Wikipedia:WikiProject Outlines

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This page in a nutshell: Here, we build outlines! To supplement searches, for when the search box isn't enough.

Outlines are hierarchically structured topics lists.

If you like one or more of the following:

to organize subjects' topics into a tree structure
to make site maps
structured lists
tables of contents
classified indexes

Then, you've come to the right place! For, Wikipedia's outlines are all of the above.

We're mapmakers, metaphorically speaking

Wikipedia's goal is to provide knowledge. But knowledge is only useful if you can find it and make sense of it. The main limitation of a search box is that it can only look for what you already know exists: it is not a map. Like with a map, the function of an outline, and the mission of this WikiProject, is to show readers what exists and help them get to where it is — except that, in this case, the destinations are Wikipedia articles rather than physical locations. Outlines serve as site maps of Wikipedia, by subject. And while maps help navigate the landscape, outlines show the knowledgescape of a subject.

More metaphors

An outline is also like a table of contents or a menu, except that, instead of listing chapter titles in a book or food dishes in a restaurant, outlines present the topics in a subject.

Another useful metaphor is that each page in Wikipedia is a teleportation chamber. To use the search box for teleporting, you specify your destination subject. An outline is a teleportation chamber with its own destination registry. Each outline lists the available target topics, and clicking on one instantly takes you there. You don't need to know where you are going in advance — the list helps you choose.

Outlines are tree structures

Outlines present the topics belonging to a subject as a tree structure, using sections, subsections, and indented item entries to signify branching of the tree. As tree structures, outlines provide the following benefits:

They can help the user see how a particular topic fits into the whole subject.
They also show how topics are related to each other: what belongs to what, and what topics fall into the same sections.
Having a subject laid out on one page saves time. Split up as categories, a 76-section subject would require visiting 76 different category pages to see all the subject's topics, which entails a lot of back-tracking. Scrolling down an outline page is much more convenient and faster.
The bird's eye view provided by outlines allows users to see patterns in the information in a relatively painless way.
Through how they are organized, outlines help users find individual pages, even when they don't know precisely what they are looking for, or exactly what it is called.
Outlines reveal gaps in their subjects' coverage that need to be filled in with new articles.

Examples of well-developed outlines

Outline of caves (featured list)

Outline of lichens (featured list)

Outline of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (featured list)

Outline of the Israel–Hamas war

Outline of Abraham Lincoln

Outline of the American Civil War

Outline of the American Revolutionary War

Outline of ancient Rome

Outline of architecture

Outline of Bábism

Outline of Barcelona

Outline of the Beatles

Outline of Bob Marley

Outline of canoeing and kayaking

Outline of the Catholic Church

Outline of cell biology

Outline of chess

Outline of chocolate

Outline of the Cold War

Outline of community

Outline of Dresden

Outline of Earth sciences

Outline of forestry

Outline of geography

Outline of geology

Outline of globalization

Outline of Iceland

Outline of Japan

Outline of journalism

Outline of meteorology

Outline of Middle-earth

Outline of motorcycles and motorcycling

Outline of oceanography

Outline of science

Outline of science fiction

Outline of scientific method

Outline of sharks

Outline of sociology

Outline of software development

Outline of theatre

Outline of thought

Outline of tort law

Outline of tropical cyclones

Outline of underwater diving

Outline of video games

Outline of water

Outline of wind energy

Lists of outlines

Wikipedia:Contents/Outlines
Category:Outlines
Outlines listed on All pages with prefix (this only shows the outlines with titles that start with "Outline of ")

Scope

Each outline article is a list of a subject's topics arranged hierarchically to show the relationships between them: those that are the most important, general entries and those that give more specialist detail. Outlines show the structure of articles about a subject, opening another way besides searching, for navigating it. They could be considered Wikipedia's equivalent to Brittanica's Propædia.

Each outline is intended to help the reader become familiar with the subject it presents, and also serves as a table of contents or site map to that subject's coverage on Wikipedia. Outlines are different from portals or indexes. While a portal focuses solely on well-developed featured content, an outline's main purpose is to direct readers through a subject's related articles. Indexes are intended to be comprehensive alphabetical lists of articles related to subject, but finding something in an alphabetical index can be difficult if one does not know the article title (and if one does, one hardly needs the index). Outlines might not list every article in a subject, and often their links lead to lists or other outlines to provide further detail. For an example, compare Portal:Japan, Index of Japan-related articles, and Outline of Japan.

