Help:Editing

Summary

It's very easy to edit a wiki page. Simply click on the "Edit" link at the top of a Wiki page to change the page itself, or click on "Discussion" and then on "Edit" to write on the corresponding talk page. This will bring you to a page with a text box containing the editable text of that Wiki page.

Then type away, write what you desire in the edit-box and when finished press "Save"! You can also preview your changes before saving if you like. Depending on your system, pressing Enter while the edit box is not active (there is no typing cursor in it) may have the same effect as pressing Save.

It is often more convenient to copy and paste the text first INTO your favorite text editor, edit and spell CHECK there, and then paste back INTO your web browser to preview. This way, you can also keep a local backup copy of the pages you authored so that you can make changes offline.

Minor edits

When editing a page, a logged-in user has the option of flagging the edit as a "minor edit". When to use this is somewhat a matter of personal preference. The rule of thumb is that an edit of a page that is spelling corrections, formatting, and minor rearranging of text should be flagged as a "minor edit". A major edit is basically something that makes the entry worth relooking at for somebody who wants to watch the article rather closely, so any "real" change, even if it is a single word. This feature is important, because users can choose to hide minor edits in their view of the Recent Changes page, to keep the volume of edits down to a manageable level.

The reason for not allowing a user who is not logged in to mark an edit as minor is that vandalism could then be marked as a minor edit, in which case it would stay unnoticed longer. This limitation is another reason to log in.

Templates

Some text on a page may correspond in the edit box to just a reference to another page, in the form {{name}}, referring to the page "Template:name". This is called a template. For changing that text, edit that other page. Sometimes a separate edit link is provided for this purpose.

Page protection

In a few cases the link labeled "MediaWiki:Editthispage" is replaced by the text "Protected page" (or equivalents in the language of the project). In that case the page can not be edited.

Separating edits

When moving or copying a piece of text within a page or FROM another page, and also making other edits, it is useful to separate these edits. This way the diff function can be usefully applied for checking these other edits.

Help Editing Wiki Pages

1. Click on Edit this page on top of web page or edit on the right (if available) for a section
2. Type in text
3. Click on Show Preview. Modify if required.
4. Add summary if required. Click on Save page.

Practice editing in the PGVWiki:Sandbox

Wiki Code

Most basic HTML commands will work, but wiki also has "easier" ways to specify some commands.
Triple single quotes, like '''Bold''' around text will make it bold, like Bold. and two single quotes will show Italics.)

Also ... there are newer CSS commands to replace outdated HTML. Stay tuned.

Some other Wiki things:

placing a 'space' at the beginning of a line
results in the text being displayed exactly as written
inside this blue box ... wysiwyg.
so this works good for displaying robot code snippets
and other DB code

Here's another way:
Use <pre> and </pre> to bracket your code.
This precludes one having to enter a space at the beginning of every line.
An example:

A handy method for eventually unfixing the stuck bot is:

'will normally unfix bot by restoring .fixpos to zero
'typically I place this in most bots to prevent possible attack and accidental fixing
cond
start
.fixpos *.fixed mult dec
stop

This will also disable any HTML code/tags within the 'box'
allowing one to list them as instructions without activating the tag.
example:

 <b><i><u> have no effect within the <nowiki><pre>

tags.</nowiki>

Placing Comments in the Edit Window

 
 using <!-- and --> one can place comments in the edit window which will not be visible on the page.
 like so: <!-- place any comments/code examples/reminders here -->

Table of contents (TOC)

For each article with more than three headings, a table of contents (TOC) is automatically generated from the section headings, unless:

• (for a user) preferences are set to turn it off
• (for an article) in the edit box the code __NOTOC__ is added

The TOC is put before the first section header unless it is placed manually with the code __TOC__. Thus there may be some introductory text before it, known as the "lead".

__NOTOC__ disables Table of Contents on those short pages which may not require it.
__TOC__ will manually place the TOC

Bullet list

adding * at the beginning of a line will form a bullet list.

• 1st bullet
• 2nd bullet
• etc ...

Number list

adding # at the beginning of a line will form a number list.

1. 1st
2. 2nd
3. etc ...

Line Break

If you put a break command <br>
at the end of a line you can get a
single spacing and format your code
like you wish.

Indent

adding  : at the beginning of a line will indent.

no indent

one indent

two

three

this also precludes having to place <br> at the end of a line to break it.

===Font Size=== (using HTML)

<font size = 1> Text </font> =  Text
<font size = 2> Text </font> =  Text
<font size = 3> Text </font> =  Text
<font size = 4> Text </font> =  Text
<font size = 5> Text </font> =  Text

Or, instead of using absolute sizes, you can adjust font sizes relative to the ones that the user has chosen. So for instance, if a user with visual difficulties has already set his or her font sizes to be large, you make them larger and will not accidentally set them smaller than the user can read.

