Help:Editing

In its simplest form, editing a FreekiWiki page is just typing. Paragraphs can be created by leaving blank lines, otherwise all the text is wordwrapped. Lines that start with a blank space are rendered as preformatted text. The sections below give more detail.

Editing a FreekiWiki page is very easy. Simply click on the "edit this page" tab at the top of a wiki page (or on a section-edit link). This will bring you to a new page with a text box containing the editable text of the original page. If you just want to experiment, please do so in the sandbox; not here. You should write a short edit summary in the small field below the edit-box. You may use shorthand to describe your changes, and when you have finished, press the Show preview button to see how your changes will look. You can also see the difference between the page with your edits and the previous version of the page by pressing the Show changes button. If you're happy with what you see press the Save page button. Your changes will immediately be visible to other FreekiWiki users.

You can also click on the "Discussion" tab to see the corresponding talk page, which contains comments about the page from other FreekiWiki users. Click on the "+" tab to add a new section, or edit the page in the same way as an article page.

You should remember to sign your messages on Talk pages and some special-purpose project pages, but you should not sign edits you make to regular articles. In page histories, the MediaWiki software keeps track of which user makes each change.

Tips on editing FreekiWiki articles

Always use a Neutral point of view

Link to your article from other articles. After making a new page, it's a good idea to use the What links here feature to check the pages that already link to your new page. Make sure that all the links are referring to your page in the right context. For example, a link to the Mercury article in an astronomy-related article should direct readers to "Mercury (planet)" rather than "Mercury (mythology)". You should also use the search feature to find occurences of the title of your new page—and possible variants thereof—so that you can create appropriate links.

Minor edits

When editing a page, a logged-in user can mark that edit as being "minor". Minor edits generally mean spelling corrections, formatting, and minor rearrangement of text. It is possible to hide minor edits when viewing the recent changes. Marking a significant change as a minor edit is considered bad behavior, especially when it involves the deletion of some text. If you accidentally mark an edit as minor, you should edit the source once more, mark it major (or, rather, ensure that the check-box for "This is a minor edit" is not checked), and, in the summary, state that the previous change was a major one.

Wiki markup

The wiki markup is the syntax system you can use to format a FreekiWiki page.

In the left column of the table below, you can see what effects are possible. In the right column, you can see how those effects were achieved. In other words, to make text look like it looks in the left column, type it in the format you see in the right column.

You may want to keep this page open in a separate browser window for reference. If you want to try out things without danger of doing any harm, you can do so in the Sandbox. Try opening the Sandbox in a separate window or tab and keeping this page open for reference.

Links and URLs

(copied from wikipedia and in need of editing)