Announcements

Another outline has made it to Featured List status!

Outline of caves

Outline drafts continually approach their time limit

If a draft goes six months without an edit, it is subject to routine deletion. To learn when each draft was last edited, see this WikiProject's draft tracker.

Latest additions

These are relatively new outlines, and while they are well past the stub stage, they still need development:

Outline of astrophysics

Outline of the week!

The outline of the week is:

Outline of extraterrestrial life

Please help improve it.

Article alerts

This project is served by Article alerts, which can be seen in this section directly below, or at Wikipedia:WikiProject Outlines/Article alerts. This lets us to know about any AfDs (Articles for deletion discussions) on outlines, requested moves, or other outline-related discussions without having to rely on manual notifications. To have the alerts show up on your user page or user talk page, include this code on that page: {{Wikipedia:WikiProject Outlines/Article alerts}}

Articles for deletion

14 Apr 2026 – Outline of stage illusion (talk · edit · hist) was AfDed by Piotrus (t · c); see discussion (4 participants; relisted)

Advice

Tips

User:CaroleHenson/Outline tips

Related guidelines

Related projects

Create outline drafts in userspace

It's best to create outline drafts as sub-pages of your user page, such as in your sandbox, and not in the draft namespace. That's because drafts in the draft namespace disappear after a certain period of time with no edit activity.

How to watch over the outlines

The outlines need watchdogs, to keep an eye on them and make sure they are secure and well maintained. Here are some tips for effective monitoring of this valuable resource:

Tip 1: Place article alerts on your talk page

Place this project's articles alerts template on your talk page in such a way that it floats at the bottom, so that you see it every time you read a message there. To do so, copy and paste this code near the top of your talk page:

<ref>{{Wikipedia:WikiProject Outlines/Article alerts}}</ref>

This will allow you to easily keep track of outline deletion discussions at AfD, requested moves, featured list nominations, and other formally tagged outline-related nominations.

Note: Article alerts doesn't catch everything, like page edits and untagged discussions. For those, we have watchlists...

Tip 2: Use this WikiProject's watchlist

There's a comprehensive outline-related watchlist at Wikipedia:WikiProject Outlines/Watchlist using Related changes.

Follow the instructions at the top of that page.

Also feel free to keep that page up to date by adding new outline-related pages to it.

Tip 3: Related changes can also be used on outline lists

In the desktop view of Wikipedia, one tool available to monitor activity on outlines is related changes. To use it on outlines, go to Wikipedia:Contents/Outlines and click on "Related changes" in the tools menu.

In order for this to work on all outlines, Wikipedia:Contents/Outlines must be kept up to date.

Beware: "Related changes" looks a lot like "Recent changes", and it is easy to accidentally use the latter by mistake.

Tip 4: Use the outline categories for monitoring...

Related changes works on the various Category:Wikipedia outlines pages, too.

Open tasks

Here are some things you can do to help (listed directly below, and in the subsections that follow):

Scour the outlines for the best ones, to present them in the example list in the lead section at the top of this page.

Maintain links to topic outlines: each article of the corresponding topic should have a link to its topic outline in its see also section. Periodically check each see also section, as the links sometimes get removed. Snap Links comes in handy for this.
Place outlines on your watchlist and check it every time you log on. This link or a FF addon can be used alternatively. This needs to be done in order to prevent against vandalism and possibly AfD's.
Place a WikiProject banner at the top of the talk pages of all lists of basic topics, leading here. Use {{subst:BLT|topic uncapitalized|topic capitalized}}.
Place a coverage banner at the top of the talk pages of all articles matching the subjects in the titles of topic outlines, leading to the corresponding list. Use {{[[Template:Outline of knowledge coverage|Outline of knowledge coverage|subject}}.
- the coverage banner template needs to be designed

Add entries missing from Wikipedia:Contents/Outlines

Sometimes, when an outline is created, the author forgets to add its title, and a description, to the main list of outlines. You can help by placing them there, in the appropriate section.

Here are the titles missing from Wikipedia:Contents/Outlines:

Outlines needing reformatting and/or renaming

Outlines here need to be converted to the standard outline format. Only after a page has been converted to outline format should it be renamed to Outline of $x$ . Otherwise, others may assume the formatting is correct, and emulate it.

