Help:Formatting

Formatting a page on AmtWiki is different than formatting something in a word processor like Microsoft Word or OpenOffice Writer. Instead of seeing the text you are editing exactly as it will be displayed on the page, wikis use a simple markup language called wikitext. This is similar to other markup languages like HTML, but is very simple and easy to understand and use. This pages goes over the basics of wikitext that you can use to edit pages here on AmtWiki.

Text Formatting

Bold and Italics

Similarly to word processors, you can make text on AmtWiki bold and/or italic. For both, this is accomplished by surrounding words with multiple apostrophes (').

For bold words and phrases, you write the text surrounded by three apostrophes: '''Bold text'''

For italicized words and phrases, you write the text surrounded by two apostrophes: ''Italicized text''

You can make text both bold and italicized, by surrounding the text with five apostropes: '''''Bold and italicized text'''''

Strike text

If you want to strike out a section of text, use the <s> tag before the text, with </s> after the text. For example,

Amtgard is the <s>worst</s> best

will show up as "Amtgard is the worst best". Alternatively, the tag <strike></strike> will also work.

Heading and Subheadings

Headings and subheadings are a way to organize a page, making things easier to find and read. To create headings and subheadings, text is surrounded by equal signs (=).

Coming soon: Heading table

Subscript and Superscript

To type text in superscript^{like so}, use the tag ^{before the text and} after the text.

To type text in subscript_{like so}, use the tag _{before the text and} after the text.

By using a combination of these tags, we can create things like H₂SO₄ → 2 H⁺ + SO₄²⁻, which is made by typing

H₂SO₄ → 2 H⁺ + SO₄²⁻

List Formatting

Bulleted List

To make a bulleted list, start each line with an asterisk (*). Adding a second asterisk will make an indented subsection, a third asterisk will make a third subsection, etc.

*This is a line
*This is a second line
**Here we have a subsection
***A mysterious sub-subsection
**Back to a basic subsection
*This is the third main bullet

The above will appear as:

• This is a line
• This is a second line
  • Here we have a subsection
    • A mysterious sub-subsection
  • Back to a basic subsection
• This is the third main bullet

Numbered List

Numbered lists are indicated by the use of a pound/number sign (#) before each line. Adding a second pound sign will result in an indented subsection. If you insert a line break (by putting a blank line between points on the list), the numbering will start over.

#Numbered lists are automatically indented
#This is a second line
##Here we have a subsection
##Note how the numbering begins at 1
###You can have sub-subsections too
##Numbering continues on the same level

#Line breaks make the numbering start over

The above will appear as:

1. This is a line
2. This is a second line
   1. Here we have a subsection
   2. Note how the numbering begins at 1
      1. You can have sub-subsections too
   3. Numbering continues on the same level

1. Line breaks make the numbering start over

Indentions

If you need to indent a line, start out the line with a colon (:). Double colon will indent twice, a triple colon will indent three times, etc. Lists made out of a series of indentions are most common on talk pages, where they are used to keep order when discussing things between editors.

Edit Box Toolbar

Above the edit box is a toolbar with a few buttons. These can be used to automatically insert wikitext into the page at the point where your cursor bar is located. You can also highlight the text that you want formatted, press the appropriate button, and the toolbar will automatically put the wikitext on both sides.

HTML

Wikitext contains a number of features, but its uses are limited. If you want to change other things, like text color or page layout, you'll need to use HTML.