Help:Wiki Editing Syntax Guide
This is where you learn how to edit an article in the Wiki! The Wiki syntax is not overly complicated or difficult, but it is unique, and so we've dedicated this article to teaching it, albeit, briefly. For more information, see the list of links in the Help page. Also, always remember that the Help page is on your Navigation box on the upper left, it's very useful.
This is a rather long guide; use the Table of Contents links to go to the section you want to learn more about, or if you're totally new and want to learn everything there is to learn, read it from top to bottom.
Editing a Page
So you want to change something in a Wiki article, eh? Well, the first question is whether or not you should - check out our introduction to the Wiki if you haven't read it yet. You are encouraged to contribute, and contribute well. Between these two guides, we'll show you how!
Alright, there's something in an article that needs fixing. Maybe it's a typo, or maybe some of the formatting got messed up. Maybe you'd like to add your opinion to a discussion. In all these cases, there are two places to look to edit the page.
First, there's the Edit button the top of the article. It's pretty hard to miss, so most people know that's there. It's great for changing the introductory paragraph of a page, or for changing multiple sections.
Next to the Edit button is a + button. That's for adding a new section, which automatically formats the "subject" of the section as a "secondary" heading (more on headings below). This can be useful, too, but doesn't always appear on a page. If it is not there, you can create a new section using Edit and Headings.
Finally, there's also an [edit] link next to each heading of a section. This is useful because it only shows you that section's text for editing, so there's less scrolling and searching for the text you want to change.
Creating a New Page
Without a doubt the most commonly asked question on the Wiki: How do I create a new page?
The answer is surprisingly simple, though you wouldn't think of it at first - simply direct your browser to the desired page, and if it doesn't yet exist, you'll be prompted to start it. The URL for any given page is http://cs.elderscrolls.com/constwiki/index.php/Your_Articles_Name. Symbols, such as apostrophes and question marks, require special codes that are standard on the Internet - here's an article on Adobe's website about Flash MX that has a pretty good table of these codes.
So you simply type in the desired URL, and edit as usual! Alternatively, you could write an internal link to the desired page, and click that link to be sent there. This avoids any issues with underscores or special codes. You can use the Show preview button to create the link to click without actually editing a page, too, so you don't mess anything up while doing this.
Creating a New Category
Categories are special pages on the Wiki that have links to other pages in a list at the end of them. These pages are automatically added to the list by putting a special code at the end of each page in the category. This makes it easy to add new pages to the category.
A new category is created by adding "Category:" to the beginning of the article's name. All articles that start with "Category:" will be categories - be careful, unnecessary categories are annoyances here at the Wiki. Only make a new category when it is warranted.
Moving Pages
On the top of an article is the Move button. This will prompt you for a new name for the article, and gives the equivalent of a summary bar to explain why. Note that you cannot move Categories, and you cannot move an article to a category. In these cases, you'll simply have to Edit the page, copy all of it, and Paste it into a newly created Category or newly created Page, depending on which way you're going with that.
Redirects
Moving a page automatically creates what is called a Redirect - all links going to the old page will be forwarded to the new one. However, the Wiki will only send people to the next page - a Redirect to another Redirect won't work. Therefore, it is advised that you fix any links you can find to the new page after moving, and update any Redirects to the page.
You can create your own Redirect without moving a page with the following code:
#REDIRECT [[Correct Article Name]]
This is great for things that have different names, like an abbreviation, to make sure people are going to the right place.
Links
Wikis are all about links. They're what make Wikis great. A good article needs links.
There are two types of links - internal, and external. Internal links point to another article on this Wiki; external links point to another website. Each has its own formatting.
Internal
To write an internal link, use double brackets, like so:
[[Article Name]]
For, example, [[Welcome to the Wiki]] creates this: Welcome to the Wiki.
To make a link use a text other than the article's name, use the vertical bar symbol, |. For example, [[Welcome to the Wiki|click here!]] makes this: click here!.
If you want to link to a specific section of an article, use the pound sign, #. [[Welcome to Wiki Syntax#Internal|Internal Links]] makes this link: Internal Links.
Categories are special pages on the Wiki, and they get a somewhat special formatting - you put a colon, :, before their name, like so:
[[:Category: Category's Name]]
For example, [[:Category: Getting Started|Getting Started]] gives us this link: Getting Started. The vertical bar and the pound symbol both work for categories as well as regular articles.
If your link appears in all caps and red, that means you are pointing to a page that does not exist. This can be a useful way to create a page, since you can click on the link and create the page, and it's also useful for seeing that you've made a typo.
This is also why your username will appear red and in all caps when you first sign up for the Wiki. Write something in your User Page to fix it. Adding yourself to User Lists is a great way to start, and solve the weird names.
External
When possible, it is preferable to link to an article in the Wiki rather than link to another website, but there are certainly numerous situations where an external link is applicable. They use single brackets, like so:
[URL text]
Note that there is no vertical bar or any other symbol between the URL and the text of the link, just a space. For example, linking to the Official Elder Scrolls Site would be done like this: [http://www.elderscrolls.com/ The Elder Scrolls], The Elder Scrolls.
Categorizing
Categories are another integral part of Wikis, and after creating a new page, "how do I add an article to a category" is the most commonly asked question there is. The answer is to add the following code to the article:
[[Category: Getting Started]]
This will add the article to the Getting Started category. Note that while it will work no matter where it is on a page, it is best to put it on the bottom, where the category links actually appear on a page, or else it will be quite difficult for the next person to find. Also, remember, this is the same formatting used for an internal (non-category) link, you need special formatting to actually link to a category rather than add the article to it.
