Web pages do not look the same for everyone. Different web browsers will display things different from one another. For example, Firefox may show a sentence wrapping around a picture while Safari does not. Internet Explorer 8 will show a transparent background in a PNG picture while Internet Explorer 6 does not.
Monitor sizes and resolutions will also affect how much can be seen at one time. A 15" monitor isn't as wide as a 19" monitor, so web pages will be longer on a 15" monitor than they will on the 19" monitor. Pages on a 19" monitor can also be longer if the resolution is set low. For example, 800x600 instead of 1280x1024.
Advertisements are placed in wiki pages automatically by the system. Some web browsers allow you to block advertisements, and this changes how the page is displayed.
There are ways to make pages look the same between different web browsers, but fortunately we don't have to worry about those. We just need to describe how we want the words and pictures to be displayed and let the adjustments take place in the background. The descriptions are called "markup commands", and the ones for this site are called "wikitext".
This help page will give you some tips and instructions on how to edit the wiki.
Using the page editor[]
The editor on this wiki is a lot like word processors such as Microsoft Word or Corel WordPerfect. Common formatting options are at the top of the editing window. Links, commands and symbols that are frequently used are listed below the editing window. To insert them, just click on the item you need.
For those who are comfortable with using wikitext and HTML commands, the editor lets you type those in directly.
This page will provide general tips on how pages should look. If you need further instructions on the commands, such as making text bold or italic, indenting and linking to other pages, refer to the Help:Editing page. Some additional information on advanced editing is available on the Help:Tips and tricks FAQ page.
Spacing[]
Vertical spacing[]
When editing a page, use the following rules:
- Put one blank line in between paragraphs.
- Put two blank lines if you need to separate things with a little more space, such as templates. The {{Spacer}} template is available to add a small amount of space, which is less than what two blank lines provides.
- Larger spacings should be created with different commands rather than adding more blank lines.
Text will flow around advertisements and pictures for the article. Keep this in mind when editing pages. Different people will see different things, so try not to lock the page down if at all possible. Stick to the markup and wikitext commands and let browser-specific adjustments happen in the background.
Line breaks and section breaks[]
Without a blank line in between paragraphs, lines on a page are combined into a single paragraph.
For example, that sentence was actually written like this:
- Without a blank line in between paragraphs,
- lines on a page are combined into a
- single paragraph.
- Without a blank line in between paragraphs,
If you need to prevent lines from being joined, use the Break command: <br>.
An ending slash is optional (<br />). The current specifications for web page markup commands list it, but it is not mandatory that it is included here. The slashes are added automatically in the background so we do not have to worry about them.
Break commands can also be used to make text start below an object such as a picture. For example, a section break was created between the "Spacing" section and this section with this command. Without it, the "Line breaks and section breaks" area might have started to the left of the pictures above, depending on the factors listed at the beginning of this article.
Templates have been created for easier use instead of the full break command. The choices are as follows:
- {{ClearLeft}}
- {{ClearRight}}
- {{ClearAll}} (You can also use {{ClearBoth}} )
The left and right makes the text drop below anything on the left or right sides of the page. The All and Both versions are the same and clear objects on both sides.
(Note: the templates actually use the DIV command. See Template:ClearLeft, Template:ClearRight and Template:ClearAll.)
Horizontal spacing[]
The wiki will combine items as much as possible to make sure there isn't any wasted horizontal space. As such, extra spaces in between words are replaced by one space, and if a new lines starts right below another line without a blank line in between them, the two lines are tied together to display as a single line.
There are two ways to override this. The first is by using colons (:) to indent lines. Directions on how to make indents are provided on the Help:Editing page.
The second is with a non-breaking space. Non-breaking spaces are written as .
As described above with vertical spacing, users need to be careful not to use horizontal spacing and indents to make sentences wrap around other objects such as the ads. Remember that just because it looks perfect on your monitor, it will look different when other people look at it because they are using different web browsers and have different monitor sizes and resolutions.
HTML commands[]
Whenever possible, use wikitext commands to format items on a page. Refer to the Help:Editing and the Help:Wikitext examples pages for more details.
If it becomes necessary to add HTML commands to wikitext, refer to the Help:HTML and Help:HTML in wikitext pages for a list of HTML commands that can be used on this wiki.
Tables[]
Whenever possible, use wikitext commands to create tables on a page. Refer to the Help:Tables page and the Help:Table page on the Wikimedia Meta-Wiki for more information.
A tool is available online for converting HTML code into wikitext. It is located here.
To recommend additional topics that need to be included on this Help page, list them on the Discussion page.