Help:Preferences
Shortcut
H:PREF

The Preferences page, linked to at the top of every page and also at Special:Preferences, allows each registered user to customize some elements of their individual view and use of a Wikimedia wiki.

Changes to your preferences will apply only when you are logged in.

User profile

The User profile tab contains information and basic settings relating to your user account.

Basic information

Username
The name of your user account. You cannot change this name yourself; see Bulbapedia:Username policy.
Member of group(s)
The names of the user group or groups you belong to. These provide you with certain "rights" (powers to carry out certain actions).
Number of edits
The total number of edits you have made on the wiki.
Registration time
The date and time when you created your account.
Real name
This optional field allows you to provide your real name so that it can be used by others when providing attribution for your work.
Password
Click the "Change password" link to go to a simple page where you can change your wiki password.
Access account data
Click "My account data from this project" to see a raw output of all the account data held about you by the MediaWiki software.
Global account
Clicking "View global account info", will take you to a page where you can view more information about the status of your account on other Bulbagarden wikis. See Help:Logging in for more information.

Internationalisation

Language
Allows you to specify the language in which the site interface will be displayed when you are logged in. Only the buttons like 'edit' and 'talk', in addition to a few pages in the sidebar, will be affected. The main text of the pages will not be changed by this for the vast majority of pages.
How do you prefer to be described?
This setting allows you to select the pronouns you wish the software to use when referring to you, or to leave it unspecified. This preference is designed for languages where the grammar of user interface text changes depending on gender. Even in English, this preference is useful for selecting the correct pronoun from he/she, his/her, etc. The option you select is public.

Signature

Your existing signature
This shows how your current signature will appear whenever you sign with ~~~~ on a wiki page.
New signature
Text that defines your signature, when you enter ~~~ or ~~~~.
If the following "Treat signature as wikicode" checkbox is not checked, then your nickname is applied as a label for a link to your user page, so your signature will be [[User:Example|Nickname]] ([[User talk:Example|talk]]). If you leave nickname field empty, your username will be used instead.
Neither wiki-code nor HTML code is interpreted in non-raw signature: the server passes the wiki-code on unchanged, while it converts the HTML in such a way that the browser effectively does not interpret it; for example, "<" is replaced by "&lt;" rendered as "<".
Treat signature as wikicode
This option tells the wiki to interpret your nickname as wiki-code for your signature, instead of just a nickname. See Help:Signatures for more information.

Email options

Many wikis (including Bulbagarden wikis) provide email functionality, whereby forgotten passwords can be returned, and users can be contacted by email without having to reveal their address.

Email
Your email address. A valid email address is required to create an account on Bulbapedia. Whenever you enter a new address, you will be required to confirm the change by responding to a message that is sent to that email address.
Send password reset emails only when both email address and username are provided
If this option is unchecked, only one of the two is required.
Email confirmation
The status of your email address: not specified, need to confirm (in which case you need the click the link in the confirmation email message you were sent), or authenticated.
Allow other users to email me
This allows other registered users to send you an email using "Email this user" link on the sidebar of your user page. Emails are sent using a web interface, and your email address is not revealed to a sender (that is, unless you decide to reply by email).
Allow emails from brand-new users
This allows users who are not yet autoconfirmed to email you as above.
Send me copies of emails I send to other users
This option is helpful for keeping track of messages you have sent using "Email this user".
Email me when a page or file on my watchlist is changed
Email me also for minor edits of pages and files

Appearance

Skin

Here you can choose the skin you want to use. You can preview the available skins before choosing them, by clicking on the "Preview" link next to each skin. See Help:Skins for more details.

Reading preferences

Enable page previews (get quick previews of a topic while reading a page)
Unticking this option will disable Page Previews.
Enable reference previews (get quick previews of a reference while reading a page)
Unticking this option will disable Reference Previews.

Date format/Time offset

These two options are used to display your local date and time on all special pages, i.e. the pages that are generated automatically and cannot be directly edited:

On the other hand, the default time zone of the Bulbapedia (UTC) is always shown in signatures on Talk pages, and also used in referring to non-localized events, including things that happen on the wiki. Keep this in mind when copying an excerpt from any special page to a Talk page. Convert manually to UTC or temporarily set the preferences to a zero offset before producing the revision history, etc. to be copied. Many experienced users prefer to keep the offset set to 0 all the time.

Date format
This setting affects the appearance of timestamps on all special pages (see list above). They appear just like shown here, except in Recent Changes and your watchlist, where date and time are shown in different places. Note that the last option, although rather arcane, provides the only way to see seconds.
Time offset
"Offset" is the number of hours to be added or subtracted from UTC to find your time zone. It may become temporarily incorrect from time to time if you observe daylight saving time – don't forget to update it to match your local time, because the wiki doesn't know where you are or precisely when you observe DST. Try this link if you are not sure what your time zone is.

Files

Image size limit on file description pages
One can specify a limit on the size of images on file description pages. With a slow connection it is not practical to have to load a large image just to read image info. On the other hand, it may be practical if a large image at first is made to fit on the screen. The default is normally 800×600px.
Thumbnail size
The width of thumbnails shown in articles and pages on the wiki. This will be used unless a specific image provides its own thumbnail size. The default is 300px.
Enable Media Viewer
Whether the Media Viewer is shown when clicking images on article pages. If disabled, you will be taken directly to the file description page instead.

Diffs

See mw:Help:Diff for general information on diffs (what a diff is, etc).

Don't show page content below diffs
Normally, when viewing a diff, the page content as of the second revision is presented. You can turn off this display using this option, to allow for faster loading of diff pages.
Don't show diff after performing a rollback
When rolling back edits (available to some users only), a confirmation page containing a diff will be shown. This option will prevent the display of that page.

Advanced options

Link underlining
Here, you can choose whether links will be underlined. The "Skin or browser default" option means the site will honor your browser's setting.
Having underlining on means you can differentiate between two links side-by-side, like g g and g g. However, underlining means underscores (_) may get lost in the underline, which can pose problems particularly with URL links.
Show hidden categories
Shows categories which are normally hidden, at the bottom of the page.
Show a confirmation prompt when clicking on a rollback link
Always enable safe mode
Safemode disables on-wiki scripts and stylesheets.

Math

It is possible to include mathematical (LaTeX) formulas in wiki pages. These options let you control how you see those formulas.

LaTeX source (for text browsers)
Don't convert the formula, just show the mathematical LaTeX code. This is primarily for text-based browsers like Lynx.
MathML (experimental; no images)
Client side MathJax rendering (for browsers with limited MathML support)
Explain mathematical formulae on hover

Editing

The options on the Editing tab can fine-tune the process of editing.

General

Enable section editing by right clicking on section titles
In compatible browsers, if this option is checked, a right-click on the section title will bring up the edit box for that section only, just as if you had clicked the small [edit] link beside the heading.
Edit pages on double click
In compatible browsers, if this option is checked, a double click anywhere on the page will bring up the edit box for the entire contents of the page, just like what happens when you click on the "edit" tab at the top of the page.

Editor

Edit area font style
You can change the font family of text in the edit area. The browser will determine exactly which font to use, depending on which fonts are available on your computer.
Mark all edits minor by default
This option automatically selects the "This is a minor edit" checkbox when you edit pages.
Prompt me when entering a blank edit summary (or the default undo summary)
If selected, the editor will display a warning message when no edit summary is provided. This can help you remember to provide edit summaries, as they are of great use to other editors.
Warn me when I leave an edit page with unsaved changes
This option will give you the chance to go back and save your work if you accidentally close or leave an editing page.
Enable the editing toolbar
In compatible browsers, a toolbar with editing buttons can be displayed. See Help:Source Editor for detailed help.
Enable the visual editor
This option will hide the VisualEditor, and "Edit" links will take you to the Source Editor.
Use the wikitext mode inside the visual editor, instead of a different wikitext editor.
Disables the classic Source Editor and uses the "wikitext mode" within VisualEditor instead.

Preview

Show preview when starting to edit
When pressing the edit button or otherwise following a link to an edit page, a preview will appear, just like after pressing "Show preview".
Show preview before edit box
Edit previews are normally displayed above the edit box. If you turn off this option, the edit preview will be displayed below the edit box when you click the "Show preview" button while editing a page.
Show previews without reloading the page
When you manually reload the edit page, you get the "live" version in the "preview" area. Show Changes/Preview work as before but now those actions preserve pages forward in the browser history. More information: mw:Manual:Live preview

Accessibility

Enable colorblind-friendly scheme for syntax highlighting when editing wikitext
When syntax highlighting is enabled in the Source Editor, activate a colorblind-friendly color scheme.

Discussion pages

Enable quick replying
Show a link to reply to talk page comments.
Enable quick topic adding
Show an inline form for adding new topics.
When I visit a discussion page that hasn't been created yet:
Either show an option to add a new topic to the talk page, or open the Source Editor.
Enable editing tools in source mode
Adds a toolbar to the quick replying and quick topic adding features’ source modes that includes shortcuts for pinging and adding links.
Enable topic subscription
Allows you to subscribe to receive notifications about comments on individual topics.
Automatically subscribe to topics
Starting a new discussion or commenting in an existing discussion, means you will be automatically notified when others post new comments to it.
Show discussion activity
Enables a new talk page appearance that includes information about the activity within each discussion.

Recent changes

On the Recent changes tab, you can choose what appears on your recent changes page (linked in the sidebar, and available at Special:RecentChanges). Some of these options also affect page history, at Special:RecentChangesLinked.

