Proposal for change to edit page "How to Add Sources" section

Question

Currently on the right of the edit page there is a section "How to Add Sources" which has an example of the sources section then below that an example of inline referencing.

I feel like this is contributing to the struggle a lot of new wikitreers have when figuring out where to use inline ref tags. It is not uncommon to come across profiles with ref tags used in the sources section below the references tag which means they don't show up.

Could these be switched around?  Move the "The surname farm was 20 acres.... "  box above the Sources heading box. Also it might help to add a Biography heading to it to make clear where it is in relation to the profile.

Does anyone else think this might help or would this just be an unnecessary change? It might be more effective to just add a sentence more of description of what the two types of references are on that page.

Answer 1

Perhaps a better way to clarify the inline sourcing example would be to add  the Biography and Sources headings to the example. The result of the inline sourcing could also be added for further clarification. In other words, provide a wider view of the end result.

Additional clarification could be done by labeling each sourcing style as Basic and Advanced.

I agree that better instructions and clearer examples on the edit pages will help improve our work.

Comments

Every time I have to type == Biography == on a profile, I wish it was on the edit page above the words == Sources == and <references /> so I could drag it over like I do those.

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That would certainly be helpful, too, Anne, as not all of our fellow WikiTreers may be using devices with additional functionality, such as multiple tabs or notepad/word-type programs.

Having the basics - and the most useful extras - on the edit page makes for happier WikiTreers!!