MediaWiki Syntax

MediaWiki Syntax? Isn't that a language for Wikipedia? No! The MediaWiki Syntax is used by the Programming Wiki and many other Wiki's too! So this is a pretty vital thing to learn if your new to the Programming Wiki.

What is MediaWiki?
MediaWiki is a wiki service that you have to download and ftp to your Domain. It has a very simple process to go through and requires very few things, like PHP with a few additional stuff, an ftp client to upload it, a Web Server and MySQL or PostgreSQL.

Learning the ropes
Before we start, you must know that the MediaWiki Syntax does not have any major connection to HTML. And to properly use the language, you have to click the View Wikitext button at the top-right.

now, to the lesson.

Bold, Italics, Underlined and others
Bold Text Bold text Put three quotation marks (not ") on one side, insert text, and then put three on the other side.

Italic text

Italic text Same as Bold, but double quotation marks(") on both sides.

Underlined

Underlined This is one of the few tags that are used in HTML, just apply the less than(&lt;), u and a greater than(&gt;) sign, and insert your text. The closing tag must have a slash(/) after the less than sign. Other HTML tags are used, so look at the manual.

Links, Internal and External
HTML - Overview &lt;--an internal link

HTML - Overview

&lt;--an external link that doesnt display any text

 This is a link which will probably never be used, so use this link instead:

http://blender3d.com Now, this is a bare link which requires no at all.

Note: Remember to add http:// after the left bracket

You can change the look of your external links from this:



Or this:

https://archive.is/20130625121225/www.jsriley.com/jsriley/professional_pages/camelot/student_sites/igor_web/Yeltsin.gif

To this:

A picture of Boris Yelstin

A picture of Boris Yelstin The same applies to internal links, but instead of a space, it requires the upperslash(|).

Redirects and Templates
html If you click the link, it will be HTML - Overview, not html! Why is that? Because it was a Redirect.

On the page, all I did was type:

And it redirects you to HTML - Overview!
 * 1) REDIRECT HTML - Overview

now, to templates.

now click this link and look at the WikiText:

Template:Sock-puppet

See anything strange? Now, here's another template:

Guess what? Both were templates! A template is a way to put text or boxes, widgets etc. on a page without really doing anything!

Here's how to post a template:

To learn more about templates and how to make them, click Here or here, and to get a list of templates when making an article, click the Wiki Templates button on the top-right.



Let me reference, and what's the pagename?
&lt;-- here is a nameless reference link. now look on the bottom of the page, there is somthing called References.

And whats down there? This link! Here's an example:

"Microsoft Bob was a Microsoft software product, released in March 1995, which provided a new, nontechnical interface to desktop computing operations. "

If you go down to References, it will show a reference link. How did this happen? With the

Comments and Headings
If you click edit and check the WikiText down here, you would probably see a comment that you know is not true, unless your the dumbest person on earth! Comments cannot be seen by reading a normal article, or Rich Text Editing, but by looking at the WikiText!

Also ,there is headings. As you can see, there is a heading right infront of you!

Heading 2
===Heading 2===

Heading 3
====Heading 3====

Heading 4
=====Heading 4===== And so on, down to 6. ''Note: there is a heading 1! just put two == on each side!''

Bullets, Numbering and Indents

 * This is a bulleted peice of text
 * second bullet
 * Special bullet
 * third bullet

*This is a bulleted peice of text *second bullet **Special bullet *third bullet To bullet stuff, just add a star(*) at the front, while special bullets are double stars(**).


 * first indent
 * second indent
 * third indent

::second indent :::third indent Indents only need a colon. The more colons, the larger the indent.


 * 1) This is a numbered peice of text
 * 2) second numbered
 * 3) Special numbered
 * 4) third numbered

#second numbered ##special numbered #third numbered To number stuff, add a number sign(#) to the beggining, and two for a special numbered piece of text.
 * 1) This is a numbered peice of text

Media
The photo, if you look, is smaller than the actual MediaWiki picture, and if you move your cursor over it, it says "The Programming Wiki"

See the two upperslashes? Those:

They are essential to making the picture neat.
 * Change the size, and
 * Put captions there

''Note: THE FILENAMES EXTENSION IS IMPORTANT! Do not mix up!''

Media:Canada.oggIf you play it, you will hear the Canadian National Anthem! [[Media:Canada.ogg]] To add sound media, you must type the filename and filename extension. The extension is important, just as it is with pictures!

Congratulations!
You have successfully passed the course in learning how to write in WikiText! There is a cheatsheet for you to review, and this will help you with making articles for many pages to come. And if we missed anything, tell us on our Talk Page!

The Cheatsheet


Enjoy the cheatsheet!