Help:Basic Formatting

Mediawiki uses fairly simple markup to format text on a page.

Paragraphs

Creating Paragraphs

To create a new paragraph, press "Enter" twice. There should be a blank line between each paragraph when editing.

Indenting Lines

To indent a paragraph, precede it with a colon (:). The colon should be the first character on the line; do not precede it with spaces or other characters.

This code:

First line
:Second line
::Third line
:::Fourth line
::::Fifth line
:::::Sixth line
::::::Seventh line

will produce this output:

First line

Second line

Third line

Fourth line

Fifth line

Sixth line

Seventh line

Type Formatting

Bold

To make type bold, add three apostrophes (''') before and after it.

Italic

To make type italic, add two apostrophes ('') before and after it.

Bold and Italic

To make type bold and italic, add five apostrophes (''''') before and after it.

Headings

To create a level two heading, place the heading text on a line all by itself, with two equal signs (==) before and after it. The equal signs must be the first character on the line. Do not precede them with spaces or other characters.

A level 3 heading is created with three equal signs, a level 4 with four equal signs, and so on. Headings are available through level 6.

Do not use level 1 headings, as these are reserved for page titles.

Lists

Bullet Lists

To make a bullet list, precede each item with an asterisk (*). The asterisk must be the first character on the line. Do not precede it with spaces or other characters.

To created a nested list, precede nested items with two asterisks (**).

This code:

*Bread
*Dairy
**milk
**cheese
**eggs
*Fruits
**Apples
***Red Delicious
***Yellow Delicious
***Granny Smith
**Bananas
**Cherries
*Vegetables
**Tomatoes
**Cucumbers
**Lettuce

will produce this output:

• Dairy
  • milk
  • cheese
  • eggs
• Fruits
  • Apples
    • Red Delicious
    • Yellow Delicious
    • Granny Smith
  • Bananas
  • Cherries
• Vegetables
  • Tomatoes
  • Cucumbers
  • Lettuce

Numbered Lists

To create a numbered list, precede each item with a hash (#). The hash must be the first item on the line; do not precede it with spaces or other characters.

Like bullet lists, numbered lists can also be nested. For example, this code:

#Dairy
##milk
##cheese
##eggs
#Fruits
##Apples
###Red Delicious
###Yellow Delicious
###Granny Smith
##Bananas
##Cherries
#Vegetables
##Tomatoes
##Cucumbers
##Lettuce

will produce this output:

1. Dairy
   1. milk
   2. cheese
   3. eggs
2. Fruits
   1. Apples
      1. Red Delicious
      2. Yellow Delicious
      3. Granny Smith
   2. Bananas
   3. Cherries
3. Vegetables
   1. Tomatoes
   2. Cucumbers
   3. Lettuce

Adding HTML

HTML items such as <sub>, <sup>, and <div> can be added directly to each page.

The blue boxes around the sample output, for example, are created by adding <div class="sample"> before the text and </div> after it.

To see a complete list of the custom classes that can be used in this way, see the custom style sheet for this wiki.