3 <li><a href="#TWiki Text Formatting"> TWiki Text Formatting</a><ul>
4 <li><a href="#TWiki Editing Shorthand"> TWiki Editing Shorthand</a></li>
5 <li><a href="#Using HTML"> Using HTML</a><ul>
6 <li><a href="#HTML and TWiki Usability"> HTML and TWiki Usability</a></li>
7 <li><a href="#TWiki HTML Rendering"> TWiki HTML Rendering</a></li>
8 <li><a href="#TWiki and _JavaScript"> TWiki and JavaScript</a></li>
11 <li><a href="#Hyperlinks"> Hyperlinks</a><ul>
12 <li><a href="#Internal Links"> Internal Links</a></li>
13 <li><a href="#External Links"> External Links</a></li>
16 <li><a href="#TWiki Variables"> TWiki Variables</a></li>
17 <li><a href="#TWikiPlugin Formatting Extension"> TWikiPlugin Formatting Extensions</a></li>
18 <li><a href="#Common Editing Errors"> Common Editing Errors</a></li>
24 # <a name="TWiki Text Formatting"></a> TWiki Text Formatting
26 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 laid out below - refer back to this page in a pop-up window from the **Edit** screen.
28 <a name="TWikiShorthand"></a>
30 ## <a name="TWiki Editing Shorthand"></a> TWiki Editing Shorthand
32 <table bgcolor="#000000" border="1" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1">
33 <tr bgcolor="#ffffff">
34 <td><strong>Formatting Command:</strong></td>
35 <td><strong>Example: You write:</strong></td>
36 <td><strong>You get:</strong></td>
38 <tr bgcolor="#ffffff">
39 <td valign="top"><strong>Paragraphs:</strong> %BR% Blank lines will create new paragraphs. </td>
40 <td valign="top"><span style="background: #FFFFCC"><font color="#990000"> <pre>
44 </pre> </font></span></td>
45 <td valign="top"> 1st paragraph <p> 2nd paragraph </p>
48 <tr bgcolor="#ffffff">
49 <td valign="top"><strong>Headings:</strong> %BR% 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. <strong><em>Note:</em></strong> A Table of Content can be created automatically with the <code>%TOC%</code> variable, see [[Main/TWikiVariables]]. Any heading text after <code>!!</code> is excluded from the TOC; for example, write <code>---+!! text</code> if you do not want to list a header in the TOC. </td>
50 <td valign="top"><span style="background: #FFFFCC"><font color="#990000"> <pre>
54 </pre> </font></span></td>
62 <tr bgcolor="#ffffff">
63 <td valign="top"><strong>Bold Text:</strong> %BR% Words get <strong>bold</strong> by enclosing them in <code>*</code> asterisks. </td>
64 <td valign="top"><span style="background: #FFFFCC"><font color="#990000"> <pre>
66 </pre> </font></span></td>
67 <td valign="top"><strong>Bold</strong></td>
69 <tr bgcolor="#ffffff">
70 <td valign="top"><strong>Italic Text:</strong> %BR% Words get <em>italic</em> by enclosing them in <code>_</code> underscores. </td>
71 <td valign="top"><span style="background: #FFFFCC"><font color="#990000"> <pre>
73 </pre> </font></span></td>
74 <td valign="top"><em>Italic</em></td>
76 <tr bgcolor="#ffffff">
77 <td valign="top"><strong>Bold Italic:</strong> %BR% Words get <em>_bold italic</em> by enclosing them in <code>_</code> double-underscores. </td>
78 <td valign="top"><span style="background: #FFFFCC"><font color="#990000"> <pre>
80 </pre> </font></span></td>
81 <td valign="top"><strong><em>Bold italic</em></strong></td>
83 <tr bgcolor="#ffffff">
84 <td valign="top"><strong>Fixed Font:</strong> %BR% Words get shown in <code>fixed font</code> by enclosing them in <code>=</code> equal signs. </td>
85 <td valign="top"><span style="background: #FFFFCC"><font color="#990000"> <pre>
87 </pre> </font></span></td>
88 <td valign="top"><code>Fixed font</code><p>
92 <tr bgcolor="#ffffff">
93 <td valign="top"><strong>Bold Fixed Font:</strong> %BR% Words get shown in <code><b>bold fixed font</b></code> by enclosing them in <code><b></b></code> double equal signs. </td>