What it looks like	What you type
London has public transport. A link to another Wikipedia article. Internally, the first letter of the target page is automatically capitalized and spaces are represented as underscores (typing an underscore in the link has the same effect as typing a space, but is not recommended). Thus the link above is to the URL www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_transport, which is the Wikipedia article with the name "Public transport". See also Wikipedia:Canonicalization.	London has [[public transport]].
San Francisco also has public transportation. Same target, different name. This is a piped link.	San Francisco also has [[public transport|public transportation]].
San Francisco also has public transportation. Examples include buses, taxis, and streetcars. Endings are blended into the link. Preferred style is to use this instead of a piped link, if possible.	San Francisco also has [[public transport]]ation. Examples include [[bus]]es, [[taxi]]s, and [[streetcar]]s.
See the Wikipedia:Manual of Style. A link to another namespace.	See the [[Wikipedia:Manual of Style]].
Economics#See also is a link to a section within another page. #Links and URLs is a link to a section on the current page. #example is a link to an anchor that was created using an id attribute The part after the number sign (#) must match a section heading on the page. Matches must be exact in terms of spelling, case, and punctuation. Links to non-existent sections are not broken; they are treated as links to the top of the page. Identifiers may be created by attaching an id="..."> attribute to almost any HTML element.	[[Economics#See also]] is a link to a section within another page. [[#Links and URLs]] is a link to a section on the current page. [[#example]] is a link to an anchor that was created using <div id="example">an id attribute</div>
Automatically hide stuff in parentheses: kingdom. Automatically hide namespace: Village Pump. Or both: Manual of Style But not: [[Wikipedia:Manual of Style#Links|]] The server fills in the part after the pipe character (|) when you save the page. The next time you open the edit box you will see the expanded piped link. When previewing your edits, you will not see the expanded form until you press Save and Edit again. The same applies to links to sections within the same page (see previous entry).	Automatically hide stuff in parentheses: [[kingdom (biology)|]]. Automatically hide namespace: [[Wikipedia:Village Pump|]]. Or both: [[Wikipedia:Manual of Style (headings)|]] But not: [[Wikipedia:Manual of Style#Links|]]
The weather in London is a page that does not exist yet. You can create it by clicking on the link (but please do not do so with this particular link). To create a new page: Create a link to it on some other (related) page. Save that page. Click on the link you just made. The new page will open for editing. For more information, see How to start a page and check out Wikipedia's naming conventions. Please do not create a new article without linking to it from at least one other article.	[[The weather in London]] is a page that does not exist yet.
Wikipedia:How to edit a page is this page. Self links appear as bold text when the article is viewed. Do not use this technique to make the article name bold in the first paragraph; see the Manual of Style.	[[Wikipedia:How to edit a page]] is this page.
When adding a comment to a Talk page, you should sign it by adding three tildes to add your user name: Ben Brockert or four to add user name plus date/time: Ben Brockert 00:18, Nov 19, 2004 (UTC) Five tildes gives the date/time alone: 00:18, Nov 19, 2004 (UTC) The first two both provide a link to your user page.	When adding a comment to a Talk page, you should sign it by adding three tildes to add your user name: : ~~~ or four for user name plus date/time: : ~~~~ Five tildes gives the date/time alone: : ~~~~~
Redirect one article title to another by placing a directive like the one shown to the right on the first line of the article (such as at a page titled "USA"). Note that, while it is possible to link to a section, it is not possible to redirect to a section. For example, "#REDIRECT [[United States#History]]" will redirect to the United States page, but not to any particular section on it. This feature will not be implemented in the future, so such redirects should not be used.	#REDIRECT [[United States]]
