Help:Contents

Start sections with header lines

Note: Single equal signs give the highest level heading, like the page title; usually projects have the convention not to use them.

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, for example, place them in alphabetical order rather than, say, relative to population of OECD countries, or some random order.
• If you want to keep headings out of the TOC you have to use HTML heading tags and close them without using a slash e.g. <h4>heading too low level to be in the toc of large page<h4>.

== New section ==

=== Subsection ===

==== Sub-subsection ====

Newline

A single newline has no effect on the layout.

But an empty line starts a new paragraph, or ends a list or indented part. (<p> disables this paragraphing until </p> or the end of the section)

(in Cologne Blue two newlines and a div tag give just one newline; in the order newline, div tag, newline, the result is two newlines)

You can make the wikitext more readable by putting in newlines. You might find this causes future problems -- see w:Wikipedia:Don't use line breaks for details.

• When used in a list, a newline does affect the layout (See Help:List).

A single
newline
has no
effect on the
layout.

But an empty line
starts a new paragraph.

(The HTML tag <br> is sufficient. The system produces the XHTML code <br />.)

• 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.

You can break lines<br>
without starting a new paragraph.

• Unordered Lists are easy to do:
  • start every line with a star
    • more stars means deeper levels
• A newline
• in a list

marks the end of the list.

• Of course
• you can
• start again.

* Unordered Lists are easy to do:
** start every line with a star
*** more stars means deeper levels
*A newline
*in a list  
marks the end of the list.
*Of course
*you can
*start again.

1. Numbered lists are also good
   1. very organized
   2. easy to follow
2. A newline
3. in a list

marks the end of the list.

1. New numbering starts
2. with 1.

# Numbered lists are also good
## very organized
## easy to follow
#A newline
#in a list  
marks the end of the list.
#New numbering starts
#with 1.

• You can even do mixed lists
  1. and nest them
     • or break lines
       in lists

* You can even do mixed lists
*# and nest them
*#* or break lines<br>in lists

word 

definition of the word

longer phrase

phrase defined

; word : definition of the word
; longer phrase 
: phrase defined

• One item per line; a newline can appear before the colon, but using a space before the colon improves parsing.

indenting

A colon indents a line or paragraph.

A manual newline starts a new paragraph.

• This is often 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.

<blockquote>
The '''blockquote''' command will indent 
both margins when needed instead of the 
left margin only as the colon does.  
</blockquote>

• Please note the US-English spelling of "center".

<center>Centered text.</center>

this is above it...

...and this is below it.

If you don't use a section header, you don't get a TOC entry.

A horizontal dividing line: 
this is above it...
----
...and this is below it.

Basic

Sue is reading the official position (or Official positions).

Sue is reading the 
[[official position]]
(or [[Official position]]s).

Basic + Text formatting

You can also italicize/etc. links: e.g., Wikipedia.

 ''[[Wikipedia]]'' 

Interwiki linking

A link to the page on another wiki (e.g. the same subject in another language)

• For more info see m:Help:Interwiki linking.
• fr:Wikipédia:Aide.

*For more info see [[m:Help:Interwiki linking]].
*[[:fr:Wikipédia:Aide]].

Section of page

• List of cities by country#Morocco.
• List of cities by country#Sealand.

If the section doesn't exist, the link goes to the top of the page. If there are multiple sections by the same name, link to specific ones by adding how many times that header has alreay appeared (e.g. if there are 3 sections entitled "Example header," and you wish to link to the third one, then use [[#Example section 3]]. For more info, see Help:Editing FAQ.

*[[List of cities by country#Morocco]].
*[[List of cities by country#Sealand]].

Piped link

Use a pipe "|" to create a link label:

• About Links
• Cities in Morocco

*[[Help:Link|About Links]]
*[[List of cities by country#Morocco|
Cities in Morocco]]

• Words in parentheses: kingdom.
• Namespace: Requests for adminship.

After you save, the server automatically fills in the link label.