Add pictures

Examples of outlines with good picture support include:

Start a new outline

To start a new outline...

See also: Helpful tips (read it!)

First, decide which topic you'd like to outline. It could be as broad as Outline of mathematics, or as narrow as Outline of chocolate and start the page. The title should be in the format of Outline of $x$
Write a little introduction before outlining to get warmed up, this will also become the introductory paragraph of the outline.
Start listing articles on your topic. You can find them by using Special:PrefixIndex and a site allintitle Google search.
Organize links in a way that is accessible so that people can find the articles linked to. You might use an {{Outline generator}} template, like this: {{subst:Outline generator|topic uncapitalized|topic capitalized}} or, if you're outlining a specific country, {{subst:Template:Outline country|country name}}.
After that, you can add a few pictures to make the outline look nicer. Try using different ones than the ones on the article by searching on Wikimedia Commons.
Once you've finished, take a look back and see if you were able to outline the subject successfully and then post your work here so that other editors are aware it exists and can review it.

Work on an existing outline

Most outlines are incomplete, because subjects change over time, and so does Wikipedia's coverage of them.

See Wikipedia:Contents/Outlines, and choose a subject that interests you, and start adding links.

Check for links to these outlines (categorization, inclusion in the root article, at Wikipedia:Contents/Outlines, etc.):

Create drafts

The outlines that have been deleted over the years need to be developed from the ground up in draftspace.

Work on drafts

Note: If a draft goes six months without an edit, it is subject to routine deletion. To learn when each draft was last edited, see this WikiProject's draft tracker.

Priority one outline drafts

Draft:Outline of the arts (major branch of knowledge lacking an outline!)

New drafts

Outline drafts very near completion

Please see if you can finish these up:

Draft:Outline of Delhi

Outline drafts over half-way done

Outline drafts well underway

Mostly bare-bones outline draft starts

Templates

{{Outline tpm}} - placed at top of an outline's talk page
{{Outline footer}} - placed at bottom of all Outlines

For talkpages

{{WikiProject Outlines}} - placed on the talk page of all Outlines

For building outlines

{{Outline generator}} - for outline creation
- {{Outline country}} - for outline creation
- {{Outline U.S. State}} - for outline creation

{{Annotated link}} - for automatically annotating a link with its short description

Userboxes

See Wikipedia:WikiProject Outlines/userboxes

Other project subpages

/Directory
- /List of discussions concerning outlines

Participants

If you'd like to get involved, and help with outline-related tasks, please add your username below:

Userboxes

Wikitext

userbox

where used

[[Category:WikiProject Outlines participants]] none linked pages

{{User WikiProject Outlines}}

This user participates in WikiProject Outlines.

linked pages

{{User WP Outlines}}

This user participates in WikiProject Outlines

linked pages

{{Wikipedia:WikiProject Outlines/Userboxes/User member}}

Outlines comprise bullets like these

This user understands the importance of outlines, and is a member of

Wikiproject Outlines.

linked pages

Award templates

To award editors who've made significant contributions to Outlines and/or the Outlines WikiProject, here are some award templates you could use. Other awards work well too. Feel free to use your imagination.

{{subst:The Outline Barnstar|1=message ~~~~}}

		The Outline Barnstar
		message ~~~~

{{subst:The Outline Barnstar|1=message ~~~~|2=alt}}

		The Outline Barnstar
		message ~~~~

Hall of Recognition

Below are awards and thanks received by editors for special contributions to the outlines and thereby to the encyclopedia as a whole. Without further ado, here they are...

The "I'm Really Impressed" Barnstar Barrage!

For graphic design, workin' hard, and diligent relentless non-stop editing week after week on the contents pages of Wikipedia, including but not limited to Contents, Overviews, Fields, Glossaries, Basic topics, Topics, Tables, Portals, and Categories...

Quiddity is hereby awarded this fireworks display of barnstars!
On behalf of the Wikipedia community, thank you.

– The Transhumanist 09:34, 22 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Note: Outlines used to be called "Lists of basic topics" and "Lists of topics", and some are still called the latter.

The "I'm Really Impressed" Barnstar Barrage!

