Help:Preferences

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 sites at Wikia, so you get the expected behavior at every wiki you visit.



What is the user profile tab for?
From the user profile tab, you can see your registered username, your ID and you can change various things, including your customized signature, your e-mail address, language, password and email notification settings.



What is the skin tab for?
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 Slate and Smoke -- each provides site navigation and links in a slightly different way. See Help:Skins for more information.



What is the files tab for?
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.



What is the date and time tab for?
You can set time zone and date format, too. The server time 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 +3.00 hours. When you save your changes, the time in various logs and lists around the wiki will be displayed in your local time.



What is the editing tab for?
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 details.



What is the recent changes tab for?
Here you can alter the number of titles displayed in recent changes, decide whether or not you want the list to display minor edits (do you care about every typo fix and category change?), and, if you have Javascript enabled, enable Enhanced Recent Changes, a method of folding multiple edits to an article into a single recent changes entry.



What is the watchlist tab for?
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.



What is the search tab for?
You can choose which namespaces to search, and how many results to return, when using Wikia's internal search function.



What is the miscellanous tab for?
A few odds and ends of Wikia behavior 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.