94 <td valign="top"><span style="background: #FFFFCC"><font color="#990000"> <pre>
96 </pre> </font></span></td>
97 <td valign="top"><code><b>Bold fixed</b></code></td>
99 <tr bgcolor="#ffffff">
100 <td valign="top"><strong><em>Note:</em></strong> Make sure there is no space between the text and the bold, italic, or other indicators (<code>* _ __ = ==</code>). </td>
101 <td valign="top"><span style="background: #FFFFCC"><font color="#990000"> <pre>
104 </pre> </font></span></td>
105 <td valign="top"><em>This works</em>,%BR% _this not _ </td>
107 <tr bgcolor="#ffffff">
108 <td valign="top"><strong>Verbatim Mode:</strong> %BR% Surround code excerpts and other formatted text with <code><verbatim></code> and <code></verbatim></code> tags. %BR% <strong><em>Note:</em></strong> Use <code><pre></code> and <code></pre></code> tags instead if you want that HTML code is interpreted. %BR% <strong><em>Note:</em></strong> Each tag must be on a line by itself. </td>
109 <td valign="top"><span style="background: #FFFFCC"><font color="#990000"> <pre>
117 </pre> </font></span></td>
118 <td valign="top"><pre>
126 <tr bgcolor="#ffffff">
127 <td valign="top"><strong>Separator:</strong> %BR% At least three dashes at the beginning of a line. </td>
128 <td valign="top"><span style="background: #FFFFCC"><font color="#990000"> <pre>
130 </pre> </font></span></td>
135 <tr bgcolor="#ffffff">
136 <td valign="top"><strong>List Item:</strong> %BR% Three spaces, an asterisk, and another space. </td>
137 <td valign="top"><span style="background: #FFFFCC"><font color="#990000"> <pre>
139 </pre> </font></span></td>
142 <li> bullet item </li>
146 <tr bgcolor="#ffffff">
147 <td valign="top"><strong>Nested List Item:</strong> %BR% Six, nine, ... spaces, an asterisk, and another space. </td>
148 <td valign="top"><span style="background: #FFFFCC"><font color="#990000"> <pre>
151 </pre> </font></span></td>
161 <tr bgcolor="#ffffff">
162 <td valign="top"><strong>Ordered List:</strong> %BR% Three spaces, a number, and another space. </td>
163 <td valign="top"><span style="background: #FFFFCC"><font color="#990000"> <pre>
166 </pre> </font></span></td>
174 <tr bgcolor="#ffffff">
175 <td valign="top"><strong>Definition List:</strong> %BR% Three spaces, a dollar sign, the term, a colon, a space, followed by the definition. </td>
176 <td valign="top"><span style="background: #FFFFCC"><font color="#990000"> <pre>
179 </pre> </font></span></td>
189 <tr bgcolor="#ffffff">
190 <td valign="top"><strong>Table:</strong> %BR% Any number of lines of text. Each line is one row of the table consisting of one or more cells. Each cell starts and ends with a vertical bar '|'. Any spaces at the beginning of a line are ignored.%BR% <strong><em>Notes:</em></strong> %BB% <code>| *bold* |</code> cells are displayed as table headers.%BB% <code>| center-spaced |</code> cells are displayed center aligned.%BB% <code>| right-spaced |</code> cells are displayed right aligned.%BB% <code>| 2 colspan ||</code> cells are displayed as multi-span columns (i.e., a cell with no text spans a column).%BB% <code>|^|</code> cells with a caret indicate follow-up rows of multi-span rows (this functionality is provided by [[Main/TablePlugin]]).%BB% If a row contains a large amount of text, and you want it to be more readable while editing the table, split the row into multiple text lines by ending each line with a backslash character <code>'\'</code>.%BB% Table cells wrap automatically as determined by the browser. </td>
191 <td valign="top"><span style="background: #FFFFCC"><font color="#990000"> <pre>
196 | A4-6 | four | four |
200 </pre> </font></span></td>
202 <table border="1" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0">
204 <th bgcolor="#99CCCC"><strong> L </strong></th>
