Help:Wiki Tutorial

Introduction

Editing a Open Marga Wiki page is not very hard. Simply click on the "edit this page" tab at the top of a Open Marga Wiki page (or on a section-edit link). This will bring you to a new page with a text box containing the editable text of the original page. If you just want to experiment, please do so in the sandbox; not here. You should write a short edit summary in the small field below the edit-box. You may use shorthand to describe your changes, and when you have finished, press the Show preview button to see how your changes will look. You can also see the difference between the page with your edits and the previous version of the page by pressing the Show changes button. If you're satisfied with what you see, be bold and press the Save page button. Your changes will immediately be visible to other Open Marga Wiki users.

You can also click on the Discussion tab to see the corresponding talk page, which contains comments about the page from other Open Marga Wiki users. Click on the "+" tab to add a new section, or edit the page in the same way as an article page.

You should remember to sign your messages on talk pages and some special-purpose project pages, but you should not sign edits you make to regular articles. This is done by adding four tildes after your post, like this: ~~~~ . The MediaWiki software keeps track of which user makes each change.

Minor edits

When editing a page on this site, a logged-in user can mark an edit as being "minor". Minor edits generally mean spelling corrections, formatting and minor rearrangement of text. It is possible to hide minor edits when viewing recent changes (see the link on the sidebar). Marking a significant change as a minor edit is considered bad Wikiquette, especially when it involves the deletion of some text. If you accidentally mark an edit as minor, you should edit the page once more, mark it major (or, rather, ensure that the check-box for "This is a minor edit" is not checked), and, explain in the edit summary, that the previous change was a major one.

Page protection

In a few cases, where an administrator has protected a page, the link labeled "MediaWiki:Editthispage" is replaced by the text "View source" (or equivalents in the language of the project). In that case the page cannot be edited. Protection of an image page includes protection of the image itself.

Edit conflicts

If someone else makes an edit while you are making yours, the result is an edit conflict. Many conflicts can be automatically resolved by the Wiki. If it can't be resolved, however, you will need to resolve it yourself. The Wiki gives you two text boxes, where the top one is the other person's edit and the bottom one is your edit. Merge your edits into the top edit box, which is the only one that will be saved. If this does not work,wait a few minutes and try again.

Reverting

The edit link of a page showing an old version leads to an edit page with the old wikitext. This is a useful way to restore the old version of a page. However, the edit link of a diff page gives the current wikitext, even if the diff page shows an old version below the table of differences.

Error messages

If you get an error message upon saving a page, you can't tell whether the actual save has failed or just the confirmation. You can go back and save again, and the second save will have no effect, or you can check "My contributions" to see whether the edit went through.

Checking spelling and editing in your favorite editor

You may find it more convenient to copy and paste the text first into your favorite text editor, edit and spell check it there, and then paste it back into your web browser to preview. This way, you can also keep a local backup copy of the pages you have edited. It also allows you to make changes offline.

If you edit this way, it's best to leave the editing page open after you copy from it, using the same edit box to submit your changes, so that the usual edit conflict mechanism can deal with it. If you return to the editing page later, please make sure that nobody else has edited the page in the meantime. If someone has, you'll need to merge their edits into yours by using the (diff) feature in the page history.

Composition of the edit page

The editing page consists of these sections:

Edit toolbar (optional)
Editing text box
Edit summary box
Minor edit/Watch this page checkbox
Save/Preview/Changes/Cancel/Editing help links
A list of templates used on the page
A preview, if you have requested one. Your preferences may place the preview at the top of the page instead.

Position-independent wikitext

No matter where you put these things in the wikitext, the resulting page is displayed the same way:

Categories
The magic words

__NOTOC__ and __FORCETOC__ . See Help:Section.

Wiki markup

Wiki markup is an instruction used to stylize text on a wiki page. In the tables below you can see what effects are possible with wiki markup. You may want to keep this page open in a separate browser window for reference. If you want to, you can use the sandbox to safely test out the various wiki markup instructions. Another way you can learn how to produce specific effects is to click edit this page on a page that contains the effect you wish to copy and see what markup is used.

