Common Wiki Fixes

Sidebars - Missing Right

 * Problem: All the sidebars on the right side of page are missing or at the very bottom of the page.
 * Cause: A  might be missing.
 * Cure: First, look for opening div tags by typing " under Ctrl F. This search will show you all the beginning div tags.
 * Now look to see if each of these opening div tags has a closing div tag somewhere down the page. If it does not type one in. Chick "Show preview" to make sure the right side sidebars reappear.  If they don't, you might have put it in the wrong place, try somewhere else

Bullets - Faded

 * Problem: A bullet that looks like this: * instead of how they normally look on the next line.
 * Cause: Not on a line by itself and probably on the line above.
 * Fix:Put you cursor in front of the * and hit Enter. This will move the * and whatever text follows to the next line and make the bullet look as it should.

Text in dashed boxes
A space has been placed between the first word of a text and the left side of the page.
 * Problem: Text inside a box of dashes''' like this:
 * Cause: A space has been placed between the first word of a text and the left side of the page.
 * Fix: Remove the space, make sure text is up against the left side of the page and the dashed box should disappear.

Links in Blue but dont work
Problem: Links that are blue but don't work. Cause: In this case it is not a missing  tag but a misplaced   tags. Sometimes they are in the wrong place. Sometimes misplaced  can also cause problems. Cure: First, look for opening div tags by typing " under Ctrl F. This search will show you all the beginning div tags.
 * Now look to see if each of these opening div tags has a closing div tag somewhere down the page. *If it does, make the sure closing div tag is in the right place.  If it appearent that it should be in another spot, you can then move it to where it should be.  If you are not sure, get someone to help you.

Links - in HTML format instead of Wikitext format

 * Problem: An external link that looks something like this:
 * FamilySearch Wiki


 * Cause: Patron tried to install an external link in HTML style rather than in Wikitext style.
 * Cure: Substitute the HTML code with these Wikitext codes.
 * Change the &lt;a href=" to a [
 * Change the "&gt; to a space
 * Change the &lt;/a&gt; to a ]
 * It should look like this in wikitext:
 * FamilySearch Wiki

Link - Extending pass the right edge of the page
&lt;a href="https://familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/United_States_Naturalization_and_Citizenship#On_the_Internet_one_two_three_four_five_six_seven_eight_nine_ten"&gt;United States Naturalization and Citizenship&lt;/a&gt;
 * Problem: Long External Links that go pass the right edge of the page, like so:'''
 * Cause: Patron tried to install an external link in HTML style rather than in Wikitext style.
 * Cure:
 * Change the &lt;a href=" to a [
 * Change the "&gt; to a space
 * Change the &lt;/a&gt; to a ]
 * The code the code should look like this:

[https://familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/United_States_Naturalization_and_ Citizenship#On_the_Internet_one_two_three_four_five_six_seven_eight_nine_ten United States Naturalization and Citizenship] United States Naturalization and Citizenship
 * The link will look this in the article:

Link - article title and link in red.

 * Problem:An internal link in red showing both the name of the article and the linking words.
 * Begin your genealogy quest Start your family history


 * Cause:Leaving out the pipe between the article title and the linking words. In the above example the pipe | is missing between the word quest last word in title of article and Start the first word in the link.
 * Cure:Install missing pipe. We want the link to look like this:
 * Start your family history

This is what the coding should look like:
 * '''Start your family history

Link - going to an non-existent article

 * Problem: Link going to an non-existent page but the link is in blue not red.
 * Cause: Check to see if a space is missing between the URL and the name of the link:


 * Wiki Main Page which link looks like this:
 * Wiki Main Page.

The link should be FamilySerach WIki Main Page not Wiki Main Page. Because their is no space between the word FamilySearch and the last word of the URL the name of the link is Wiki Main Page instead of "FamilySearch Wiki Main Page." The result is clicking on "Wiki Main Page" leads nowhere.


 * FamilySearch Wiki Main Page
 * FamilySearch Wiki Main Page

This link works and has the proper spacing between the URL and link.

Link - No name but a number in brackets

 * Problem: External link shows as a number in brackets, which does not tell what the link is for or the source.
 * Cause: External link is not named.
 * Cure: Place a name in the external link. Main Page


 * Amp Injection Problems

A common problem with links is the &amp; symbol in the link. In this example the &amp; is amp injecting into the link.


 * bad


 * good

The quickest way to solve this problem is to delete "&amp;st=airmyn", this will leave a usable link and stop the amp injection problem.If you deleted just the amps "amp;amp;st=airmyn' and not the "&amp;" Symbol, the amps will come back.

Another example is when a link is infected with amps and should be a reference.


 * Bad

From: 'Parishes: Matching', A History of the County of Essex: Volume 8 (1983), pp. 196-206. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=63853&strquery=matching Date accessed: 26 January 2011.


 * Good

In this example we have added start and finish of the reference. We have taken out the URL and made it into a external link and deleted "&strquery=matching" to get rid of the amp problem. We have also added "British History" so we know what the reference is.