Display options

Days to show in recent changes
The number of days' worth of changes to show in the Recent Changes list. The default is 7 days; the maximum is 90 days.
Number of edits to show in recent changes, page histories, and in logs, by default
You may select the number of changes which will be shown by default on the Recent Changes and Related Changes pages, all page "history" tabs, and on some log pages at Special:Log. Links are provided for other options on those pages. The default is 50.

Advanced options

Group changes by page in recent changes and watchlist
Group together each recent change to a single article per day, and display the titles of the changed articles in order from new to old latest change, or in the case of hiding minor edits, latest major change. This feature applies also to Related Changes, and, in the case that "Expand watchlist to show all applicable changes" has been selected, to the watchlist.
Use non-JavaScript interface
Loads Recent Changes without filters, search or highlighting functionality.

Changes shown

Hide minor edits in recent changes
Hides edits that have been marked as minor.

Watchlist

The options on the Watchlist tab control what appears on your watchlist (accessible by visiting the page Special:Watchlist, or clicking "watchlist" in the top-right of the page).

Note: to enable the "enhanced watchlist", select "Expand watchlist..." on this tab, and then turn on "Group changes by page" on the Recent Changes tab.

Display options

Days to show in watchlist
The number of days' worth of changes to show in your watchlist. Default is 7; maximum 90 days.
Maximum number of changes to show in expanded watchlist
This controls how many recent changes to show for each watched article when "Expand watchlist" is switched on under "Advanced options". Default is 250; maximum 1000 changes.

Advanced options

Expand watchlist to show all changes, not just the most recent
This option will expand the watchlist to include all changes made to an article within the time-frame of your watchlist, up to a maximum number (as set in "Display options"). Normally, only the most recent modification is shown.
Add direct unwatch/watch markers (×/+) to watched pages with changes (JavaScript required for toggle functionality)
Use non-JavaScript interface

Changes shown

Hide minor edits from the watchlist
Hide bot edits from the watchlist
Hide my edits from the watchlist
Hide edits by anonymous users from the watchlist
Hide edits by logged in users from the watchlist
Use these options to filter out unwanted revisions from the watchlist.

Watched pages

Add pages and files I edit to my watchlist
Add pages and files I move to my watchlist
Add pages I create and files I upload to my watchlist
Add pages where I have performed a rollback to my watchlist
Add pages and files I delete to my watchlist
Automatically select the check box to "Watch this page" when performing any of these actions. You can de-select the check box on a page if you do not wish to watch that particular page. The final two options are only available to users that have the ability to rollback and/or delete pages, such as administrators.
Add new files I upload to my watchlist
This option is only useful on Bulbagarden Archives.

Token

Watchlist token
This token is used to generate an RSS feed from your watchlist. Anyone who knows this token can use it to access your watchlist. If the token is discovered by someone else, you can use the "Click here if you need to reset it" link to create a new token. Once you have done this, you will need to edit the URL of your feed subscription in your feed reader to account for the new token.

Search

Number of search results to show on each page
Defaults to 20. Maximum 500.

Gadgets

The Gadgets tab allows you to enable small add-in features, which enhance your wiki browsing experience in some way.

At present, Bulbapedia only has one Gadget available to enable; the "Legacy (2006) Editing Toolbar". To fully activate this gadget, you will also need to deselect "Enable the editing toolbar" in the Editing preferences as well.

Notifications

Email options

Send me
Choose whether to opt-in or opt-out of email notifications. You can also choose how often to receive email notifications, from single emails for each event to daily or weekly digests.
Send to
Your email address.

Notify me about these events

You can enable (or disable) individual types of notifications by checking (or unchecking) the boxes next to it. You can enable (or disable) notifications on the web or by email for most notification types (note that some notifications cannot be disabled, such as changes to your user rights or new talk page messages: these notifications are too important to be dismissed).

Providing your own CSS

Cascading Style Sheets are used to configure MediaWiki's visual appearance. You can specify your own CSS definitions and overwrite the default settings. See Help:Custom CSS.

See also

Help

Navigation Navigation • Search • Tracking changes • Logging in • Watchlist
Editing Editing pages • VisualEditor • Wikicode (Tables) • Images (Media Viewer) • Talk pages • Categories • Subpages • Cheatsheet • Stubs • Epicodes
Advanced Autoconfirmed users • Starting a new page • Moving (renaming) a page • Disambiguation • Merging pages • Splitting pages • Deleting pages • References • Special pages
Templates Using templates (Link templates • Color templates) • Creating templates (Magic words • TemplateStyles • TemplateData) • Lua (Crash course)
Customization Preferences • Skins • Custom CSS • User page (Usertags) • Signatures
Archives FAQ • Uploading images • Tagging images • Manual of style
Introduction  •  FAQ  •  Editor's Hub
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