You can emphasize text by putting two apostrophes on each side. Three apostrophes will emphasize it strongly. Five apostrophes is even stronger.

You can ''emphasize text'' by putting two
apostrophes on each side. Three apostrophes
will emphasize it '''strongly'''. Five
apostrophes is '''''even stronger'''''.

A single newline has no effect on the layout.

But an empty line starts a new paragraph.

A
single
newline
has
no
effect
on
the
layout.

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.<br>
Please use this sparingly.

You should "sign" your comments on talk pages:

Three tildes gives your user name: Karl Wick

Four tildes give your user name plus date/time: Karl Wick 07:46, 27 November 2005 (UTC)

Five tildes gives the date/time alone: 07:46, 27 November 2005 (UTC)

You should "sign" your comments on talk pages:
: Three tildes gives your user name: ~~~
: Four tildes give your user name plus date/time: ~~~~
: Five tildes gives the date/time alone: ~~~~~

You can use HTML tags, too, if you want. Some useful ways to use HTML:

Put text in a typewriter font. The same font is generally used for computer code.

Strike out or underline text, or write it in small caps.

Superscripts and subscripts: x², x₂

Invisible comments that only appear while editing the page. Comments should usually go on the talk page, though.

You can use <b>HTML tags</b>, too, if you
want. Some useful ways to use HTML:

Put text in a <tt>typewriter font</tt>.
The same font is generally used for
<code>computer code</code>.

<strike>Strike out</strike> or
<u>underline</u> text, or write it
<span style="font-variant:small-caps">
in small caps</span>.

Superscripts and subscripts:
x<sup>2</sup>, x<sub>2</sub>

Invisible comments that only appear while editing the page.
<!-- Note to editors: blah blah blah. -->
Comments should usually go on the talk page, though.

Section headings

Headings organize your writing into sections. The Wiki software can automatically generate a table of contents from them.

Subsection

Using more equals signs creates a subsection.

A smaller subsection

Don't skip levels, like from two to four equals signs. Start with two equals signs; don't use single equals signs.

== Section headings ==

Headings organize your writing into sections.
The Wiki software can automatically generate
a table of contents from them.

=== Subsection ===

Using more equals signs creates a subsection.

==== A smaller subsection ====

Don't skip levels, like from two to four equals signs.
Start with two equals signs; don't use single equals signs.

• Unordered lists are easy to do:
  • Start every line with a star.
    • More stars indicate a deeper level.
• A newline
• in a list

marks the end of the list.

• Of course you can start again.

* ''Unordered lists'' are easy to do:
** Start every line with a star.
*** More stars indicate a deeper level.
*A newline
*in a list  
marks the end of the list.
*Of course you can start again.

1. Numbered lists are also good:
   1. Very organized
   2. Easy to follow

A newline marks the end of the list.

1. New numbering starts with 1.

# Numbered lists are also good:
## Very organized
## Easy to follow
A newline marks the end of the list.
#New numbering starts with 1.

• You can even do mixed lists
  1. and nest them
     • or break lines
       in lists.

* You can even do mixed lists
*# and nest them
*#* or break lines<br>in lists.

Another kind of list is a definition list:

word 

definition of the word

longer phrase

phrase defined

Another kind of list is a '''definition list''':
; word : definition of the word
; longer phrase 
: phrase defined

A colon indents a line or paragraph.

A newline after that starts a new paragraph.

This is often used for discussion on Talk pages.

:A colon indents a line or paragraph.
A newline after that starts a new paragraph.
::This is often used for discussion on talk pages.

You can make horizontal dividing lines to separate text.

But you should usually use sections instead, so that they go in the table of contents.

You can make horizontal dividing lines
to separate text.
----
But you should usually use sections instead,
so that they go in the table of contents.

Here's a link to a page named Official position. You can even say official positions and the link will show up correctly.

Here's a link to a page named [[Official position]].
You can even say [[official position]]s
and the link will show up correctly.

You can put formatting around a link. Example: Wikipedia.

You can put formatting around a link.
Example: ''[[Wikipedia]]''.

The first letter of articles is automatically capitalized, so wikipedia goes to the same place as Wikipedia. Capitalization matters after the first letter.

The ''first letter'' of articles is automatically capitalized,
so [[wikipedia]] goes to the same place as [[Wikipedia]].
Capitalization matters after the first letter.

The weather in London is a page that doesn't exist yet. You could create it by clicking on the link, but please don't in this particular case.

[[The weather in London]] is a page that doesn't exist
yet. You could create it by clicking on the link, but please don't in this particular case.

You can link to a page section by its title:

• List of cities by country#Morocco.

