VideoLAN Wiki:Syntax

This guide is still in the process of being written

Please follow these guidelines when editing this wiki. There will be more guidelines later.

The basics

This wiki uses the same general syntax as Wikipedia, because both use MediaWiki markup (A full manual can be found here on MediaWiki).
Unlike Wikipedia, the "VisualEditor feature" was never enabled and so can't be used.

Familiarising yourself with wikimarkup is probably a good idea. The basics of it can be learned within minutes, and a quick reference guide can be found under the "Help" section of the Editing Toolbar, a visual way to insert wikimarkup quickly.

General markup

Note: You can practice editing at the Sandbox page whenever you like.

Lists

• To make a bulleted list, begin lines with asterisks *
• To make a numbered list, begin lines with pound signs # (which will be automatically re-numbered if you add or remove items—this is generally smart for long or frequently-changing lists).

Markup

• Add two apostrophes around a word or phrase to make it italic: ''example'' → example
• Add three apostrophes around a word or phrase to make it bold: '''example''' → example
• Occasionally, both are needed. Add five apostrophes around a word or phrase to make it both: '''''example''''' → example

Linking

• The formula for creating an internal link is [[target page]] or [[target page|text to display]]
  • [[VLC]] gives VLC
  • [[VLC|this totally awesome media player]] gives this totally awesome media player
• There are several ways to create external links: a simple outgoing link, a shortened link, or a shortened link with alternate text:
  • http://example.com/ gives http://example.com/ (this makes for the clearest links)
  • [http://example.com/] gives [1] (this should only be used if the site name is long or unimportant)
  • [http://example.com/ text to display] gives text to display (useful, but can become confusing if over-used)

Useful things

• to link to a Wikipedia article on "example", use [[Wikipedia:example]]

Editing tips

• Use the editing toolbar to help you; it provides buttons to help you out.
• Keep things simple, and don't be afraid to make mistakes.
• Wikipedia has already prepared a cheat-sheet for you that you might find useful editing here.
• Adding a line after a sentence will not make the next bit appear on a new line: for the convenience of coders, it will appear on the same line. To get it on a different line, either use <br> or two lines.

Resources

• wikimarkup

Templates

• See the Documented List of Templates.
• See all templates on wiki.videolan.org