*In parentheses: [[kingdom (biology)|]]. 
*Namespace: [[Meta:Requests for adminship|]].

Links to nonexistent pages

The weather in London is a page that doesn't exist yet.

• You can create it by clicking on the link.
• Have a look at how to start a page guide and the naming conventions page for your project.

[[The weather in London]] is a page
that doesn't exist yet.

Link to yourself

You should "sign" your comments on talk pages:

Your user name: Karl Wick

Or your user name plus date/time: Karl Wick 08:10 Oct 5, 2002 (UTC)

Five tildes gives the date/time alone: 08:10 Oct 5, 2002 (UTC)

The server will fill in the link after you save.

You should "sign" your comments on talk pages:
: Your user name: ~~~
: Or your user name plus date/time: ~~~~
: Five tildes gives the date/time alone: ~~~~~

Redirects

one article title to another with this special link.

#REDIRECT [[United States]]

"Magic" links

• ISBN links to books: ISBN 0123456789X (See Help:ISBN links
• RFC links to Requests for Comments: RFC 123 (See mediawiki:Rfcurl)

ISBN 0123456789X
RFC 123

Media links

To include links to non-image uploads such as sounds, use a "media" link.
Sound

[[media:Sg_mrob.ogg|Sound]]

Links to Categories

To include links to a Category page.
Category:English documentation

[[:Category:English documentation]]

Dates

Use links for dates, so everyone can set their own display order. Use Special:Preferences to change your own date display setting.

[[July 20]], [[1969]] , [[20 July]] [[1969]]
and [[1969]]-[[07-20]]

Special pages

"What links here" and "Recent changes" can be linked as:
Special:Whatlinkshere/Help:Contents and Special:Recentchangeslinked/Help:Contents

[[Special:Whatlinkshere/
Help:Editing]] and
[[Special:Recentchangeslinked/
Help:Editing]]

Emphasize (italics), strongly (bold), very strongly (bold italics). (These are double and triple apostrophes, not double quotes.)

Note: this can also be applied to links (e.g., Wikipedia).

''Emphasize'', '''strongly''',
'''''very strongly'''''.

''[[Wikipedia]]''

You can also write italic and bold. This is useful in mathematical formulas where you need specific font styles rather than emphasis.

F = ma

(The difference between these two methods is not very important for graphical browsers, so most people ignore it). But it may make a big difference for the visually impaired ;-)

You can also write <i>italic</i> and <b>bold</b>.
This is useful in mathematical formulas where you 
need specific font styles rather than emphasis.
:<b>F</b> = <i>m</i><b>a</b>

You can also write in small caps. If the wiki has the templates, this can Template:Bsmbe much simpler to writeTemplate:Esm.

You can also write 
<span style="font-variant:small-caps">
in small caps</span>.
If the wiki has the templates, this can 
{{bsm}}be much simpler to write{{esm}}.

technical terms and computer code.

A typewriter font, sometimes used for 
<tt>technical terms</tt> and <code>computer code</code>.

• For semantic reasons, using <code> where applicable is preferable to using <tt>.

You can use <small>small text</small> 
for captions.

and underline new material.

You can also mark deleted material and inserted material using logical markup rather than visual markup.

• When editing regular articles, just make your changes and do not mark them up in any special way.
• When editing your own previous remarks in talk pages, it is sometimes appropriate to mark up deleted or inserted material.

You can <strike>strike out deleted material</strike>
and <u>underline new material</u>.

You can also mark <del>deleted material</del> and
<ins>inserted material</ins> using logical markup
rather than visual markup.

Superscript: x² or x²

Most browsers have an easier time formatting lines with &sup2; than with ² buy xanax ε₀ = 8.85 × 10⁻¹² C² / J m.

1 hectare = 1 E4 m²

Subscript: x<sub>2</sub>
Superscript: x<sup>2</sup> or x&sup2;

&epsilon;<sub>0</sub> =
8.85 &times; 10<sup>&minus;12</sup>
C&sup2; / J m.

1 [[hectare]] = [[1 E4 m&sup2]]