Link to a page on the same subject in another language by using a link of the form: [[language code:Title]]. It does not matter where you put these links while editing as they will always show up in the same place when you save the page, but placement at the end of the edit box is recommended. Please see Wikipedia:Interlanguage links and the list of languages and codes.	[[fr:Wikipédia:Aide]]
What links here and Related changes pages can be linked as: Special:Whatlinkshere/Wikipedia:How to edit a page and Special:Recentchangeslinked/Wikipedia:How to edit a page	'''What links here''' and '''Related changes''' pages can be linked as: [[Special:Whatlinkshere/Wikipedia:How to edit a page]] and [[Special:Recentchangeslinked/Wikipedia:How to edit a page]]
A user's Contributions page can be linked as: Special:Contributions/UserName or Special:Contributions/192.0.2.0	A user's '''Contributions''' page can be linked as: [[Special:Contributions/UserName]] or [[Special:Contributions/192.0.2.0]]
To put an article in a Wikipedia:Category, place a link like the one to the right anywhere in the article. As with interlanguage links, it does not matter where you put these links while editing as they will always show up in the same place when you save the page, but placement at the end of the edit box is recommended.	[[Category:Character sets]]
To link to a Wikipedia:Category page without putting the article into the category, use an initial colon (:) in the link.	[[:Category:Character sets]]
Three ways to link to external (non-wiki) sources: Bare URL: http://www.nupedia.com/ (bad style) Unnamed link: [1] (very bad style) Named link: Nupedia See MetaWikiPedia:Interwiki_map for the list of shortcuts. Square brackets indicate an external link. Note the use of a space (not a pipe) to separate the URL from the link text in the "named" version. In the URL, all symbols must be among: A-Z a-z 0-9 . _ \ / ~ % - + & # ? ! = ( ) @ \x80-\xFF If a URL contains a character not in this list, it should be encoded by using a percent sign (%) followed by the hex code of the character, which can be found in the table of ASCII printable characters. For example, the caret character (^) would be encoded in a URL as %5E. See Wikipedia:External links for style issues.	Three ways to link to external (non-wiki) sources: # Bare URL: http://www.nupedia.com/ (bad style) # Unnamed link: [http://www.nupedia.com/] ('''very bad style''') # Named link: [http://www.nupedia.com Nupedia]
Linking to other wikis: Interwiki link: Wiktionary:Hello Named interwiki link: Hello Interwiki link without prefix: Hello All of these forms lead to the URL http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Hello Note that interwiki links use the internal link style. See MetaWikiPedia:Interwiki_map for the list of shortcuts; if the site you want to link to is not on the list, use an external link (see above). See also Wikipedia:How to link to Wikimedia projects. Linking to another language's wiktionary: Wiktionary:fr:bonjour bonjour fr:bonjour All of these forms lead to the URL http://fr.wiktionary.org/wiki/bonjour	Linking to other wikis: # [[Interwiki]] link: [[Wiktionary:Hello]] # Named interwiki link: [[Wiktionary:Hello|Hello]] # Interwiki link without prefix: [[Wiktionary:Hello|]] Linking to another language's wiktionary: # [[Wiktionary:fr:bonjour]] # [[Wiktionary:fr:bonjour|bonjour]] # [[Wiktionary:fr:bonjour|]]
ISBN 012345678X ISBN 0-12-345678-X Link to books using their ISBN numbers. This is preferred to linking to a specific online bookstore, because it gives the reader a choice of vendors. ISBN links do not need any extra markup, provided you use one of the indicated formats.	ISBN 012345678X ISBN 0-12-345678-X
Date formats: July 20, 1969 20 July 1969 1969-07-20 1969-07-20 Link dates in one of the above formats, so that everyone can set their own display order. If logged in, you can use Special:Preferences to change your own date display setting. All of the above dates will appear as "20 July 1969" if you set your date display preference to "15 January 2001", but as "July 20, 1969" if you set it to "January 15, 2001", or as "1969-07-20" if you set it to "2001-01-15".	Date formats: # [[July 20]], [[1969]] # [[20 July]] [[1969]] # [[1969]]-[[07-20]] # [[1969-07-20]]
Sound To include links to non-image uploads such as sounds, use a "media" link. For images, see next section. Some uploaded sounds are listed at Wikipedia:Sound.	[[media:Sg_mrob.ogg|Sound]]

