These are some of the best tools, tips and tricks to help you use Wikipedia - largest online encyclopedia more effectively and productively..
1) Read Wikipedia Pages without Internal Links :
Wikipedia pages are written in black text but sometimes they appear blue because each and every word in the article is an hyperlink to another Wikipedia story.
If you like to view Wikipedia articles sans excessive links, there’s a simple hack - just go to your browser address bar and append &printable=yes to the URL. Alternatively, click the "Printable version" link in the sidebar.
Before : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google
After : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google&printable=yes
2) Track Wikipedia Articles via RSS or Email Alerts :
You can track changes edits for any Wikipedia page via RSS feeds or instant email alerts. This is useful in two situations - you want to prevent vandalism or you want to keep yourself updated when some new information is added to topics of your interest.
To track wikipedia stories, click the history tab of any article and then select the RSS feed from the sidebar. It looks something like this - replace Google with a different title.
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Google&feed=rss&action=history
You can either subscribe to this feed in any newsreader or go to sendmerss.com to get the same information via email alerts.
3) Read Wikipedia on Mobile Phones :
Enter wapedia.mobi - it’s a Wikipedia search and browse tool for mobile phones. If a Wikipedia article is particularly long, Wapedia will split it into multiple page so they load faster on your phone similar to Google Transcoder.
4) Find Wikipedia Articles About Places / People / Events Near Your Home :
Go to Google Maps, type the address of your home in the search box (or for that matter, any place on earth) and turn on the Wikipedia layer - it is available in the top right corner of the map.
Zoom in and you’ll see markers that resemble the Wikipedia icon. Click to read a summary of the corresponding Wikipedia article.
5) Find if similar content exists in Wikipedia using Similpedia :
Enter either a URL of the format: http://www.example.com or copy and paste a paragraph of text of at least 100 words to find out who have copied the content without giving any reference of Wikipedia.
Click here to try Similpedia now!!
6) Googlepedia-Firefox addon :
Shows you a relevant Wikipedia article along with your search results. Clicking links in the article will trigger new Google searches, making it a very useful research tool. It is a must download firefox add-on.
7)Wikirage - Find the most edits :
This site lists the pages in Wikipedia which are receiving the most edits per unique editor over various periods of time. Popular people in the news, the latest fads, and the hottest video games can be quickly identified by monitoring this social phenomenon.
Click here to try Wikirage.
8) Get a Random Article :
Wikipedia's Random Article link leads you to the most unexpected places in the 'pedia. Set this link as your browser homepage to learn about the mating habits of the blue-footed booby or the history of the Kedarnath Temple when you launch your browser.
9) Map Wikipedia Articles with WikiMindMap
WikiMindMap, a fabulous Wikipedia visualization webapp that shows you the links between pages on the 'pedia. Along similar lines, to trace your browsing route through the Wikipedia, check out Pathway for Mac.
10)Listen to the Audible Wikipedia
Many of Wikipedia's articles have been converted into spoken word format. You can find them here. The one catch is that they're in OGG format. There's a feed for this page too.
11)Wikipedia shortcuts :
+- add a new section (talk pages only)
. - opens your user page if logged in
= - protect/unprotect the current page (sysops only)
c - shows the content page associated with the current article
d - delete/undelete the current page (sysops only)
e - edit this page/show source of current page
f - search Wikipedia
h - current page’s history
j - shows all of the pages that link to the current one
k - shows recent changes in pages linked to the current one
l - opens your watchlist (logged - in users only)
m - move the current page and its talk page (non - move - protected pages only)
n - opens your user’s or IP’s talk page
p - shows a preview of your changes (on edit pages)
q - shows a list of all special pages
r - shows a list of recent changes to the Wikipedia
s - saves the changes that you have made (on edit pages)
t - opens the current article’s talk page
u - allows you to upload images or media files
v - shows what changes you made to the text (on edit pages)
w - adds the current page to your watchlist (logged - in users only)
x - loads a random article
y - opens a list of your user’s or IP’s contributions
z - goes to the Main Page