205 <th bgcolor="#99CCCC"><strong> C </strong></th>
206 <th bgcolor="#99CCCC"><strong> R </strong></th>
210 <td align="center"> 2 </td>
211 <td align="right"> 2 </td>
215 <td align="center"> 3 </td>
216 <td align="right"> 3 </td>
219 <td colspan="3"> multi span </td>
239 <tr bgcolor="#ffffff">
240 <td valign="top"><strong>WikiWord Links:</strong> %BR% CapitalizedWordsStuckTogether (or [[Main/WikiWords]]) will produce a link automatically. %BR% <strong><em>Note:</em></strong> In case you want to link to a topic in a different %WIKITOOLNAME% web write <code>Webname.TopicName</code>. </td>
241 <td valign="top"><span style="background: #FFFFCC"><font color="#990000"> <pre>
245 </pre> </font></span></td>
246 <td valign="top">[[Main/WebNotify]]<p>[[Know/ReadmeFirst]]</p>
249 <tr bgcolor="#ffffff">
250 <td valign="top"><a name="SquareBrackets"></a> <strong>Forced Links:</strong> %BR% You can create a forced internal link by enclosing words in double square brackets. %BR% <strong><em>Note:</em></strong> Text within the brackets may contain optional spaces; the topic name is formed by capitalizing the initial letter and by removing the spaces; for example, <code>[[text formatting FAQ]]</code> links to topic [[Main/TextFormattingFAQ]]. You can also refer to a different web and use anchors. %BR% <strong><em>Note:</em></strong> To "escape" double square brackets that would otherwise be a correct link, prefix the leading left square brackets with an exclamation point, that is, begin with <code>![[....</code></td>
251 <td valign="top"><span style="background: #FFFFCC"><font color="#990000"> <pre>
255 </pre> </font></span></td>
256 <td valign="top">[[Main/WikiSyntax]]<p>[[Main/TWikiUsers]]</p>
259 <tr bgcolor="#ffffff">
260 <td valign="top"><strong>Specific Links:</strong> %BR% Create a link where you can specify the link text and the link reference separately, using nested square brackets like <code>[[reference][text]]</code>. Internal link references (e.g. [[Main/WikiSyntax]]) and external link references (e.g. <a href="http://TWiki.org/" target="_top">http://TWiki.org/</a>) are supported. %BR% <strong><em>Note:</em></strong> The same <strong><em>Forced Links</em></strong> rules apply for internal link references. %BR% <strong><em>Note:</em></strong> For external link references, you can simply use a space instead of <code>][</code> to separate the link URL from the descriptive text. %BR% <strong><em>Note:</em></strong> Anchor names can be added as well, like <code>[[WebHome#MyAnchor][go home]]</code> and <code>[[http://gnu.org/#Action][GNU Action]]</code>. </td>
261 <td valign="top"><span style="background: #FFFFCC"><font color="#990000"> <pre>
262 [[WikiSyntax][syntax]]
264 [[http://gnu.org][GNU]]
266 [[http://xml.org XML]]
267 </pre> </font></span></td>
268 <td valign="top">[[Main/WikiSyntax]]<p><a href="http://gnu.org" target="_top">GNU</a></p>
269 <p><a href="http://xml.org" target="_top">XML</a></p>
272 <tr bgcolor="#ffffff">
273 <td valign="top"><strong>Anchors:</strong> %BR% You can define a link reference inside a %WIKITOOLNAME% topic (called an anchor name) and link to that. To <strong><em>define</em></strong> an anchor write <code>#AnchorName</code> at the beginning of a line. The anchor name must be a [[Main/WikiWord]]. To <strong><em>link to</em></strong> an anchor name use the <code>[[MyTopic#MyAnchor]]</code> syntax. You can omit the topic name if you want to link within the same topic. </td>
274 <td valign="top"><span style="background: #FFFFCC"><font color="#990000"> <pre>
275 [[WikiWord#NotThere]]
280 </pre> </font></span></td>
281 <td valign="top">[[Main/WikiWord#NotThere]]<p>[[Main/WebHome#MyAnchor]]</p>
282 <p><a name="MyAnchor"></a> To here </p>
285 <tr bgcolor="#ffffff">
