VideoLAN Wiki:Syntax

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

The basics

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

This wiki uses something called "wikimarkup", a way to include plain text on a page and modify how it looks. This is similar to both Wikipedia's markup and HTML.

Commands to modify plain text include:

• "tags" around words, for example <big>example text</big> to display example text
• "templates" (common snippets of formatting or often-used text), for example {{VLC}} to display VLC media player
• a particular way of linking to other pages and websites on the Internet
• a particular way of making things bold or italic
• a particular way of inserting images

Another important feature is the page layout:

• making lists
• making tables
• using page headings to create sections

If you have a minute...

Begin by learning the basics. A one-page summary and an extensive manual are available at the English Wikipedia.

To start editing right away...

Find the Edit Toolbar directly above the edit box and use the buttons and the "Help" dropdown to guide you.

Common conventions and best practices

• Many articles explain how to manipulate code within VLC. It is standard practice to visually separate large chunks of code from the body of the article in order to make it easier to read. You can do this in several ways:
  • begin lines of code with a single space
  • wrap the code in the tag <pre>...</pre>
  • use the in-line tag <code>...</code>

• While making numbered lists, prefer # notation for long lists, since the numbers are dynamic and automatically change when list items are added or removed
• Generally the best way to link to other websites is with descriptive text: [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VLC/ Wikipedia's entry on VLC]
• To end a line, use either two new lines (a single new line will be ignored) or the HTML entity <br>
• To mark text that is out-of-date, incorrect, or otherwise inaccurate, place {{Check}} after the text to mark it with^{[Please check this]} and add it to Category:Pages to check
• If a page is very short or needs work, place {{Stub}} at either the top or bottom of the page (somewhere out-of-the-way but visible) to help draw attention and add it to Category:Stubs

Remarks

Templates seem to be local to each wiki (except built-in MediaWiki templates), so the VideoLAN wiki lacks the wide selection of perfunctory templates Wikipedia offers ‒ for example, {{citation needed}}, which inserts ^{[citation needed]}.

Rules concerning style are much more relaxed, and you are advised to use common sense. If something works better than listed in the section above, do that instead.

Nota bene or NB means "important note". It's a Latin/Italian phrase that is used very often around the wiki to indicate how a page is to be interpreted, for instance, remarking that the page documents past conventions. Generally, read this before anything else on the page.

Most pages are written in loosely British English, rather than American English. Contribute in whatever style of English you feel comfortable writing in.

Almost all pages are out of date. Currently no campaign to clean this up has been launched, but in the future out-of-date pages might be noted with a template/category identification system.

Useful things

• {{VLC}} displays and links to VLC media player
• {{VLC icon}} is a shorthand way to produce the image
• {{VLC:latest version}} will show the latest version of VLC
• {{Font colour}}

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.

See also

• MediaWiki exhaustive reference guide
• See the Documented List of Templates.
• See all templates on wiki.videolan.org