For graphic design, workin' hard, and diligent relentless non-stop editing week after week on the contents pages of Wikipedia, including but not limited to Contents, Overviews, Fields, Glossaries, Basic topics, Topics, Tables, Portals, and Categories... RichardF is hereby awarded this fireworks display of barnstars! On behalf of the Wikipedia community, thank you.
The Transhumanist 09:38, 22 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Note: Outlines used to be called "Lists of basic topics" and "Lists of topics", and some are still called the latter.

(To The Transhumanist)

		The Tireless Contributor Barnstar
		I, Diligent Terrier, award you this "Tireless Contributor Barnstar" for your work in starting the List of basic American Civil War topics article from scratch. Great Job! DiligentTerrier • talk \|sign here 22:17, 12 January 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Note: Later renamed to the Outline of the American Civil War.

(To The Transhumanist)

List of basic space exploration topics

Hi there TTH, Just wanted to thank you for your labors on this page, which is a great resource for us. Bill Wwheaton (talk) 17:48, 29 February 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Note: It has since been renamed to Outline of space exploration.

(To The Transhumanist)

Nice work -- I will withdraw the AfD nom. – ukexpat (talk) 00:55, 15 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Done

		The Barnstar of Recovery
		For saving List of basic Canada topics from being deleted, I - Milk's Favorite Cookie hereby award you this Barnstar! Congrats! - Milk's Favorite Cookie 01:16, 15 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Note: Was later renamed to Outline of Canada.

		The Bio-star
		is hereby awarded to Earthdirt for doing an outstanding job producing the List of basic cell biology topics, and for going far beyond expectations by including a definition for each presented topic. Thank you for creating such a useful resource for newcomers to this subject. It's fantastic! The Transhumanist 03:50, 6 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Note: the current name for the "List of basic cell biology topics" is the Outline of cell biology.

List_of_basic_France_topics

Hi Transhumanist, I wanted to note that I saw all of your work on the List of Basic France topics, and I appreciate it! Lazulilasher (talk) 02:12, 8 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Note: It was later renamed to Outline of France.

(To The Transhumanist)

I think......you need a barnstar for all of the hard work you have put into the WP:WPOOK!

		The Barnstar Barnstar
		You deserve two! at-210 ^{discovered elements ∞ what am I?} 20:21, 14 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Note: The WP:WPOOK was later renamed to WikiProject Outlines.

Transhumanist my friend,

It's about time you deserve a barnstar for all your contributions to outlines on Wikipedia, and also for being the promoter that you are for outlines. If it wasn't for you we might not have outlines as they are, so it is my honor to present to you the Special Barnstar because no other barnstar could merit what you do for outlines on Wikipedia. :-) Burningview (talk) 03:42, 8 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

		The Special Barnstar
		This barnstar is presented to Transhumanist for all the hard work, contributions, coordination, and promotion he does in advancing the idea, coverage, content, and quality of Outlines on Wikipedia. For this he deserves a Special Barnstar Burningview (talk) 03:42, 8 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

		The Teamwork Barnstar
		is hereby awarded to Penubag for working so well with everyone on the OOK WikiProject, in the utilization of feedback on graphics creations, and jumping in to help wherever needed. Thank you! The Transhumanist 21:54, 16 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Note: the Outlines WikiProject used to be called the "OOK WikiProject" (for "Outline of Knowledge").

		The Geography Barnstar
		is hereby awarded to Tiamut for exemplary development work on the Outline of Palestine. The Transhumanist 23:18, 25 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]


		The Wikipedian known as Buaidh is hereby recognized by his peers as a Wikipedia World Developer, for his exemplary and extensive work on the outline articles of every country of the world and of every state of the United States (including the creation of a historical outline for every state), and for greatly improving Wikipedia's Outline of Knowledge. Presented on this, the 4th day of August 2009, by — The Transhumanist , penubag , Willscrlt, NW, Gimme danger, Minnecologies, Stefan, Sswonk, –Juliancolton, MacMed, +sj +, Highfields, Tarheel95, Rich Farmbrough, The Earwig, Quiddity, and at-210

Note: The historical outlines were later merged into the corresponding state outlines, and still exist therein.

