Product Code Database
Preferences are settings made by a logged-in user that control that user's account and various aspects of the user's viewing and editing environment.
To access the preferences screen (having logged on), click "My preferences" (at the top of every page with the default skin), or navigate to .
Along the top of the preferences screen are a number of tabs, which you can click in order to access various groups of settings. Activating the "Save" button is required to apply any changes made to the page, but activating the (adjacent) "Restore all default settings" link will go to a page which will then offer the button to activate a reset of your preferences on all possible pages of your preference settings.
For example, you might wish to adjust the "Thumbnail size" (under "Appearance/Files") to fit your viewing screen, for it will affect the default size at which many Wikipedia images on your screen will be displayed. Each Wikimedia wiki, including each language edition of Wikipedia, has separate preference settings. Some details are different at the English Wikipedia.
It is not recommended to select the British English or Canadian English language options ("en-GB - British English" or "en-CA - Canadian English") because many interface messages have been customized for U.S. English Wikipedia ("en - English"), and in fact, this language option only has an effect on interface messages and does not affect article text.
(Note that preference settings made at Meta do not affect the English Wikipedia, so don't click "my preferences" on the Meta help page if you want to modify your preferences here.)
