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Basic Editing

authors (basic) The pages on this site are WikiWikiWeb pages, which means that pages can be created and edited by multiple authors. To edit a page, click the Edit link that exists somewhere on the page, usually in the header or footer. Some pages may be password-protected, depending on the system's security policies, but many systems allow open editing of pages.

When editing a page, you see the markup text that describes the content of the page. The basic rules for page markup are fairly simple:

  1. Put a blank line between paragraphs
  2. To make a list, start each line with # for numbered (ordered) lists or * for bulleted (unordered) lists.
  3. To make a heading, start a line with two or more ! marks; !! is a subheading, and !!! is a sub-subheading.
  4. To emphasize text, enclose it in 2 or 3 single quotes; ''text'' for italics or '''text''' for bold.
  5. To make a link to another page, enclose the page's name in double brackets; for example [[basic editing]] links to this page. Links to nonexistent pages? are displayed specially, to invite others to create the page.
  6. To make a link to another site, type its address, such as http://www.example.com/ .

If you want to experiment with editing a page, try it on the WikiSandbox. You can edit the WikiSandbox without affecting anything important on this site. If you do edit other pages, it's courteous to sign your contribution; using ~~~ effectively 'signs' the name that you provide in the Author field on the Page Edit form.

Examples

The table below demonstrates many of the common markups used to format pages. The left column shows the effect of the markup, the right column shows what to write to achieve the effect. More details are available from the text formatting rules and other documentation pages. An exhaustive list of default markup is available as the markup master index

General Usage

What it looks like

What to type

A single newline usually doesn't affect the layout.

A single newline
usually doesn't affect the layout.  

An author must

place an empty line in the markup to start a new paragraph. For a break
in the paragraph, use two backslashes.

An author must

place an empty line in the markup to
start a new paragraph. For a break\\
in the paragraph, use two backslashes.
  • Lists are created by using asterisks
    • More asterisks result in deeper lists
      • The list is terminated

by the first line that is not a list

  1. Numbered lists
  2. are also possible
    • and lists can nest
* Lists are created by using asterisks
** More asterisks result in deeper lists
*** The list is terminated
by the first line that is not a list

# Numbered lists
# are also possible
** and lists can nest
  • A backslash at the end of a line joins the next line to the previous one.
  • Two backslashes create
    a line break.
  • Three backslashes generate

    two line breaks.
* A backslash at the \
end of a line joins the \
next line to the previous one.
* Two backslashes create \\
a line break.
* Three backslashes generate\\\
two line breaks.
An arrow (->) indents a paragraph
Longer arrows indent more

A reverse arrow creates a hanging indent, the first line is outdented and remaining lines are indented.
->An arrow (->) indents a paragraph
-->Longer arrows indent more

--<A reverse arrow creates a \
hanging indent, the first line \
is outdented and remaining lines \
are indented.
Definition list
list of definitions
item
the item's definition
another item
another item's definition
: Definition list : list of definitions
: item : the item's definition
: another item : another item's definition 
 Lines that begin with
 a space are formatted exactly
 as typed, in a fixed-width font.

Note that very long lines of preformatted text can cause the whole page to be wide.

 Lines that begin with
 a space are formatted exactly
 as typed, in a fixed-width font.

This text is centered.

This text is right justified.

%center% This text is centered.

%right% This text is right justified.

Four or more dashes at the beginning of a line


produce a horizontal line.

Four or more dashes
at the beginning of a line
----
produce a horizontal line.

Links

What it looks like

What to type

Practice editing in the wiki sandbox.

  • Text in double brackets become links to other pages.
  • Words are automatically capitalized in page titles.
Practice editing
in the [[wiki sandbox]].

Practice editing in the practice area.

  • Text after a pipe (|) is used as the link text
Practice editing in the
[[WikiSandbox | practice area]].

Practice editing in the wiki sandboxes.

Practice editing in the sandbox.

  • Endings become part of the link text.
  • Parentheses hide parts of the link name.
Practice editing in the
[[wiki sandbox]]es.

Practice editing in the
[[(wiki) sandbox]].

What's an aardvark, anyway?

  • Pmwiki can use InterMap prefixes that have specific meanings.
  • Parentheses can hide those too.
%newwin%What's an
[[(Wikipedia:)aardvark]], anyway?

Links to external sources can be entered

  1. bare url: http://www.google.com
  2. link text: Google
  3. as reference: [1]
Links to external sources can be entered
# bare url:  http://www.google.com
# link text: [[http://www.google.com | Google]]
# as reference: [[http://www.google.com |#]]

Links can open in another window, as in http://www.pmwiki.org.

Links can open in another window,
as in %newwin% http://www.pmwiki.org.

Character formatting

Emphasize, strongly, very strongly.

  • These are all apostrophes (single-quote marks), not double-quotes.
''Emphasize'', '''strongly''', 
'''''very strongly'''''. 

Monospaced text

This is a
  preformatted
    text block
@@Monospaced text@@ 
 
[@This is a
  preformatted
    text block@]
  • Text with superscripts
  • Text with subscripts
  • deleted strikethrough text
  • inserted underline text
  • bigger, smaller text
* Text with '^superscripts^'
* Text with '_subscripts_'
* deleted {-strikethrough-} text
* inserted {+underline+} text
* [+bigger+], [-smaller-] text

WikiStyles allow text to be different colors.

  • Use lowercase letters for RGB colors (#ff7f00, not #FF7F00).
[[WikiStyles]] allow %red% text
%blue% to %green% be 
%color=#ff7f00% different %%colors.

Headings and blocks

Major subheading

Minor subheading

!! Major subheading

!!! Minor subheading
Page titles

Not shown

  • The (:title:) directive sets the page's title to something other than its name.
(:title Basic Editing:)
Block styles

All of the text in this block is purple.

  • Purple cow
  • Purple people eater
  • Now this list is red
  • And this is normal
>>purple<<
All of the text in this block
is purple.
* Purple cow
* Purple people eater
>>red<<
* Now this list is red
>><<
* And this is normal

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Page last modified on August 27, 2005, at 04:24 AM