compose tips

Input formats:
  • Filtered HTML:

    • Allowed HTML tags: <a> <em> <strong> <cite> <code> <ul> <ol> <li> <dl> <dt> <dd>

      This site allows HTML content. While learning all of HTML may feel intimidating, learning how to use a very small number of the most basic HTML "tags" is very easy. This table provides examples for each tag that is enabled on this site.

      For more information see W3C's HTML Specifications or use your favorite search engine to find other sites that explain HTML.

      Tag DescriptionYou TypeYou Get
      Anchors are used to make links to other pages.<a href="http://www.kai-mai.com">Kai Mai's Blog - Take Back the Web</a>Kai Mai's Blog - Take Back the Web
      Emphasized<em>Emphasized</em>Emphasized
      Strong<strong>Strong</strong>Strong
      Cited<cite>Cited</cite>Cited
      Coded text used to show programming source code<code>Coded</code>Coded
      Unordered list - use the <li> to begin each list item<ul> <li>First item</li> <li>Second item</li> </ul>
      • First item
      • Second item
      Ordered list - use the <li> to begin each list item<ol> <li>First item</li> <li>Second item</li> </ol>
      1. First item
      2. Second item
      Definition lists are similar to other HTML lists. <dl> begins the definition list, <dt> begins the definition term and <dd> begins the definition description.<dl> <dt>First term</dt> <dd>First definition</dd> <dt>Second term</dt> <dd>Second definition</dd> </dl>
      First term
      First definition
      Second term
      Second definition

      Most unusual characters can be directly entered without any problems.

      If you do encounter problems, try using HTML character entities. A common example looks like &amp; for an ampersand & character. For a full list of entities see HTML's entities page. Some of the available characters include:

      Character DescriptionYou TypeYou Get
      Ampersand&amp;&
      Greater than&gt;>
      Less than&lt;<
      Quotation mark&quot;"
    • Lines and paragraphs are automatically recognized. The <br /> line break, <p> paragraph and </p> close paragraph tags are inserted automatically. If paragraphs are not recognized simply add a couple blank lines.
  • WikiText:
    • WikiText is converted to HTML according to the following formatting guidelines:

      Paragraphs

      • Don't indent paragraphs
      • Words wrap and fill as needed
      • Use blank lines as separators
      • Four or more minus signs make a horizontal rule
      • %%% or \\ makes a linebreak (in headings and lists too)

      Lists

      • asterisk for first level
        • asterisk-asterisk for second level, etc.
      • Use * for bullet lists, # for numbered lists (mix at will)
      • semicolon-term-colon-definition for definition lists:
        • term here
        definition here, as in the <DL><DT><DD> list
      • One line for each item
      • Other leading whitespace signals preformatted text, changes font.

      Headings

      • ! at the start of a line makes a small heading
      • !! at the start of a line makes a medium heading
      • !!! at the start of a line makes a large heading

      Fonts

      • Indent with one or more spaces to use a monospace font;
      • Or enclose within triple braces {{{ }}}, which may cross multiple lines:
      This is in monospace

      This is not

      Indented Paragraphs

      • semicolon-colon -- works like <BLOCKQUOTE>, but is actually implemented as Term Definition above without the term

      this is an indented block of text

      Emphasis

      • Use doubled single-quotes ('') for emphasis
      • Use doubled underscores (__) for strong emphasis
      • Mix them at will: very strong emphasis
      • Emphasis can be used multiple times within a line, but cannot cross line boundaries:

        ''this
        will not work''

      References

      • Hyperlinks to other pages within the Wiki are made by placing the page name in square brackets: [this is a page link]
      • Hyperlinks to external pages are done like this: [http://www.example.com]
      • You can name the links by providing a name, a pipe/bar (|) and then the hyperlink or pagename:
        [PhpWiki home page | http://phpwiki.sourceforge.net/]
      • You can suppress linking to old-style references and URIs by preceding the word with a '!', e.g. NotLinkedAsWikiName, http://not.linked.to/
      • Also, the old way of linking URLs is still supported: precede URLs with "http:", "ftp:" or "mailto:" to create links automatically as in: http://example.com/
      • URLs ending with .png, .gif, or .jpg are inlined if in square brackets, by themselves

      HTML Mark-Up Language

      • HTML will display as-is
      • < and > are themselves
      • Entities (e.g. &amp;) will not convert to characters
      • If you really must use HTML, the system administrator has enabled this feature. Start each line with a bar-greater-than (|>).

      Content protection

      • To protect content as is (i.e., in a <pre></pre> block) without interpretation, enclose within triple braces {{{ }}}, which may cross multiple lines. Note that the content within the triple braces may still be interpreted by the browser in the same way <pre></pre> enclosed content is.

      Table is supported

      • Start the line with single-bar (|) or double-bars (||) to create a table
      • One line per row, do not insert blank line, or the table ends
      • Double-bar separates header (<th></th>) cells
      • Single-bar separates normal table (<td></td>) cells
      • Don't end a line with single or double bar; otherwise, a blank cell results
      • Example:
        || Heading 1 || Heading 2
| Cell a1 | Cell a2
| Cell b1 | Cell b2
        Result:
        Heading 1Heading 2
        Cell a1Cell a2
        Cell b1Cell b2