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TWiki Text Formatting

TWiki Text Formatting

Working in TWiki is as easy as typing in text - exactly like email. You don't need to know HTML, though you can use it if you prefer. Links to topics are created automatically when you enter WikiWords. And TWiki shorthand gives you all the power of HTML with a simple coding system that takes no time to learn. It's all layed out below - refer back to this page in a pop-up window from the Edit screen.

TWiki Editing Shorthand

Formatting Command: Example: You write: You get:

Paragraphs:
Blank lines will create new paragraphs.

1st paragraph

2nd paragraph

1st paragraph

2nd paragraph

Headings:
At least three dashes at the beginning of a line, followed by plus signs and the heading text. One plus creates a level 1 heading (most important), two pluses a level 2 heading; the maximum is level 6. Note: A Table of Content can be created automatically with the %TOC% variable, see TWikiVariables.

---++ Sushi

---+++ Maguro

Sushi

Maguro

Bold Text:
Words get bold by enclosing them in * asterisks.

*Bold*

Bold

Italic Text:
Words get italic by enclosing them in _ underscores.

_Italic_

Italic

Bold Italic:
Words get _bold italic by enclosing them in _ double-underscores.

__Bold italic__

Bold italic

Fixed Font:
Words get shown in fixed font by enclosing them in = equal signs.

=Fixed font=

Fixed font

Bold Fixed Font:
Words get shown in bold fixed font by enclosing them in double equal signs.

==Bold fixed==

Bold fixed

Note: Make sure to "stick" the * _ = == signs to the words, e.g. take away spaces.

_This works_,
_this not _

This works, _this not _

Verbatim Mode:
Surround code excerpts and other formatted text with <verbatim> and </verbatim> tags.
Note: Use <pre> and </pre> tags instead if you want that HTML code is interpreted.
Note: Each tag must be on a line by itself.

<verbatim>
class CatAnimal {
  void purr() {
    <code here>
  }
}
</verbatim>

class CatAnimal {
  void purr() {
    <code here>
  }
}

Separator:
At least three dashes at the beginning of a line.

-------

List Item:
Three spaces and an asterisk.

   * bullet item

bullet item

Nested List Item:
Six, nine, ... spaces and an asterisk.

      * nested stuff

- nested stuff

Ordered List:
Three spaces and a number.

   1 Sushi
   1 Dim Sum

Sushi
Dim Sum

Definition List:
Three spaces, the term, a colon, a space, followed by the definition.
Note: Terms with spaces are not supported. In case you do have a term with more then one word, separate the words with dashes or with the   non-breaking-space entity.

   Sushi: Japan
   Dim&nbsp;Sum: S.F.

Sushi: Japan
Dim Sum: S.F.

Table:
Optional spaces followed by the cells enclosed in vertical bars.
Note: | *bold* | cells are rendered as table headers.
Note: | spaced | cells are rendered center aligned.
Note: | spaced | cells are rendered right aligned.
Note: | 2 colspan || cells are rendered as multi-span columns.
Note: In case you have a long row and you want it to be more readable when you edit the table you can split the row into lines that end with a '\' backslash character.

| *L* | *C* | *R* |
| A2 |  2  |  2 |
| A3 |  3  |  3 |
| multi span |||
| A4 \  | next \  | next |

L	C	R
A2	2	2
A3	3	3
multi span
A4	next	next

WikiWord Links:
CapitalizedWordsStuckTogether (or WikiWords) will produce a link automatically.
Note: In case you want to link to a topic in a different TWiki web write Webname.TopicName.

WebNotify

Know.ReadmeFirst

WebNotify

ReadmeFirst?

#SquareBrackets Forced Links:
You can create a forced internal link by enclosing words in double square brackets.
Note: Text within the brackets may contain optional spaces; the topic name is formed by capitalizing the initial letter and by removing the spaces; i.e. [[text formatting FAQ]] links to topic TextFormattingFAQ. You can also refer to a different web and use anchors.

[[wiki syntax]]

[[Main.TWiki users]]

wiki syntax

Main.TWiki users

Specific Links:
Create a link where you can specify the link text and the link reference separately, using nested square brackets like [[reference][text]]. Internal link references (i.e. WikiSyntax) and external link references (i.e. http://TWiki.org/) are supported. The same Forced Links rules apply for internal link references. Anchor names can be added as well, like [[WebHome#MyAnchor][go home]] and [[http://www.yahoo.com/#somewhere][Yahoo!]].

[[WikiSyntax][syntax]]

[[http://gnu.org][GNU]]

syntax

GNU

Easier External Links:
An easier syntax for external links is now available: [[externalURL text]] - just hit the spacebar to separate the link URL from the descriptive text, e.g. [[http://gnu.org/ GNU]]. This also supports anchors, e.g. [[http://www.yahoo.com/#somewhere Yahoo!]].

[[http://gnu.org GNU]]

GNU

Anchors:
You can define a link reference inside a TWiki topic (called an anchor name) and link to that. To define an anchor write #AnchorName at the beginning of a line. The anchor name must be a WikiWord. To link to an anchor name use the [[MyTopic#MyAnchor]] syntax. You can omit the topic name if you want to link within the same topic.

[[WebHome#NotThere]]

[[#MyAnchor][Jump]]

#MyAnchor To here

WebHome#NotThere

Jump

To here

Prevent a Link:
Prevent a WikiWord from being linked by prepending it with the <nop> tag.

<nop>SunOS

SunOS

Using HTML

You can use just about any HTML tag without a problem - however, there are a few usability and technical considerations to keep in mind.

HTML and TWiki Usability

On collaboration pages, it's preferable NOT to use HTML, and to use TWiki shorthand instead - this keeps the text uncluttered and easy to edit.
NOTE: TWiki is designed to work with a wide range of browsers and computer platforms, holding to HTML 3.2 compatibility in the standard installation - adding raw HTML, particularly browser-specific tags (or any other mark-up that doesn't degrade well) will reduce compatibility.

TWiki HTML Rendering

TWiki converts shorthand notation to XHTML 1.0 for display. To copy a fully marked-up page, simply view source in your browser and save the contents.
- If you need to save HTML frequently, you may want to check out TWiki:Plugins/GenHTMLAddon - it will "generate a directory containing rendered versions of a set of TWiki pages together with any attached files."
NOTE: The opening and closing angle brackets - <...> - of an HTML tag must be on the same line, or the tag will be broken.
- This feature allows you to enter an unclosed angle bracket - as a greater than or less than symbol - and have it automatically rendered as if you had entered its HTML character, <, ex: a > b
- If you're pasting in preformatted HTML text and notice problems, check the file in a text processor with no text wrap. Also, save without hard line breaks on text wrap, in your HTML editing program.

Hyperlinks

Being able to create links without any formatting required is a core TWiki feature, made possible with WikiWords. New TWiki linking rules are a simple extension of the syntax that provide a new set of flexible options.

Internal Links

GoodStyle is a WikiWord that links to the GoodStyle topic located in the current TWiki web.

NotExistingYet? is a topic waiting to be written. Create the topic by clicking on the ?. (Try clicking, but then, Cancel - creating the topic would wreck this example!)

External Links

http://..., https://..., ftp://... and mailto:...@... are linked automatically.

Email addresses like name@domain.com are linked automatically.

[[Square bracket rules]] let you easily create non-WikiWord links.
- You can also write [[http://yahoo.com Yahoo home page]] as an easier way of doing external links with descriptive text for the link, such as Yahoo home page.

TWiki Variables

Variables are names that are enclosed in percent signs % that are expanded on the fly.

%TOC% : Automatically generates a table of contents based on headings in a topic - see the top of this page for an example.

%WEB% : The current web, is TWiki.

%TOPIC% : The current topic name, is TextFormattingRules.

%ATTACHURL% : The attachment URL of the current topic. Example usage: If you attach a file to a topic you can refer to it as %ATTACHURL%/image.gif to show the URL of the file or the image in your text.

%INCLUDE{"SomeTopic"}% : Server side include, includes another topic. The current TWiki web is the default web. Example: %INCLUDE{"TWiki.SiteMap"}%

There are many more variables, see TWikiVariables.

TWikiPreferences defines site-wide variables like colors. For example, write: %RED% Red %ENDCOLOR% and %BLUE% blue %ENDCOLOR% colors to get: Red and blue colors.

TWikiPlugin Formatting Extensions

Plugins provide additional text formatting capabilities and can extend the functionality of TWiki into many other areas. For example, the optional SpreadSheetPlugin lets you create a spreadsheet with the same basic notation used in TWiki tables.

Available Plugins are located in the Plugins web on TWiki.org. Currently enabled plugins on this TWiki installation, as listed by %PLUGINDESCRIPTIONS%:

SpreadSheetPlugin (any TWiki, 10197): Add spreadsheet calculation like "$SUM( $ABOVE() )" to TWiki tables and other topic text
ActionTrackerPlugin (21 May 2007, $Rev: 14969 (20 Sep 2007) $): Adds support for action tags in topics, and automatic notification of action statuses
AttachmentListPlugin (1.0.1, $Rev: 15921 (07 Dec 2007) $): Displays a formattable list of topic attachments, anywhere in a topic.
BreadCrumbsPlugin (v1.00, $Rev: 13657 (08 May 2007) $): A flexible way to display breadcrumbs navigation
CalendarPlugin (Dakar, 9113): Show a monthly calendar with highlighted events
CommentPlugin (Dakar, 11359): Allows users to quickly post comments to a page without an edit/preview/save cycle
CompareRevisionsAddonPlugin (Dakar, $Rev: 9808$):
EditTablePlugin (any TWiki, 11646): Edit TWiki tables using edit fields, date pickers and drop down boxes
FilterPlugin (1.40, $Rev: 15932 (07 Dec 2007) $): Substitute and extract information from content by using regular expressions
FlexWebListPlugin (v1.21, $Rev: 16132 (03 Jan 2008) $): Flexible way to display hierarchical weblists
FootNotePlugin (2.006): Footnotes are notes placed at the end of a topic.
GluePlugin (2.00, $Rev: 15708 (23 Nov 2007) $): Enable markup to span multiple lines
IfDefinedPlugin (v1.01, $Rev: 15157 (05 Oct 2007) $): Render content conditionally
InterwikiPlugin (Dakar, $Rev: 11935$): Link ExternalSite:Page text to external sites based on aliases defined in a rules topic
JQueryPlugin (v0.4, $Rev: 15608 (15 Nov 2007) $): jQuery JavaScript library for TWiki
NatSkinPlugin (3.00-pre17, $Rev: 15581 (13 Nov 2007) $): Supplements the bare bones NatSkin theme for TWiki
PreferencesPlugin (Dakar, 9839): Allows editing of preferences using fields predefined in a form
RedDotPlugin (1.40, $Rev: 16137 (03 Jan 2008) $): Renders edit-links as little red dots
RenderListPlugin (any TWiki, 1.034): Render bullet lists in a variety of formats
SlideShowPlugin (Any TWiki, $Rev: 12847$): Create web based presentations based on topics with headings.
SmiliesPlugin (Dakar, 8154): Render smilies as icons, like for :-) or for = :eek:=
TablePlugin (1.020, 12339): Control attributes of tables and sorting of table columns
TreeBrowserPlugin (v1.8): Renders a list as a collapsable/expandable tree.
TreePlugin (1.7): Dynamic generation of TWiki topic trees
TwistyPlugin (1.2.0, $Rev: 12154$): Twisty section JavaScript library to open/close content dynamically
VotePlugin (1.33, $Rev: 14312 (01 Jul 2007) $): Simple way to count votes
WysiwygPlugin (Dakar, 12422): Translator framework for Wysiwyg editors

Check on current Plugin status and settings for this site in TWikiPreferences.

Common Editing Errors

TWiki formatting rules are fairly simple to use and quick to type. However, there are some things to watch out for, taken from the TextFormattingFAQ:

Q: Text enclosed in angle brackets like <filename> is not displayed. How can I show it as it is?
- A: The '<' and '>' characters have a special meaning in HTML, they define HTML tags. You need to escape them, so write '<' instead of '<', and '>' instead of '>'.
  Example: Type 'prog <filename>' to get 'prog <filename>'.

Q: Why is the '&' character sometimes not displayed?
- A: The '&' character has a special meaning in HTML, it starts a so called character entity, i.e. '©' is the © copyright character. You need to escape '&' to see it as it is, so write '&' instead of '&'.
  Example: Type 'This & that' to get 'This & that'.

-- MikeMannix? - 02 Dec 2001
-- PeterThoeny? - 02 May 2002

TWiki Text Formatting

TWiki Editing Shorthand

Sushi

Maguro

Using HTML

HTML and TWiki Usability

TWiki HTML Rendering

Hyperlinks

Internal Links

External Links

TWiki Variables

TWikiPlugin Formatting Extensions

Common Editing Errors

Navigation

TWiki TWiki

Webs Webs

TWiki Text Formatting

TWiki Editing Shorthand

Sushi

Maguro

Using HTML

HTML and TWiki Usability

TWiki HTML Rendering

Hyperlinks

Internal Links

External Links

TWiki Variables

TWikiPlugin Formatting Extensions

Common Editing Errors

Navigation

TWiki TWiki.TwistyPlugin.init("twistyIdTWikiWebSideBar1show");TWiki TWiki.TwistyPlugin.init("twistyIdTWikiWebSideBar1hide");

Webs TWiki.TwistyPlugin.init("twistyIdTWikiFlexWebListNavi2show");Webs TWiki.TwistyPlugin.init("twistyIdTWikiFlexWebListNavi2hide");

TWiki TWiki

Webs Webs