Sections, paragraphs, lists and lines

What it looks like	What you type
Start your sections as follows: New section Subsection Sub-subsection Start with a second-level heading (==); do not use first-level headings (=). Do not skip levels (e.g., second-level followed by fourth-level). A Table of Contents will automatically be added to an article that has four or more sections.	==New section== ===Subsection=== ====Sub-subsection====
A single newline generally has no effect on the layout. These can be used to separate sentences within a paragraph. Some editors find that this aids editing and improves the function diff (used internally to compare different versions of a page). But an empty line starts a new paragraph. When used in a list, a newline does affect the layout (see below).	A single [[newline]] generally has no effect on the layout. These can be used to separate sentences within a paragraph. Some editors find that this aids editing and improves the function ''diff'' (used internally to compare different versions of a page). But an empty line starts a new paragraph.
You can break lines without starting a new paragraph. Please use this sparingly.	You can break lines<br> without starting a new paragraph.
Lists are easy to do: Start every line with a star. More stars means deeper levels. A newline in a list marks the end of a list item. An empty line starts a new list.	* Lists are easy to do: ** Start every line with a star. *** More stars means deeper levels. **** A newline in a list marks the end of a list item. * An empty line starts a new list.
Numbered lists are also good very organized easy to follow easier still	# Numbered lists are also good ## very organized ## easy to follow
You can even do mixed lists and nest them like this	* You can even do mixed lists *# and nest them *#* like this
Definition list list of definitions item the item's definition another item the other item's definition One item per line; a newline can appear before the colon, but using a space before the colon improves parsing.	; Definition list : list of definitions ; item : the item's definition ; another item : the other item's definition
A colon indents a line or paragraph. A manual newline starts a new paragraph. This is primarily for displayed material, but is also used for discussion on Talk pages.	: A colon indents a line or paragraph. A manual newline starts a new paragraph.
IF a line starts with a space THEN it will be formatted exactly as typed; in a fixed-width font; lines won't wrap; ENDIF this is useful for: * pasting preformatted text; * algorithm descriptions; * program source code; * ASCII art; * chemical structures; WARNING: If you make it wide, you force the whole page to be wide and hence less readable, especially for people who use lower resolutions. Never start ordinary lines with spaces.	IF a line starts with a space THEN it will be formatted exactly as typed; in a fixed-width font; lines won't wrap; ENDIF this is useful for: * pasting preformatted text; * algorithm descriptions; * program source code; * [[ASCII art]]; * chemical structures;
Centered text. *Note the American spelling of "center" (not "centre").	<center>Centered text.</center>
A horizontal dividing line: this is above it and this is below it. Mainly useful for separating threads on Talk pages. Also used to disambiguate within an article without creating a separate page.	A [[horizontal dividing line]]: this is above it ---- and this is below it.