286 <td valign="top"><strong>Prevent a Link:</strong> %BR% Prevent a [[Main/WikiWord]] from being linked by prepending it with an exclamation point. </td>
287 <td valign="top"><span style="background: #FFFFCC"><font color="#990000"> <pre>
289 </pre> </font></span></td>
290 <td valign="top"> SunOS </td>
292 <tr bgcolor="#ffffff">
293 <td valign="top"><strong>Disable Links:</strong> %BR% You can disable automatic linking of [[Main/WikiWords]] by surrounding text with <code><noautolink></code> and <code></noautolink></code> tags. %BR% <strong><em>Note:</em></strong> Each tag must be on a line by itself. %BR% <strong><em>Note:</em></strong> This also works for TWiki tables, but only if you add a blank line between the end of the table and the closing <code></noautolink></code> tag (known issue of the [[Main/TablePlugin]]). </td>
294 <td valign="top"><span style="background: #FFFFCC"><font color="#990000"> <pre>
299 </pre> </font></span></td>
300 <td valign="top"> RedHat & SuSE </td>
302 <tr bgcolor="#ffffff">
303 <td valign="top"><strong>Mailto: Links:</strong> %BR% To create 'mailto:' links that have more descriptive link text, specify subject lines or message bodies, or omit the email address, you can write <code>[[mailto:user@domain descriptive text]]</code>. </td>
304 <td valign="top"><span style="background: #FFFFCC"><font color="#990000"> <pre>
305 [[mailto:a@z.com Mail]]
307 [[mailto:?subject=Hi Hi]]
308 </pre> </font></span></td>
309 <td valign="top"><a href="mailto:a@z.com">Mail</a><p><a href="mailto:?subject=Hi">Hi</a></p>
314 ## <a name="Using HTML"></a> Using HTML
316 You can use just about any HTML tag without a problem - however, there are a few usability and technical considerations to keep in mind.
318 ### <a name="HTML and TWiki Usability"></a> HTML and TWiki Usability
320 - On collaboration pages, it's preferable NOT to use HTML, and to use [[TWiki shorthand|Main/WebHome#TWikiShorthand]] instead - this keeps the text uncluttered and easy to edit.
321 - %X% **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.
323 ### <a name="TWiki HTML Rendering"></a> TWiki HTML Rendering
325 - 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.
326 - %T% 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."
327 - %X% **NOTE:** The opening and closing angle brackets - <code>**<...>**</code> - of an HTML tag **_must be on the same line_**, or the tag will be broken.
328 - 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: <code>**a < b**</code>
329 - %T% 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.
331 ### <a name="TWiki and _JavaScript"></a> TWiki and JavaScript
333 You can use JavaScript for your TWiki applications. Sice TWiki rendering might interfere with JavaScript code you need to escape it with HTML comments and `<pre>` tags:
335 <script language="JavaScript">
336 <!-- Hide JavaScript and <pre> escape TWiki rendering
337 ... put your JavaScript code here...
338 // Stop hiding and stop </pre> escaping TWiki rendering -->
341 ## <a name="Hyperlinks"></a> Hyperlinks
343 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.
345 ### <a name="Internal Links"></a> Internal Links
347 - [[GoodStyle]] is a [[WikiWord]] that links to the GoodStyle topic located in the current %WIKITOOLNAME% web.
349 - [[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!)
351 ### <a name="External Links"></a> External Links
353 - `http://...`, `https://...`, `ftp://...`, `gopher://...`, `news://...`, `file://...`, `telnet://...` and `mailto:...@...` are linked automatically.
355 - Email addresses like `name@domain.com` are linked automatically.
357 - `[[Square bracket rules]]` let you easily create [[non-WikiWord links|Main/WebHome#SquareBrackets]].
358 - 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](http://yahoo.com/).