Markup With Edit Buttons

Name

Markup

Displays

File:Toolbaricon bold B.png Bold

Make text '''bold'''

Make text bold

File:Toolbaricon italic I.png Italic

Make text ''italic''

Make text italic

File:Vector toolbar insert link button.png Link

Link to [[Help:Link|a page]], [[#Basics|a section of a page]] or an [http://www.wikimedia.org external page].

Link to a page, a section of a page or an external page.

File:Vector toolbar insert image button.png Embed File

[[File:Vector toolbar insert image button.png]]

File:Vector toolbar insert image button.png

File:Vector toolbar insert reference button.png Insert references

Example text<ref>It is a note!</ref>

File:Vector toolbar signature button.png Signature

Thanks guys --~~~~

Thanks guys --Karl Wick 07:46, 27 November 2005 (UTC)

Heading File:MediaWiki Vector skin action arrow.png Dropdown list for headings in different levels

== Level 2 (Section heading) ==

=== Level 3 ===

==== Level 4 ====

===== Level 5 =====

Level 2 (Section heading)

Level 3

Level 4

Level 5

File:Vector toolbar bulleted list button.png Insert a bulleted list item

* Bulleted list item

Bulleted list item

File:Vector toolbar numbered list button.png Insert a numbered list item

# Numbered list item

Numbered list item

File:Vector toolbar indentation button.png Text indentation

:Indented line

Indented line

File:Vector toolbar no wiki formatting button.png Ignore wiki markup

File:Vector toolbar insert new line button.png Insert new line

example text

example
text

File:Vector toolbar big text button.png Big text

Big text

File:Vector toolbar small text button.png Small text

Small text

Small text

File:Vector toolbar superscript button.png Superscript text

Superscript text

^{Superscript text}

File:Vector toolbar subscript button.png Superscript text

Subscript text

_{Subscript text}

File:Vector toolbar insert picture gallery button.png Insert picture gallery



<gallery>
File:Example.jpg|Caption1
File:Example.jpg|Caption2
</gallery>

Caption1

Caption1
Caption2

Caption2

File:Vector toolbar insert table button.png Insert table (opens a configuration window to select the number of rows and columns and some other options)



{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Header text
|-
| Example
|}

Header text
Example

File:Vector toolbar redirect button.png Page Redirect

#redirect [[Help:Wiki Tutorial]]

#REDIRECT Help:Wiki Tutorial

File:Vector toolbar search-replace button.png Search and replace

Opens the search and replace window

Magic Words

Magic words are strings of text that MediaWiki associates with a return value or function, such as time, site details, or page names.

http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Help:Magic_words

Templates

Templates are segments of Wiki markup that are meant to be included on multiple pages. You add templates by putting the template's name in {{double braces}} . Some templates take parameters, as well, which you separate with the pipe (|) character.