(To The Transhumanist)

		The Special Barnstar
		This award is in appreciation of the excellent work you have done supporting the development of Outlines on Wikipedia Thruxton (talk) 18:59, 5 December 2010 (UTC)[reply]

(To The Transhumanist)

I just wanted to tell you (probably not the 1st ^^ ) that your are an incredible wikipedia member, your userpage is simply amazing and your contribution is...gigantic? huge? Incredible? not for the number edits (still high) but rather over the appropriateness of the things that you have created, especially the outline project. I wont give you another award, you already have billions, but simply a modest "Bravo!". -- Offiikart (Talk) 05:23, 21 June 2011 (UTC)[reply]

		The Geography Barnstar
		By expanding the Outline of Quebec and creating lists of landforms, mountain ranges, and hospitals in Quebec, Offiikart has improved Wikipedia's navigation system, helping its readers to virtually tour the world. He is hereby awarded The Geography Barnstar. The Transhumanist 10:49, 29 June 2011 (UTC)[reply]

		The WikiProject Barnstar
		To *The Transhumanist* who created the outline project and tirelessly continues to improve it. A special thanks for your help and your recognition. Offiikart^Talk 13:54, 29 June 2011 (UTC)[reply]

(To The Transhumanist)

		The Chess Barnstar
		Awarded for many contributions to chess articles, especially the Outline of chess. Bubba73 ^{You talkin' to me?} 16:34, 18 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

(To The Transhumanist)

	The Original Barnstar
	Thanks so much for your work on the Outline of domestic violence, it is so much better that it's astounding how far it's come along. Thanks for making my first outline "sing"! CaroleHenson (talk) 11:11, 21 November 2011 (UTC)[reply]

		What a Brilliant Idea Barnstar
		is hereby awarded to Carole Henson for creating and developing the Outline of domestic violence, a hub of knowledge that many will no doubt find very relevant and helpful in times of personal crisis. I commend you, Carole, on making such a valuable resource available to the public worldwide. Kudos to you. Sincerely, The Transhumanist 23:00, 21 November 2011 (UTC)[reply]

(To The Transhumanist)

	The Copyeditor's Barnstar
	Thanks for the ndashes on the Apple outline article. Zach Vega (talk) 00:58, 13 April 2012 (UTC)[reply]

You've done a fantastic job so far creating the outline of globalization.

Keep up the excellent work. It's a damn nice addition to the outline collection: you're filling in a gap that badly needs filling. I look forward to reading the outline as you develop it to completion.

For an example of the progression of development of an outline, view the edit history of Outline of cell biology, and look at every 10th version, starting with the first version.

If you need my help with anything concerning outlines, or if you have any questions, please feel free to ask.

Sincerely, The Transhumanist 06:33, 5 June 2013 (UTC)[reply]

		The Outline Barnstar
		is hereby awarded to Meclee, for the creation and development of Outline of globalization. — The Transhumanist 15:23, 6 November 2023 (UTC)[reply]

(To The Transhumanist)

	The Barnstar of Diligence
	For your efforts on updating, improving and organising Outline of human anatomy LT910001 (talk) 06:39, 2 January 2014 (UTC)[reply]

		The Bio-star
		is hereby awarded to TheProfessor for creating and developing the Outline of evolution. Thank you, and keep up the good work! The Transhumanist 07:00, 8 January 2015 (UTC)[reply]

(To The Transhumanist)

	The Tireless Contributor Barnstar
	For your work on "Outline of space science" Tetra quark ^{(don't be shy)} 05:55, 18 January 2015 (UTC)[reply]

		The Original Barnstar
		Is hereby awarded to Mindfrieze for creating the Outline of sailing, which is now in article space. Keep up the good work! The Transhumanist 00:26, 12 July 2016 (UTC)[reply]

		The Original Barnstar
		Is hereby awarded to Marikafragen for creating the Outline of adoption, which is now in article space. Thank you for creating this outline! The Transhumanist 22:43, 12 July 2016 (UTC)[reply]

		The Original Barnstar
		is hereby awarded to CSJJ104 for creating the Outline of the Cold War, which is now in article space. Thank you for making such a good start in filling this gap in the navigation system! The Transhumanist 05:06, 15 July 2016 (UTC)[reply]

		The Original Barnstar
		is hereby awarded to Broter for creating and developing the Outline of Joseph Smith. A very fine job indeed. The Transhumanist 19:14, 10 August 2016 (UTC)[reply]