Also, the vertical bar may be used to with the category tag, but it has quite a different effect than the vertical bar does in normal internal links - it does not change the text of the link to the category, or even the name of the article as it appears in the category. What it does is change the alphabetization of the article in the category's list. For example:
[[Category: Getting Started|Aardvark]]
will cause the article to be listed under A in the category's list, as if the title of the article was Aardvark, even though the actual title of the article will appear in the list. Be aware that using capitals can confuse the Wiki - capitalize the first letter of each word, even if the word you are trying to alphabetize has special capitalization (such as all caps or capitals in the middle of the word).
Headings
Headings are larger, bolder, and often underlined text that denotes the beginning of a section. They use equal signs, =, around the heading text. There is a hierarchy of headings, as follows:
=Primary Heading - Big, bold, underlined - often unused=
==Secondary Heading - not as big, bold, and underlined - usually the biggest heading used in an article==
===Tertiary Heading - big and bold, but not underlined - sub-sections of a secondary heading===
====Minor Heading - bolded, but regular size and no underline - rarely used, a sub-section of a sub-section====
Headings are strongly encouraged when writing an article. They automatically create a Table of Contents for a page, and they make the layout very easy to follow. They can also be linked to directly by other pages.
Paragraphs
A new paragraph is started each time you skip a line. A single Return will not affect the article's text - you need to actually skip a line in between paragraphs.
To force a Return or Line Break without skipping a line, use the HTML code, <br>.
Indentation
Paragraphs are generally indented in Talk pages, for clarity's sake. There may also be cases where indentation would be useful in an article. To do so, start the first line of a paragraph with a colon, :, like so:
:This is an indented paragraph. This is just extra text to show what happens when the paragraph is longer than one line. We have enough text now.
- This is an indented paragraph. This is just extra text to show what happens when the paragraph is longer than one line. We have enough text now.
The entire paragraph will be indented, and multiple colons may be used to indent further.
Text Formatting
Text formatting in Wiki uses apostrophes or single quotes, '. These are the possibilities:
''italics'' - italics
'''bold''' - bold
'''''bold-italics''''' - bold-italics
Other types of formatting can be done using standard HTML tags:
<s>strikethrough</s> - strikethrough
<u>underlined</u> - underlined
Code Boxes
(this section can be confusing if you don't look at the plaintext version - click the [edit] link to the right of the header to see it)
Script code, and other types of specialized text, require monospace fonts and no margins. There are two ways to format a section of text as code. First, start each line with a space
ScriptName ShowOffMyTextBox Begin GameMode MessageBox, "Look at me! End
First, note that even the blank lines start with a space - if you don't, the Wiki will assume your box is done, and then start another box with the next line. See this example, which is the same as the above except that the blank lines don't have spaces:
ScriptName ShowOffMyTextBox
Begin GameMode
MessageBox, "Look at me!
End
Second, be aware that words will not wrap inside this box - they will continue off to the right, off the paper color of this Wiki, into the black borders, right off the side of the page. This makes them unreadable and can cause the page to stretch. Avoid this if at all possible.
The other way to create a code box is to use the <pre> tag. This is the same script as above, but there are no spaces starting any of the lines - the code box will not end until you use the </pre> tag:
ScriptName ShowOffMyTextBox Begin GameMode MessageBox, "Look at me! End
To be consistent, tabs for the indentation of script lines are typically typed as two spaces. This is in addition to the space you used to create the code box if you use that format.
Lists
There are two types of Lists - bulleted and numbered. The names should be self-explanatory.
Starting a new paragraph, that is, skipping a line, ends your list. In the case of bulleted lists, you can't tell, but in the case of numbered lists, it restarts your numbering and messes things up.
Lists can also be mixed.
Bulleted
A bulleted list is created using asterisks, *. Each list item starts with an asterisk. Multiple asterisks cause indented bullets (sub-points).
*Point 1
**Sub-Point A
**Sub-Point B
***Sub-Sub-Point Double-Gamma
***Sub-Sub-Point Double-Epsilon
**Sub-Point C
*Point 2
- Point 1
- Sub-Point A
- Sub-Point B
- Sub-Sub-Point Double-Gamma
- Sub-Sub-Point Double-Epsilon
- Sub-Point C
- Point 2
Numbered
A numbered list is created using pound symbols, #. Each list item starts with a pound symbol. Multiple pound symbols cause indented points (sub-points).
#Point 1
##Sub-Point A
##Sub-Point B
###Sub-Sub-Point Double-Gamma
###Sub-Sub-Point Double-Epsilon
##Sub-Point C
#Point 2
- Point 1
- Sub-Point A
- Sub-Point B
- Sub-Sub-Point Double-Gamma
- Sub-Sub-Point Double-Epsilon
- Sub-Point C
- Point 2
Mixed
Using a combination of asterisks and pound signs is also possible.
#Point 1
#*Sub-Point A
#*Sub-Point B
#*#Sub-Sub-Point Double-Gamma
#*#Sub-Sub-Point Double-Epsilon
#*Sub-Point C
#Point 2
- Point 1
- Sub-Point A
- Sub-Point B
- Sub-Sub-Point Double-Gamma
- Sub-Sub-Point Double-Epsilon
- Sub-Point C
- Point 2
Signing a Page
Signing a page is very simple, and very important to discussions. Simply type four tildes, ~~~~ to insert your name, as a link to your user page, plus the date and time. Three tildes will insert just your name (as a link), but we would prefer you use four so we know when you posted.
Conclusion
Well, that's the end of this! If you have any questions, please feel free to ask in the Talk page! And remember to use indentation and to sign your post!