Help:Formatting

From 2009.igem.org

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''

Contents

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 [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Section#Table_of_contents_.28TOC.29 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
  1. one
  2. two
    spanning several lines
    without breaking the numbering
  3. three
    1. three point one
    2. 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 item one
#: three def one
# four
#: four def one
#: this rather looks like the continuation of # four
#: and thus often used instead of <br />
# five
## five sub 1
### five sub 1 sub 1
## five sub 2
;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.

  1. one
  2. two
    • two point one
    • two point two
  3. three
    three item one
    three def one
  4. four
    four def one
    this rather looks like the continuation of # four
    and thus often used instead of <br />
  5. five
    1. five sub 1
      1. five sub 1 sub 1
    2. five sub 2
item 1
  • definition 1-1
  • definition 1-2
item 2
  1. definition 2-1
  2. 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 a line break within a paragraph with the HTML tags <br />.

HTML

Some HTML tags are allowed in MediaWiki, for example <code>, <div>, <span> and <font>. These apply 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'''

Other formatting

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