		The Original Barnstar
		is hereby awarded to PKT for creating and developing the Outline of New Brunswick. Well done. Thank you. The Transhumanist 04:33, 12 August 2016 (UTC)[reply]

		The Original Barnstar
		is hereby awarded to Lakun.patra for creating and developing the Outline of Assam. A very nice addition to the collection. Keep up the good work. Thank you. The Transhumanist 08:14, 21 August 2016 (UTC)[reply]

(To The Transhumanist)

	The Tireless Contributor Barnstar
	Great work with the Outlines :) Pratyush (talk) 21:07, 26 September 2016 (UTC)[reply]

(To The Transhumanist)

Love the outlines

Hi there! I just wanted to let you know that I think your planet outlines are really cool. I have long thought it was a shame that only Wikipedians seem to know about Books or Portals, because they are really great tools for structuring knowledge (while everyone loves diving down the Wikipedia rabbit hole, we could really do with some better content organization). The outlines strike me as a great way to bring that sort content organization to mainspace, where it will actually reach a large number of readers. I notice that I am the first one to edit them besides yourself, and I hope you know that I do so with love.

		What a Brilliant Idea Barnstar
		Great idea with the outline articles - a great solution to a need for better mainspace-based content structuring! I see from WP:Outlines that you actually came up with this concept some years ago, but this is the first I've noticed it. A2soup (talk) 02:46, 8 February 2017 (UTC)[reply]

		The Portal Barnstar
		is hereby awarded to Certes for enhancements to the entire portal system in the form of the templates Transclude lead excerpt and Transclude random excerpt. With great anticipation, I look forward to your future contributions to portals. Sincerely, — The Transhumanist 06:32, 2 May 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Note: Template:Transclude lead excerpt is also applicable to outlines.

Congratulations, Certes! A well-earned barnstar! RockMagnetist(talk) 14:33, 4 May 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Excellent job, Certes! Arman ^(Talk) 04:30, 6 May 2018 (UTC)[reply]

		The Cannabis Outline Barnstar
		is hereby awarded to Bri for creating and developing the Outline of cannabis. A very interesting topic, indeed, with much coverage on Wikipedia that this outline makes easier to find and navigate. Keep up the good work. Thank you. — The Transhumanist 22:15, 30 November 2018 (UTC)[reply]

(To The Transhumanist)

		The Original Barnstar
		message Ambuj Shukla 19:16, 2 November 2019 (UTC)

You have made immense contributions to outlines over the years, and have encouraged many more Wikipedians to follow your lead. The impact of your contributions are great. Keep doing the good work! — Preceding unsigned comment added by Ambujshukla2004 (talk • contribs) 19:16, 2 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]

(To CSJJ104)

		The Original Barnstar
		The article you created, Outline of the wars of the Three Kingdoms, is very useful. Thanks for contributing a great outline. // Timothy :: talk 18:39, 5 August 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Congratulations, MeegsC! The list you nominated, Outline of lichens, has been promoted to featured status, recognizing it as one of the best lists on Wikipedia. The nomination discussion has been archived.

This is a rare accomplishment and you should be proud. If you would like, you may nominate it to appear on the Main page as Today's featured list. Keep up the great work! Cheers, Giants2008 (talk) via FACBot (talk) 00:25, 30 October 2023 (UTC)[reply]

		The Outline Barnstar
		is hereby awarded to XTheBedrockX, for incredible attention to detail in the creation, development, and maintenance of Outline of the Iraq War. Keep up the great work! — The Transhumanist 01:41, 6 November 2023 (UTC)[reply]

		The Outline Barnstar
		is hereby awarded to TimothyBlue, for the creation and monitoring of Outline of the 2023 Israel–Hamas war. Keep up the excellent work! — The Transhumanist 01:47, 6 November 2023 (UTC)[reply]

			The Outline Barnstar and Featured List Medal
			are hereby awarded to MeegsC, for improving Outline of lichens to featured list status. The outline has earned a star, and now, so have you! Keep up the great work. Sincerely, — The Transhumanist 01:53, 6 November 2023 (UTC)[reply]

		The Outline Barnstar
		is hereby awarded to Jerium, for the creation of The Outline Barnstar, which provides the Outlines WikiProject the increased capability of awarding editors who have contributed to the improvement of outlines and outline coverage on Wikipedia. Thank you. Sincerely, — The Transhumanist 02:24, 6 November 2023 (UTC)[reply]

