Help:Basic Formatting

Click on the edit button at the top of the page to start editing a page.

Formatting WikiDoc articles is a bit different from writing on a standard word processor. Instead of a strict WYSIWYG or "what you see is what you get" approach, Wikipedia uses text codes to create particular elements of the page (e.g. headings). This "language" is known as Wikitext (or Wiki-markup) and is designed for ease of editing.

When you click edit, you can begin to enter or edit text on a page. The right hand column of the table shows you what to type in the space where you are editing to end up with the text you see in the righthand column.

Why Use the Formatting Below Including "Equal Signs" to Create Sections, Subsections, and Sub Sub Sections?
So that WikiDoc can automatically generate a table of contents for you. If you just use bold, an automatic table of contents won't be created.

Examples
{| border="1" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" ! What it looks like ! What you type Start your sections as follows:
 * - valign="top"

New section 

Subsection 

Sub-subsection 


 * Start with a second-level heading ( == ); don't use first-level headings (=).
 * Don't skip levels (for example, second-level followed by fourth-level).
 * A Table of Contents will automatically be added to an article that has four or more sections.
 * If appropriate, place subsections in an appropriate order. If listing countries, place them in alphabetical order rather than, say, relative to population of OECD countries, or some random order.

Sub-subsection
A single newline generally has no effect on the layout. These can be used to separate sentences within a paragraph. Some editors find that this aids editing and improves the function diff (used internally to compare different versions of a page).
 * - valign="top"

But an empty line starts a new paragraph.

A single newline generally has no effect on the layout. These can be used to separate sentences within a paragraph. Some editors find that this aids editing and improves the function diff (used internally to compare different versions of a page).
 * When used in a list, a newline does affect the layout (see below).

But an empty line starts a new paragraph. You can break lines without starting a new paragraph.
 * - valign="top"

You can break lines without starting a new paragraph. marks the end of a list item.
 * Please use this sparingly.
 * Close markup between lines, do not start a link or italics or bold on one line and close it on the next.
 * - id="lists" valign="top"
 * It's easy to create a list:
 * Start every line with a star (asterisk).
 * More stars means deeper levels.
 * A newline in a list
 * A newline in a list

marks the end of a list item.
 * An empty line starts a new list.
 * It's easy to create a list:
 * Start every line with a star.
 * More stars means deeper levels.
 * A newline in a list


 * An empty line starts a new list.
 * - valign="top"
 * 1) Numbered lists are also good
 * 2) very organized
 * 3) easy to follow
 * 4) easier still
 * 1) easier still
 * 1) Numbered lists are also good
 * 2) very organized
 * 3) easy to follow
 * 4) easier still
 * - valign="top" id="definition"
 * Definition list : list of definitions
 * item : the item's definition
 * another item
 * the other item's definition
 * the other item's definition


 * Begin with a semicolon. One item per line; a newline can appear before the colon, but using a space before the colon improves parsing.
 * Definition list : list of definitions
 * item : the item's definition
 * another item
 * the other item's definition


 * - valign="top"
 * You can even create mixed lists
 * and nest them
 * like this
 * can I mix definition list as well?
 * yes
 * how?
 * it's easy as
 * a
 * b
 * c
 * c
 * You can even create mixed lists
 * and nest them
 * like this
 * can I mix definition list as well?
 * yes
 * how?
 * it's easy as
 * a
 * b
 * c
 * - valign="top"
 * A colon indents a line or paragraph.
 * A colon indents a line or paragraph.

A manual newline starts a new paragraph.


 * This is primarily for displayed material, but is also used for discussion on Talk pages.
 * A colon indents a line or paragraph.

A manual newline starts a new paragraph. When there is a need for separating a block of text the blockquote command will indent both margins when needed instead of the left margin only as the colon does. This is useful for (as the name says) inserting blocks of quoted (and cited) text. The blockquote command will indent both margins when needed instead of the left margin only as the colon does. (See formula on right):
 * - valign=top
 * - valign=top

IF a line starts with a space THEN it will be formatted exactly as typed; in a fixed-width font; lines will not wrap; ENDIF Centered text.
 * This is useful for:
 * pasting preformatted text;
 * algorithm descriptions;
 * program source code;
 * ASCII art;
 * chemical structures;
 * WARNING: If you make it wide, you force the whole page to be wide and hence less readable, especially for people who use lower resolutions. Never start ordinary lines with spaces.
 * - valign="top"

Centered text. A horizontal dividing line: this is above it
 * Please note the American spelling of "center."
 * - valign="top"

and this is below it.

