Help:Formatting

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You can format your text using wiki markup. This consists of normal characters like asterisks, single quotes or equation marks which have a special function in the wiki, sometimes depending on their position. For example, to format a word in italic, you include it in two single quotes like ''this''

Text formatting markup

Description	You type	You get
character formatting - applies anywhere
Italic text	''italic''	italic
Bold text	'''bold'''	bold
Bold and italic	'''''bold & italic'''''	bold & italic
Escape wiki markup	<nowiki>no ''markup''</nowiki>	no ''markup''
section formatting - only at the beginning of the line
Headings of different levels	=level 1= ==level 2== ===level 3=== ====level 4==== =====level 5===== ======level 6====== An article with four or more headings will automatically create a table of contents. Use of a level 1 heading is highly discouraged as it appears with the same formatting and size as the page title, which can be confusing.	Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Level 4 Level 5 Level 6
Horizontal rule	----
Bullet list	* one * two * three ** three point one ** three point two Inserting a blank line will end the first list and start another.	one two three three point one three point two
Numbered list	# one # two<br />spanning several lines<br />without breaking the numbering # three ## three point one ## three point two	one two spanning several lines without breaking the numbering three three point one three point two
Definition list	;item 1 :definition 1 ;item 2 :definition 2-1 :definition 2-2	item 1 definition 1 item 2 definition 2-1 definition 2-2
Adopting definition list to indent text	:Single indent ::Double indent :::::Multiple indent This adoption may be controversial from the viewpoint of accessibility.	Single indent Double indent Multiple indent
Mixture of different types of list	# one # two #* two point one #* two point two # three #; three def one #: three item one # four #: four item one #: this rather looks like the continuation of # four #: and thus often used instead of <br /> ;item 1 :* definition 1-1 :* definition 1-2 : ;item 2 :# definition 2-1 :# definition 2-2 The usage of #: and *: for breaking a line within an item may also be controversial.	one two two point one two point two three three def one three item one four four item one this rather looks like the continuation of # four and thus often used instead of <br /> item 1 definition 1-1 definition 1-2 item 2 definition 2-1 definition 2-2
Preformatted text	preformatted text is done with a '''space''' at the ''beginning'' of the line This way of preformatting only applies to section formatting, and character formatting markups are still effective.	preformatted text is done with a space at the beginning of the line

Paragraphs

MediaWiki ignores normal line breaks. To start a new paragraph, leave an empty line. You can force to start a new line within a paragraph with the HTML tags <br /> or <br>.

HTML

Some HTML tags are allowed in MediaWiki, for example <code>, <div>, <span> and <font>. These applies anywhere you insert them.

Description	You type	You get
Fixed width text	<tt>Fixed width text</tt>	Fixed width text
Blockquotes	text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text <blockquote> quote quote quote quote quote quote </blockquote> text text text text text text text text text text text text	text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text quote quote quote quote quote quote text text text text text text text text text text text text
Comment	<!--This is comment-->
Completely preformatted text	<pre>this way, all markups are '''ignored'''</pre>	this way, all markups are '''ignored'''

Tip for wiki admins: If you trust your users you can allow full HTML by setting $wgRawHtml = true; in LocalSettings.php.

Other formatting

Beyond the text formatting markup shown above, here are some other formatting references:

• Links
• Images
• Tables

Syntax

{{Languages|PageName}}

• PageName (optional) - the name of the page to display language links for. If omitted then the English version of the current page is used. This parameter can normally be omitted, as it is only required if you want to link to a page other than the one you place the template on, which is very uncommon. If this parameter is used on a sub-page make sure you supply the root name, not the full page name (e.g. on MediaWiki/fr you would need to use {{Languages|MediaWiki}} and not {{Languages|MediaWiki/fr}}).

Usage

The template should only be placed on pages that exist in more than one language, and it should be placed in the same location on each translation of the page.

The English version of a page is always the main version, with all other languages as sub-pages, named using the appropriate language code (see below).

For example, on the Main Page you would include the text {{Languages}}, both on Main Page itself, and on each of its language sub-pages. The template automatically creates links to any language sub-pages that exist, e.g. Main Page/ja<tt>, <tt>Main Page/fr, and ignores non-existant languages.

See Project:Language policy for further details about translating pages.

Supported languages

This shows you the name of each language's sub-page (using Main Page as an example). Other languages may be added easily as necessary. Please use the appropriate prefix, as used on Wikipedia when adding a new language. Please do not add languages for which no pages exist yet, as this will increase the time needed to include the template without adding any benefit (languages are only displayed to the user when the relevant page exists).

The link on the language names goes to the Wikipedia in that language. If no Wikipedia in your language exists, do not add pages in that language to MediaWiki.org! This wiki is not the place for language advocacy - please go through the correct channels, and once your language has a Wikipedia then please return to add content here.

Page Name	Language
Main Page	English

Example

Here is how the language bar looks on the MediaWiki page: