Using media wiki markup
Editing a Page or Section
Open a page for editing
There are 2 ways to begin editing a on mediawiki
1. click the edit button on the page toolbar to edit the entire page
This will open the entire page content for editing across all sections.
2. Click a section edit button to the right of a header title
If your content has been broken up using header titles then each section will have its own edit button. This is a great option if the page is large and you only wish to work on a specific section.
Entering and editing content
You can begin entering or editing text directly into the page. You can cut and paste from applications like word or a web browser, however all the embedded formatting will be lost. You will need to apply formatting using wikimedia markup.
This can be done by entering the formatting code directly or using the format tool bar at the top of the entry dialogue box.
Wikimedia markup consists of normal characters like asterisks, single quotes or equation marks which have a special function in the wiki, sometimes depending on their position. For example, to format a word in bold, you include it in three single quotes like '''this''' which results in this
Mediawiki ignores normal line breaks. To start a new paragraph, leave an empty line. You can also start a new line with the HTML tag <br>
Formatting Summary
Bold Text
To bold text place 3 apostrophes without spaces on either side of a word. eg. '''Bold Text''' results in Bold text
You can also use the edit toolbar by ranging the text and clicking the bold icon
Italic text
To italic text place 2 apostrophes without spaces on either side of word eg. ''Italic text'' results in Italic text
You can also use the edit toolbar by ranging the text and clicking the italic icon
Strike through text
You can <strike>strike out</strike> stuff
eg. strike out
Numbering and bullets
Numbered lists utilise the # symbol Place ONE # before the initial section text and then TWO ## for the sub-numbers
# Numbered lists are good:
## very organized
## easy to follow
results in
- Numbered lists are good:
- very organized
- easy to follow
Bulleted lists utilise the * symbol Place ONE * before the initial section text and then TWO ** for the sub-bullets
* Bulleted lists are easy:
** very simple
** easy to follow
Results in
- Lists are good:
- they organize material
- they look clean
The following uses ONE * before the first line and then a *# for the following two
* Mixing list types is straightforward
*# first subitem
*# second subitem
Results in
- Mixing list types is straightforward
- first subitem
- second subitem
Indents
Lines can be indented by placing one or more colons : in front of the text
: indented
:: indented
Results in
- indented
- several levels
Inserting a hyperlink
To link to another external site type the name of the site in your text and place square brackets around the text. Now type or paste in the URL for your site including http:// inside the bracket and before the title leaving a single space between the URL and the title. Save your page.
For example
[http://umfweb2.sydney.det.win/wordpress/mylearning/ myLearning Blog]
Results in
You can also use the edit toolbar by ranging the text and clicking the italic icon
This results in the following code being automatically added to the page
[http://www.example.com Link title]
simply replace the url and the link text title
Linking to an existing page on the myLearning wiki
Here you need to know the page name.
When you navigate to a page you will notice in the url the name is listed at the end of the url for example the programs page is
http://umfweb2.sydney.det.win/mylearningwiki/index.php/Programs
In this case the page name is Programs.
To link to this page you would use the following code
[[Programs]]
This would result in
You can have a custom title for the link to the page by using the | separator
[[Programs|This is the programs page]]
This would result in
Inserting / Uploading an Image
To display an image on a page it must first be uploaded to the library after which a reference can then be made to it using mediawiki markup to display it on the page.
Enter the following code into a page using the file name of your image
[[Image:SITlogo.jpg]]
results in the following being displayed on the page in red.
The red hyperlink indicates that no image with that file name was found in the library.
To upload the image click the hyperlink
Click the browse button to find the file on your local computer to upload
Summary: Enter a description of the image
Watch this page: Check this option if you would like to add image to your personal watch list so that you are notified of changes to the file by other users.
Ignore any warnings: Check this box if you which to bypass any warnings ie. file size
Upload File: Click to transfer the image to the server, if the file exceeds a designated size you may be asked to confirm upload.
Once the file is uploaded you will be taken to a library review page.
Scroll to the bottom of the page and click the page link to return to the page you were editing where the image will be displayed on the page.
NOTE: If the image has already been uploaded to the library previously all you need to do is know it file name and make reference to it.
You can also use the edit toolbar by clicking the insert image icon
This results in the following code being automatically added to the page
[[Image:Example.jpg]]
Simply replace the example.jpg with the name of your image.
Updating an image file
In the future if you need to update the image in the library either search for it in the library, locate file link in the site tools section or simply click on the image in the page where it is displayed.
This will open the library page for the image where you can upload an updated version.
Formatting Images
Resizing & Justification
Here's a neat little bit of code that allows you to align and resize your image on a page...
[[image:imagename.jpg|left|250px]]
- replace 'imagename' with your own filename
- 'left' = left alignment on page - adjust as required
- '250px'= 250 pixel width - adjust as required
For example
[[image:MyPDA04.jpg|50px]] results in
thumbnail and description
[[image:touchgraph.jpg|thumb|left|200px|visualisation of an networked community]]
- thumb = substitute library image with thumbnail
- left = left or right align
- 200px = set thumbnail size to 200 pixels wide
- visualisation of an networked community = your description of the image
Clicking the thumbnail will take the user to the full size library image
This results in
Uploading and linking a file to a page
- upload the file to the library using the upload filebutton on the Left Hand Nav and note the library file name (Note: if the file already exists find it in the library using the Locate Filebutton and note the file name)
- Navigate to the page you wish to link the file
- Enter Wikitext mode and use the following code to link the file
- [Http://webconf.det.nsw.edu.au/fileupload/ Watch this video] for more information
[[Media:file name|link tile to file on page]]
For example
[[Media:national_strategy_final.pdf|National Strategy]]
results in
Categories
Categories are a very useful way for community members to organise and share content created in Mediawiki. Each page can be assigned to categories, which are simply keywords which describe the content. Pages can be assigned to multiple categories.
Clicking the Categories button Under Site Tools on the left hand menu will display a page listing all the assigned categories and the number of pages in each category. Clicking on a given category title will list all the pages assigned to that category.
To assign a page to categories simply use the code below as the very end of the page.
For example the code below would assign the page to the blogs and wikis categories.
It is best to have a look and see the categories already used by the community and use those before creating new one.
See the myLearning Category discussion page for more information on the categories used by our myLearning wiki & Blog community.
Useful external links on wikimarkup
If you find any useful online resources feel free to add them below
Basic formating
Help on basic text editing
Advanced Editing Help
Great help resource on the wikimedia wiki
MediaWiki Link Help Help on adding links
MediaWiki reference card
The MediaWiki reference card is a one page summary of important MediaWiki editing commands, intended to be printed out and used next to the computer.
Stephan Ridgway's tagged resources
This is a link to a del.ico.us user tag associated with sites related to the use of mediawiki markup.
Basic Mediawiki editing resource
NSW LearnScope's wiki help pagefckLR
