Editing Help:Formatting

{{PD Help Page}}
You can format your text using wiki markup. This consists of normal characters like asterisks, single quotes or equation marks which have a special function in the wiki, sometimes depending on their position. For example, to format a word in ''italic'', you include it in two single quotes like <code><nowiki>''this''</nowiki></code>

== Text formatting markup ==
{| class="wikitable"
! style="width:15%" |Description
! style="width:45%" |You type
! style="width:40%" |You get
|-
! colspan="3" align="center" style="background:#A7C1F2" | character formatting - ''applies anywhere''
|-
|Italic text
|<pre>''italic''</pre>
|''italic''
|-
| Bold text
|<pre>'''bold'''</pre>
|'''bold'''
|-
| Bold and italic
|<pre>'''''bold & italic'''''</pre>
|'''''bold & italic'''''
|-
|Escape wiki markup
|
<pre>&lt;nowiki>no ''markup''</nowiki></pre>
|<nowiki>no ''markup''</nowiki>
|-
! colspan="3" align="center" style="background:#A7C1F2"| section formatting - ''only at the beginning of the line''
|-
|Headings of different levels 
|
<pre>=level 1=
==level 2==
===level 3===
====level 4====
=====level 5=====
======level 6======</pre>
An article with four or more headings will automatically create a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Section#Table_of_contents_.28TOC.29 table of contents].

|
<!-- little hack to prevent TOC viewing -->
<div style="font-size: 188%; margin: 0; padding-top: .5em; padding-bottom: .17em; border-bottom: 1px solid #aaa;">Level 1</div>
<div style="font-size: 150%; margin: 0; padding-top: .5em; padding-bottom: .17em; border-bottom: 1px solid #aaa;">Level 2</div>
<div style="font-size: 132%; border-bottom: none; font-weight: bold;">Level 3</div>
<div style="font-size: 100%; border-bottom: none; font-weight: bold;">Level 4</div>
<div style="font-size: 86%; border-bottom: none; font-weight: bold;">Level 5</div>
<div style="font-size: 80%; border-bottom: none; font-weight: bold;">Level 6</div>
|-
|Horizontal rule
|
<pre>----</pre>
|
----
|-
|Bullet list
|
<pre>
* one
* two
* three
** three point one
** three point two
</pre>
Inserting a blank line will end the first list and start another.
|
* one
* two
* three
** three point one
** three point two
|-
|Numbered list
|
<pre>
# one
# two<br />spanning several lines<br />without breaking the numbering
# three
## three point one
## three point two
</pre>
|
# one
# two<br />spanning several lines<br />without breaking the numbering
# three
## three point one
## three point two
|-
|Definition list
|
<pre>
;item 1
:definition 1
;item 2
:definition 2-1
:definition 2-2
</pre>
|
;item 1
:definition 1
;item 2
:definition 2-1
:definition 2-2
|-
| Adopting definition list to indent text
|
<pre>:Single indent
::Double indent
:::::Multiple indent</pre>
This adoption may be controversial from the viewpoint of accessibility.
|
:Single indent
::Double indent
:::::Multiple indent
|-
| Mixture of different types of list
|
<pre>
# one
# two
#* two point one
#* two point two
# three
#; three item one
#: three def one
# four
#: four def one
#: this rather looks like the continuation of # four
#: and thus often used instead of <br />
# five
## five sub 1
### five sub 1 sub 1
## five sub 2
;item 1
:* definition 1-1
:* definition 1-2
:
;item 2
:# definition 2-1
:# definition 2-2
</pre>
The usage of <code>#:</code> and  <code>*:</code> for breaking a line within an item may also be controversial.
|
# one
# two
#* two point one
#* two point two
# three
#; three item one
#: three def one
# four
#: four def one
#: this rather looks like the continuation of <code># four</code>
#: and thus often used instead of <code><nowiki><br /></nowiki></code>
# five
## five sub 1
### five sub 1 sub 1
## five sub 2
;item 1
:* definition 1-1
:* definition 1-2
:
;item 2
:# definition 2-1
:# definition 2-2
|-
|-
|Preformatted text
|
<pre>
 preformatted text is done with
 a '''space''' at the 
 ''beginning'' of the line
</pre>
This way of preformatting only applies to section formatting, and character formatting markups are still effective.
|
 preformatted text is done with
 a '''space''' at the 
 ''beginning'' of the line
|}

== Paragraphs ==
MediaWiki ignores normal line breaks. To start a new paragraph, leave an empty line. You can force a line break within a paragraph with the HTML tags <code><nowiki><br /></nowiki></code>.

== HTML ==
Some [[wikipedia:HTML|HTML]] tags are allowed in MediaWiki, for example <code><nowiki><code></nowiki></code>, <code><nowiki><div></nowiki></code>, <code><nowiki><span></nowiki></code> and <code><nowiki><font></nowiki></code>. These apply anywhere you insert them.

{| class="wikitable"
!Description
!You type
!You get
|-
| Strikethrough
|<pre><del>Strikethrough</del></pre>
|<del>Strikethrough</del>
|-
|Fixed width text
|
<pre><tt>Fixed width text</tt></pre>
|
<tt>Fixed width text</tt>
|-
|Blockquotes
|
<pre>
text text text text text text text text text text text text
text text text text text text text text text text text text
<blockquote>  quote quote quote quote quote quote </blockquote>
text text text text text text text text text text text text
</pre>
|
text text text text text text text text text text text text
text text text text text text text text text text text text
<blockquote>  quote quote quote quote quote quote </blockquote>
text text text text text text text text text text text text
|-
|Comment
|
<pre><!--This is a comment--></pre>

Text can only be viewed in the edit window.
|
<!--This is comment-->
|-
|Completely preformatted text
|
<pre><pre>this way, all markups are '''ignored'''&lt;/pre></pre>
|
<pre>
this way, all markups are '''ignored'''</pre>
|}

== Other formatting ==
Beyond the text formatting markup shown above, here are some other formatting references:
*[[Help:Links|Links]]
*[[Help:Images|Images]]
*[[Help:Tables|Tables]]

[[Category:Help]]