A horizontal dividing line: this is above it
 * Mainly useful for
 * disambiguation - but to be used sparsely, only when separating completely different, unrelated (groups of) meanings
 * separating threads on Talk pages.

and this is below it.
 * }

This page is for assisting in basic formatting of text on wiki pages.

Boldness and Italics
Boldness can be performed simply by using three apostrophes on each side of the text you wish to boldify. For example,

This is bold text

becomes This is bold text

Italics can be perfomed by using two apostrophes on either side of the text you wish to italicise. For example,

This is italicised text

becomes This is italicised text.

Naturally, these two can be combined:

This is bold and italicised

becomes This is bold and italicised.

In order to print something like multiple apostrophes or tildes (without wiki interpreting), use the nowiki tag: Here are five apostrophes in a row without bold italics.

Putting Something in Quotes
You can put something inside these big quote marks this way!

and it looks like this (indented with big quote marks)

You can put something inside these big quote marks this way!

Font Color
Changing the font color can be performed by placing  and around your text. For example,

your text

becomes this red text: your text

Text can be in any hexadecimal color. For example,

your text

becomes your text with hexadecimal color #1f4099: your text

Font Size
The fonts come in sizes from 1 to 7. The standard size is 3, unless otherwise specified in the or other tags.

Changing the font size can be performed by placing and around your text. For example,

your text

creates a bigger font size of size 4: your text

Also, typing this:

your text

creates text with size 1 bigger than the standard: your text

Typing this:

your text

creates text with size 1 smaller than the standard: your text

Font Typeface
Changing the font typeface can be performed by placing  and around your text. For example,

your text

creates text with Courier font: your text

Signatures
Users can leave timestamped signatures to identify themselves. Three tildes inserts the user's name, four tildes  inserts the user's name with a timestamp, and five tildes  gives just a timestamp with no name. You can also insert your signature with timestamp from edit screen toolbar (second button from the right).


 * Three tildes: C Michael Gibson talk
 * Four tildes: C Michael Gibson talk 14:23, 10 March 2006 (GMT)
 * Five tildes: 14:23, 10 March 2006 (GMT)

Signatures should be used on all talk pages.

Line Breaks
Paragraphs are identified in wikicode by the simple expedient of leaving a blank line between paragraphs. This has the side effect that two lines of text without a blank line between them will remain on the same line on-screen. Also,  can be used to force a line break (but not a paragraph break) at any time within a paragraph, though you shouldn't need to use this much.

Horizontal Lines
A horizontal lines can be created by adding four dashes in a row on a separate line.

This code in the edit window: creates this horizontal line:

(Equivalently, the XHTML code  also creates a horizontal line.)

Also, the largest two section headers automatically create a horizontal line immediately below the heading title.

Background
HTML is an interpreted language that is currently used to write web pages. HTML is now considered deprecated by the W3C, and is strongly discouraged. XHTML is a revised version of HTML, designed to counter problems within the HTML standard.

Compatability and Future Proofing
Older browers will rarely have issues with XHTML, but the same cannot be said of any browser in regards to regular HTML; the flaws within the original HTML specifications left too much room for ambiguity and both can, and often have been, misinterpreted.

The primary reason behind the stated strong preference for wikimarkup over either HTML or XHTML is future proofing. As stated earlier, HTML is deprecated and discouraged. One can imagine that backwards compatability with aging and defunct standards may eventually be discarded in order to reduce the size and complexity of browsers.

At present, wikimarkup can be likened to "shorthand" of XHTML, but will presumably take advantage of the capabilities of XML when it becomes reasonable. Therefore, it is strongly advised that wherever possible, wikimarkup should be used instead of HTML or XHTML.

Non-exhaustive List of HTML and XHTML Tags
Some more useful HTML formatting codes are as follows:
 * Using  and   to put items in typewriter font</tt>. These tags are often synonymous, but not in every case. The   tag is actually intended to delineate program source code from other text.
 * Using  or   to strikethrough text.
 * Using  to underline text.
 * Using  to put text in small caps . Technically, this is using XHTML and CSS.
 * Using  and   to make text Superscript and subscript respectively.
 * As mentioned previously,  generates a line break. Use blank lines wherever possible, try to use the   tag as a last resort.
 * As mentioned previously  will generate a horizontal line. Again, use   as a last resort.