Help:A CWC Guide to Wiki Editing

Editing the CWCki does not and should not depend on knowledge about Chris. One can have no idea who Chris is and still be a valued CWCki editor. The following is a "cwc" (pronounced "quick") guide to the basics of wiki editing.

Editing

Editing most CWCki pages is simple. Simply click on the "edit" tab at the top of a CWCki page. This will bring you to a new page with a text box containing the editable text of the current page.

Minor edits

A check to the "minor edit" box signifies that only superficial differences exist between the version with your edit and the previous version: typo corrections, formatting and presentational changes, rearranging of text without modifying content, etc.

Talk (discussion) pages

Talk pages are similar to articles in that they also have a "new section" tab to start a new section or edit the whole page. One thing to remember is that that are exclusively for discussing improvements made to the article, they are not to discuss the article's subject itself.

Formatting

Sections

Section headings

Use headings to split articles into sections. Put a heading on a separate line. A level-two heading is the highest level editors use in an article.

What it looks like	What you type
Section headings Headings organize your writing into sections. The Wiki software can automatically generate a table of contents from them. Start with 2 'equals' characters. Subsection Using more 'equals' characters creates a subsection. A smaller subsection Don't skip levels, like from two to four 'equals' characters. A non-TOC subsection A semicolon at the start of a line is a way of making headings that don't appear in the Table of Contents. It actually bolds the entire line (see below).	==Section headings== ''Headings'' organize your writing into sections. The Wiki software can automatically generate a table of contents from them. Start with 2 'equals' characters. ===Subsection=== Using more 'equals' characters creates a subsection. ====A smaller subsection==== Don't skip levels, like from two to four 'equals' characters. ;A non-TOC subsection A semicolon at the start of a line is a way of making headings that don't appear in the [[WP:TOC|TOC]]. It actually bolds the entire line (see [[#Text formatting|below]]).
Horizontal line Separating with a horizontal dividing line: this is above it... ...and this is below it. If you don't use a section header, you don't get a TOC entry.	'''Horizontal line''' Separating with a horizontal dividing line: :this is above it... ---- :...and this is below it. If you don't use a section header, you don't get a TOC entry.

Table of contents

When a page has at least four headings, a table of contents (TOC) will appear in front of the first header (after the lead). Putting __TOC__ anywhere forces the TOC to appear at that point (instead of just before the first heading). Putting __NOTOC__ anywhere forces the TOC to disappear. Putting __FORCETOC__ anywhere will force the TOC to appear at that point, but also create the TOC, regardless of how many sections the article has.

Line breaks

• You can make the wikitext more readable by putting in newlines.
• To break lines use the <br /> element. The HTML tag <br> will be converted to the XHTML <br /> tag by HTML Tidy in most instances.
• Please use these sparingly.
• Close markup between lines; do not start a link or italics or bold on one line and close it on the next.
• When used in a list, a newline does affect the layout.

What it looks like	What you type
A single newline has no effect on the layout. But an empty line starts a new paragraph, or ends a list or indented part.	A single newline has no effect on the layout. But an empty line starts a new paragraph, or ends a list or indented part.
You can break lines without starting a new paragraph.	You can break lines<br /> without starting a new paragraph.

Indent text

What it looks like	What you type
Left indent
A colon at the start of a line causes the line to be indented, most commonly used on Talk pages.	:A colon at the start of a line ::causes the line to be indented, :::most commonly used on Talk pages.
Blockquote When there is a need for separating a block of text. This is useful for (as the name says) inserting blocks of quoted (and cited) text.
The blockquote tag will indent both margins when needed instead of the left margin only as the colon does.	<blockquote> The '''blockquote''' tag will indent both margins when needed instead of the left margin only as the colon does. </blockquote>

Center text

What it looks like	What you type
Centered text	<div class="center" style="width:auto; margin-left:auto; margin-right:auto;">Centered text</div>

Lists

What it looks like	What you type
Unordered lists are easy to do: Start every line with a star. More stars indicate a deeper level. Previous item continues. A new line 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. **: Previous item continues. ** A new line * in a list marks the end of the list. * Of course you can start again.
Numbered lists are: Very organized Easy to follow Previous item continues A new line marks the end of the list. New numbering starts with 1.	# ''Numbered lists'' are: ## Very organized ## Easy to follow #: Previous item continues A new line marks the end of the list. # New numbering starts with 1.

Tables

Table element	Wikitext	Required	Usage notes
Table start	{|	Required
Table caption	|+	Optional	Only between table start and first table row.
Table row	|-	Optional	Can be omitted before 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	| or ||	Optional	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 (|). This mark is also used to separate HTML attributes from cell and caption contents.
Table end	|}	Required

See also

A Quick Guide to CWCki