Help:Contents

A quick reference card is available here: http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Help:Reference_card

A very good description of Wiki markup can be found here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:Wiki_markup

A Wiki cheat sheet - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Cheatsheet

An add-in for MS Office is available. Search the web for "Microsoft Office Word Add-in For MediaWiki" to find a download from microsoft.com

For questions on writing style (e.g. punctuation, capitalization, quotes) see the Wikipedia "Manual of Style" available here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Manual_of_Style

A very good HTML to MediaWiki converter - http://labs.seapine.com/htmltowiki.cgi

1 Example Wiki Text

View the source for this page to see common formatting tags.

Paragraphs are just text. Italics are like this. Bold is like this.

Indented paragraph.

1.1 Heading level 3

• List 1a
  • List 2a
  • List 2b
  • List 2c
• List 1b
  1. Ordered 2a
  2. Ordered 2B
• List 1c

Preformat text with
the "pre" tag.

Block tag processing with nowiki tag like ''this'' and *this.

1.2 Tables

Here's an example of a basic table:

r1c1	r1c2
r2c1	r2c2
r3c1	r3c2

For a cleaner look, add the class="wikitable" tag:

r1c1	r1c2
r2c1	r2c2
r3c1	r3c2

This table looks just like the previous, but uses a slightly different markup style:

r1c1	r1c2
r2c1	r2c2
r3c1	r3c2

To add headers to your table, use the ! symbol:

Col 1	Col 2	Col 3
r1c1	r1c2	r1c3
r2c1	r2c2	r2c3
r3c1	r3c2	r3c3

To add cells that span columns, use the colspan attribute:

Table header
Col 1	Col 2	Col 3	Col 4
r1c1	r1c2	r1c3	r1c4
r2c1	r2c2	r2c3	r2c4
r3c1	r3c2	subheader
r4c1	r4c2	r4c3	r4c4

A handy Comma Separated Variable (CSV) to Wiki Table translator is available here: http://area23.brightbyte.de/csv2wp.php

A decent HTML to Wiki converter can be found here - http://www.uni-bonn.de/~manfear/html2wiki-tables.php

1.3 Cross References

Reference other sections of the wiki like this -> Beginner's Notes

To reference another section in PinWiki, put the section heading in double brackets:
[[Beginner's_Notes#Top_5_things_to_know:]]

You can get the correction section name by looking at the title= field of the URL in your web browser.
To simplify the link name, add a vertical bar with your choice of name.

[[Beginner's_Notes#Top_5_things_to_know:|Top_5_things_to_know]]

(See the examples below)

Here's the first link: Beginner's_Notes#Top_5_things_to_know: Here's the link with a custom name: Top_5_things_to_know

1.4 Adding a New Page

To create a new page, add a reference to a non-existent page like this -> Non-existent page. Save the page with the reference and simply double-click the new link to open/create the new page.

1.5 Links

[URL description] to use a descriptive link, type out the link's URL, followed
by a whitespace, and then the description of the link, like this:   
[http://www.pinwiki.com/ PinWiki]
(see the example below)

Example of a descriptive link which hides the link's url Power Problems

1.6 Images and Files

To include a file in a page, use a link in one of the following forms:

[[Image:File.jpg]] to use the full version of the file 
[[Image:File.png|200px|thumb|left|alt text]] to use a 200 pixel wide rendition in a box in the left margin with 'alt text' as description
[[Media:File.ogg]] for directly linking to the file without displaying the file<br><br>
[[Media:File.ogg | description word(s)]] for directly linking to a the file without displaying the file, but adding a descriptive "hyperlink" from a word or words (see the example below)

Example of a descriptive hyperlink to a photo - This is a System 80 sound board

1.7 Creating White Space Breaks between sections

Use the <br clear=all> tag at the end of an inserted thumbnail with text, when the thumbnail is above the next subsection. If you don't, your text from the next subsection will typically rise up to the thumbnail. This is in turn really screws up the page formatting. (see GTB Sys1 Intro section for an example)

1.8 Wiki Color Formatting

Wiki color formatting - http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wiki_color_formatting_help

2 Flagging Draft Pages as "Work in Progress"

While working on a PinWiki page, it's good practice to flag it as a "Work In Progress." This is done by adding the WIP category to the top of the page. The format for the WIP tag is shown here:

{{WIP}}

Don't forget to remove the tag when your draft is complete. Changes can still be made after this, but removing the tag indicates that the initial major edits are complete.