Understanding Wiki Syntax

To format and style the text in a wiki page, you use wiki syntax. This syntax is similar to HTML or other markup languages.

Note

Starting in Release 4.x (and improved with each release) Tiki also includes a WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) editor that can be enabled on the Admin: Text Area page. For earlier versions, additional customization is required to implement WYSIWYG capabilities.

Starting in Release 7x, Tiki includes wiki syntax code highlighting (via CodeMirror). This provides near-WYSIWYG display when using wiki syntax.

TIP

You can watch this short video from Bernard Sfez to learn more about Tiki's wiki syntax:

Wiki Syntax

The Tiki wiki syntax consists of special notation that must be placed before and after the words that you want to format.

The following table lists the wiki syntax for some common text formatting:

Format	Wiki Syntax
Bold	__text__ (two underscores)
Italic	''text'' (two single quotes)
Underline	===text===

You can use Tiki's wiki syntax to maintain complete control over how your text will look.

You can also create heading levels by using !. For example:

!First level heading

!!Second level heading

will produce:

First level heading

Second level heading

You can create collapsible headings by by placing + (opened by default) or - (closed by default) in front of the heading text. For example:

!!!+Heading open
The heading is open, by default.

!!!-Heading closed
The heading is collapsed (closed) by default.

will produce:

Heading open

[-]

The heading is open, by default.

Heading

[+]

A complete list of Tiki's wiki syntax is available from the Tiki online help and in the Tiki documentation. In addition to the standard wiki syntax, you can use Tiki Plugins to create custom formats.

Note

You can also include some standard HTML codes in Tiki wiki pages if you have enabled the Allow HTML option on the Administration: Wiki page. However, enabling this option may present a potential security liability to your site — users could potentially inject HTML functions into your website.

Using the Code Highlighter

Tiki includes an optional code highlighter for wiki syntax. When enabled, Tiki will display the formatting of the selected syntax.

To enable the Code Highlighter:

On the Admin Home page, click Editing and Plugins.
On the General Settings tab of the Editing and Plugins control panel, enable the Syntax Highlighter option.

Note
To use the Syntax Highlighter you must first enable the Experimental preference filter.

You can change this by use the Change Highlighter button when editing a wiki page.

While editing a wiki page, click Change Highlighter.The Change Highligher popup window appears
Use the following table to enter information in each field on the window.

Field Description Default

Mode tiki

Theme default

Line numbers

Line wrapping enabled
Click Update

Field	Description	Default
Mode		tiki
Theme		default
Line numbers
Line wrapping		enabled

To disable the code highligher, click Toggle Highligher on the edit page.

Note

For complete details on Tiki's code highlighter, see Tiki Documentation.

With the Tiki Toolbar, you can quickly apply wiki formats to your text. The Toolbar appears in the Edit area of the Edit page.

Note

In earlier Tiki releases, these buttons were called Quicktags.

Click Edit. The Edit page appears. The toolbar appears above the Edit area.

Note

You can optionally configure additional rows of toolbars and customize which buttons appear in each toolbar on the Admin: Toolbars page. See Customizing Toolbars for more information.

Try using the toolbar buttons to add wiki syntax. Click the Bold button. Tiki automatically adds the wiki syntax to the Edit area: __text__.

You can also use the toolbar buttons to apply wiki syntax to selected text:

In the Edit area, type: This is italic
Highlight the word italic and click the Italic button.

Tiki automatically applies the wiki syntax for underline to the word: ''italic''.

When using the code highlighter, Tiki will highlight the wiki syntax and display the resulting code in the edit window:

Click _Toggle Highlighter__ to see the difference.

Getting Help

Tiki includes a help system that explains each of the toolbar buttons, as well as the available plugins.

Click the Wiki Help button on the Toolbar.
The wiki help displays in a pop-up window with two sections:

Wiki help: Displays a list of the available Toolbar buttons and other common formatting syntax.
Plugin help: Displays the available plugins. See Using Plugins for details on using the Edit Help to easily add plugins to wiki pages.

The Wiki help defines each button on the Toolbar and other common wiki syntax.

Tip

You can customize the available toolbars (and their buttons), as well as create your own, custom buttons.

<HR>

Copyright

This guide is based on content originally published by KeyContent.org.

Essentially, you are are free:

	to Share — to copy, distribute and transmit the work
	to Remix — to adapt the work

Under the following conditions:

	Attribution. You must attribute the work to me, as the original licencor, but not in any way that suggests that I endorse you or your use of the work. Fair attribution includes a return link to http://tikiforsmarties.com (for online use) and mention of primary author (Rick Sapir) and original publisher (KeyContent.org).
	Share Alike. If you alter, transform, or build upon this work, you may distribute the resulting work only under the same, similar or a compatible license.

Please read http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/legalcode for the full license.

Tiki®, TikiWiki® and the Tiki logo are registered trademarks of the Tiki Software Community Association, used with permission.