changes" ensures that every recent edit of the page is shown, not just the last edit (similar to Enhanced Recent Changes).


Search

You can choose which namespaces to search, and how many results to return, when using Wikia's internal search function.

It also allows you to turn "Search suggest" on and off - this suggests results as you type words into the search box.

In detail:

  • Hits per page: You may choose the number of results returned on each page of search results.
  • Lines per hit: Specifying a number n means "do not show any context if the search term occurs beyond line n in the page." Setting this to 5000 or more gives context for every occurrence.
  • Context per line: The number of characters of context per occurrence; however, the context is anyway restricted to the "line" (anything without a line break; usually a paragraph) it occurs in. To get the whole line, choose a large number like 5000.
  • Search in these namespaces by default: Choose which types of pages you would like to appear in searches by default. (You will be able to change these options from the search page.) For example, selecting "Main" only will return only articles, selecting "Main" and "Talk" would search articles and their discussion pages.


Miscellaneous

A few odds and ends of Wikia behaviour can be controlled here:

  • Format broken links like this (alternative: like this?):
Using a question mark? after a link to a non-existing page is a convention used in other types of wiki software; those used to that convention have an option to use it at Wikia too.
  • Justify paragraphs: makes text line up with both left and right margins
  • Auto-number headings: adds numbers before headings
  • Show table of contents (for pages with more than 3 headings): enabled by default; you can disable all tables of contents here if they interfere with your browsing style.
  • Disable page caching: allows you to see certain page updates quicker, but puts more strain on the database servers. Don't disable unless you know you have a reason to.
  • Enable "jump to" accessibility links: provides links at top of page which can make navigation quicker and easier for screen readers and other accessibility software
  • Don't show page content below diffs: Normally a diff view will display the entire page content, including images and templates, below the side-by-side diff comparison. If you don't need that view, checking this preference will speed up the display of diff pages.

See also