View source for VideoLAN Wiki:Syntax

''Note: You can practice editing at the [[Sandbox|Sandbox page]] whenever you like.''

'''<big>This guide is still in the process of being written</big>'''<br>
<br>
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.<br>
This wiki does <u>not</u> support the VisualEditor extension that [//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:VisualEditor Wikipedia does].

Familiarising yourself with wikimarkup is probably a good idea, and the convenient one-page summary of wiki syntax is provided at the English Wikipedia [//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Cheatsheet here]. Anything you forget during editing can be looked up using the "Help" section of the Edit Toolbar (located immediately above the edit box).

== VideoLAN wiki syntax ==
Though VideoLAN wiki inherits some of the functionality found on Wikipedia, not everything is quite the same.<br>
If you are familiar at all with templates on Wikipedia, you've most definitely used {{tl|cn}} to generate <sup>[''<span style="color:blue;">citation needed</span>'']</sup>&mdash;no such template exists here; nor does {{tl|broken link}}, {{tl|which}}, {{tl|update needed}}, {{tl|clarification needed}}, and similar widgets that remark on information not being the clearest or most recent.<br>
Rather, {{tl|Check}} is the current way to mark text that needs checking, by displaying an in-line note and adding the page to the generic clean-up category [[:Category:Pages to check|Pages to check]].

Additionally, a few things are handy to know:
* {{tl|VLC}} displays and links to {{VLC}}
* {{tl|VLC icon}} is a shorthand way to produce the image {{VLC icon}}
* {{tl|VLC:latest version}} will show the latest version of VLC (indispensable)

== Best practices ==
TODO

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

=== Linking ===
* The formula for creating an internal link is <nowiki>[[target page]]</nowiki> or <nowiki>[[target page|text to display]]</nowiki>
** <nowiki>[[VLC]]</nowiki> gives [[VLC]]
** <nowiki>[[VLC|this totally awesome media player]]</nowiki> gives [[VLC|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:
** <nowiki>http://example.com/</nowiki> gives http://example.com/ (this makes for the clearest links)
** <nowiki>[http://example.com/]</nowiki> gives [http://example.com/] (this should only be used if the site name is long or unimportant)
** <nowiki>[http://example.com/ text to display]</nowiki> gives [http://example.com/ text to display] (useful, but can become confusing if over-used)

=== Useful things ===
* to link to a Wikipedia article on "example", use <nowiki>[[Wikipedia:example]]</nowiki>

== 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.
* Adding a line after a sentence <u>will not</u> 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 <code><nowiki><br></nowiki></code> or two lines.

== Links ==
* [https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Help:Editing MediaWiki exhaustive reference guide]

== Templates ==

* See the [[List of templates|Documented List of Templates]].
* See [[Special:PrefixIndex/Template:|all templates on {{SERVERNAME}}]]