TextFormattingRules

HomePage | RecentChanges | EditorIndex | TextEditorFamilies | Preferences

Difference (from revision 16 to current revision) (minor diff, author diff)
(The revisions are identical or unavailable.)

For examples of how these rules are used, see TextFormattingExamples.

To experiment with the rules, please try editing the WikiWikiSandbox. Anything on the Sandbox page can be changed at will. Please do not experiment with this page.

Paragraphs

Do not indent paragraphs.
Words wrap to window width and fill as needed.
Use blank lines as separators.

Horizontal Lines

: Four dashes at the left margin makes a horizontal rule:

----

Lists

The character that occurs in column #1 determines the appearance. Lists are created by using an asterisk (*), hash mark (#), or semicolon (;) in the first column. Adding multiple symbols increases the indent level.

   * one asterisk for bullets at the first level
   ** two asterisks for the second level
   *** three asterisks for the third level
   ### Use pound sign (#) for numbered lists
   ### Repeat at same level to increase numbering
   ##  Change the number of pound signs to control indent level
   * And this will produce:

one asterisk for bullets at the first level
- two asterisks for the second level
  - three asterisks for the third level
  1. Use pound sign (#) for numbered lists
  2. Repeat at same level to increase numbering
1. Change the number of pound signs to control indent level
What you see right here!

    ; Definition Lists : Begin with a semicolon
    ; : Second item

    ;; Indent control : Use two semicolons, etc.
    ;; : Second item

Definition Lists: Begin with a colon
: Second item

Indent control: Use two semicolons, etc.
: Second item

Fonts

	Start a line with a space or TAB to use a monospaced font.
 A space or TAB on column #1 wraps the paragraph in HTML <PRE> tags, forcing things to mostly literal.
   This line is indented by three spaces.

This is not.

You can generate vertical whitespace by using multiple newlines after a monospaced line, but doing so to create more than one blank line is discouraged.

Indent Paragraphs for quotations

: If a line begins with a colon, the paragraph will be indented. Indent paragraphs by putting the colon in the first column, followed by a space, followed by the rest of the paragraph. Indented paragraphs are often used for quotations or emphasis.

Sample:

 : This has the colon appearing in column #2. It's not indented.

: This has the colon appearing in column #1. It is indented.

This has a capital T appearing in column #1. It isn't indented.

Emphasis

Use two single-quotes ('') to begin emphasis or HTML <em> tags (usually italics)
Use three single-quotes (''') to begin the HTML <strong> tags (usually bold)
Use five single-quotes (''''') for a combination of both (bold+italic). Technically, this begins the string "<em><strong>" in HTML.
Like HTML, you should turn off any tag you turn on!
You can have multiple tags for bold, italic, and bold-italic, but they must be properly nested (that is, turned off in the proper order).

Example:

  This is ''emphasized'', this is '''strong''', this is '''''both''''', and this is ''emphasized'' again.

This is emphasized, this is strong, this is both, and this is emphasized again.

Links to Wiki pages

JoinCapitalizedWords to make links to Wiki pages.
To permit a Wiki word to contain a plural but only Wikify the root word, e.g., WikiNames, put six single quotes before the "s". This excludes the "s" being included as part of the link.

      WikiName''''''s points to "WikiName" instead of "WikiNames"

To avoid MakingLinks to Wiki pages, wrap the term in <nowiki> and </nowiki>, like so:

      <nowiki>MakingLinks</nowiki> keeps this word from being turned into a Wiki link

To make a Wikiname without alternating upper/lower case (eg, VI), enclose it in double square brackets, like this:

    [[VI]]

As a general rule, don't create Wiki pages unless there is a good reason to do so. The trick of using 6-quotes to prevent Wikifying pages is a hack, and it doesn't work if you have words WithThreeLetters? (like this example). It is only used to allow terms to be identified (such as PhD) which must have a camelcase spelling. Avoid creating pages for no reason at all.

Links to external web content

: There are four ways that you can link to external web content.

1. Display images here that are stored elsewhere

URLs ending with .gif, .jpg, .jpeg or .png are displayed directly as images on the page. E.g., (URLs ending with .jpe are not supported) Note: Inline display of images will not work if your image is obtained from a site which uses form query parameters (like foo.com/image?editor=tde&size=200x200). The only workaround is to add an extra "dummy" parameter ending with .gif, .jpg, .jpeg or .png at the end.

2. Type a web address and have it display as a web address.

To make a hyperlink to a web site, such as www.google.com, precede it with "http:" and the double slash "//" like so: http://www.google.com. The same applies to other web protocols: "ftp:", "gopher:", "mailto:", or "news:", all followed by 2 slashes (//). If the URI contains an apostrophe, use %27 instead of the apostrophe.

3. Type a web address and have it displayed as [bracketed words]

So that Wiki users always know when they're being taken to an external page, this Wiki either displays them literally (like http://www.google.com) or else it links to words in [square brackets]. Make it happen like so:

      Link to words in [http://www.slashdot.org square brackets]

4. Link ISBN numbers to Amazon.com

If you refer to a book that you want to recommend, please include its ISBN (International Standard Book Number). This links directly to [Barnes and Noble], [Amazon.com], and [pricescan.com]. If someone clicks on the ISBN and purchases the book, we will receive a small amount for providing the referral. (Right now the queries to Barnes and Noble aren't working; we'll try to fix that.)

If you type ISBN 0-13-748310-4, the Wiki will transform it into 3 consecutive links like this: ISBN 0-13-748310-4 (alternate, search). The pattern is: "ISBN", optional colon, space, ten digits with optional hyphens. The last digit can be "X" and the number may be in square brackets. Examples:

With colon: ISBN: 0596006489 becomes ISBN 0596006489 (alternate, search)
Square brackets, no colon: [ISNB 1565924266] becomes [ISBN 1565924266 (alternate, search)]
Hyphens are okay too: [ISBN: 0-7357-1001-5] becomes [ISBN 0-7357-1001-5 (alternate, search)]

If you know the ASIN number at Amazon.com, you can also link to non-book products. For example, http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000060PEU (a Wacom drawing tablet)

Wiki Markup isn't HTML

HTML tags don't work
&, <, and > are themselves

Notes

Inserting lines with the Lynx browser presents a special challenge. For help with that, see UsingWikiWithLynx?.
Use italics sparingly when possible, as it's harder to read (especially at low resolution) than Roman (non-italic) type.
Some ideas taken from the c2.com Wiki.

None of these work here:

HTML
Tables
Headers
Mathematical formula expansion
Scripts
Loops or other programmatic structures
FreeLinks

CategoryWiki? CategoryWikiEditing?