Wiki Usage

Wiki is a platform for working together on constructing web pages. The principles are simple.

  • A text is written and saved.
  • Later, another person may read that text and think of some additions or corrections that could be made. They choose "Edit" and make their changes to the page.
  • After saving their new version, it is available globally.

With a wiki, it is also easily possible to add a page or link to existing pages.

  • A link is created by a WikiWord. This is one word with at least two capital letters. If a page with this name already exist, it will be linked automatically, if not, it will be displayed with a question mark.
  • Clicking on this question mark, will start a new blank page with that name, ready to edit.

Wiki formatting rules

Paragraphs

  • separate paragraphs inside the text with empty lines
  • use three percent signs %%% to enforce a line break
  • if you prepend text with spaces or tabs it will get indented

!! Headlines

  • use an exclamation mark ! at the beginning of a line to create a small headline
  • !! for medium
  • !!! for large headlines

Text style

  • if you want to emphasize text enclose it in two single-quotes '' (usually looks italic)
  • text gets bold with two underscores __ (or if enclosed with two asterisks **)
  • to make text big enclose it in hash characters ##
  • you can get smaller text using "ยตยต" likewise
  • a typewrite like font will be used if you enclose text in two equal == signs

Lists

  • start a line with an asterisk * to begin a list
  • use # instead for numerated lists
    1. you can create sublists
    2. subsequent list points should start with the same mix of * and #

HyperLinks

  • just enter a WikiWord inside your text to create a new hyper link
  • enclose some words in [square brackets] to create a HyperLink inside the WikiWikiWeb which is not made up of a valid WikiWord
  • any valid internet address (starting with http:/) like http://www.example.com/ inside the text will be made clickable automatically
  • enclose a www address or a WikiLink inside square brackets and assign it a neat title using quotation marks or the | character
    • [title | http://example.com]
    • [WikiWord "title"] or ["title for" WikiLink]
  • if you don't want a WikiWord or a http://www-address (or [anything] inside square brackets) to become a HyperLink then just prepend it with a exclamation mark or a tilde
    • !NoHyperLink, ~NoHyperLink
    • ![no hyperlink], !http://nolink.org/

Tables with |

| just enclose | things with the dash | character |
| to build a | table structure |
| browsers usually | leave out the missing | cells |

Please always put an empty line before and after a table, so it stands out from other text in its own paragraph.

Pictures

  • to include an image into a page enclose its absolute www-address in square brackets, like [http://www.example.com/pics/image.png]
  • alternatively you could use the image uploading function.

Further readings

There are more possibilities for Wiki mark-up. Please consult the Erfurt Wiki Homepage for more information.

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