Editing Help:Editing (section)

=== Organizing your writing ===
{| border="1" cellpadding="2"
!width="1000"|What it looks like
!width="500"|What you type
|-
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<div style="font-size:150%;border-bottom:1px solid #000000;">Section headings</div>

''Headings'' organize your writing into 
sections. The Wiki software can automatically 
generate a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:Table_of_contents#Table_of_contents_.28TOC.29 table of contents] from them.

<div style="font-size:132%;font-weight:bold;">Subsection</div>
Using more "equals" (=) signs creates a subsection.

<div style="font-size:116%;font-weight:bold;">A smaller subsection</div>

Don't skip levels, like from two to four equals signs.

Start with 2 equals signs not 1 because 1 creates H1 tags which should be reserved for page title.
|<pre>
== Section headings ==

''Headings'' organize your writing into
sections. The Wiki software can automatically
generate a [[table of contents]] from them.

=== Subsection ===
Using more "equals" (=) signs creates a subsection.

==== A smaller subsection ====

Don't skip levels,
like from two to four equals signs.

Start with 2 equals signs not 1
because 1 creates H1 tags
which should be reserved for page title.
</pre>
|- id="lists"
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* ''Unordered lists'' are easy to do:
** Start every line with a star.
*** More stars indicate a deeper level.
*: Previous item continues.
** A newline
* in a list  
marks the end of the list.
*Of course you can start again.<!--

                -->
* And you can space out the code <!--


--> with HTML comments.

While it can be tempting for editors to double-return between every bullet in the list, as it makes the list easier for them to read in the editing window, this breaks up each entry into its own list of one element.  This does not look unusual on the page, but it makes the page difficult to understand for vision-impaired users with screen readers, as the screen reader will read every entry as its own list (e.g. "List begins.  One item. [Item.]  List ends.  List begins.  One item.  [Item.]  List ends.  List begins...").  If items in a list get overly long, and there is a need to separate them in the editing window, the proper way to do this is to insert an HTML comment (<code>&lt;!-- ... --&gt;</code>) that begins at the end of one item and ends on the line before the next.  A comment can also be inserted into a single item in a list to accomplish the same thing, but then there should ''not'' be a new line at the end of the comment.  An arbitrary number of lines and spaces  can be inserted into the comment to space the items apart in the editing window, but by keeping them inside the comment, the wiki parser will strip them out before parsing the page into HTML, so the list items are kept as one continuous list.
|<pre>
* ''Unordered lists'' are easy to do:
** Start every line with a star.
*** More stars indicate a deeper level.
*: Previous item continues.
** A newline
* in a list  
marks the end of the list.
*Of course you can start again.<!--

                -->
* And you can space out the code <!--


--> with HTML comments.

(I inserted the spaces before the end
of the comment right there so that the
left edge of the page would have a
clear break in it between list items.)

</pre>
|-
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# ''Numbered lists'' are:
## Very organized
## Easy to follow
A newline marks the end of the list.
# New numbering starts with 1.

|<pre>
# ''Numbered lists'' are:
## Very organized
## Easy to follow
A newline marks the end of the list.
# New numbering starts with 1.
</pre>
|-
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Here's a ''definition list'':
; Word : Definition of the word
; A longer phrase needing definition
: Phrase defined
; A word : Which has a definition
: Also a second one
: And even a third

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>
Here's a ''definition list'':
; Word : Definition of the word
; A longer phrase needing definition
: Phrase defined
; A word : Which has a definition
: Also a second one
: And even a third

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>
|-
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* You can even do mixed lists
*# and nest them
*# inside each other
*#* or break lines<br>in lists.
*#; definition lists
*#: can be 
*#:; nested : too
|<pre>
* You can even do mixed lists
*# and nest them
*# inside each other
*#* or break lines<br>in lists.
*#; definition lists
*#: can be 
*#:; nested : too
</pre>
|-
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: A colon (:) indents a line or paragraph.
A newline starts a new paragraph. <br>
Should only be used on talk pages. <br>
For articles, you probably want the blockquote tag.
: We use 1 colon to indent once.
:: We use 2 colons to indent twice.
::: 3 colons to indent 3 times, and so on.
|<pre>
: A colon (:) indents a line or paragraph.
A newline starts a new paragraph.
Should only be used on talk pages.
For articles, you probably want the blockquote tag.
: We use 1 colon to indent once.
:: We use 2 colons to indent twice.
::: 3 colons to indent 3 times, and so on.
</pre>
|-
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You can make horizontal dividing lines (----)
to separate text.
----
But you should usually use sections instead,
so that they go in the table of contents.
|<pre>
You can make horizontal dividing lines (----)
to separate text.
----
But you should usually use sections instead,
so that they go in the table of contents.
</pre>
|-
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You can add footnotes to sentences using the ''ref'' tag -- this is especially good for citing a source.

:There are over six billion people in the world.<ref>CIA World Factbook, 2006.</ref>

References: <references/>


|
<pre>
You can add footnotes to sentences using
the ''ref'' tag -- this is especially good
for citing a source.

:There are over six billion people in the
world.<ref>CIA World Factbook, 2006.</ref>

References: <references/>


</pre>
|-
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<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible">
In certain areas you may want to take advantage of [http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Manual:Collapsible_elements collapsible text].
</div>

{| class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed wikitable"
! Collapsible text || is quite versatile.
|-
| Content can be || hidden upon first load
|-
| or presented in || tables or other forms. 
|}

<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">
This text is not collapsible; but the next is collapsible and hidden by default:
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">You can use the possibility of presenting or hiding content to allow page readers to quickly access detailed information.</div>
</div>
|
<pre>
<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible">
In certain areas you may want to take advantage of 
[collapsible text].
</div>

{| class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed wikitable"
! Collapsible text || is quite versatile.
|-
| Content can be || hidden upon first load
|-
| or presented in || tables or other forms. 
|}

<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">
This text is not collapsible; but the next is 
collapsible and hidden by default:
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">You can use the 
possibility of presenting or hiding content to allow 
page readers to quickly access detailed information.
</div>
</div>
</pre>
|}