Help:Contents

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Introduction to WikiCode

While most of the formatting functions can be accessed through the buttons above each text window, it can be helpful to know the exact codes required.

• Linking directly to other articles (Wikifying): [[Article name]], or to dress, [[Article name|Text that appears in article]]
• Italics: ''Text''
• Bolding: '''Text'''
• Bolded Italic: '''''Text'''''
• "Dressing" wiki-entries [[Article|Displayed Text]]
• Linking to external website: [www.website.com], or to dress, [www.website.com|Text that appears in article]
• Redirecting: #REDIRECT [[Target article]] (should be the only thing in the article)
• Inserting into categories: [[Category:Target category]] at the bottom of the article - The software should automatically put them in alphabetical order, but if it starts with "The," use [[Category:Target category|Article name, The]]
• Signing comments: --~~~~ (Usually only done on talk pages)
• Headers: ==Section title== (Please do not use a single equals sign (=header=) for a section)
• Sub-Headers: ===Sub-section title===
• Bullet points: * Text
  • Inset bullet point: ** Text (You can inset further with more asterisk's, but you really shouldn't)
• Numbered lists: # Entry
• To add a reference when citing sources, add <ref>source</ref>. At the bottom of the article, add <references/> (if it doesn't already exist) to create a footnote section to "catch" the references.

To upload images, do so from the "Upload file" link on the left. Then, to put them in the article, you can do the following:

• Directly inserting: [[Image:Picture.jpg]] (Not recommended)
• Inserting as a thumbnail: [[Image:Picture.jpg|200px|thumb|left|Text that appears below the picture]] (You can choose whatever width you want in place of the "200px" part, but 200 pixels seems to be about right for most displays. You can also change it to the right hand of the article by putting "right" in place of the "left")

Other operations

• Moving a page: Click on the "Move" tab at the top (second from the right), and follow the instructions on the next page. Should only really be done under one of the following circumstances:
  • The article's title is misspelled
  • The title is a really poor and non-descriptive or misleading one
  • Agreement from other users
• Reverting vandalism: Click on the "History" tab at the top (third from the right), then click on the date and time of the last good version. Once you've found it, click edit, don't make any changes to the text in the boxes (except maybe a note in the summary box that you're reverting a vandal) and click save.
• Minor edits: As a rule, tick the box reading "This is a minor edit" when you're fixing spelling, grammar, code or formatting, and leave it unchecked if you're making any serious changes to the content.

Formatting tips

• Bold the title of the article, at or near the start of it.
• Normal headers are usually all that's needed - sub-headers are usually only necessary for longer articles
• Don't go crazy Wikifying stuff - make links to important articles that might be needed, but don't make links to absolutely everything that might someday have an article, as loads of red links just look ugly.
• Try and write as if you were doing an essay - use paragraphs, avoid run-on sentences, that sort of thing.
• While inset bullet points have their uses, avoid insetting more than once. It's messy, and usually unnecessary.
• When putting a new image in an article, make sure you preview it first - a poorly placed picture can absolutely destroy the formatting of an article. Usually swapping it over to the other side of the screen or putting it a bit higher up solves any problems.

Referencing

Main "article": Referencing

See Also

• See the MediaWiki help section for more detailed instruction on how to use this wiki software.