Help:Basic editing

This page explains the bare minimum of wiki-editing.

The first thing to know in Wikiversity: a red link points to a page that doesn't yet exist; a blue link an existing page; a pale blue link points to a page on another wiki; a link like this is an external link.

To edit a page on Wikiversity, first

  • You go to the page, either
    • via typing the page name (case sensitive) in the search box in the top left corner of the screen or on the navigation bar at the top of your browser
  • Press "edit" or "create"
  • write your text
  • go down and press "save page" at the lower left corner

Basic wiki mark up edit

First of all, you don't have to use any mark up if you don't want to. Just remember that you need to skip a line when you want a line break.

And do not indent your paragraphs unless you want your text to appear like this.

Here are the basic characters: wikilinks [[]], section heads == Section name == , bullet points "*", list points "#", indentations ":"

  • wiki links are created by double brackets [[your target page name]]. The page name is case-sensitive, except for the first letter; i.e. This link and this link point to the same page, but THIS LINK is a different page.
  • Sections and subsections are marked as == Section name == , === subsection name === , ====subsub name====, etc
  • Bullets are marked with asterisks (*)
    • You can create sub-bullets with multiple asterisks (**)
    • bullet points can be threaded
  1. A numbered list can be created with the "sharp" character "#"
  2. You need to make sure that you don't skip a line
  1. or else your numbering restarts at 1 when you skip a line
    1. a numbered list can be threaded
      • even with a bullet list

Threaded discussions edit

A threaded discussion can also be carried out with indentations

To reply to the first comment, use a colon ":"
To reply to the previous comment, add one more colon like this "::"

The markup for the previous section edit

The following is the wiki-markup for the previous section. The text is sandwiched between two html-tags <pre> </pre>.

==Basic wiki mark up==

First of all, you don't have to use any mark up if you don't want to. 
Just remember that you need to skip a line when you want a line break.

 And do not indent your paragraphs unless you want your text to appear like this.

Here are the basic characters: wikilinks <code>[[]]</code>, section heads <code>== Section name ==</code> , bullet points "*", list points "#", indentations ":"

*[[wiki links]] are created by double brackets <code>[[your target page name]]</code>.  The page name is case-sensitive, except for the first letter; i.e. [[This link]] and [[this link]] point to the same page, but [[THIS LINK]] is a different page.

*Sections and subsections are marked as <code>== Section name ==</code> , <code>=== subsection name ===</code> , <code> ====subsub name====</code>, etc

*Bullets are marked with asterisks (*)
**You can create sub-bullets with multiple asterisks (**)
**bullet points can be threaded

# A numbered list can be created with the "sharp" character "#"

# You need to make sure that you don't skip a line

# or else your numbering restarts at 1 when you skip a line
## a numbered list can be threaded
##* even with a bullet list

===Threaded discussions===

A threaded discussion can also be carried out with indentations

: To reply to the first comment, use a colon ":"

:: To reply to the previous comment, add one more colon like this "::"


Signature edit

To sign your name on your comments, simply type four tildes like this: ~~~~, or press the button   lining the top of your edit box. The program will generate your signature for you.

External links (url) edit

External links, i.e. urls, can be written directly, for example, as "http://example.com". It can also be displayed as a simple icon with [http://example.com] rendered as [1]. A description can be added to the icon with the wiki-text [http://example.com YOUR TEXT] rendered as YOUR TEXT.

Final hints edit

If you have any problems, try to look for a page that you like and press the "edit" button.
If you want to ask questions, press the "history" button on the top to find some experienced wiki-writers.
In case you are lost (yes, that happens), ask at Wikiversity:Babel

Further reading edit