Wikipedia talk:Article size

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How to calculate the number of printed pages for an article

How is that done? Is there a way to figure out from the kb how many words and then how many pages? -- Valjean (talk) (PING me) 21:39, 27 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Pinging User:Mathglot, as they have edited this page several times. Maybe they can help me.-- Valjean (talk) (PING me) 19:46, 29 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Valjean, the easiest method is empirical: i.e., use the print-page feature in your browser, and look at the number of pages in the default format proposed by their print algorithm. In many browsers Ctrl+P will get you that. This page, for example, with default printer settings is 13 pages with default margins in my Chromium based browser.

Are you asking about a formula to predict the number of printed pages? Here are some of the things you need to consider: word count, font size and type, page size and margins, line spacing, paragraph structure including indentation, heading and subheading style, image and table style, footnotes and other appendixes, columnnization, special formatting (pull quotes, collapsible content, etc.), css of the page and the skin you are using and any overrides in your common.css or common.js that would alter the page format. Depending what your use case is, I would just let the browser do it. Another alternative, is any of the words-per-page calculators you will find online.

Another way, is to devise a rule of thumb based on some statistics about the total size of printed Wikipedia, and divide that by the total kb size or total number of words. Per Wikipedia:Size in volumes, if you printed your article in the page style of Encyclopedia Britannica (skipping images) there are about 1,333 words per page (1,333,333 words per volume / 500 sheets per volume * 2 pages per sheet), so to calculate your number of printed EB-style pages, divide the number of words in your article by 1,333. If you want to calculate it based on the raw kb size you see in the history, bear in mind that the kb value is slightly higher than the number of characters, because each printable UTF-8 character can be represented by 1, 2, or 3 bytes. Assumptions at the link are 8.3 bytes per word, amounting to 6 characters per word, so that gives 1,333 words per EB page * 8.3 bytes per word = 11064 bytes per page; so divide the raw kb size of your article by 11,064 to get a rough count of EB-style printed pages. However, EB pages have about two to three times the number of words as you would find on standard printer paper with typical font and margins, so that may bring you back to your online wpp calculator again. Keep in mind that none of these methods consider images. Hope this helps, Mathglot (talk) 20:36, 30 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Wow! I pinged the right person. You know a lot about this. Thanks so much. I have enough info now to work with. -- Valjean (talk) (PING me) 02:36, 31 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Project page fails to explain how to find the word count

This project page fails to prominently inform the reader how to find the word count of an article. Jc3s5h (talk) 17:07, 10 September 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Fixed see WP:WORDCOUNT or simply.....Preferences → Gadgets → Browsing →

Prosesize: add a toolbox link to show the size of and number of words in a page (direct link), and then save.Moxy🍁 17:16, 10 September 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks. Jc3s5h (talk) 20:20, 10 September 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Semi-protected edit request on 14 December 2024

This edit request has been answered. Set the |answered= or |ans= parameter to no to reactivate your request.

WP:AS brought me here. Add the following hatnote:

{{Redirect|WP:AS|"Assume stupidity"|Wikipedia:Assume stupidity}}

which results in:

67.209.130.17 (talk) 16:34, 14 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Not done: That essay is of marginal utility, and it's a bit weird to expect that shortcut to take you to it. Remsense ‥ 论 16:45, 14 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Adding to table the fraction of articles that fall in various size ranges

The material added here <nowiki> , but twice removed, gives editors a sense of what percentile (so to speak) a given article's size falls into. To me, it helps me envision how much of a "problem" a large article's size is. It certainly doesn't hurt. E Eng 01:15, 20 December 2024 (UTC) Pinging WhatamIdoing.[reply]

Since 30% of all articles are stubs, we should be aiming to create stubs. Hawkeye7 (discuss) 02:08, 20 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I fear I don't see what that has to do with the question at hand. E Eng 02:18, 20 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I take a similar lesson from the percentiles, it seems normal to assume the modal outcome is the expected outcome. The prevalence suggests the goal is <6,000 words. CMD (talk) 02:54, 20 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

The only problem with that fine piece of reasoning is that, while 30% of articles are < 150 words, 70% are 150 to 6000 words. Unless I'm badly deceived, 70% > 30%. Or are we defining "stub" using some unspoken criterion different from the 150 boundary? E Eng 04:31, 20 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

How is a rewording of my fine piece of reasoning at all at odds with my original fine piece of reasoning? CMD (talk) 13:04, 20 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Because WP is dynamic, I don't think adding the percents to the table there is helpful because it does give the wrong impression that certain article sizes are "correct"; but having a statement that "as of 2024, 30% of our articles are < 150 words..." near the table, and which can be updated annually, can give an idea where things sit at the present. --Masem (t) 13:16, 20 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]