Difference between revisions of "Wiki Editing Help"

Revision as of 03:18, 25 May 2011

Note: The below instructions for wiki markup only works in the Wiki section of pages.

Basic wiki formatting

There are several ways that you can change or enhance the look of your wiki page with formatting such as: headings, bold and italic text, links, bulleted lists, colors, quote boxes, images and more. This page can show you how.

Simple editing is one of the major benefits of using a wiki. Users can edit wiki pages without knowing HTML, yet still do many of the same things more easily. Please feel free to experiment in the Sandbox.

Note that Wiki is a general name for this type of collaborative software, or editable website. There are many different Wiki sites and products out there, and some use different types of "markup" (coding) than others. AboutUs.org uses a version of MediaWiki software, same as Wikipedia.org, so the markup is very similar.

Basic Text

Most text does not require any special changes for wiki form. A few basic rules are:

• Do not indent paragraphs.
• Leave a single blank line between paragraphs.
• There is no need to encode HTML characters like , or &.

Bold and Italic Text

To mark text as:

bold, use three single quotes - ''' bold ''',

italic, use two single quotes - '' italic '',

bold+italic, use five single quotes - ''''' bold+italic '''''.

To mark text as bold, italic or fixed-width, you can use the HTML <b>, <i> and code tags. For example:

<b> bold </b>, <i> italic </i>, <b> <i> bold+italic </i> </b>.

Note that MediaWiki (like most Wikis) processes pages line-by-line, so if you want three bold lines of text, you will need to use three separate <b>...</b> tags. Also note that unclosed or unmatched tags are not removed from the page.

Headings

Headings are delimited by 1-7 equal signs (=). They basically correspond to HTML's <h1> through <h7> tags. These are also called section headers and simply place whatever text you want to be a headline between the equal signs. (Note: Most headings on AboutUs are size 2, although this page is using size 3 primarily.)

= Headline size 1 =
== Headline size 2 ==
=== Headline size 3 ===
==== Headline size 4 ====
===== Headline size 5 =====
===== Headline size 6 =====
====== Headline size 7 ======

Linking

To create an internal WikiLink to another AboutUs page simply place the name of the page (in the URL it will be everything after the aboutus.org/) in double brackets.

[[AboutUs.org]]

will produce: AboutUs.org

You can also change what the link will say using a pipe.

[[AboutUs.org|AboutUs]]

will produce: AboutUs

To create an external link to another website, place the entire url in single brackets, then add a single space to name the link.

[http://www.google.com/ Google]

will produce: Google

Bulleted and Numbered Lists

Bulleted lists:

* Text for a bulleted list item.
** Text for second-level list.
*** Text for third level, etc.

...which looks like:

• Text for a bulleted list item.
  • Text for second-level list.
    • Text for third level, etc.

Numbered lists:

# Text for a numbered list item.
# Normal numbered list.
## Text for second-level list.
### Text for third level, etc.
## Another Text for the second level.

...which looks like:

1. Text for a numbered list item.
2. Normal numbered list.
   1. Text for second-level list.
      1. Text for third level, etc.
   2. Another Text for the second level.

Indented Text

Simple indented text:

: Text to be indented (quote-block)
:: Text indented more
::: Text indented to third level

...which looks like:

Text to be indented (quote-block)

Text indented more

Text indented to third level

Wiki Editing with Templates

A template is a wiki page whose contents are specially intended to be inserted into another wiki page by the "transclusion" process. When you use a template, the template name is surrounded in double curly braces: {{NameOfTemplate}}.

While the following tools are not strictly wiki, many people find them useful for enhancing the look of a wiki page.

Frequently used templates

Check out this link to popular templates that can help you enhance the look of your wiki page. Many of them include Basic Box Instructions, YouTube Video Support, Font Size and more!

Large, Stand-Out Quotes

mett.in

Type {{Pullquote|left|Type your quote here.|Attribution}} You can substitute left or right to position your quote on the page, and text will wrap around it.

Or type {{Pullquotewide|Type your quote here.|Cite your quote here.}} to get a quote that is full-width, like this:

Make your quote spread out across one or more lines on the page, like this.AboutUs

Uploading, Posting, and Modifying Images

Website profile pages on AboutUs.org have a built-in logo section at the top left, but you can add more images, photos and graphics to the Wiki section.

See the Image Help page for assistance with:

• Uploading and adding images, photos, or logos to a page.
• Modifying a picture or logo on your page, such as changing the placement and size of your image, putting a frame around it, using a thumbnail that can be enlarged, or creating a gallery of images.

Colors

Use sparingly.

For colored text, use:

{{color|name of the color OR hex code|your text here}}

For example, for blue text use the following code:

{{color|blue|your text here}}

The text would look like this: your text here

Quote Boxes

Type the following series of lines:

{{Quote-Box

|quote=Type your quote or message here. Insert quotation marks, if desired.

|quote-name=Type the source of your quote or second message line here

|quote-TextSize=type 100% (or larger to select a type size)

|quote-date=give your quote a date, if applicable

}} (to end quote box)

Linking Images

To create an internal or external link to a page from an image (i.e., clicking on an image to take you to another web page), these templates can help.

ClickPic for internal image links

Steps:

• Upload the image to AboutUs that will be shown on an AboutUs page
• Add the image to your AboutUs page
• Right click on the image that you wish to link from to "View Image"--it will probably end in .gif, .jpg, or .png
• Copy the URL
• Go to the AboutUs page that has your website information
• Copy your website link
• Paste both the website link and image URL in this template:

{{ClickPic|PASTE THE WEBSITE LINK|http://PASTE THE IMAGE URL}}

• Example: {{Clickpic|Foo.com|http://example.com/image.png}}
• Note: the three sections of this template are separated with a pipe bar (|)

ExtClickPic for external image links

Steps:

• Upload the image to AboutUs that will be shown on an AboutUs page
• Add the image to your AboutUs page
• Right click on the image that you wish to link from to "View Image"--it will probably end in .gif, .jpg, or .png
• Copy the URL
• Go to the destination page that you want the image to open up to
• Copy the URL
• Paste both URLs in this template:

{{ExtClickPic|http://PASTE THE DESTINATION URL|http://PASTE THE IMAGE URL}}

• Example: {{ExtClickPic|http://www.automatedsolutions.com/|http://automatedsolutions.com/images/aslogo.gif}}

gives a linking image:

• Note: the three sections of this template are separated with a pipe bar (|)

Posting Videos

You can embed a YouTube video in a page by:

• Uploading the video to YouTube.
• Copying the relevant identification number from the URL (starting after the '=' sign)

• Pasting this identification number from YouTube (between two YouTube tags) into the Wiki section of the AboutUs page.

Example: <YouTube>U-shZs2I4E4</YouTube>

• Save your edits and play the video.

For more information, see our AboutUs Video Support page.

Questions?

We're happy to help. Just choose a way to contact us.