Help:Editing/Source mode basics

This guide is written for use with the Source Mode editor. If you have not already switched to the Source Mode editor you can find out how to here.

The default editor for newly made accounts or for users who are not logged into an account is the VisualEditor. When making some types of edits using the VisualEditor can introduce errors along with your edit to the page.

Source mode allows you to see all of the wikicode on a page and to edit this directly. If you want to make a more complex edit you should switch to the Source mode editor. Use Source mode for these types of edits:

• Making a redirect

Switching editors

You will have options to use both Visual and Source editor at the top right of the page. Click edit source to edit in source mode. If you have already opened the VisualEditor you can do this to switch to source mode editing.

File:SM basics - entering source edit.png

Opening source editor

First look at the Source mode interface

File:SM basics - interface.png

1. Shortcuts for performing some kinds of edits.
2. Edit summary: may be used to explain what changes you made/why you have changed something to other editors.
3. Minor edit tickbox: can check this to indicate that you have made only a small change to a page.
4. Previews: shows a preview of what the page will look like for readers.
5. Show changes: shows the differences made to the page in your edit.
6. Save changes: save your changes when you are finished making your edit.

Basics in Source mode

This portion of the guide will cover how to perform the same functions mentioned in Help:Editing/VisualEditor basics using Source mode. The same policies and guidelines for usage apply when using Source mode.

Bold and italics

Bold is added by placing '''triple apostrophes''' around the text and italics are added by putting ''double apostrophes'' around the text.

This can be done manually, using the apostrophe key of your keyboard, or by using the bold (File:SM basics - bold button.png) or italic (File:SM basics - italics button.png) buttons of the Source mode editor. Click the icons to add bold/italics while the text you want to add the effect to is selected.

Headings

Headings are added by putting == == around your section title. Further sub-headings can be added be adding more equals signs. E.g:

==Heading 1==
===Sub-heading 1===
====Another section====
===Sub-heading 2===
==Heading 2==

Try not to overuse headings: having too many can make it hard to navigate the contents of a page. An alternative can be to use ; which creates a section which does not appear in the contents. E.g:

;Heading

Gives

Heading

Lists

Numbered lists are added by putting # before each item on the list. Each point should begin on a new line. E.g:

# First point
# Second point

Gives:

1. First point
2. Second point

Bullet pointed lists are added with *:

* First point
* Second point

Makes:

• First point
• Second point

You can also make sublists within lists:

# First point
## One more thing
## Another thing
# Second point

Gives:

1. First point
   1. One more thing
   2. Another thing
2. Second point

* First point
** One more thing
** Another thing
* Second point

Makes:

• First point
  • One more thing
  • Another thing
• Second point

Links

• To add a link simply place [[ ]] around the name of the page you wish to link to. This can either be done by adding these manually or with the Internal link button (File:SM basics - internal link button.png). E.g. [[Cat]] creates Cat.

File:SM basics - linking.png

• Once you have added [[ and started to type the name of a piece of content, a list of pages with names matching what you have already written will be displayed. This can be helpful if you are not sure of the exact name of the page you want to link.
• If the text between [[ ]] does not match an existing page or redirect then a redlink will be added. Redlinks do not link to existing pages and instead direct a reader to create a new page with that name. Use the preview to check that any links you have added are working correctly.

Links should fit in with the rest of the sentence. You can achieve this by manipulating links like so:

• Adding extra letters next to your link without a space includes these letters in the link text; this can be used to add correct plurals e.g. [[Cat]]s = Cats; [[Earth]]s = Earthes.
• You can change the text displayed with a link without affecting where the link goes; this can be used when the name of the page you want to link to does not fit in with what you are writing, e.g. [[Earth|Terra]] = Terra.
• Though all page names start with a capital letter, you do not have to capitalize the first letter of a linked page for the link to work. This can be useful for ensuring that correct capitalization is used; as only proper nouns should be capitalized.
  • If there are more capitalized words, excluding proper nouns and the first word of the page name, in the name of the page you wish to link then you will not be able to change the the words' capitalization in this way. Instead you should change the text displayed with the link to use correct capitalization.
• Sometimes content does not have a dedicated article and is instead included as a section of a larger page: you may wish to link directly to the relevant section. You can do this by adding # and the name of the relevant section's heading after the page name in a link. This text after # must match up to a section heading in order for the link to work correctly.

Images

• Link to your desired file like this: [[File:The file's name.png]]. You must use the correct file extension at the end of the image's name: most files on the wiki are in the .png format, however some are in another format such as .jpgs. E.g:

[[File:Thanos.png]] adds this image:

[[File:Black Panther concept art.jpg]] add this image:

File:Black Panther concept art

• You must use the exact file name (using the same spelling, capitalization and spacing) for the link to work correctly.
  • Most images on the wiki use standardized names depending on what kind of content they are: this can be helpful for identifying which image you want to use. See here for information about standard image names.

File:SM basics - file linking.png

• • As with regular linking, starting to type with [[File: will display files matching what you have written to help you chose the correct image.

• Often you will wish to specify the size and positioning of images.
  • Adding |left |right or |center before the end of your link, after the image's name will put it in that position on a page, e.g. [[File:Thanos.png|left]] will add the add the image on the left side of text.
  • You can adjust the size of the image by adding ###px in the same place in the link: this limits the width of the image. E.g. [[File:Thanos.png|center|50px]] or [[File:Thanos.png|50px|center]] adds an image which is centered and has a width of 50 pixels:

Tables

Tables can be useful for displaying some kinds of information. A standard table can be added using the (File:SM basics - insert table button.png) button. This adds the wikicode:

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! header 1
! header 2
! header 3
|-
| row 1, cell 1
| row 1, cell 2
| row 1, cell 3
|-
| row 2, cell 1
| row 2, cell 2
| row 2, cell 3
|}

Giving a table with 3 columns with headings and 2 rows:

header 1	header 2	header 3
row 1, cell 1	row 1, cell 2	row 1, cell 3
row 2, cell 1	row 2, cell 2	row 2, cell 3

You can also create your own table:

{| class="wikitable"
|-

|}

Creates the table

|- makes a new row

| makes a new cell

! makes a bold heading

Making a new page

If you have searched for a page that does not exist you will be given the option to create it at the top of the search results. Before doing so make sure that you have used the correct spelling, spacing and capitalization for the content you are making the page for to avoid making duplicate pages for the same content. If you are sure that no page exists, click on the red link to create the page.

Start adding any information that is known about the content. You must save the page after you have finished editing it before it is created.

You can then look to existing pages for similar content to see what formatting and advanced features are needed. You can copy and paste from existing pages and adapt to the page you have made.

File:SM basics - making a page1.png

Clicking a redlink to create a new page

See also

• Tesseract:Style guide
• Tesseract:Images and media policy

Want some more help?

• Ask for help with this topic on the article's talk page.
• Ask for general editing help at Tesseract:User help.
• Request help from an administrator at Tesseract:Administrative requests if you need help which requires an administrator's tools.
• Chat to other editors in our Discord channel.