Help:Books/for experts

Printed PediaPress books of Wikipedia content.

This page gives experienced users details on the advanced functions of the Book tool. Among other things, it explains how the layout of books can be improved and how books are stored on Wikipedia.

[edit] Saving books

Format of stored book pages

When you save a book, it is stored in the format shown below.

{{saved book
 |title=
 |subtitle=
 |cover-image=
 |cover-color=
 |text-color=
}}

== Title ==
=== Subtitle ===

;Chapter 1
:[[First article]]
:[[Article 2|Second article]]
:[[Third article]]

;Chapter 2
:[[Fourth article]]
:[[5th article|Fifth article]]
:[[Sixth article]]

[[Category:Wikipedia books|Title]]

<-- The template appearing at the top of the page
<-- This is only used to generate a preview of the cover
<-- This is only used to generate a preview of the cover
<-- The default* cover image of the book (see note below)
<-- The default* cover color of the book (see note below)
<-- This is only used to generate a preview of the cover

<-- Title of the book
<-- Subtitle of the book

<-- First chapter's name (starts with a semicolon)
<-- First article (starts with a colon)
<-- Second article (renamed)
<-- Third article

<-- Second chapter's name
<-- Fourth article
<-- Fifth article (renamed)
<-- Sixth article

<-- The book is categorized in [[Category:Wikipedia books]], and sorts as "Title"

*   These parameters are not currently supported by the book creator but will be
    at some point in the future. In the meantime, these can be used to give a
    preview of what the book cover could be like.

You can also manually create a book from scratch by using the same format. To create a book from scratch, start a new page such as [[User:Myusername/Books/Mybookname]]. Only autoconfirmed users can save books.

Allowed syntax

Only the following syntax is allowed:

Location of books

Books can either be saved in the user's namespace [[User:Name/Books/Bookname]] or as a community book at [[Book:Bookname]]. To be recognized as a book, it must belong to the category Category:Wikipedia books (automatically added by {{saved book}}).

[edit] Loading books

To load a book, simply click on the 'Open in Book Creator' link in the banner at the top of each book. If the banner isn't present, then add {{saved book}} at the top of the page.

[edit] Improving the book layout

Some wiki-markup can lead to problems in the generation of PDF documents as part of the book feature. This mainly applies to templates, which will be displayed differently in the electronic or print version compared to how they look in the online version of an article. This can be fixed by either substituting the current template or removing the template from the content that cause problems in the PDF. As a rule of thumb, all content (especially templates) that is not useful for an offline version of the document, should be excluded from the print version.

[edit] Identifying problems

The most efficient way to identify problems is to go on the individual articles of your book and view the article as a PDF (click "Download as PDF" in the "print/export" box on the left hand side of your screen, towards the bottom). Preview the page, and if something doesn't look right, chances are there's a problem. While the printed books and OpenDocument version will differ from the PDF version, they share a lot of similarities. If something looks weird in the PDF version, chances are it will also look weird in the printed book or OpenDocument version.

Usually there are three kinds of problems:

• A template that is not content-related (such as a navigational box) is displayed. See below on how to fix this.
• Something looks weird, such as 234+23
  −21 looking like 234+23-21 in the PDF, or having superfluous whitespace. This is usually due to a template being coded in a non-standard way, or to a problem with the rendering software. You can try to fix this yourself if you know your way around templates. If you don't know how to fix it or are simply intimidated by templates, leave a message on the talk page of the template, and place a notice at Help:Books/Feedback and someone will look into it.
• Content and style problems, such as spelling, grammar, different varieties of English, poorly worded sentences, ...

[edit] Fixing problems

There are four ways to resolve issues caused by templates:

• Exclude templates: A template can be excluded from content by adding it to the Category:Exclude in print or by listing it on MediaWiki:PDF Template Blacklist.

Note: Many templates use other templates to function. Therefore groups/types of templates can be excluded by adding the commonly used template to this category.

• Exclude certain specific content: By using Template:Hide in print, certain specific content, such as a few words or an image, can be excluded from printing.

  This content will be printed. {{Hide in print|This content will *not* be printed.}} This content will be printed.

• Include certain specific content only in print versions: The Template:Only in print can be used to insert content that shall only be visible in offline versions.

  This content will be printed. {{Only in print|This content will only appear in PDFs or printed books, *not* with the browser.}} This content will be printed.

• Substitute templates You can create a print version of a template under the name "Template:TEMPLATENAME/Print" with "Template:TEMPLATENAME" being the name of the original template. If a /Print page exists, it will override the original template.

Content problems such as poorly worded sentences, or style problems such as variations in the citation style used, can be fixed only by editing the article.

[edit] Using a main and supporting articles book content style

One easily definable style of book, in terms of the content it contains, is to include the main article and all supporting articles that are referenced as major expansions of selected sections. Supporting article links typically are included at the top of a section using templates such as {{Main}}, {{See also}} and {{See}}. Books using this content style offer a comprehensive coverage of the main article, usually within a reasonable number of pages. Examples of this book style include Book:Cat and Book:Dog.

Template:Book can be used to create a basic main article and supporting articles book. The template also creates links to start subpages for a table of contents and introduction plus a books category based on the main article.

[edit] Multi-wiki Books

Using the extension it is currently impossible to create a collection of content from multiple different wikis. However, you can easily create books containing articles from multiple wikis using the bookmarklet offered on this page.

[edit] See also

• Help:Books for a step by step guide to creating a wiki book
• The Book FAQ
• Feedback - for reporting and tracking of bugs