John h: Text editing guidance taken from wikipedia

2006-02-03T23:05:07Z

Text editing guidance taken from wikipedia

New page

===Examples===

{| border="1" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0"
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! What it looks like
! What you type
|- valign="top"
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Start your [[Wikipedia:Manual of Style (headings)|sections]] as follows:




'''<font style="font-size:120%">New section</font>'''

'''<font style="font-size:110%">Subsection</font>'''

'''<font style="font-size:100%">Sub-subsection</font>'''

* Start with a second-level heading (<tt><nowiki>==</nowiki></tt>); don't use first-level headings (=).
* Don't skip levels (for example, second-level followed by fourth-level).
* A [[#Placement_of_the_Table_of_Contents_.28TOC.29|Table of Contents]] will automatically be added to an article that has four or more sections.
*If appropriate, place subsections in an appropriate order. If listing countries, place them in alphabetical order rather than, say, relative to population of [[OECD]] countries, or some random order.
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<pre><nowiki>
==New section==

===Subsection===

====Sub-subsection====
</nowiki></pre>
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A single [[newline]]
generally has no effect on the layout.
These can be used to separate
sentences within a paragraph.
Some editors find that this aids editing
and improves the function ''diff''
(used internally to compare
different versions of a page).

But an empty line
starts a new paragraph.

* When used in a list, a newline ''does'' affect the layout ([[#lists|see below]]).
|
<pre><nowiki>
A single [[newline]]
generally has no effect on the layout.
These can be used to separate
sentences within a paragraph.
Some editors find that this aids editing
and improves the function ''diff''
(used internally to compare
different versions of a page).

But an empty line
starts a new paragraph.
</nowiki></pre>
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You can break lines<br>
without starting a new paragraph.

* Please use this sparingly.
* Close markup between lines, do not start a [[link]] or ''italics'' or '''bold''' on one line and close it on the next.
|
<pre><nowiki>
You can break lines<br>
without starting a new paragraph.
</nowiki></pre>
|- id="lists" valign="top"
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* It's easy to create a list:
** Start every line with a star ([[asterisk]]).
*** More stars means deeper levels.
**** A newline in a list
marks the end of a list item.

* An empty line starts a new list.
|
<pre><nowiki>
* It's easy to create a list:
** Start every line with a star.
*** More stars means deeper levels.
**** A newline in a list
marks the end of a list item.

* An empty line starts a new list.
</nowiki></pre>
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# Numbered lists are also good
## very organized
## easy to follow
### easier still
|
<pre><nowiki>
# Numbered lists are also good
## very organized
## easy to follow
### easier still
</nowiki></pre>
|- valign="top" id="definition"
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; Definition list : list of definitions
; item : the item's definition
; another item
: the other item's definition

* Begin with a semicolon. One item per line; a newline can appear before the colon, but using a space before the colon improves parsing.
|
<pre><nowiki>
; Definition list : list of definitions
; item : the item's definition
; another item
: the other item's definition
</nowiki></pre>
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* You can even create mixed lists
*# and nest them
*#* like this
*#*; can I mix definition list as well?
*#*: yes
*#*; how?
*#*: it's easy as
*#*:* a
*#*:* b
*#*:* c
|
<pre><nowiki>
* You can even create mixed lists
*# and nest them
*#* like this
*#*; can I mix definition list as well?
*#*: yes
*#*; how?
*#*: it's easy as
*#*:* a
*#*:* b
*#*:* c
</nowiki></pre>
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: A colon indents a line or paragraph.
A manual newline starts a new paragraph.

* This is primarily for displayed material, but is also used for discussion on [[Wikipedia:Talk page|Talk page]]s.
|
<pre><nowiki>
: A colon indents a line or paragraph.
A manual newline starts a new paragraph.
</nowiki></pre>
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When there is a need for separating a block of text
<blockquote>
the '''blockquote''' command will indent both margins when needed instead of the left margin only as the colon does.
</blockquote>
This is useful for (as the name says) inserting blocks of quoted (and cited) text.
|
<pre><nowiki>
<blockquote>
The '''blockquote''' command will indent
both margins when needed instead of the
left margin only as the colon does.
</blockquote>
</nowiki></pre>
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(See formula on right):

*This is useful for:
** pasting preformatted text;
** algorithm descriptions;
** program source code;
** [[ASCII art]];
** chemical structures;
* '''WARNING''': If you make it wide, you [[page widening|force the whole page to be wide]] and hence less readable, especially for people who use lower resolutions. Never start ordinary lines with spaces.
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<pre><nowiki>
IF a line starts with a space THEN
it will be formatted exactly
as typed;
in a fixed-width font;
lines will not wrap;
ENDIF
</nowiki></pre>
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<center>Centered text.</center>

* Please note the American spelling of "center."
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<pre><nowiki>
<center>Centered text.</center>
</nowiki></pre>
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A [[horizontal dividing line]]:
this is above it
----
and this is below it.

* Mainly useful for
**disambiguation - but to be used sparsely, only when separating completely different, unrelated (groups of) meanings
**separating threads on Talk pages.
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<pre><nowiki>
A [[horizontal dividing line]]:
this is above it
----
and this is below it.
</nowiki></pre>
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John h: Text editing guidance taken from wikipedia