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This page is a tutorial for learning to work with the essential rules of wiki-formatted text, or "wikitext". Wikitext is designed to be as simple as possible so that an article may be quickly typed and styled without having to take a break to type out long HTML codes. The goal is to make it as easy as possible to channel your thoughts into writing the perfect article (or even a not-so-perfect article!).
Text formatting
Creating italicized or bold text is the simplest rule — simply use the apostrophe character in groups of two or three to create the style. (Be sure to use the "straight" apostrophe and not the curved "smart quote" characters used in some text editors and word processors!)
| What you type | What you see |
|---|---|
| ''italicized text'' | italicized text |
| '''bold text''' | bold text |
| '''''italicized and bold text''''' | italicized and bold text |
To create a tabbed list or a block of text using a monospace font, start the line with a space. (Be sure not to make the line too long, or it will stretch the page horizontally!) Text can also be indented in blockquotes using the colon character.
| What you type | What you see |
|---|---|
Preformatted text |
Preformatted text |
| : Indented text |
|
Lists
Both unordered and numbered lists are simple to create as well: simply use the asterisk or hash characters at the beginning of a line to create the entry. To create nested lists, simply add an extra asterisk or hash to the front of the line. You can even mix and match the kinds of list in a single group!
| What you type | What you see |
|---|---|
| * Item One * Item Two |
|
| # Item One # Item Two |
|
| * Item One ** Item Two |
|
| * Item One *# Item Two |
|
| ; term : definition |
|
Links and URLs
In a wiki, it's important to help build the web by creating links to other articles in every appropriate context. Use the following techniques to create "free links" to other Tardis Index File articles:
| What you type | What you see |
|---|---|
| [[TARDIS Index File]] | TARDIS Index File |
| [[SS Bernice|SS ''Bernice'']] | SS Bernice |
| [[This article doesn't exist]] | This article doesn't exist |
| [[Tardis:Policies and Guidelines]] | Tardis:Policies and Guidelines |
| [[Tardis:Policies and Guidelines|]] | Policies and Guidelines |
You can also make external links to other websites using the following formatting rules:
| What you type | What you see |
|---|---|
| [[Wikipedia:Doctor Who]] | Wikipedia:Doctor Who |
| [[Wikipedia:Doctor Who|]] | Doctor Who |
| http://tardis.wikicities.com/ | http://tardis.wikicities.com/ |
| [http://tardis.wikicities.com/] | [1] |
| [http://tardis.wikicities.com/ TARDIS Index File] | TARDIS Index File |
See also: Wikicities:Help:Interwiki link
Sections
If an article is long enough, you can divide the page into different sections. The TARDIS Index File will automatically generate a table of contents based on the content for all articles with more than three sections.
You can also create a horizontal divider by using four dashes in a row.
| What you type | What you see |
|---|---|
| == Header Two == | Header Two |
| === Header Three === | Header Three |
| ==== Header Four ==== | Header Four |
| ---- |
|
Images and other media
See: Help: Image markup
Tables
See: Help: Table markup
Templates
Using templates will save you a great deal of repetitive typing when listing information on different articles which fall under the same category, such as television stories or novels. Just go to the Templates page and scan down the list for the ones you need. Put {{template}} in your edit, replacing "template" with the name of the specific one you are using, such "Infobox CD" or "DWIA." For infoboxes, you will need to fill in the specific information, such as director, writer, or broadcast date.
Mathematical formulae
See: Help: Math markup
Variables
The MediaWiki software has a number of built-in variables for common elements that may change depending on the date.
| Code | Effect |
|---|---|
| {{CURRENTMONTH}} | 11 |
| {{CURRENTMONTHNAME}} | November |
| {{CURRENTMONTHNAMEGEN}} | November |
| {{CURRENTDAY}} | 14 |
| {{CURRENTDAYNAME}} | Thursday |
| {{CURRENTYEAR}} | 2024 |
| {{CURRENTTIME}} | 16:21 |
| {{NUMBEROFARTICLES}} | 114,055 |
NUMBEROFARTICLES is the number of pages in the main namespace which contain a link and are not a redirect (i.e. number of articles, stubs containing a link, and disambiguation pages).
See also: Help:Template
Suppressing markup
It's also possible to tell MediaWiki to ignore any of the above rules using a simple tag:
| What you type | What you see |
|---|---|
| <nowiki>'''text here'''</nowiki> | '''text here''' |