wikisyntax

WikiSyntax

On ZTwiki, writing or editing a contribution is easy, thanks to three formatting standards:

• WikiSyntax
• Some HTML coding
• Mix of both

The WikiSyntax is not standardized as much as the HTML language, but it is much easier. There are slight differences between each wiki engine (TikiWiki, Wikipedia, etc.) due to differences in features and modules installed, but the core of WikiSyntax is really close from one wiki to another. Therefore, you won't lose your time learning the particular version of WikiSyntax used on ZTwiki because it can be easily transposed to most wiki engine. ZTwiki use the TikiWiki syntax. WikiSyntax is easy. As you type, you insert easy-to-remember special sequences of common characters, and the formating is done automatically. WikiSyntax uses a character repeated twice for most functions, but it also has a few 2-character combinations. With a 2-character combination, the characters are reversed when the function is turned off. WikiSyntax tags are much easier to type than HTML tags which would requires: Typing two underscores __ before and after a text string to get the bold effect (Wiki style) is much faster and easier than to type <, B, >, then <, /, B, >.< P > (HTML style)! Moreover, WikiSyntax is rather limited. There are not a thousand codes to learn. Most editing is done with few formatting code, so you'll pretty much know all codes. It takes perhaps half-an hour to get used to WikiSyntax. Now, the simplicity of WikiSyntax comes with a price: some formatting can be hard to perform with WikiSyntax. For instance, creating a table with WikiSyntax is easy and suitable for small tables, but not for most large and complex tables. TikiWiki solves this by allowing most common HTML codes in its pages. All you have to do, is to format the text with HTML the usual way rather than with WikiSyntax, and in the Edit page of, check the little option box that says: 'Allow HTML'. To write HTML code, you may prefer to type the text in an HTML editor first and paste it in the Wiki page after for fine tuning. (I am not going to explain here how to write HTML code because it can be found anywhere on the Internet) Fortunately with TikiWiki, you do not need to choose between WikiSyntax or HTML. Actually, you can use both languages: WikiSyntax for its simplicity, and HTML for its power. You can even mix both languages in the same paragraph. For example, you couldtype: Text written in both HTML and WikiSyntax Of course, it is not very rational to use both formatting languages in way shown in the example above (and especially because there is a Wiki tag for red font!), but rationality is not as much important on Wiki as the quantity of contribution. The idea is to type a lot and format quickly. So you can use both languages if you need to.

Use Sandbox and Preview

Don't be afraid to try new things with formatting. Other users may help ironing out your formatting mistakes, and Wiki administrators can revert a page to an earlier version if things mess up. Still, even experienced users may need to refine formatting before publishing a page, so take the habit of using the Preview button in the Edit box. It does what it says: it shows the result of formatting and you can use it as much as you want before saving the page. The Sandbox is another way to test codes. It's available to registered users under theWiki submenu on the left. A sandbox is just a page that you can't save, so you can test anything you want without messing out existing pages.

Some basic codes

~ ~ ~ ~ ~Style ~ ~ ~ ~ ~	Characters Used	Example	Comment
Bold Text	2 Underscores "_"	__text__	~
Centered Text	2 Colons ":"	::text::	The Centered Text can be centered within a Box, a Table, or almost anything else
Colored Text	2 Tildes "~"	~~blue:text~~	~
Italic Text	2 Single Quotes "'"	''text''	~
-+MonoSpaced Text+-	Minus & Plus "-" & "+"	-+text+-	be sure to keep the line length short.
Underlined Text	3 Equals "="	===text===	~
Text Box	One carat " ^ "	^text^	~
Non-breaking space	~hs~~	~
Plain Text	surrounding np tags "~np~"	~np~ __not bold__ ~/np~	~
Plugin disabled Plugin tag cannot be executed. Strike through text	{TAG(tag=>strike)}text{TAG}	{TAG(tag=>strike)}This text uses strikethrough{TAG}

Colored Text (Click the + to Open)

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Indent (Click the + to Open)

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Using Square Brackets (Click the + to Open)

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Headers (Click the + to Open)

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Header 1

Header 2

Header 3

!Header 1 at the beginning of a new line !!Header 2 at the beginning of a new line !!!Header 3 at the beginning of a new line

Numbered and bulleted lists (Click the + to Open)

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Paragraph formatting (Click the + to Open)

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Links (Click the + to Open)

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