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MediaWiki '''Formatting''' is the technique of transforming text in articles. For example, making text '''bold''', ''italics'', or '''''bold italics'''''. A comprehensive tutorial follows.
== Text Formatting ==
=== Simple Text Formatting ===
====Bold, Italics====
The following code will give you '''bold''' text:
 <nowiki>'''BOLD TEXT GOES HERE'''</nowiki>
As you can see, three apostrophes the text gives you the desired format.
<br />
<br />
The following code will give you ''italic'' text:
 <nowiki>''ITALIC TEXT GOES HERE''</nowiki>
Here, two apostrophes are required.
<br />
<br />
These two formatting tricks can be combined to make '''''bold italic text''''', like so:
 <nowiki>'''''BOLD AND ITALICS'''''</nowiki>
====Headers====
To create a header, surround the text you wish to make a header with a number of equals signs. <br />
Here are the six types of headers: <br />
 <nowiki>
 =Header 1=
 ==Header 2==
 ===Header 3===
 ====Header 4====
 =====Header 5=====
 ======Header 6======
 </nowiki>
Results in:<br />
=Header 1=
==Header 2==
===Header 3===
====Header 4====
=====Header 5=====
======Header 6======
If you have more than four headers in a page, a table of contents box listing the headers appears at the top.
===More Complex Text Formatting ===
====Boxes and Unformatting==== 
To achieve a grey box with mono type text like the ones above, simply put a space before the line(s) you wish to place in the box, like so:
 Whee, what fun!
And an example of multiple lines:
 First.
 Second!
 Third?
Note that this does not stop any code in the boxes from being parsed. <br />
i.e.
 '''This text is still bold, though it's in a box'''
To prevent parsing, you must do this:
 <nowiki><nowiki>NON FORMATTED TEXT AND ANYTHING ELSE HERE</nowiki></nowiki>
This removes '''all''' wiki formatting from the contained text.

====Lists====
Lists are a group of items that are, as the name implies, ''listed'' one by one on separate lines. There are two types of lists: ordered and unordered. 
=====Ordered Lists=====
Each item in an ordered list is preceded by it's number in the list. To create an ordered list, simply insert the symbol <nowiki>#</nowiki> before each list item. <br />
Example:
 <nowiki>
 #This is number 1.
 #Two! 
 #Three!
 #Four.
 #Five. Yawn...
 #etc...
 </nowiki>
Results in:
#This is number 1.
#Two! 
#Three!
#Four.
#Five. Yawn...
#etc...
=====Unordered Lists=====
Each item in an unordered list is preceded by a small box. To create an unordered list, insert a <nowiki>*</nowiki> before each list item.<br />Example:
 <nowiki>
 *This is unordered.
 *Oh, the chaos!
 *Pretty nice.
 </nowiki>
Results in:
*This is unordered.
*Oh, the chaos!
*Pretty nice.
=====Nested Lists=====
You can also nest both ordered and unordered lists. <br />
This is how to do it:
 <nowiki>
 *Cool.
 *Yeah.
 **Hey, it's a sub item!
 **This is great.
 ***Yup.
 ****It is.
 ***Really?
 **Of course.
 *Okay.
 #You can do that for numbered lists too.
 #Yup.
 ##It works.
 ##Yay!
 ###w00t!
 #Hurray!
 </nowiki>
Results in:
*Cool.
*Yeah.
**Hey, it's a sub item!
**This is great.
***Yup.
****It is.
***Really?
**Of course.
*Okay.
#You can do that for numbered lists too.
#Yup.
##It works.
##Yay!
###w00t!
#Hurray!
There is also a way to nest ordinary text, namely, to place the a colon (<nowiki>:</nowiki>) before the nested text.
 <nowiki>
 Hi.
 :Nest!
 ::Double nest!
 :::Triple nest!
 </nowiki>
Results in:<br />
Hi.
:Nest!
::Double nest!
:::Triple nest!
===Links===
====Internal Links====
To turn text into an internal link (i.e. a link to a page within the wiki), you format the text as follows:
 <nowiki>
 [[FULL NAME OF ARTICLE HERE]]
 </nowiki>
This would link to the article ''FULL NAME OF ARTICLE HERE''.<br />
To link to an article but display text other than the article name, you format as follows:
 <nowiki>
 [[FULL NAME OF ARTICLE HERE|TEXT TO DISPLAY HERE]]
 </nowiki>
This results in: <br />
[[FULL NAME OF ARTICLE HERE|TEXT TO DISPLAY HERE]]<br />
If a link that you post is colored red, it means the article does not exist yet.
====External Links====
To turn text into an external link (i.e. a link to a page outside the wiki), you format the text as follows:
 <nowiki>
 [URL_OF_PAGE_HERE]
 </nowiki>
Note that there can not be any spaces in the URL. <br />
To link to a website but display text other than the website's URL, you format as follows:
 <nowiki>
 [http://URL_OF_PAGE_HERE TEXT TO DISPLAY HERE]
 </nowiki>
Note the space between the url of the page and the text to display. The above results in:<br />
[http://URL_OF_PAGE_HERE TEXT TO DISPLAY HERE] <br />
This concludes our article on basic text formatting. To learn about even more complex text formatting, it is recommended you read the Wikipedia articles.

{{tutorial}}