Help:Testing: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 19:03, 20 September 2004

Latest revision as of 19:13, 20 July 2025

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{{Wikipedia how-to}}

{{hi}}

Before committing to a change, one should test it first.

==Testing new software==

==Changes to a page ==

A new version of the software is usually first installed on http://test.wikipedia.org/. This allows developers and potential users to test it.

There is a [[Help:Show preview|"Show preview"]] button near the submit button. One should check to make sure that the links are correct and the spelling is correct.

===Spelling===

==Testing features of existing software on the test project==

[http://linuxquestions.org Linuxquestions.org] appears to have a spelling checker in their modified version of MediaWiki. Also, one can use Konqueror or Firefox with a spelling check extension to check to spell within the browser window. Note that this does not work when using syntax highlighting.

An advantage is that is does not interfere with, or clutter, the regular projects; disadvantage is that differences in the software may interfere with the test; e.g., error messages may be shown, or the tested features work differently. Also, the project may be reset, or history may otherwise be lost, so one has to save elsewhere what one wants to keep.

==Testing features of existing software on one of the regular projects==

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*[[help:interwiki linking#Interlanguage link (software feature)|interlanguage links (software feature)]]

*[[help:Page_name#Case-sensitivity_of_the_first_character|case-sensitivity of the first character]]

*[[Help:Special characters|character]] encoding

*enabling of [[help:image#Embedding images in other projects and images outside Wikimedia|embedding images in other projects and images outside Wikimedia]]

*[[MediaWiki:Monobook.css]], etc.

*any testtests depending on other content, which is not copied onto the test project, or onsuch namespaceas prefixestemplates, etc.images

*tests depending on project-specific variables such as namespace prefixes

It can be done:

*in special pages such as [[en:WikipediaDraft:Sandbox]]

*in special pages such as [[en:Wikipedia:Sandbox]]

*on user pages and subpages

*using Preview. -This this can notcannot be used to test how a change in a page affects another page, such as when changing a [[Help:Template|template]]; when used to test [[automaticHelp:Automatic conversion of wikitext]]|automatic itconversion onlyof shows the rendered webpagewikitext]], not the new wikitext itself,can exceptbe forseen automaticpressing "Show changes". Automatic conversion of [[Help:Special characters|special characters]] to their decimal numeric codes is seen in the edit box.

A test involving the variable <nowiki>{{PAGENAME}}</nowiki>, e.g. a link to an image or another page with a name containing <nowiki>{{PAGENAME}}</nowiki>, can be done on the Talk page, since the value of the variable is the same on that page.

Sysops testing the available links and how things work for ordinary logged-in users, can log in under another name, or in a project for which they are not a sysop.

==Test Wikipedia==

An advantage of the [[:testwiki:|test Wikipedia]] is that is does not interfere with, or clutter, the regular projects; disadvantage is that differences in the software may interfere with the test; e.g., error messages may be shown, or the tested features work differently. Also, theThe project may be reset, or history may otherwise be lost, so one has to save elsewhere what one wants to keep.

==See also==

*[[m:MediaWiki test script]]

[[Category:Wikipedia how-to]]

*[[MediaWiki test script]]

{{hc}}