360 ## <a name="TWiki Variables"></a> TWiki Variables
362 Variables are names that are enclosed in percent signs `%` that are expanded on the fly.
364 - `%TOC%` : Automatically generates a table of contents based on headings in a topic - see the top of this page for an example.
366 - `%WEB%` : The current web, is **%WEB%**.
368 - `%TOPIC%` : The current topic name, is **%TOPIC%**.
370 - `%ATTACHURL%` : The attachment URL of the current topic. Example usage: If you attach a file to a topic you can refer to it as <code>**%ATTACHURL%/image.gif**</code> to show the URL of the file or the image in your text.
372 - `%INCLUDE{"SomeTopic"}%` : Server side include, includes another topic. The current %WIKITOOLNAME% web is the default web. Example: <code>**%INCLUDE\{"TWiki.SiteMap"\}%**</code>
374 - `%SEARCH{"sushi"}%` : Inline search showing the search result embedded in a topic. [[FormattedSearch]] gives you control over formatting, used to create web-based applications.
376 - [[TWikiPreferences]] defines site-wide variables. Among others:
377 - **Line break:** Write <code><span><font>%BR%</font></span></code> to start a new line.
378 - **Colored text:** Write: <code><span><font> %RED% Red %ENDCOLOR% and %BLUE% blue %ENDCOLOR% colors</font></span></code> to get: %RED% Red %ENDCOLOR% and %BLUE% blue %ENDCOLOR% colors.
379 - **Documentation Graphics:** Write: <code><span><font> %H% Help, %T% Tip, %X% Alert</font></span></code> to get: %H% Help, %T% Tip, %X% Alert. For more info see [[TWikiDocGraphics]].
381 - There are many more variables, see **[[TWikiVariables]]**.
383 - To "escape" a variable, prefix it with an exclamation point. Write: <code><span><font> !%SOMEVARIABLE% </font></span></code> to get: %SOMEVARIABLE%.
385 ## <a name="TWikiPlugin Formatting Extension"></a><a name="_TWikiPlugin Formatting Extensio"></a> TWikiPlugin Formatting Extensions
387 Plugins provide additional text formatting capabilities and can extend the functionality of %WIKITOOLNAME% into many other areas. For example, the optional [SpreadSheetPlugin](http://twiki.org/cgi-bin/view/Plugins/SpreadSheetPlugin) lets you create a spreadsheet with the same basic notation used in TWiki tables.
389 Available Plugins are located in the [Plugins](http://twiki.org/cgi-bin/view/Plugins) web on TWiki.org. Currently enabled plugins on this TWiki installation, as listed by `%PLUGINDESCRIPTIONS%`:
391 - [[SpreadSheetPlugin]] <span>(any TWiki, 10197)</span>:
392 - [[CommentPlugin]] <span>(Dakar, 11359)</span>: Allows users to quickly post comments to a page without an edit/preview/save cycle
393 - [[EditTablePlugin]] <span>(any TWiki, 11646)</span>:
394 - [[InterwikiPlugin]] <span>(Dakar, $Rev: 11935$)</span>:
395 - [[PreferencesPlugin]] <span>(Dakar, 9839)</span>:
396 - [[SlideShowPlugin]] <span>(Any TWiki, $Rev: 12847$)</span>:
397 - [[SmiliesPlugin]] <span>(Dakar, 8154)</span>:
398 - [[TablePlugin]] <span>(1.020, 12339)</span>:
399 - [[TwistyPlugin]] <span>(1.2.0, $Rev: 12154$)</span>:
401 Check on current Plugin status and settings for this site in [[TWikiPreferences]].
403 ## <a name="Common Editing Errors"></a> Common Editing Errors
405 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]]:
407 - **Q:** Text enclosed in angle brackets like `<filename>` is not displayed. How can I show it as it is?
408 - **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 `'>'`. <br /> Example: Type `'prog <filename>'` to get `'prog <filename>'`.
410 - **Q:** Why is the `'&'` character sometimes not displayed?
411 - **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 `'&'`. <br /> Example: Type `'This & that'` to get `'This & that'`.
413 -- TWiki:Main.MikeMannix - 02 Dec 2001 <br /> -- TWiki:Main.PeterThoeny - 29 Mar 2004