MediaWiki User Guide/Text Formatting

The following is an overview of text formatting available in Mediawiki:

Basic text formatting
Formatting	Markup	Note
Boldface	`'''text'''`
Italics	`''text''`
Boldface and italics	`'''''text'''''`
Boldface combined with wikilink	`'''[[text]]'''`	The reverse order of ticks and brackets does not work: `[['''text''']]`

Other text formatting such as underline or blockquote needs to be done using HTML tags, including U for underline, TT for typewriter text, S for strikethrough, SUB for lower index and SUP for upper index.

HTML

Text formatting can also be done using HTML and CSS. Some of the most useful HTML elements are:

Most needed HTML markup
Task	Markup	Note
Preformatted text	<pre> preformatted </pre>	The effect in wiki differs from the one in HTML; in wiki, the text within the PRE element is treated as within NOWIKI element, leaving all the HTML and wiki markup uninterpreted.
Blockquote	<blockquote>Longer passage.</blockquote>
Comments	<!-- comment -->	Avoid nesting, such as <!-- <!-- comment --> -->
Generic inline element	<span style="TODO"></span>	Can be styled arbitrarily using cascading style sheets - CSS.
Generic block element	<div style="TODO"></div>	Can be styled arbitrarily using cascading style sheets - CSS.

Some HTML elements are not allowed, such as A and IMG.

Source code

Source code of various programming and markup languages can be formatted using <syntaxhighlight> element, which leads to colored syntax of the code.

An example of wiki markup:

<syntaxhighlight lang="html4strict">
<html>
  <body>
    <p>Hello <span style="font-weight: bold;">world</span>!
    </p>
  </body>
</html>
</syntaxhighlight>

The rendering of that markup:

<html>
  <body>
    <p>Hello <span style="font-weight: bold;">world</span>!
    </p>
  </body>
</html>

Bibliography