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WikiEducator Tutorials
Tutorial 4	Introduction  |  Creating a sandbox  |  Bold, Italics & Headings  |  Bullets and Numbered Lists |  [1][2] [3]  |  Summary & FAQs
Objectives for this tutorial

Overview

In this subsection we cover both approaches to formatting text. Try experimenting with both approaches. Many Newbies prefer using the "Toolbar" approach because you don't need to remember the wiki markup. However, experimenting with the Wiki Syntax method will help you understand how the wiki works. As you become more familiar with wiki editing you will develop your own preferences and shortcuts for regular tasks.

Using the Editor Toolbar

When you were editing your User page in the previous section's activity, you may have noticed that the editing area has a blue bar at the top that contains a series of graphic buttons like this:

This is the Editing toolbar and can be used to add simple formatting to your content.

Once you have your text selected you can click on:

• the Bold button to bold the selection;
• the Italics button to italicize the selection;
• or the Headline button to create a level 2 headline from your selected text.

Your formatting will not appear while you are in the editing mode. To see your formatting applied you will need to click on the Show preview button or the Save page button.

Activity

In this activity we'll use the graphic toolbar Go to the sandbox you created under your User page. (See this Activity on the previous page.) Click on the Edit tab. Copy the following sentence or something similar: This word is bold and this word is italics. Highlight the word you want to appear in bold and click on the Bold button . Highlight the word you want to appear in italics and click on the Italics button Click on the save button.

Using Wiki Syntax

If you have tried using the editing toolbar to apply formatting to some text, you may have noticed that the act of clicking on a button actually wraps your text inside some common grammatical characters. These characters are used by the wiki software to indicate where formatting is to be applied. Once you are familiar with some of the basic formatting syntax, you may find it quicker and easier to just type this syntax into the edit mode text area rather than highlighting, selecting and clicking on the buttons.

Overview

Each formatting feature is explained below.

Bold

The syntax for creating a bolded element consists of surrounding the text you wish to bold inside three single quotes (') like this:

'''this text is bold'''

which will appear in the preview or saved modes like this:

this text is bold

Italics

To italicise text, you need to surround the text with two quotes, like this:

''this text is italicised''

which will appear like this:

this text is italicised

Activity

Have a go at these simple editing techniques in your sandbox by entering the wiki markup. Go to the sandbox you created under your User page. (See this Activity on the previous page.) Click on the Edit tab. Enter a piece of text (maybe describe something you are passionate about or your favourite book.) Use the single quotes to make some of your text bold and some italicised.

Headings and Subheadings

Headings and subheadings are an easy way to improve the organization of an article. If you can see two or more distinct topics being discussed, you can break up the article by inserting a heading for each section.

Headings can be created by surrounding the text you would like to be a heading in equals signs (=) like this:

• ==Top level heading== (Your heading text is placed between 2 equals signs)
• ===Subheading=== (Your heading text is placed between 3 equals signs)
• ====Another level down==== (Your heading text is placed between 4 equals signs)

If an article has at least four headings, a table of contents will automatically be generated.

Activity

Think of a hierarchical classification, for example: Chapter, Section and Paragraph or Semester, Week, and Lecture Use the markup for headings (the 2 equals signs) to add formatting to these hierarchies in your sandbox.

Indenting text

To help with the layout you may find reason to:

indent your text like this

and like this

and more like this.

The syntax we use for indents is to preface the text you want to indent with a colon (:). This is placed without a space in the first character position of a new line. Indenting text can be particularly useful when we get to the section on the Talk pages - one of the many collaborative features of the wiki software.

:indent your text like this
:: and like this 
::: and more like this.  

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