Markup	Displays
{{Under improvement} }	Template:Under improvement

Organizing your writing

What it looks like	What you type
Section headings Headings organize your writing into sections. The Wiki software can automatically generate a table of contents from them. Subsection Using more equals signs creates a subsection. A smaller subsection Don't skip levels, like from two to four equals signs. Start with 2 equals signs not 1 because 1 creates H1 tags which should be reserved for page title.	== Section headings == ''Headings'' organize your writing into sections. The Wiki software can automatically generate a table of contents from them. === Subsection === Using more equals signs creates a subsection. ==== A smaller subsection ==== Don't skip levels, like from two to four equals signs. Start with 2 equals signs not 1 because 1 creates H1 tags which should be reserved for page title.
Unordered lists are easy to do: Start every line with a star. More stars indicate a deeper level. A newline in a list marks the end of the list. Of course you can start again.	* ''Unordered lists'' are easy to do: Start every line with a star. * More stars indicate a deeper level. * A newline * in a list marks the end of the list. * Of course you can start again.
Numbered lists are: Very organized Easy to follow A newline marks the end of the list. New numbering starts with 1.	# ''Numbered lists'' are also good: ## Very organized ## Easy to follow A newline marks the end of the list. # New numbering starts with 1.
Another kind of list is a definition list: Word Definition of the word Here is a longer phrase that needs a definition Phrase defined A word Which has a definition Also a second one And even a third	Another kind of list is a ''definition list'': ; Word : Definition of the word ; Here is a longer phrase that needs a definition : Phrase defined ; A word : Which has a definition : Also a second one : And even a third
You can even do mixed lists and nest them inside each other or break lines in lists. definition lists can be nested too	* You can even do mixed lists # and nest them # inside each other # or break lines<br>in lists. #; definition lists #: can be *#;; nested too
A colon (:) indents a line or paragraph. A newline after that starts a new paragraph. This is often used for discussion on talk pages. We use 1 colon to indent once. We use 2 colons to indent twice. We use 3 colons to indent 3 times, and so on.	: A colon (:) indents a line or paragraph. A newline after that starts a new paragraph. <br> This is often used for discussion on talk pages. : We use 1 colon to indent once. :: We use 2 colons to indent twice. ::: We use 3 colons to indent 3 times, and so on.
You can make horizontal dividing lines (----) to separate text. But you should usually use sections instead, so that they go in the table of contents.	You can make horizontal dividing lines (----) to separate text. ---- But you should usually use sections instead, so that they go in the table of contents.
Sometimes you may need to reference or add supplementary notes to your sentences. We may use the ref or refun tag. Eg: There are XX numbers of people in the world.<ref>The source is quoted from ...</ref> Reference: <references/> For details, see Help:References.	Sometimes you may need to reference or add supplementary notes to your sentences. We may use the ref or refun tag. Eg: <br> There are XX numbers of people in the world.<ref>The source is quoted from ...</ref> <br> Reference: <references/> For details, see [[Help:References]].
A single newline has no effect on the layout. But an empty line starts a new paragraph.	A single newline has no effect on the layout. But an empty line starts a new paragraph.
You can break lines without a new paragraph. Please use this sparingly.	You can break lines<br> without a new paragraph.<br> Please use this sparingly.
You should "sign" your comments on talk pages: - Three tildes gives your user name: Karl Wick - Four tildes give your user name plus date/time: Karl Wick 07:46, 27 November 2005 (UTC) - Five tildes gives the date/time alone: 07:46, 27 November 2005 (UTC)	You should "sign" your comments on talk pages: <br> - Three tildes gives your user name: ~~~ <br> - Four tildes give your user name plus date/time: ~~~~ <br> - Five tildes gives the date/time alone: ~~~~~

Show As Typed

A few different kinds of formatting will tell the wiki to display things as you typed them.

Markup	Displays
<nowiki> The nowiki tag ignores Wiki ''markup''. It reformats text by removing newlines and multiple spaces. It still interprets special characters: → </nowiki>	The nowiki tag ignores Wiki ''markup''. It reformats text by removing newlines and multiple spaces. It still interprets special characters: →
<pre> The pre tag ignores Wiki ''markup''. It also doesn't reformat text. It still interprets special characters: → </pre>	The pre tag ignores Wiki ''markup''. It also doesn't reformat text. It still interprets special characters: →
Leading spaces are another way to preserve formatting. Putting a space at the beginning of each line stops the text from being reformatted. It still interprets Wiki ''markup'' and special characters: →	Leading spaces are another way to preserve formatting. Putting a space at the beginning of each line stops the text from being reformatted. It still interprets Wiki markup and special characters: →
#A <nowiki>newline surrounded by nowiki tags in a list does not mark the end of the list. </nowiki><pre><nowiki> You can combine pre tags with nowiki tags so preformatted examples can go inside of lists. </nowiki></pre> #The list continues.	A newline surrounded by nowiki tags in a list does not mark the end of the list. You can combine pre tags with nowiki tags so preformatted examples can go inside of lists. The list continues.

Mark-up such as table

http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Help:Table