If multiple sections have the same title, add a number. #Example section 3 goes to the third section named "Example section".

You can link to a page section by its title:

*[[List of cities by country#Morocco]].

If multiple sections have the same title, add
a number. [[#Example section 3]] goes to the
third section named "Example section".

You can make a link point to a different place with a piped link. Put the link target first, then the pipe character "|", then the link text.

• About Links
• Cities in Morocco

You can make a link point to a different place
with a [[Help:Piped link|piped link]]. Put the link
target first, then the pipe character "|", then
the link text.

*[[Help:Link|About Links]]
*[[List of cities by country#Morocco|
Cities in Morocco]]

You can make an external link just by typing a URL: http://www.nupedia.com

You can give it a title: Nupedia

Or leave the title blank: [1]

You can make an external link just by typing a URL:
http://www.nupedia.com

You can give it a title:
[http://www.nupedia.com Nupedia]

Or leave the title blank:
[http://www.nupedia.com]

You can redirect the user to another page.

#REDIRECT [[Official position]]

Category links don't show up, but add the page to a category.

Add an extra colon to actually link to the category: Category:English documentation

Category links don't show up, but add the page
to a category. [[Category:English documentation]]

Add an extra colon to actually link to the category:
[[:Category:English documentation]]

The Wiki reformats linked dates to match the reader's date preferences. These three dates will show up the same if you choose a format in your Preferences:

• July 20, 1969
• 20 July 1969
• 1969-07-20

The Wiki reformats linked dates to match the reader's date
preferences. These three dates will show up the same if you
choose a format in your [[Special:Preferences|]]:
* [[July 20]], [[1969]]
* [[20 July]] [[1969]]
* [[1969]]-[[07-20]]

Please note that this page is still under construction (eg: there may be several broken links)

Tips and tricks

Page protection

Recently in a few cases, where an administrator has protected a page, the link labeled "Edit this page" is replaced by the text "View source" (or equivalents in the language of the project). In that case the page cannot be edited. Protection of an image page includes protection of the image itself.

Edit conflicts

If someone else makes an edit while you are making yours, the result is an edit conflict. Many conflicts can be automatically resolved by the Wiki. If it can't be resolved, however, you will need to resolve it yourself. The Wiki gives you two text boxes, where the top one is the other person's edit and the bottom one is your edit. Merge your edits into the top edit box, which is the only one that will save.

Reverting

The edit link of a page showing an old version leads to an edit page with the old wikitext. This is a useful way to restore the old version of a page. However, the edit link of a diff page gives the current wikitext, even if the diff page shows an old version below the table of differences.

Error messages

If you get an error message upon saving a page, you can't tell whether the actual save has failed or just the confirmation. You can go back and save again, and the second save will have no effect, or you can check "My contributions" to see whether the edit went through.

Checking spelling and editing in your favorite editor

You may find it more convenient to copy and paste the text first into your favorite text editor, edit and spell check it there, and then paste it back into your web browser to preview. This way, you can also keep a local backup copy of the pages you have edited. It also allows you to make changes offline.

If you edit this way, it's best to leave the editing page open after you copy from it, using the same edit box to submit your changes, so that the usual edit conflict mechanism can deal with it. If you return to the editing page later, please make sure that nobody else has edited the page in the meantime. If someone has, you'll need to merge their edits into yours by using the diff feature in the page history.

Composition of the edit page

The editing page consists of these sections:

• The edit toolbar (optional)
• The editing text box
• The edit summary box
• Save/Preview/Cancel links
• A list of templates used on the page
• A preview, if you have requested one. Your preferences may place the preview at the top of the page instead.

Position-independent wikitext

No matter where you put these things in the wikitext, the resulting page is displayed the same way:

• Interlanguage links
• Categories
• The magic words __NOTOC__ and __FORCETOC__. See Help:Section.

Minor edits

A logged-in user can mark an edit as "minor". Minor edits are generally spelling corrections, formatting, and minor rearrangement of text. Users may choose to hide minor edits when viewing Recent Changes.

See also

• Help:Editing FAQ
• m:Help:Reference card - a one-page summary of important commands, to be printed out and used next to the computer
• Help:Automatic conversion of wikitext
• Help:Calculation
• Help:Editing toolbar
• Help:HTML in wikitext
• Protecting pages
• Help:Starting a new page
• Help:Variable
• UseModWiki and Wikipedia:PHP script.
• HTML elements.
• Live preview - a way to preview your edits without contacting the server.
• Template:Tim - font size
• Template:Tim - color
• Template:Tiw - showing and hiding text using Javascript

External links

• Special characters in HTML

Template:H:f