Help

Editing an existing page

This Wiki requires that all users who wish to edit a page first create an account on the system. To create an account, click "create account" at the top right corner of the page.

Once you have successfully created an account and logged in, you will see an "edit" link at the top of every page you have rights to edit.

Adding a new page

Adding a new page is as easy as typing a new page url on your web browser's location bar. For example, if I want to add a page called "ubermix is cool", then all I have to do is type the following in the location bar of my browser:

http://wiki.ubermix.org/page/ubermix_is_cool

...and click the "Create" link at the top of the screen. Note that "_" characters are used in place of spaces.

Formatting text

Plain text is nice, but often when building a page you will want to add more complex formatting, such as bold text, links, tables, etc. Unlike many "GUI" editors you might have experienced on other web sites, MediaWiki uses a formatting scheme called "wiki markup" to create styled text. While a little challenging to get the hang of at first, wiki markup is actually quite simple and makes creating pages easier and faster than GUI toolboxes, where you are constantly reaching for your mouse. It also enables the site to preserve a reasonably consistent "look and feel" across all web pages.

The fundamentals of wiki markup are fairly straightforward. At it's simplest, wiki markup essentially means enclosing the text you want formatted in a series of characters. For example, creating bold type is performed by simply surrounding your bold type with ''', like so:

'''this is my bold type'''

The same goes for italic, underline, etc., as follows:

Text formatting markup

Description	You type	You get
character (inline) 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 2 == === Level 3 === ==== Level 4 ==== ===== Level 5 ===== ====== Level 6 ====== Note: Skip Level 1, it is page name level. An article with 4 or more headings automatically creates a table of contents]].	Level 2 Level 3 Level 4 Level 5 Level 6
Horizontal rule	Text above ---- Text below	Text above Text below
Bullet list	* Start each line * with an [[Wikipedia:asterisk|asterisk]] (*). ** More asterisks gives deeper *** and deeper levels. * Line breaks<br>don't break levels. *** But jumping levels creates empty space. Any other start ends the list.	Start each line with an asterisk (*). More asterisks gives deeper and deeper levels. Line breaks don't break levels. But jumping levels creates empty space. Any other start ends the list.
Numbered list	# Start each line # with a [[Wikipedia:Number_sign|number sign]] (#). ## More number signs gives deeper ### and deeper ### levels. # Line breaks<br>don't break levels. ### But jumping levels creates empty space. # Blank lines # end the list and start another. Any other start also ends the list.	Start each line with a number sign (#). More number signs gives deeper and deeper levels. Line breaks don't break levels. But jumping levels creates empty space. Blank lines end the list and start another. Any other start also ends the list.
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
Indent text	: Single indent :: Double indent ::::: Multiple indent	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 looks like a continuation #: and is often used #: instead<br>of <nowiki><br></nowiki> # five ## five sub 1 ### five sub 1 sub 1 ## five sub 2	one two two point one two point two three three item one three def one four four def one this looks like a continuation and is often used instead of <br> five five sub 1 five sub 1 sub 1 five sub 2Template:Anchor
Preformatted text	Start each line with a space. Text is '''preformatted''' and ''markups'' '''''can''''' be done	Start each line with a space. Text is preformatted and markups can be done
Preformatted text blocks	<nowiki>Start with a space in the first column, (before the <nowiki>). Then your block format will be maintained. This is good for copying in code blocks: def function(): """documentation string""" if True: print True else: print False</nowiki>	Start with a space in the first column. (before the <nowiki>). Then your block format will be maintained. This is good for copying in code blocks: def function(): """documentation string""" if True: print True else: print False

HTML Tags

If you are familiar with HTML, MediaWiki supports a number of HTML tags, like <code></code>, etc. Using HTML is OK, but try not to overuse them as they tend to make pages difficult to edit for a non-HTML user.

Links

There are essentially two kinds of links in MediaWiki: internal and external. Internal links are links to other pages in the wiki, and external links are links to other web sites/locations. Creating either is relatively straightforward as follows:

Internal links

Description	You type	You get
Internal link	[[Main Page]]	Main Page
Link to a page, with text other than the page name	[[Main Page|different text]]	different text
Internal link to a section heading	[[#See also]] Section headings and the top of the page are automatically anchored.	#See also
Internal link to a section heading from different text	[[#See also|different text]]	different text
Internal link to a section heading on another page	[[Help#See also]]	Help:Images#See also
Internal link to an image or a file of other types	[[media:example.jpg]] [[media:example.pdf]]	media:example.jpg

External links

External links are similar, only they contain links to content outside of the wiki, as follows:

Description	You type	You get
External link	http://mediawiki.org	http://mediawiki.org
External link with different label	[http://mediawiki.org MediaWiki]	MediaWiki
Numbered external link	[http://mediawiki.org]	[1]
Mailto link	[mailto:info@example.org email me]	email me
Mailto named with subject line and body	[mailto:info@example.org?Subject=URL%20Encoded%20Subject&body=Body%20Text info]	info

Images

All images must be uploaded to the site before they can be included on a page. To upload images, simply click the "Upload file" link in the sidebar to the left.

Please be conscious of the site and other users, and avoid uploading huge images. Scale your image size down using the GIMP or some other tool prior to uploading.

Syntax

The full syntax for displaying an image is:

[[File:filename.extension|options|caption]]

where options can be zero or more of the following, separated by pipes (|):

• Format option: one of border and/or frameless, frame, thumb (or thumbnail);

  Controls how the rendered image is formatted and embedded in the rest of the page.

• Resizing option: one of
  • {width}px — Resizes the image to fit within the given maximum width in pixels, without restricting its height;
  • x{height}px — Resizes the image to fit within the given maximum height in pixels, without restricting its width;
  • {width}x{height}px — Resizes the image to fit within the given width and height in pixels;
  • upright — Resizes an image to fit within reasonable dimensions, according to user preferences (suitable for images whose height is larger than width).

  Note that the image will always retain its aspect ratio, and can only be reduced (not increased) in size unless it's in a scalable media type (bitmap images cannot be scaled up).

  The default maximum size depends on the format and the internal image dimensions (according to its media type).

• Horizontal alignment option: one of left, right, center, none;

  Controls the horizontal alignment (and inline/block or floating styles) of the image within a text (no default value).

• Vertical alignment option: one of baseline, sub, super, top, text-top, middle, bottom, text-bottom;

  Controls the vertical alignment of a non-floating inline image with the text before or after the image, and in the same block (the default vertical alignment is middle).

• Link option: one of
  • link={target} — Allows to change the target (to an arbitrary page title, or URL) of the generated link, activable on the rendered image surface; e.g. [[File:Example.jpg|20px|link=http://www.wikipedia.org]] renders as 20px (external link), or [[File:Example.jpg|20px|link=MediaWiki]] renders as 20px (internal link).
  • link= (with an empty value) — (Template:Mediawiki) Displays an image without any activable link; e.g. [[File:Example.jpg|20px|link=]] renders as 20px.

! Link does not work with thumb, thumbnail or frame.

The options can be given in any order. If the given options conflict each other, the latter is applied, except for the format options, where the options take the priority in the order of: frame; thumb (or thumbnail); frameless and/or border.

For further details on images, see http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Help:Images

Tables

Tables, too, are fairly straightforward.

Table basics

{|	table start
|+	table caption, optional; only between table start and first table row
|-	table row, optional on first row -- wiki engine assumes the first row
!	table header cell, optional. Consecutive table header cells may be added on same line separated by double marks (!!) or start on new lines, each with its own single mark (!).
|	table data cell, required! Consecutive table data cells may be added on same line separated by double marks (||) or start on new lines, each with its own single mark (|).
|}	table end

• The above marks must start on a new line except the double || and !! for optionally adding consecutive cells to a line. However, blank spaces at the beginning of a line are ignored.
• Pipe character as content. To insert a pipe (|) character into a table use the <nowiki>|</nowiki> escaping markup

Examples

The following table lacks borders and good spacing but shows the simplest wiki markup table structure.

You type	You get
{| |Orange |Apple |- |Bread |Pie |- |Butter |Ice cream |}	Orange Apple Bread Pie Butter Ice cream

The cells in the same row can be listed on one line separated by || (two pipe symbols). If the text in the cell contains a line break, use <br /> instead.

You type	You get
{| |Orange||Apple||more |- |Bread||Pie||more |- |Butter||Ice<br />cream||and<br />more |}	Orange Apple more Bread Pie more Butter Ice cream and more

Extra spaces within cells in the wiki markup, as in the wiki markup below, do not affect the actual table rendering.

You type	You get
{| | Orange || Apple || more |- | Bread || Pie || more |- | Butter || Ice cream || and more |}	Orange Apple more Bread Pie more Butter Ice cream and more

You can have longer text or more complex wiki syntax inside table cells, too:

You type

You get

{| |Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consetetur sadipscing elitr, sed diam nonumy eirmod tempor invidunt ut labore et dolore magna aliquyam erat, sed diam voluptua. At vero eos et accusam et justo duo dolores et ea rebum. Stet clita kasd gubergren, no sea takimata sanctus est Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet. | * Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet * consetetur sadipscing elitr * sed diam nonumy eirmod tempor invidunt |}

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consetetur sadipscing elitr, sed diam nonumy eirmod tempor invidunt ut labore et dolore magna aliquyam erat, sed diam voluptua. At vero eos et accusam et justo duo dolores et ea rebum. Stet clita kasd gubergren, no sea takimata sanctus est Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet consetetur sadipscing elitr sed diam nonumy eirmod tempor invidunt

Table headers

Table headers can be created by using "!" (exclamation mark) instead of "|" (pipe symbol). Headers usually show up bold and centered by default.

You type	You get
{| ! align="left"|Item ! Amount ! Cost |- |Orange |10 |7.00 |- |Bread |4 |3.00 |- |Butter |1 |5.00 |- !Total | |15.00 |}	Item Amount Cost Orange 10 7.00 Bread 4 3.00 Butter 1 5.00 Total 15.00

Advanced formatting with XHTML

Tables also support more advanced formatting, using XHTML tags. For details, see http://www.mediawiki.org/w/index.php?title=Help:Tables&action=edit&section=2