<font size = +1> Text </font> =  Text
<font size = +2> Text </font> =  Text
<font size = +3> Text </font> =  Text
<font size = +4> Text </font> =  Text
<font size = +5> Text </font> =  Text

You can also make a font smaller:

<font size = -2> Text </font> =  Text

===Font Color=== (using HTML)

<font color="Red"> Text </font>   =  Text
<font color="Green"> Text </font> =  Text
<font color="Purple"> Text </font> =  Text

<font color=#FF8800> Text </font> =  Text

even R A I N B O W C O L O R S are possible

(Font colors may look different on different screens, but the basic colors such as red, green, blue, black and white are fairly consistent.)

Font color, face, size

<font color=#FF8890 face=Verdana size=5>
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz

<font color=#0088CC face=Comic Sans MS size=6> 
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz

(If the viewer does not have the font you select on his or her computer, it may not look the way you expect.)

Other HTML Commands

<B> Text </B> = Bold Text
<I> Text </I> = Italic Text
<U> Text </U> = Underlined Text
<S> Text </S> = Strikeout Text
or any combination:
<U><B> Text </B></U> = Underline/Bold Text 

Math Markup

Not sure this is a feature here yet ... will have to experiment.

<math> A = b ^ x</math>

Templates

Here is where all the major templates for this wikki will go.

• delete - {{delete}} This is the rapid delete template, designed so users can request page deletes by admins

External Help

Help:WikiCities - Wikicities help area, very useful and informative Wiki Spam - A page on wikispam from wikimedia.

The wiki markup

In the left column of the TABLE below, you can see what effects are possible. In the right column, you can see how those effects were achieved. In other words, to make text look like it looks in the left column, type it in the format you see in the right column.

You may want to keep this page open in a separate browser window for reference. If you want to try out things without danger of doing any harm, you can do so in the Sandbox.

Sections, paragraphs, lists and lines

What it looks like	What you type
Start your sections with header lines: New section Subsection Sub-subsection	== New section == === Subsection === ==== Sub-subsection ====
A single has no effect on the layout. These can be used to separate sentences within a paragraph. Some editors find that this aids editing and improves the diff function. But an empty line starts a new paragraph.	A single [[en:newline|newline]] has no effect on the layout. These can be used to separate sentences within a paragraph. Some editors find that this aids editing and improves the ''diff'' function. But an empty line starts a new paragraph.
You can break lines without starting a new paragraph.	You can break lines<br/> without starting a new paragraph.
Lists are easy to do: start every line with a star more stars means deeper levels	* Lists are easy to do: ** start every line with a star ** more stars means deeper levels
Numbered lists are also good very organized easy to follow	# Numbered lists are also good ## very organized ## easy to follow
You can even do mixed lists and nest them like this	* You can even do mixed lists *# and nest them *#* like this
Definition list  list of definitions item  the item's definition	; Definition list : list of definitions ; item : the item's definition
A colon indents a line or paragraph. A manual newline starts a new paragraph. This is primarily for displayed material, but is also used for discussion on Talk pages.	: A colon indents a line or paragraph. A manual newline starts a new paragraph.
IF a line starts with a space THEN it will be formatted exactly as typed; in a fixed-width font; lines won't wrap; ENDIF this is useful for: * pasting preformatted text; * algorithm descriptions; * program source code * ascii art; WARNING If you make it wide, you and hence less readable. Never start ordinary lines with spaces.	IF a line starts with a space THEN it will be formatted exactly as typed; in a fixed-width font; lines won't wrap; ENDIF this is useful for: * pasting preformatted text; * algorithm descriptions; * program source code * ascii art;
Centered text.	<center>Centered text.</center>
A: above and below. Mainly useful for separating threads on Talk pages.	A horizontal dividing line: above ---- and below.

Character formatting

What it looks like	What you type
Emphasize, strongly, very strongly. These are double and triple apostrophes, not double quotes.	''Emphasize'', '''strongly''', '''''very strongly'''''.
You can also write italic and bold if the desired effect is a specific font style rather than emphasis, as in mathematical formulae: F = ma However, the difference between these two methods is not very important for graphical browsers, and many people choose to ignore it.	You can also write <i>italic</i> and <b>bold</b> if the desired effect is a specific font style rather than emphasis, as in mathematical formulas: :<b>F</b> = <i>m</i><b>a</b>
A typewriter font for technical terms.	A typewriter font for <tt>technical terms</tt>.
You can use small text for captions.	You can use <small>small text</small> for captions.
You can strike out deleted material and underline new material.	You can <strike>strike out deleted material</strike> and <u>underline new material</u>.
Umlauts and accents: (See MediaWiki User's Guide: Creating special characters) è é ê ë ì í

Image formatting

See | MediaWiki Handbook : Image Page and Images and other uploaded files ] for more extensive options.

What it looks like	What you type
Image Heading	Image Heading<br /> [[Image:PGVlogo.jpg]]
	[[Image:PGVlogo.jpg|centre|100px|thumb]]
Caption with a PhpGedView link.	[[image:PGVlogo.jpg|right|thumb|350px|<b>Caption</b> with a [[PhpGedView|PhpGedView]] link.]]
sample image: PGVlogo.jpg (281 × 50 pixel, file size: 4 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg)