How to Edit Wiki pages

Visit the main Wiki help page for more information

• Simple MediaWiki Documentation
• Detailed MediaWiki Documentation

The following is from: Editing Overview. Please try your hand in our 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 ====
Categories Use categories and sub-categories to organize the wiki. Add a category to your page and the page will show up on that category page. For a subcategory you must do a little more work. A subcategory turns a category into a subcategory. To create a subcategory you must already have your 'top' category. Visit the page that will be in the subcategory. Edit the page and add in Category:My Subcategory Save the page, scroll to the bottom, and click on 'My Subcategory' Now add this page to the 'top' category by adding Category:top category and saving. You can see the subcategory "Global Commons" http://p2pfoundation.net/Category:Commons	[[Category: Commons]] [[Name of Category: Name of subcategory]]
A single 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.	A single [[wikipedia: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; * chemical structures; WARNING If you make it wide, you force the whole page to be wide 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; * chemical structures;
Centered text.	<center>Centered text.</center>
A horizontal dividing line: above and below. Mainly useful for separating threads on Talk pages.	A horizontal dividing line: above ---- and below.

Links, URLs

What it looks like	What you type
Sue is reading the video policy. First letter of target is automatically capitalized. Internally spaces are automatically represented as underscores (typing an underscore has the same effect as typing a space, but is not recommended). Thus the link above is to http://meta.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_policy, which is the page with the name "Video policy".	Sue is reading the [[video policy]].
Link to a section on a page, e.g. List_of_cities_by_country#Morocco (links to non-existent sections aren't really broken, they are treated as links to the page, i.e. to the top)	[[List_of_cities_by_country#Morocco]].
Same target, different name: answers. (This is called a piped link).	Same target, different name: [[User:Larry Sanger|answers]]
Endings are blended into the link: testing, genes	Endings are blended into the link: [[test]]ing, [[gene]]s
Automatically hide stuff in parentheses: kingdom. Automatically hide namespace: Village pump. The server fills in the part after the | when you save the page. Next time you open the edit box you will see the expanded piped link. A preview interprets the abbreviated form correctly, but does not expand it yet in the edit box. Press Save and again Edit, and you will see the expanded version. The same applies for the following feature.	Automatically hide stuff in parentheses: [[kingdom (biology)|]]. Automatically hide namespace: [[Wikipedia:Village pump|]].
When adding a comment to a Talk page, you should sign it. You can do this by adding three tildes for your user name: Karl Wick or four for user name plus date/time: Karl Wick 08:10 Oct 5, 2002 (UTC)	When adding a comment to a Talk page, you should sign it. You can do this by adding three tildes for your user name: : ~~~ or four for user name plus date/time: : ~~~~
The weather in London is a page that doesn't exist yet. You can create it by clicking on the link. To create a new page: Create a link to it on some other page. Save that page. Click on the link you just made. The new page will open for editing. Have a look at how to start a page guide and the naming conventions page for your project.	[[The weather in London]] is a page that doesn't exist yet.
Redirect one article title to another by putting text like this in its first line.	#REDIRECT [[United States]]
A link to the page on the same subject in another language or, more generally, to a page on another wiki: fr:Wikipédia:Aide. For more info see MediaWiki User's Guide: Interwiki linking.	[[fr:Wikipédia:Aide]], [[:fr:Wikipédia:Aide]]
"What links here" and "Related changes" can be linked as: Special:Whatlinkshere/Wikipedia:How to edit a page and Special:Recentchangeslinked/Wikipedia:How to edit a page	[[Special:Whatlinkshere/ Wikipedia:How to edit a page]] and [[Special:Recentchangeslinked/ Wikipedia:How to edit a page]]
External link: Nupedia	External link: [http://www.nupedia.com Nupedia]
Or just give the URL: http://www.nupedia.com. In the URL all symbols must be among: A-Z a-z 0-9 ._\/~%-+&#?!=()@ \x80-\xFF. If a URL contains a different character it should be converted; for example, ^ has to be written %5E (to be looked up in ASCII). A blank space can also be converted into an underscore.	Or just give the URL: http://www.nupedia.com.
To link to books, you can use ISBN links. ISBN 0123456789X See MediaWiki User's Guide: ISBN links	ISBN 0123456789X
To include links to non-image uploads such as sounds, use a "media" link. Sound	[[media:Sg_mrob.ogg|Sound]]
Use links for dates, so everyone can set their own display order. Use Special:Preferences to change your own date display setting.	[[July 20]], [[1969]] , [[20 July]] [[1969]] and [[1969]]-[[07-20]] will all appear as 20 July 1969 if you set your date display preference to 1 January 2001.

Images

What it looks like	What you type
A picture: GT/GMC Only images that have been uploaded to this Wiki can be used. To upload images, use the upload page. You can find the uploaded image on the image list	A picture: [[Image:Wiki.jpg]] or, with alternate text (strongly encouraged) [[Image:Wiki.jpg|GT/GMC]] Web browsers render alternate text when not displaying an image -- for example, when the image isn't loaded, or in a text-only browser, or when spoken aloud. See Alternate text for images for help on choosing alternate text.
Clicking on an uploaded image displays a description page, which you can also link directly to: Image:Wiki.png	[[:Image:Wiki.png]]
To include links to images shown as links instead of drawn on the page, use a "media" link. Image of a Tornado	[[media:Tornado.jpg|Image of a Tornado]]

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 À Á Â Ã Ä Å Æ Ç È É Ê Ë Ì Í Î Ï Ñ Ò Ó Ô Õ Ö Ø Ù Ú Û Ü ß à á â ã ä å æ ç è é ê ë ì í î ï ñ ò ó ô œ õ ö ø ù ú û ü ÿ	è é ê ë ì í &Agrave; &Aacute; &Acirc; &Atilde; &Auml; &Aring; &AElig; &Ccedil; &Egrave; &Eacute; &Ecirc; &Euml; &Igrave; &Iacute; &Icirc; &Iuml; &Ntilde; &Ograve; &Oacute; &Ocirc; &Otilde; &Ouml; &Oslash; &Ugrave; &Uacute; &Ucirc; &Uuml; &szlig; &agrave; &aacute; &acirc; &atilde; &auml; &aring; &aelig; &ccedil; &egrave; &eacute; &ecirc; &euml; &igrave; &iacute; &icirc; &iuml; &ntilde; &ograve; &oacute; &ocirc; &oelig; &otilde; &ouml; &oslash; &ugrave; &uacute; &ucirc; &uuml; &yuml;
Punctuation: ¿ ¡ « » § ¶ † ‡ • —	&iquest; &iexcl; &laquo; &raquo; &sect; &para; &dagger; &Dagger; &bull; &mdash;
Commercial symbols: ™ © ® ¢ € ¥ £ ¤	&trade; &copy; &reg; &cent; &euro; &yen; &pound; &curren;
Subscript: x2 Superscript: x2 or x² The latter method of superscript can't be used in the most general context, but is preferred when possible (as with units of measurement) because most browsers have an easier time formatting lines with it. ε0 = 8.85 × 10−12 C² / J m. 1 hectare = 1 E4 m²	Subscript: x<sub>2</sub> Superscript: x<sup>2</sup> or x&sup2; &epsilon;<sub>0</sub> = 8.85 &times; 10<sup>&minus;12</sup> C&sup2; / J m. 1 [[hectare]] = [[1 E4 m²]]
Greek characters: α β γ δ ε ζ η θ ι κ λ μ ν ξ ο π ρ σ ς τ υ φ χ ψ ω Γ Δ Θ Λ Ξ Π Σ Φ Ψ Ω	&alpha; &beta; &gamma; &delta; &epsilon; &zeta; &eta; &theta; &iota; &kappa; &lambda; &mu; &nu; &xi; &omicron; &pi; &rho; &sigma; &sigmaf; &tau; &upsilon; &phi; &chi; &psi; &omega; &Gamma; &Delta; &Theta; &Lambda; &Xi; &Pi; &Sigma; &Phi; &Psi; &Omega;
Math characters: ∫ ∑ ∏ √ − ± ∞ ≈ ∝ ≡ ≠ ≤ ≥ → × · ÷ ∂ ′ ″ ∇ ‰ ° ∴ ℵ ø ∈ ∉ ∩ ∪ ⊂ ⊃ ⊆ ⊇ ¬ ∧ ∨ ∃ ∀ ⇒ ⇔ → ↔	&int; &sum; &prod; &radic; &minus; &plusmn; &infin; &asymp; &prop; &equiv; &ne; &le; &ge; &rarr; &times; &middot; &divide; &part; &prime; &Prime; &nabla; &permil; &deg; &there4; &alefsym; &oslash; &isin; &notin; &cap; &cup; &sub; &sup; &sube; &supe; &not; &and; &or; &exist; &forall; &rArr; &hArr; &rarr; &harr;
x2   ≥   0 true. To space things out, use non-breaking spaces - &nbsp;. &nbsp; also prevents line breaks in the middle of text, this is useful in formulas.	<i>x</i><sup>2</sup>&nbsp;&nbsp;&ge;&nbsp;&nbsp;0 true.
Complicated formulae:   <math>\sum_{n=0}^\infty \frac{x^n}{n!}</math> See TeX markup	<math>\sum_{n=0}^\infty \frac{x^n}{n!}</math>
Suppressing interpretation of markup: Link → (<i>to</i>) the [[FAQ]] Used to show literal data that would otherwise have special meaning. Shows all wiki markup, including that which looks like HTML tags, instead of applying it. Does show special characters, and not the HTML character codes.	<nowiki>Link &rarr; (<i>to</i>) the [[FAQ]]</nowiki>
Commenting page source: not shown in page Used to leave comments in a page for future editors.	<!-- comment here -->

HTML Tables

HTML tables can be quite useful as well. For details on how to use them and discussion about when they are appropriate, see MediaWiki User's Guide: Using tables.

Don't bother, there is nothing; but hopefully someone will do a bit of work here as tables can be very useful in conveying a structure which I call, provisionally, the Holistic Knowledge Base.

The need I feel is about classifying (grouping) subjects and subcategories of descending levels. A simple list like the list of P2P Domains (http://p2pfoundation.net/The_Foundation_for_P2P_Alternatives) is inadequate. It can not suggest "neighborhood" relations, for example, between certain groups of subjects. Janosabel 10:43, 26 September 2011 (UTC)

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. A convenient way to put such a link in a template in Wikipedia is with wikipedia:Template:ed.

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.