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[hide]Wiki Editing Made Easy
Editing Wiki posts doesn't have to be hard. The format is pretty simple. However, if you try to go out and look for Wiki formatting tips, you're more than likely going to stumble upon some page full of technical jargon, especially if you find one of those comprehensive, A-to-Z guides. It doesn't need to be that complex. Here, I'll write for you the basics of Wiki editing. In no time at all, you'll be editing with the pros!
Beginner Wiki Coding
Wiki code is what we call a markup language. What that means is, it's a bunch of stuff that you can stick on plain old boring text to make it interesting. So, what we'll be doing most of the time is adjust little bits of text at a time.
Let's begin with the simplest things.
Text Styling
Wanna make something in italics?
- Put two apostrophes on either side, like this: ''text goes here''
Wanna make something bold?
- Put three apostrophes on either side, like this: '''text goes here'''
Wanna make fancy headers that show up in tables of contents? (Like, on this page, "Wiki Editing Made Easy" and "Text Styling")
- Put equal signs on either side. More equal signs means a smaller header. Like this:
=Wiki Editing Made Easy=
==Beginner Wiki Coding==
===Text Styling===
- AltWiki automatically puts your headers into a table of contents, if you have at least 4 of them (of any size.)
Internal Linking
Wanna link to something on the AltWiki, like the Main Page?
- Put two square brackets on either side, like this: [[Main Page]]
- You can do this for any article on the site. Just check the top of the page for the title!
B...But I don't want to be stuck with some of these ugly looking titles! I want it to be spiffy!
- So call it something else, by putting a pipe (shift + \ ) between the title and your text, like this: [[Main Page | spiffy!]]
Want to link to a category page, like, say, Category:Common Techniques?
- Put an extra colon just after the starting brackets, before the word category, like this: [[:Category:Common Techniques]]. If you don't do it this way, it'll just add the page to that category instead of creating a link!
External Linking
Wanna link to somewhere outside of AltWiki? Like, for instance, IMC? [1]
- Put one square bracket on either side of the URL address, like this: [http://im-chat.com]
Want to do the thing with the link name that you did with AltWiki links? Want that to be IMC instead?
- Do it like normal, but put a space between the address and the link text, like this: [http://im-chat.com IMC]
Images
Wanna put an image in?
- Type the URL to it. I'm serious. That's it. No brackets or anything.
- The extension of the filename (the .JPG or .GIF or .PNG or what have you) MUST be in all lower-case, or it won't work.
Wanna have it float off to one side, and have the text float around it?
- That's a bit more complicated. Only a bit, though. Copy the following text into your article, and change the "align" to left or right, whichever you prefer. Then put your image URL in, where indicated.
{| align=right border=0 | |- || image URL goes here |}
- This will create an invisible "table" around your picture, so, if you want, you can put other text in there as well. Complete table editing instructions will be included in the Advanced Editing section.
A Short Note on Internal Links
If you write something that should link to a non-existant article, link it even if you have no intent of writing that article.
There's a special page which shows the most linked to articles that don't exist -- Wanted Pages. Some people look at it occasionally to pick something new to write about. Linking to non-existance is a good way of pointing out to them what needs to be written.