Character formatting

What it looks like	What you type
Emphasize, strongly, very strongly. These are double and triple apostrophes (single-quote marks), not double-quote marks.	''Emphasize'', '''strongly''', '''''very strongly'''''.
A typewriter font for monospace text or for computer code: int main() For semantic reasons, using <code> where applicable is preferable to using <tt>.	A typewriter font for <tt>monospace text</tt> or for computer code: <code>int main()</code>
You can use small text for captions.	You can use <small>small text</small> for captions.
You can strike out deleted material and underline new material. You can also mark deleted material and inserted material using logical markup rather than visual markup. When editing regular Wikipedia articles, just make your changes and don't mark them up in any special way. When editing your own previous remarks in talk pages, it is sometimes appropriate to mark up deleted or inserted material.	You can <s>strike out deleted material</s> and <u>underline new material</u>. You can also mark <del>deleted material</del> and <ins>inserted material</ins> using logical markup rather than visual markup.
Diacritical marks: è é ê ë ì í À Á Â Ã Ä Å Æ Ç È É Ê Ë Ì Í Î Ï Ñ Ò Ó Ô Õ Ö Ø Ù Ú Û Ü ß à á â ã ä å æ ç è é ê ë ì í î ï ñ ò ó ô œ õ ö ø ù ú û ü ÿ See Wikipedia:Special characters.	è é ê ë ì í &Agrave; &Aacute; &Acirc; &Atilde; &Auml; &Aring; &AElig; &Ccedil; &Egrave; &Eacute; &Ecirc; &Euml; &Igrave; &Iacute; &Icirc; &Iuml; &Ntilde; &Ograve; &Oacute; &Ocirc; &Otilde; &Ouml; &Oslash; &Ugrave; &Uacute; &Ucirc; &Uuml; &szlig; &agrave; &aacute; &acirc; &atilde; &auml; &aring; &aelig; &ccedil; &egrave; &eacute; &ecirc; &euml; &igrave; &iacute; &icirc; &iuml; &ntilde; &ograve; &oacute; &ocirc; &oelig; &otilde; &ouml; &oslash; &ugrave; &uacute; &ucirc; &uuml; &yuml;
Punctuation: ¿ ¡ § ¶ † ‡ • – — ‹ › « » ‘ ’ “ ”	&iquest; &iexcl; &sect; &para; &dagger; &Dagger; &bull; &ndash; &mdash; &lsaquo; &rsaquo; &laquo; &raquo; &lsquo; &rsquo; &ldquo; &rdquo;
Commercial symbols: ™ © ® ¢ € ¥ £ ¤	&trade; &copy; &reg; &cent; &euro; &yen; &pound; &curren;
Subscripts: x1 x2 x3 Superscripts: x1 x2 x3 or x¹ x² x³ The latter method of superscripting can't be used in the most general context, but is preferred when possible (as with units of measurement) because most browsers have an easier time formatting lines with it. ε0 = 8.85 × 10−12 C² / J m. 1 hectare = 1 E4 m²	x<sub>1</sub> x<sub>2</sub> x<sub>3</sub> <nowiki> x<sup>1</sup> x<sup>2</sup> x<sup>3</sup> or x&sup1; x&sup2; x&sup3; </nowiki> &epsilon;<sub>0</sub> = 8.85 &times; 10<sup>&minus;12</sup> C&sup2; / J m. 1 [[hectare]] = [[1 E4 m²]]
Greek characters: α β γ δ ε ζ η θ ι κ λ μ ν ξ ο π ρ σ ς τ υ φ χ ψ ω Γ Δ Θ Λ Ξ Π Σ Φ Ψ Ω	&alpha; &beta; &gamma; &delta; &epsilon; &zeta; &eta; &theta; &iota; &kappa; &lambda; &mu; &nu; &xi; &omicron; &pi; &rho; &sigma; &sigmaf; &tau; &upsilon; &phi; &chi; &psi; &omega; &Gamma; &Delta; &Theta; &Lambda; &Xi; &Pi; &Sigma; &Phi; &Psi; &Omega;
Math characters: ∫ ∑ ∏ √ − ± ∞ ≈ ∝ ≡ ≠ ≤ ≥ → × · ÷ ∂ ′ ″ ∇ ‰ ° ∴ ℵ ø ∈ ∉ ∩ ∪ ⊂ ⊃ ⊆ ⊇ ¬ ∧ ∨ ∃ ∀ ⇒ ⇔ → ↔ See also WikiProject Mathematics.	&int; &sum; &prod; &radic; &minus; &plusmn; &infin; &asymp; &prop; &equiv; &ne; &le; &ge; &rarr; &times; &middot; &divide; &part; &prime; &Prime; &nabla; &permil; &deg; &there4; &alefsym; &oslash; &isin; &notin; &cap; &cup; &sub; &sup; &sube; &supe; &not; &and; &or; &exist; &forall; &rArr; &hArr; &rarr; &harr;
Spacing in simple math formulas: Obviously, x² ≥ 0 is true. To space things out without allowing line breaks to interrupt the formula, use non-breaking spaces: &nbsp;.	Obviously, ''x''&sup2;&nbsp;&ge;&nbsp;0 is true.
Complicated formulas: <math>\sum_{n=0}^\infty \frac{x^n}{n!}</math> See m:Help:Formula for how to use <math>. A formula displayed on a line by itself should probably be indented by using the colon (:) character.	: <math>\sum_{n=0}^\infty \frac{x^n}{n!}</math>
Suppressing interpretation of markup: Link → (''to'') the [[Wikipedia FAQ]] Used to show literal data that would otherwise have special meaning. Escape all wiki markup, including that which looks like HTML tags. Does not escape HTML character references. To escape HTML character references such as &rarr; use &amp;rarr;	<nowiki>Link &rarr; (''to'') the [[Wikipedia FAQ]]</nowiki>
Commenting page source: not shown when viewing page Used to leave comments in a page for future editors. Note that most comments should go on the appropriate Talk page.	<!-- comment here -->

Images

What it looks like	What you type
A picture: or, with alternative text: or, floating to the right side of the page and with a caption: Free Geek Logo or, floating to the right side of the page without a caption: Only images that have been uploaded to FreekiWiki can be used. To upload images, use the upload page. You can find the uploaded image on the image list. See the extended image markup/syntax pages for more hints. Alternative text, used when the image is not loaded, in a text-only browser, or when spoken aloud, is strongly encouraged. See Alternate text for images for help on choosing it. The frame tag automatically floats the image right.	A picture: [[Image:Freegeeklogo.gif]] or, with alternative text: [[Image:Freegeeklogo.gif|Free Geek Logo]] or, floating to the right side of the page and with a caption: [[Image:Freegeeklogo.gif|frame|Free Geek Logo]] or, floating to the right side of the page ''without'' a caption: [[Image:Freegeeklogo.gif|right|Free Geek Logo]]
Clicking on an uploaded image displays a description page, which you can also link directly to: Image:Freegeeklogo.gif	[[:Image:Freegeeklogo.gif]]
To include links to images shown as links instead of drawn on the page, use a "media" link. Image of a Tornado	[[media:Tornado.jpg|Image of a Tornado]]