Wiki Syntax
A wiki is a place to store the collective knowledge of people from around the world, made popular by Wikipedia, and the help on Atlas Quest uses a similar philosophy. Letterboxers from around the world can add their knowledge to the information in the Atlas Quest help pages. It's a huge task, but we have every letterboxer in the world to help!
Most information about help can be found in the wiki itself, and if something is not there, by all means, add it. That's the purpose of a wiki. To learn, improve, and become a great source of information.
One piece of documentation, however, does not easily fit in the wiki, and that's how to markup the text in a wiki. The problem lies that as soon as someone tries to show an example of what to type, the text becomes marked up and everyone else can no longer see what you originally typed. Sort of a chicken and egg problem, and therefore this page is primarily used to explain how to markup a wiki.
Basic Markups
Create bold text by surrounding it with double asterisks (**), and italics by surrounding it with double slashes (//). For example:
Create this: The letterboxer slipped down the slope.
By typing this: The letterboxer **slipped** down the slope.
Create this: Atlas Quest holds thousands of clues!
By typing this: Atlas Quest holds //thousands// of clues!
Those are the main ones you will most likely see and use, but for completeness:
Create this: The dog jumped over the log.
By typing this: The dog ^^jumped^^ over the log.
Create this: The logbook was mired in water.
By typing this: The logbook was ,,mired,, in water.
Chopping up the Text
Breaking up long sections of text into sections helps people find the meat of an article. To turn a line into a heading, use the plus sign at the beginning of the line. Multiple plus signs allow you to specify the level of heading you want to use—the more plus signs, the deeper the heading:
+ Header 1
++ Header 2
+++ Header 3
++++ Header 4
+++++ Header 5
++++++ Header 6
You can also physically separate two sections of text with a horizontal line by type at least four minus signs on a line by itself:
Create a horizontal line:
By typing this: ----
Creating Links
Links make the World Wide Web go around. They also provide a method of citing sources of pertinent information in a wiki:
Create this: http://www.atlasquest.com/
By typing this: [http://www.atlasquest.com/]
Create this: Atlas Quest
By typing this: [http://www.atlasquest.com/ Atlas Quest]
Creating Lists
Lists often allow you to provide a lot of information in a concise format. To create a numbered list, start each item in the list with the sharp (#) symbol. To create an unordered list, start each item with an asterisk (*).
Create this:
- Open letterbox
- Pour out water
- Dry logbook
By typing this:
# Open letterbox
# Pour out water
# Dry logbook
Create this:
- Carry extra water
- Never leave without your compass
- Tell someone where you are going
By typing this:
* Carry extra water
* Never leave without your compass
* Tell someone where you are going
Organized Data
Some data is better listed as a series of columns and rows—known better as a table:
Create this:
Date Holiday March 14 Pi Day July 14 Bastille Day November 5 Guy Fawkes Day
By typing this:
|| Date || Holiday ||
|| March 14 || Pi Day ||
|| July 14 || Bastille Day ||
|| November 5 || Guy Fawkes Day ||
Including Images
A picture is worth a thousand words, so this wiki allows images. All images must be hosted on Atlas Quest. If there is an image you need to use that is not on Atlas Quest, you can upload one to the Wiki Photo Album and link the wiki to the image there.
Create this:
By typing this: [img:/images/icons/boxes/kidfriendly.gif Kid Friendly]
The text after the location of the image will be used as the alternate text if the image cannot be used for some reason.
Note that images are just specialized links. Instead of http:, for instance, you use: img:. Additionally, the domain name information should not be included since the image is always assumed to be hosted on Atlas Quest, and the link will not work if you include a domain name. Additionally, only gif, jpg, and png images are allowed. And finally, images will only work for the help section. They will not work on messages boards, AQ mail, or other places where wiki-styled text is otherwise allowed. It is better to post links to images so people with slow Internet connections can skip them if necessary.
Quoting Text
Need to create box with text in it? Put the text in double curly brackets:
Create this: By typing this: {{Quoted text here}}
And there you have it. Now get wiki-ing!