The Multi-Outline Barnstar

is hereby awarded to Pbsouthwood, for the creation, development, and maintenance of:

Outline of underwater diving

Outline of underwater divers

Outline of recreational dive sites

for work on:

Outline of lichens

Outline of Cape Town

and for extensive work on:

Outline of oceanography

Keep up the excellent work! — The Transhumanist 08:35, 6 November 2023 (UTC)[reply]

The City Outline Barnstar Barrage

is hereby awarded to Cote d'Azur, for the creation of the following multitude of city outlines:

And for extensive work on:

Outline of Rome

Outline of Turin

I look forward to seeing what you produce next! Thank you. Sincerely, — The Transhumanist 10:50, 6 November 2023 (UTC)[reply]

		The Outline Barnstar
		is hereby awarded to Epipelagic, for the creation and development of the collosal Outline of fishing, parts of which were split off to become the Outline of the fishing industry and Outline of fisheries. Thank you. — The Transhumanist 08:17, 8 November 2023 (UTC)[reply]

		The Outline Barnstar
		is hereby awarded to Marikafragen, for annotating the entirety of the Outline of fishing. Thank you. — The Transhumanist 08:18, 8 November 2023 (UTC)[reply]

		The Outline Barnstar
		is hereby awarded to Minnecologoies, for extensive work on the Outline of forestry. Thank you. — The Transhumanist 08:37, 8 November 2023 (UTC)[reply]

		The Outline Barnstar
		is hereby awarded to DASonnenfeld, for extensive work on the Outline of forestry. Thank you. — The Transhumanist 08:39, 8 November 2023 (UTC)[reply]

		The Outline Barnstar
		is hereby awarded to Thruxton, for creation and development of the Outline of motorcycles and motorcycling. Thank you. — The Transhumanist 08:52, 8 November 2023 (UTC)[reply]

		The Article Rescue Barnstar
		is hereby awarded to Guywan for saving the Outline of natural language processing from deletion, after it was already deleted, by taking the matter before Deletion Review. — The Transhumanist 11:50, 10 November 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Cool template

...which is now in use on over 8,200 pages. Nicely done.

		The Template Barnstar
		is hereby awarded to Pbsouthwood, for the creation and development of the Annotated link template, which enables significant enhancement and ease of construction to embedded lists, including those in outlines. Kudos. — The Transhumanist 13:02, 10 November 2023 (UTC)[reply]

		The Outline Barnstar
		Hello The Transhumanist, you are receiving this award for the creation and continued dedication to WikiProject Outlines. You deserve this barnstar more than anyone. Jerium (talk) 19:18, 12 November 2023 (UTC)[reply]

For a job wonderfully done...

		The Classical Music & Outline Barnstar
		is hereby awarded to Gor1995, for the creation and development of the comprehensive Outline of classical music, providing a much needed navigation aid for this extensive subject and a valuable expansion to the outline system. Thank you. — The Transhumanist 15:36, 19 January 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Congratulations, Trailblazer101! The list you nominated, Outline of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, has been promoted to featured status, recognizing it as one of the best lists on Wikipedia. The nomination discussion has been archived.

This is a rare accomplishment and you should be proud. If you would like, you may nominate it to appear on the Main page as Today's featured list. Keep up the great work! Cheers, PresN (talk) via FACBot (talk) 00:26, 26 June 2024 (UTC)[reply]

History of outlines on Wikipedia

Note: this section is a work in progress. Feel free to expand it.

25 June 2024 – Outline of the Marvel Cinematic Universe became the second outline to receive Featured list status.
During November 2023, most of the deleted outline drafts were restored.
29 October 2023 – Outline of lichens became the first outline to receive Featured list status.
25 October 2001 – Creation of the precursor of the outline department, "Basic Topics"[1], by Larry Sanger (co-founder of Wikipedia). It listed planned basic topics pages for various major subjects. Each of those became "structured topics lists", which is another name for outlines). Each was a wish list of articles for a major subject, and since those articles didn't exist yet, they were redlinks. You could go to the basic topics pages to see what articles were needed and click on a redlink to create its page. As the pages got created, their links turned blue, which made them useful as navigation pages.
15 January 2001 – Earliest surviving edit of Wikipedia. [2]